Giving up the big play was Lincoln's biggest downfall in its season opener. It hurt the Blue Tigers again in Week 2.
Southwest Baptist had three touchdowns go for 45 yards or more as the Bearcats claimed a 42-21 win Saturday afternoon against Lincoln in the Blue Tigers' season and Great Lakes Valley Conference opener at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
"We just didn't make enough plays on defense," Lincoln head coach Mike Jones said. "We gave up too many big plays. That has been our kryptonite. If we stop giving up the big plays, we've got a chance to win some football games."
SBU (1-1, 1-1) led 21-14 at halftime, but the Bearcats opened up the second half with back-to-back scoring drives to break the game open.
"I feel like today was unacceptable," Lincoln junior Paul Dodson said. "We've got to change something up for us to become a winning team. We have too much talent on defense to be giving up 42 points a game. We have way too much talent for that."
Dodson led the Lincoln (0-2, 0-1) defense with seven tackles - four for a loss - and two sacks, but it wasn't enough to stop SBU's passing game.
Wilile Tindal was 19-of-24 for 447 yards and threw for four touchdowns. Nathan Mourik had six catches for 207 yards and two scores. Tindal made a habit of creating big plays when it seemed like nothing was available.
"When he breaks contain, we've got to stay on top of those receivers," Jones said. "We've got to do a better job as coaches of getting our guys in position to make plays. That falls on us."
Junior quarterback Owen Jordan got his first start at Lincoln in replace of Jacob Morris, who suffered a neck injury in the Blue Tigers' season-opening loss to Langston.
"As a team, it's always next man up," Jordan said. "If someone goes down in front of you, you've got to step up and fill the role. As a junior-college transfer that has played before, I felt comfortable in the situation.
"I knew we had great skill players around me and I'm confident in the offensive line out in front of me."
Jordan was 19-of-28 for 265 yards and threw for three touchdowns, including a 27-yard pass to Khiry Draine during Lincoln's second drive to tie the game at seven with 11:22 left in the first quarter.
"I think OJ did a solid job for his first game," Jones said. "He just has to build on it."
Jones said Morris would be out for at least four weeks, but didn't know an exact timetable until the senior quarterback is evaluated again.
Morris turned in one of NCAA Division II's most efficient performances in Week 1, completing 18-of-25 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns. His efficiency rating of 225.9 was the sixth best in the country at the time.
For now, he is watching from the sideline in a neck brace, but the Blue Tigers are fully behind their backup.
"He made some good reads, some good decisions," senior running back Morris Henderson said. "We've just got to rally around him and be behind him in everything he does."
Henderson had 163 yards rushing on 123 carries and caught an 11-yard pass for a score to give Lincoln a 14-7 lead with 7:47 left in the second quarter.
"We played well in some parts of the game," Morris said. "We've got to continue that through four quarters. I feel like if we do that, we can win some football games."
SBU tied the game with a 15-yard pass from Tindal to Kendrick Payne with 6:11 to play in the second quarter and the Bearcats didn't look back from there. SBU scored on a 47-yard pass with 1:14 left in the first half, before adding three unanswered touchdowns.
Lincoln got on the board again with 44 seconds to play when Jordan hit Darius Hicks for a 7-yard pass. By then it was too late.
"SBU's a fast, physical team," Jordan said. "They're a little unorthodox with their defense. They were physical with us and we needed to answer better than we did."
The Blue Tigers will try for their first win on the season when they host Quincy at 2 p.m. Saturday in another GLVC matchup.
"We can't change what happened in the past," Jones said. "We can't change what's in the future. We just have to take care of what we're doing right now. We've got to play in the moment, and I don't think we're doing that all the time."