The Lincoln Blue Tigers are "hungry," second-year head coach Steven Smith said, and not just for a winning season. Their goal is to win championships.

Aug. 31, 2018

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --- If at first you don't succeed, try, try again?

You bet.

But this has been something beyond a trying experience, it's one that could even be considered a bit silly, at this point.

Because more than four decades of trying should be enough.

Many of the players who were a part of Lincoln's last winning football team aren't just fathers these days, many of them are grandfathers ... if not most of them. And great-grandfathers.

Because those players on that 1972 team are now in the range of 66-70 years old, and the Blue Tigers have been trying ever since. To be fair, the school didn't field a football team from 1990-1999 ... but still.

For this current coaching staff, however, the wait is only one season, as Steven Smith and the Blue Tigers went 1-9 in his first season last year.

Recruiting good players is obviously important, as is teaching them how to play the game. But teaching them how to win, how to end this 46-year non-winning streak, may be the biggest challenge of all.

Even though these guys have very little to do with the drought.

"You have to change the culture of the team," Smith said. "They've got to believe they can win ... if they don't believe, it's not going to happen.

"They've been doing very well, from the spring to the summer to the fall camp. They've been doing everything they were supposed to do ... we feel really comfortable with where we're at right now.

"I definitely believe we will be better than a one-win team, but I don't put on the shoulder pads or a helmet. So what I believe doesn't matter, it's up to those guys who step onto the field."

The community support last year was the best it's been in a long, long time --- and despite another losing season, that support hasn't wavered.

"Not at all," Smith said. "It's still very strong --- we owe this community, the administration and the school a winning football team, and that's what we're going to give them.

"It's not an option, we have to win."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

OF ALL THE AREAS THAT NEEDED IMPROVEMENT from last season, none were more so than the offensive line.

It all starts up front, after all, and the Blue Tigers scored only 10 offensive touchdowns last season. 10 in 10 games. The Blue Tigers averaged only 11 points a game, which was third-worst in the nation in Division II.

Smith is convinced this group is fair superior to last year, a group that includes junior Cyril Spells, the lone returning starter at center, and 6-7, 310-pound true freshman from Moberly, Drake Rucker.

"I came in with high expectations for this team," Rucker said, "and I just want to do my part."

Said Smith: "We've revamped the whole offensive line and they're playing very well. They're very physical coming off the ball, but we'll see in the first game (at 4 p.m. Saturday at Lane College in Memphis). That's going to tell the tale."

Junior quarterback Henry Ogala, the starter in last year's opener, will be the starter again this year.

"The biggest thing for me is that if he can manage the game and control the huddle," Smith said, "guys are going to follow him. He's done a tremendous job of moving forward from last season."

The Blue Tigers have a "three-headed monster" at running back, Smith said, including senior Kimbo Ferguson, while receiver Blake Tibbs --- who earned all-conference honors last year (38 catches, 372 yards, three TDs) --- is back for his senior season to anchor that group.

The team's other all-conference player is also back on defensive line, senior Isaiah Gray, who had 46 tackles in 2017, five for a loss. The backbone of the defense looks to be senior linebackers Edwin Durassaint and Victor Williams.

"Our defense did a good job last year, they bent, but they didn't break," Smith said. "I feel very confident with where we're at, defensively."

Except for forcing turnovers, that is, especially interceptions. Last year, Lincoln had zero interceptions --- as in none --- and recovered only six fumbles.

"If you play good defense," Smith said, "if you play the game strong and play the game right, I think the turnovers are going to come. But the biggest thing is keeping them out of the end zone."

Lincoln's minus-21 turnover margin was second-worst in the nation.

"We can't turn the ball over 27 times, that made life difficult for us," Smith said. "When you turn the ball over 27 times, I don't think you're going to win many games, which we showed last year. When things get tight, we've got to be more focused and disciplined in what we're doing."

We'll see if it happens, here's hoping it does. This football program, after all, is long overdue for something good to happen.

"These guys are very hungry right now, they're pushing for a championship, they don't want anything less," Smith said. "The thing we should be able to do, the minimum, is win the (GLVC) conference. The maximum, the ultimate goal, is to win a national championship.

"Those goals haven't changed and they never will."

So much for baby steps. But at the very least, they're still trying.

Blue Tigers still searching for
that elusive winning season

Loeffler's Link