Increased parity

The nip-and-tuck games have came at a high clip whenever Southwestern Athletic Conference teams have faced each other this season.

There have been 15 league games decided by two scores or less — with nine of those resulting in single-digit margins. In fact, of the six SWAC games that were played last week, three were won during the final five minutes of the fourth quarter.

“Let’s be honest, this is a very competitive league,” Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Alonzo Hampton said. “You have one team that may be slightly better than other ones, but at the end of the day, we all have the same players. Some just have more than others, some may have more finances than others.

“But we all have really good players.”

Two of UAPB’s losses have been by 10 points or fewer, and it had opportunities to win both. The Golden Lions were about to kick a game-tying field goal with less than two minutes to play against Tennessee State but had its kick blocked and returned for a touchdown. Two weeks later, UAPB was driving to potentially tie its game with Alabama A&M until a fumble on first down at the Bulldogs’ 16 with less than four minutes left essentially sealed the loss.

“The coaching in this league is second to none, and I tell people that,” Hampton said. “I coached at the Power 5 level, and I can tell you this: A lot of the guys I coached with probably couldn’t coach on this level. And I’m proud

to say that I started on this level.

“I know what it is to go in that locker room and to bond with your coworkers and then get these young men to play. So it’s not surprising to me that the games are really close because we’ve got really good coaches [in the SWAC].”