Sports

GOLDEN LIONS TRYING TO CONTAIN PANTHERS’ RUNNING BACK BABERS

By Josh Tinker/COMMERCIAL SPORTS EDITOR
Thursday, November 19, 2009 12:11 AM CST

When Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach Monte Coleman watches Prairie View A&M running back Donald Babers, he sees Barry Sanders. The diminutive back for the Detroit Lions, Sanders ended his nine-year professional career as the No. 2 all-time rusher in NFL history. And when Coleman’s Washington Redskins squad played Sander’s Detroit Lions, Coleman said the gameplan was simple: contain Sanders.

“The attitude was not to stop him, but contain him,” Coleman said. “He was going to get his hundred (yards), he’s that good, but he can’t get 200 yards. He can’t get 150. We have to minimize him to those 100 yards. So let him get his hundred, but he just can’t kill you.”

It’s the same defensive philosophy that Coleman’s Golden Lions will take into a Saturday matchup with Prairie View A&M. Babers, a junior for the Panthers, is No. 2 in rushing in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Coleman said limiting him to those 100 yards is key for his defense.

“We’re going to try to contain him, but I’d be a fool to say we’re going to stop him, that we’re going to shut him down,” Coleman said. “I don’t think anybody can, so we’ve got to contain him.”

Babers will be the next in a series of elite running backs that the Golden Lions have faced this season. In a loss to Alabama A&M on Sept. 26, UAPB allowed Ulysses Banks, the SWAC’s leading rusher, to break loose for 184 yards on 34 carries in a 28-7 UAPB loss. Then, in a victory over Grambling State last Saturday in War Memorial Stadium, the Golden Lions allowed Frank Warren, the league’s third-leading rusher, to only 85 yards on 16 carries.

While Coleman knows stop ping Babers is the key for the UAPB defense having success Saturday, he also admitted it’s not easy doing so.

“He’s very elusive and he’s got great speed,” Coleman said. “Last year, Stewart Franks came up and made a great hit (on Babers) on the left side. He (Babers) bounced off than and took it about 60 yards for a touchdown. In the (Alabama) A&M game he was bouncing off tackles. He has the ability to bounce off tackles because of his size, then he has the speed to get around the corner and outrun folks.”

Receiving votes

After winning three of their last four games, the Golden Lions find themselves closer to the top 25. When the Football Championship Subdivision rankings were released earlier this week, UAPB wasn’t voted as one of the top teams on the NCAA’s second tier. The Golden Lions, however, were mentioned in the “others receiving votes” category, which measures the number of votes received by teams who didn’t receive a high enough score to crack the rankings.

While UAPB received five votes this week, Coleman said he isn’t worried about such things at this point in the season.

“I take it with a grain of salt right now,” Coleman said. “I don’t discredit it. I’m proud they consider us, but I want to prove it on the field. I want it to be known that the championship has to come through UAPB.”

Self scouting

With an open week on the schedule last week, Coleman used that time to evaluate the situational play of his football team. While watching film, Coleman noticed the tendencies of his football team.

“It was a good opportunity to step back and analyze ourselves, self scout ourselves and see some things we were doing that we need to do and see some things that we’re doing that we don’t need to do,” Coleman said. “From an offensive standpoint, maybe we were a little too predictable. On the defensive side, when we put guys in, maybe we blitz more. Other teams were looking at us and picking that up as well.”

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