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You’ll have to forgive A&T football coach Lee Fobbs if his message sounds a bit similar that a certain commander-in-chief these days. As frustration over their 0-5 start begins to set in around Aggieland and the lopsided defeats continue to mount up -including an embarrassing 32-0 loss at home this past Saturday against Morgan State - Fobbs remains steadfast in his belief that betters days are not too far away for the A&T football program. Yes, he’s aware that his team has now lost a school-record 10 straight games dating back to last season, and that they’ve haven’t finished within three touchdowns of a single opponent this year. However, Fobbs, a 30-year coaching veteran, has been in the profession too long to lose sight of his overall mission after a string of tough losses. He realizes the daunting challenges ahead of him, but maintains confidence in the work that he and his staff are doing to resurrect the program. In short, he plans on staying the course. “By totally changing your system week to week, the kids never get a concept of what we do” said Fobbs, who is still searching for his first career victory as a college head coach. “We’ll change up some formations and maybe install a few new wrinkles here and there, but we can’t try to do so much that we fool ourselves.” Fobbs said the main thing he has to instill in his young ball club is to not beat themselves. Against the Bears last Saturday, A&T was once again plague costly turnovers, bonehead penalties and a spree of untimely mental errors. The Aggies lost two fumbles, were picked off three times, gave up a safety on a botched punt attempt and were penalized 12 times for 124 total yards. On offense, the Aggies appeared to take major step backwards, rushing for only 63 yards on 28 attempts and passing for just 85 yards against Morgan . A&T managed to earn on eight first downs in the contest and was 3-for-12 on third down conversions. “We must play better than we have the last couple of weeks,” Fobbs said. “There’s no question about that. And it starts with me as the head football coach. It’s my job to put them in positions to get those things done.” Both Wayne Campbell and Herbert Miller saw action at quarterback against Morgan State, but neither of the red-shirt freshmen were able to enjoy much success. Miller got the starting nod and completed 2 of 4 passes with one interception and just 11 yards, while Campbell came off the bench was 5-of -6 for 74 yards passing and two interceptions. Still, Fobbs says he will continue to utilize both rookie quarterbacks throughout the season and just take this lumps while they get through their growing pains. “The one things I learned in my 35 years is coaching is that players don’t be better by being on the sideline,” he said. This week the Aggies will travels up to Dover, Delaware to face a 3-2 Delaware State team that is coming off an 33-31 victory over Bethune Cookman. A&T will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak to the Hornets and try to earn its first win on an opponent’s home field since 2003. One positive that has been somewhat overshadowed in the current losing streak has been the subtle improvement of A&T’s defense, especially against the run. After investing countless practice hours to improve their fundamentals, the Aggie are finally starting to wrap up and tackle better. In the first three games of the season, the Aggies were allowing an average of 266 yards per game. In the last two weeks, the Aggies have only surrendered an average of 166.5 yards per game. They hope that trend continues this week, as the Aggies prepare to slow down the potent Hornets ground attack led by senior running back Emmanuel Marc, who is averaging 105 yards per game and 6.8 yards per carry this year . “We feel like we are just starting to come together as a team,” said red-shirt freshman linebacker Jamison Hedgepeth who led the defense with 10 tackles against Morgan State. “We’re struggling right now, but we’re just going to continue to work hard for our coaches and for the university. We’re going keep trying to get better and get some wins.”
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