After a tough loss to rival Hampton in the Truth and Services Classic two weeks ago, Howard coach Larry Scott saw the bye week as a chance for the Bison to clean some things up heading into Saturday’s match-up at Big South member Robert Morris.
He feels that his coaching staff and his players were able to get the house in order.
“We wanted to get guys some rest with lingering bumps and bruises and with our rigorous academics, make sure they get with their professors and advisors as to where they’re at,” he explained in this week’s MEAC football coaches’ conference. “It was a week of balance for us; our deal was we wanted to win the bye week. Academics, health, welfare. A lot of different areas that are key things to winning, especially with this eight-week stretch we’ve got coming.”
Robert Morris is coming off a 46-0 win over Virginia University of Lynchburg, so Scott knows the Colonials will be ready for the Bison.
“We want to represent our conference very well against a well-coached football team,” he said. “Their approach is aggressive, and they play with a lot of spirit and energy. They’ve got a little bit of confidence; we’re going to have to bring our A-game for a noon kickoff, which is early for us.”
As confident as RMU is, Scott is even more optimistic that the Howard offense will continue to be diverse in their attack methods.
“You never want someone to make you play one-handed,” he said. “If you’re playing different coverages, we have base calls that our quarterback to progress through and make good decisions. Once we do come up against something we haven’t seen, the quarterback knows he has keys he can go through and have success. You’re not going to stop us from running the football. We’re going to make sure we’re balanced, so we dictate how the game is played.”
