PRAIRIE VIEW – After a week off, the Prairie View A&M football team returns to action against Southern in hopes of taking over first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division.

The contest is set to kick off at 6 p.m. from A.W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. The Panthers (2-3, 2-1 SWAC) are coming off a wild 42-36 victory over Grambling State during the State Fair Classic, while Southern (2-3, 1-0 SWAC) handled Arkansas-Pine Bluff 31-7 last weekend.

Prairie View A&M has dropped three straight contests to Southern, including a forgettable 38-0 loss last season that represents the lowest scoring output by the Panthers in a single game under head coach Eric Dooley.

That said, Dooley and the Panthers have erased the sting of last year's setback to the Jaguars.

"Last year was last year, and we're focused on what's ahead of us right now," Dooley said. "We know we're going to face a good team at their home stadium, so we're preparing for those guys and have been watching tape to see what they bring to the table. They play an exciting brand of football, and we know it's a challenge for us, but we don't try to look in the rear view mirror."

Southern fields the top-ranked rushing defense in the conference, having allowed 104.2 yards per game and limiting foes to 2.9 yards per rush. With Prairie View A&M senior running back Dawonya Tucker – the conference's leading rusher with 662 yards gained thus far – coming to town on the heels of setting a new program record for rushing yards in a single game, this could be a pivotal area of focus for this weekend's contest.

"The offensive line has done a tremendous job of blocking and opening holes for him, and then [Dawonya] does what he does best, and that's run the football," Dooley said. "The young man doesn't worry about stats, he just worries about wins." 

However, Southern ranks ninth in the league in passing defense, and with senior quarterback Jalen Morton directing the SWAC's third-ranked passing offense, the Panthers may be able to exploit some things against the Jaguars' secondary.

Scouting the Opposition:
- Though Southern has struggled in limiting yardage through the air, the Jaguars are one of the top ball-hawking units in the conference as they are tied for the league lead in interceptions (8). Jakoby Pappillion and Tamaurice Smith have each picked off a pair of passes.

- Led by Devon Benn's 322 yards and three scores, Southern boasts the third-ranked rushing attack in the conference just behind PVAMU. The Jaguars are averaging 203.2 yards per game. Ladarius Skelton, who had a coming out party of sorts in last year's contest, leads the team in passing with 525 yards through the air and a 58 percent completion rate. Skelton has accounted for nine touchdowns (four passing, five rushing) so far this year.

- Southern has been a bit of a bugaboo for the Panthers in recent years, as Prairie View A&M is just 1-5 versus the Jaguars in the teams' last six meetings, having allowed at least 34 points to the Jaguars in each of the last six contests.