Southern is rolling.

It went from tied for last in the SWAC West to fourth, trailing three teams tied for first place at 4-2.

Southern (5-5, 3-3 SWAC) can’t afford to lose its upcoming game against SWAC West rival Alcorn State (6-4, 4-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday at A.W. Mumford as its chances of winning the division shrink drastically.

Coach Marshall Faulk has credited improved health on the defensive line and praised his team’s newfound consistency in practices translating to the games for the team’s first win streak in two seasons.

Another factor in the change is accountability.

Faulk has preached since August how he wants to have honesty be commonplace and a defining part of the culture at Southern. This exists in terms of player performance and off-the-field conduct.

He followed through on the emphasis of accountability when he didn’t play running back Trey Holly in the first quarter of the season opener for “disciplinary reasons,” publicly criticized his kickers for their poor play and sidelined multiple key contributors, including his starting quarterback, for “conduct detrimental to the team,” in its 41-10 homecoming loss to SWAC West foe Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-3, 4-2) Oct. 3.

Faulk was asked if these aspects of coaching have played a role in Southern’s success. He said that the standards held by players have been even more influential.

“I think as a coach, I can hold the players accountable,” he said. “But what you're seeing now, and if you watch on the field when something goes wrong, it's not this [pointing finger]. They’re having conversations about how to fix it. It's when players start to hold their teammates accountable. That's that's the recipe. That's when it really becomes what it is, and as coaches, as a coaching staff, we step back and let them solve the problem, and then we help them with the solution. The teams that win, every team that wins a national championship or wins any kind of championship, they're player-led teams. It has to be.”

One of the turning points Southern players shared was its players-only meeting after its loss to UAPB. Star safety Herman Brister said Oct. 20 that accountability was the topic and that it discussed how “off-the-field issues affect us on the field as well when we don't have the guys and the bodies that we need to go long games in four quarters.”

Since that meeting, Southern has won three of its last four games, with its lone loss coming on a game-winning 46-yard field goal as time expired.

“Just to be transparent, our leaders, sometimes, they’re the ones that mess up and get chastised. You know what I'm saying. So you can't be afraid to tell someone what they're doing wrong, without understanding that when you do something wrong, someone's going to point the finger at you as well. Accountability goes both ways.”

Southern hopes this approach continues to manufacture wins and keep alive its goal of not only reaching the SWAC championship game but winning it. Faulk established he’s not one to discuss the standings with his team as he prefers concentrating on a single game.

When asked if Faulk tries to limit players from fixating too much on the standings, he said he has no control over that.

“I can't worry about it,” he said. “I mean, it's not like I can take their phones. I can't take their devices, but what I have to do is make sure that they do more than just scenario watch. They actually can have a hand in this. And when there's a scenario, the first thing that you have to do is do your part, and that's what we're out to do. We're out to do our part.”

Southern cornerback Landon Carter, who had an interception in last week’s 45-17 win over Bethune-Cookman, said his team just needs to think about winning its last two games of the regular season.

“I mean, as much as you want to pay attention to all the other stuff, if we don't win out, none of that (matters),” the redshirt sophomore said. “We pay attention to what we have to do, then we'll worry about all the other stuff.”