The Lincoln Blue Tigers have simplified their approach since extending their losing streak to four straight games last week, as they prepared for today's Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at St. Joseph's College.
"You put it all together by playing one play at a time," said Lincoln head coach Mike Jones. "We're going to get back to that one play is the most important play of the game. If we put the emphasis on that, play as hard as we can on that play, play by play, series by series, quarters by quarters, then we'll figure it out at the end of the game. Right now we haven't put together enough plays, series and quarters to win football games.
"The last four games we've dealt with some type of adversity that we didn't adjust to. We had a quarter where we didn't bounce back. So, we have to play one play at a time, one series at a time, get to the quarter and do the same thing again. We have to do that four times and see where we're at by the end of the game."
Lincoln (1-4, 0-2 Great Lakes Valley Conference) takes on St. Joseph's (2-3, 1-2) in Rensselaer, Indiana with a noon kickoff.
The approach is straightforward.
"One game at a time," Jones said. "We say the same thing all the time. We're trying to be 1-0 every week. ... I think we're putting too little emphasis on winning. When you think about it, every week we're saying our goal is to be 1-0. That's the most important thing. We need to make sure we don't lose sight of the most important thing and that's at the end of the week, winning the football game. ... We're doing a better job of emphasizing that with our kids."
The Pumas are in a similar position as the Blue Tigers, falling in their last two contests.
Jones compares the contest to Lincoln's last conference game against Truman State two weeks ago, when the Bulldogs came in with a 1-3 record.
"They're trying to figure themselves out, as well," Jones said of St. Joseph's. "And in all honesty, it's like the Truman State game. We're in the same boat."
St. Joseph's quarterback Wade Burtron is a threat in not only the passing game, but the rushing game as well. The sophomore is in his first season under center for the Pumas. He was a perfect match to mesh with GLVC leading rusher Shelton Braxton.
"Their quarterback is an athletic kid," Jones said. "When you watch him, he kind of reminds you of Johnny Manziel with the things he does. He moves around the pocket, makes plays with his feet. We have to control him and keep him in his pocket."
Braxton has struggled in the early going with just one touchdown and an average of 58 rushing yards a game.
The Pumas line up in the pistol offense out of the shotgun formation. Burtron's favorite target is wide receiver Jose Esquivel who has 342 receiving yards and two touchdown grabs. Burtron has only one other touchdown through the air.
The Blue Tigers have struggled to start and stop the run during their four-game slide. Defensively, the Blue Tigers are allowing 211 yards per game, a number that isn't satisfactory for Jones. Lincoln opponents average 4.9 yards a carry.
"We got to stop the run. We haven't done a good job stopping the run this year," Jones said. "The line of scrimmage we've had a problem with. We haven't controlled it as much as we needed to on offense and defense."
On the flip side of the spectrum, the Lincoln rushing game has come to a halt ever since junior Miles Drummond has been out of the equation.
Drummond (hamstring) is listed as the No. 1 back for the second straight week. Jones expects him to play, but said if he doesn't feel comfortable after warmups, he'll be held out.
After Drummond participated in practice all week, Jones gave his starting back an 80-85 percent chance of playing.
Asked how much Drummond would be used, Jones replied: "Throw him in there and he's going to stay in there until he can't go anymore. And we'll see how it goes."
Since Drummond came up limp against St. Francis, the rushing game has mustered just 71 yards in two weeks.
"We're going to have our work cut out for us on both sides of the ball," Jones said.
Jones vowed his players have stayed positive, while not giving up in their mission to turn things around.
"No one has quit," he said. "I've had 15 of our students ask me "What can I do to help us win?' That's a testament to them. A lot of times when you're 1-4, you're just trying to make sure you're doing what you need to do to try and not make yourself look bad."
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