The ball hasn't always bounced in Lincoln's favor this season.
But head coach Mike Jones believes that will change if the Blue Tigers can make a few minor adjustments.
"I think we're doing some good things," Jones said. "We just have to correct the small things we're doing wrong. These small things are causing us not to win football games."
Lincoln will try to turn things around when the Blue Tigers host Saint Joseph's in a Great Lakes Valley conference matchup at 2 p.m. today at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
The Blue Tigers (1-4, 1-3 GLVC) are coming off a 20-13 loss last week to William Jewell in a game that came down to the final seconds.
Losing close games has happened on multiple occasions this season for Lincoln.
"You look at three of our four games, we lost three games by 17 points total," Jones said. "We lose by one, we lose by nine, we lose by seven. In all three games, we were in the game until the very end."
Saint Joseph's (4-1, 1-1 GLVC) will be one of the Blue Tigers' biggest tests this season.
The Pumas, coming off a 14-13 loss to Missouri S&T in Week 5, have the No. 3 scoring offense (29.6 points per game) and No. 2 defense (16.2) in the conference. Saint Joseph's is also limiting teams to 106 yards rushing per game.
Jones believes the Blue Tigers are up to the challenge.
"These guys are resilient," he said. "They're still playing. We've just got to keep being resilient and make those plays that we aren't making. The balls that aren't bouncing to us - eventually they will."
Braxton Shelton leads the offensive attack for the Pumas. The senior running back is second in the GLVC in rushing with 576 yards on 112 carries. Kobi Cook, Mike Anderson and James Wilson have also rushed for more than 100 yards this season for the Pumas.
"They run the ball extremely well," Jones said. "They have a four-headed monster at running back. Everybody is getting touches, so we have to do a great job of in their running gaps and we have to tackle well."
Lincoln will look to bounce back on the offensive end after managing just 13 points on the road last week.
Senior running back Morris Henderson was limited to 69 yards rushing on 14 carries, while backup quarterback Owen Jordan was 22-of-38 for 286 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
"Offensively we've got to do some different things to get our guys going," Jones said. We have some playmakers, we just have to make some plays."
Jordan will start for the fifth straight time this season in place of starting quarterback Jacob Morris, who suffered a neck injury in the season-opener.
While the results haven't shown it lately, Jones believes the Blue Tigers are continuing to take steps in the right direction.
They're doing better at building a team," he said. "We have nine new starters on defense and eight new starters on offense. You're looking at a brand new team that's still learning how to play with each other.
"When we play well, we play as a team. When we start doing things as individuals then we're going to keep getting the results we've been getting. We just have to make sure each week we're on the same page as a team."