Three games remain for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff this football season as the Golden Lions enter November hoping to finish on a high note.
UAPB will make the first of two trips to the Houston area in a three-week period when the Golden Lions face Prairie View A&M at 2 p.m. Saturday at Panther Stadium.
First-year UAPB (1-7, 0-5 SWAC) head coach Alonzo Hampton said this year's growing pains will be worth it later.
"What we're going through is a tough time right now, but we're all going to be better for it," Hampton said. "For the seniors, they probably don't want to hear that, but at the end of the day, that's what the real world's about, too. You gonna get knocked down sometimes, but you gotta continue to get up every single day, and you gotta go work at somebody's job, right? So, it's no different here."
Prairie View A&M (3-5, 3-2) will host UAPB for its homecoming. The Panthers have lost their past two games and will be looking to keep pace in the west division.
After Saturday's trip to Texas, UAPB will return home for its final home game Nov. 10 against Grambling State, then return to Houston to close out the season against Texas Southern.
Wide receiver Daemon Dawkins said the Golden Lions can finish the season strong if they work together.
"I feel like we got the right mindset," Dawkins said. "We just gotta execute better. We go into every game thinking we can win it. I just feel like going into these last three games, we definitely need to lock in and hone in on what Coach has been preaching, what Coach has been telling us, what our coaches are telling us to do. We gotta do our job."
Recent history suggests the Golden Lions should have a shot to pull off at least one victory over the next three weeks.
Two seasons ago, UAPB entered November 0-5 in SWAC play like this year but began the month with a 33-26 home win against Grambling. Last year, UAPB won its season finale at Alabama State 19-14, also its lone conference win that year.
The two teams tied for first in the SWAC, Southern and Alcorn State, are behind UAPB this year. Prairie View and Grambling are tied for third, with Texas Southern in fifth at 1-4 in SWAC play.
Regardless of how the season finishes, Hampton continues to smile and promises the wins will come, however long it takes. He said the players returning next season and the coaches will need to work harder to get this program where it needs to be.
"I need them to understand what we're doing is not good enough," Hampton said. "You guys gotta give more. You gotta study more. You gotta strain more, and when they do that, then we're going to get the results that we want. We gotta do our due diligence as coaches. As the head coach, I gotta make sure I got the right people on the bus, in the locker room so we can get this program moving in a direction it's going to go."