Arkansas-Pine Bluff wasn’t expected to achieve much.

It was picked to finish last in the West division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll.

With three games left in the regular season, coach Alonzo Hampton’s team is proving those projections wrong as it’s in a three-way tie for first in the SWAC West after bulldozing Bethune-Cookman 63-21 at home.

Hampton was asked about the competitiveness of the division where every team is either tied for first or a game behind first.

“Well, number one, got great coaching,” he said during Monday’s SWAC coaches call. “You got some highly competitive guys. I'm talking about the coaches.

“I watch what they're doing at Prairie View. I watch what they're doing at Alcorn. I watch what they're doing at Grambling, Texas Southern, you know when coach (Cris Dishman) just took over on the defensive side. You got coach (Marshall) Faulk down there at Southern. Man, these coaches, they’ll kill an ant with a sledgehammer.”

UAPB (5-3, 3-2 SWAC) scored the first 56 points of the game and didn’t allow a touchdown until the 1:10 mark of the third quarter.

Bethune-Cookman (5-4, 3-2 SWAC) couldn’t stop UAPB’s rushing attack, which had 333 yards and four touchdowns. Running backs Jaylen Jennings and Jalen Williams combined for 183 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 10 carries.

Starting quarterback Tyler Jefferson, a redshirt junior, missed his first game for Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats played three freshmen, and the inexperience showed as they threw five interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns.

Alabama rivalry game

Alabama A&M clashed with its rival Alabama State in the annual Magic City Classic.

AAMU (7-2, 4-1) came out victorious for the first time since 2021. The Bulldogs outlasted the Hornets 31-28 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama,

“It was special,” Bulldogs coach Sam Shade said of the excitement after the win. “Anytime you can get a win against your rival — we're the only two Division I HBCUs in the state of Alabama, two great universities — that's always going to be big for our players and our alums and our student body and just the university as a whole.”

Alabama State (4-4, 2-3) had a chance to get within field-goal range late in the fourth quarter to at least tie the contest. However, the Hornets threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-8 from the opposing 41-yard line, sealing the loss.

AAMU never trailed and led by 10 points on three occasions during the game. Quarterback Cornelious Brown, a Birmingham native, completed 22 of 35 passes for 216 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Both coaches started their time on the SWAC coaches' call acknowledging the mass shooting outside the stadium after the game that left one person killed and eight others injured.

“The Alabama A&M football program's thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the senseless shootings that took place in Birmingham after the classic, after the ball game was over,” Shade said. “As a son of Birmingham, man, my deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family that lost their loved one on Saturday after the game.”

Electric offense

Alcorn State continues to prove itself as the mightiest SWAC offense this year following a 52-17 win over Mississippi Valley State.

The Braves have scored at least 50 points for the fifth time this season and the third time against a SWAC opponent. Alcorn State (5-4, 3-2) leads the FCS in scoring at 43 points per game and ranks second in total offense at 480.9 yards per game.

Against MVSU (3-6, 2-3), Alcorn State quarterback Jaylon Tolbert threw for 320 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers on 23-of-29 passing. The 6-foot-2 senior leads the FCS with 2,681 passing yards and is tied for first with 27 passing touchdowns.

Coach Cedric Thomas said a key to its firepower has been his offensive staff’s ability to tweak parts of its strategy depending on the opponent.

“I want the offense to be able to come up in any stadium and, you know, make it look different,” he said.

Thomas also credited his defense, which added a few wrinkles coming off a bye week.

“I thought we did a good job, you know, from a bye-week perspective to put different pieces in places to have some success,” he said. “You know those guys working hard, and it always helps when you score a lot of points. But I thought the game plan was the game plan. We did a good job of tackling guys in space and just limited the explosives.”