College Sports

By HAROLD WILSON
Staff Writer

PRAIRIE VIEW -- How to view the matchup between the Prairie View A&M and Texas College football programs altered drastically over a five-year span.

After going in opposite directions, the former SWAC rivals meet up at 4 p.m. today at Blackshear Field.

Prairie View comes into the matchup having won eight of its last 11 following a 7-3 campaign and last week's sound 34-14 victory over Texas Southern in the Labor Day Classic at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

TC enters the contest with losses in seven of its last 10 games, including a 38-0 setback last week against Mississippi Valley State -- the first of three SWAC opponents on the Steers' schedule.

A former conference doormat, Prairie View returned to its old winning ways last year. The Panthers particularly want to show the Steers, a team that ruined their homecoming five years ago.

Brown credits PV's resurgence to its 21-10 loss to Texas College in 2003. TC entered the game classified as a club level team -- and in its first season of football since the 1961 season -- before the Steers surprised the NCAA Division I program in front of a packed house.

After that loss PV revamped its approach, resulting in a change of fortune that has seen the Panthers increase their win total three years straight.

"They're moving back up the ladder in the SWAC," Brown said. "Five years ago I think the program was embarrassed. After that year they made wholesale changes."

Ironically, the same PV quarterback from the '03 team, Mark Spivey, leads the '08 version. Spivey (6-5, 180, Sr., Houston) completed nine of 14 passes for 111 yards and one touchdown in the opener, spreading the wealth to eight different receivers.

Spivey received help from running back Donald Babers (5-8, 170, So., Houston), who carried 27 times for 130 yards and two TDs, and a dominant defense featuring the likes of linebackers Zach East (6-2, 230, Sr., Houston) and Gary Hicks (5-11, 230, Jr., Houston), which limited TSU to five yards rushing.

"We have to get ready for their tough defense and run game," said Brown, whose team rushed for only 47 yards last week. "The challenge is to just get points on the board and a win is the objective."

To do so, TC needs a playmaker or two to step up, something missing last week when not a single back or receiver produced more than 42 yards of offense.

The Steers, still young after ending last season with 40 freshmen, lack the big names on offense like a Jonathan Combs or Dontay Spillman, who stole the show in the last meeting between the teams.

No offensive player at TC has totaled 1,000 all-purpose yards in a single season since Combs and Spillman turned the trick in '03.

The Steers figure to get a boost this week with the expected debut of highly-touted receiver Antwaun Harris, who played 11 games as a freshman for BYU and later signed with Oregon before spending time at West Texas A&M.

The TC defense looks to the return of senior linebacker Lindell Ware (6-0, 229, Houston) soon to bolster that unit. Last week Martelius Epps, a 5-11, 195 senior rover who formerly played at the University of New Mexico after starring at Daingerfield, led the way with eight tackles.

"We're still searching for persons to step up," Brown said. "I think we have candidates that have ability. I feel like help is coming."

Playing Prairie View tough could do wonders for a TC team on the heels of back-to-back 4-7 seasons, which followed seven-win campaigns and two conference championships during their first three years of play.

"I thought we were a year away (with this group), but the guys are ready to face the challenge," Brown said. "Last week it got of hand early. We want to stay in the game in the fourth quarter and see what happens.

"We're focusing on improving Texas College football and protecting the ball. Our challenge this week is to set a stage and instill confidence that they can win."

STEER SCOOP:

The football history between TC and PV, two of the original six SWAC members, goes back nearly a century, with PV leading the all-time series, 23-11-5. The teams played annually from 1923 through 1961, with the exception of 1940. PV went 8-0-3 against TC during the first 11 meetings before TC went 9-0-2 versus PV during the next 11 encounters. In the midst of winning five national championship in 1953, 1954, 1958, 1963 and 1964, PV won 15 of 16 matchups before 2003, including 14 straight from 1948-1961.