Paul Smith
Sports Information Director

   University of Arkansas at Monticello head football coach Gwaine Mathews will lead his 2007 Boll Weevils team into action for the first time this Saturday, as the Boll Weevils square off against longtime rival Southern Arkansas in a non-conference contest that will serve as the season opener for both times.

   Saturday’s game, the 81st meeting between the two schools, will mark the 51st consecutive meeting between the two schools in a series dating back to the 1914 season. The two teams were in jeopardy of losing the consecutive meetings streak before the 2006 season, when the Gulf South Conference’s schedule rotation meant that UAM and SAU would not meet during conference play in 2006 and 2007.

   The two institutions entered into a home-and-home agreement beginning with last year’s game in Magnolia, and ending with Saturday’s game at Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium, as the two teams will once again play in regularly-scheduled conference contests beginning in 2008.

   The Boll Weevils will enter the season with a true freshman starting under center, as Scott Buisson emerged as the Weevils’ starting quarterback over the last week of practice. “It was a fierce competition between Scott and (2006 starter) Elijah McDonald,” Mathews said. “Scott is a special player and will be able to make things happen out there for us.”

   The Weevils will debut a new offensive scheme in Saturday’s game, and new offensive coordinator Will Hall has high hopes for the team’s ability to perform on the offensive side of the ball. “We are not going to try and fit a square peg into a round hole,” Hall said. “We will take whatever they give us. If they stack up on us, we’ll throw. If they back off, we’ll run.”

   Since taking over as the head coach in the spring of 2005, Mathews has always stressed the value of conditioning to his team. “We have lost a lot of games over the last couple years, but none of them have been because we were out of shape,” Mathews said. “I kind of question what kind of shape we’re in right now, but I think Southern Arkansas may have the same questions. With the heat we’ve had, we just haven’t had the guys run like we’ve run them in the past. Although after this last week, we’d make a pretty good cross country team.”

   The 2007 Boll Weevils are unquestionably the deepest team, position by position, of Mathews’ tenure at UAM. “We could probably suffer one or two injuries in certain spots and be okay,” Mathews said. “We have tremendous depth. We have three offensive tackles we can rotate. We have three offensive guards that we can rotate. We have some guys in backup spots that we know can play.”

   Saturday, the Weevils will look to gain some measure of revenge after a heartbreaking 18-15 loss to the Muleriders to open the 2006 season in Magnolia.

   “I think we honestly controlled the tempo of that game last year for all but the last minute of the game,” Mathews said. “I think their quarterback (Josh SanFilippo) just wanted to win that game more than we did on defense. He made three plays in that last drive, where we hit him three or four times and could not keep him inbounds and keep the clock running. He’s a winner.

   “I don’t think we’re even close to being the same football team we were last year,” he said. “We worked hard to win that game and for them to come back was a disappointment. But I think if we come out ready to play, we’re going to have a fantastic night.”

   Kickoff from Convoy Leslie-Cotton Boll Stadium is set for 6 p.m., with tailgating on the UAM campus beginning at 3 p.m. and the Walk of Champions set for 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on KHBM-FM 93.7 in Monticello, as well as over the internet at www.uamsports.com.