ELLISVILLE – The Jones College Bobcats are 5-0 and are ranked No. 2 in the country – their highest ranking since 2013.
 
But head coach Steve Buckley said there is plenty of room for improvement for his team.
 
"I could show you 62 plays where it looked like we've never been coached," Buckley said after reviewing film of last week's 28-13 victory over Hinds. "The players have to be accountable for their actions on the field. The coaches are on the sidelines and can't get between the lines. The players are between the lines and they have to do what they are coached to do. 
 
"Until they do that, we are not going to be a good football team."
 
The Bobcats, who lead the MACCC South Division with a 2-0 mark, will have a chance to improve this week when they host Southwest Mississippi at 2 p.m. Saturday. It will be Homecoming at Bobcat Stadium/Sim Cooley Field and the game will air on JCJC.TV with Mark Easley and Luke Johnson on the call.
 
The Bears, under the direction of first-year head coach and former East Mississippi assistant Cliff Collins, are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the division. Southwest opened the year with a 41-35 win over Itawamba before losing 49-7 to No. 6 EMCC, 39-21 to Copiah-Lincoln and 21-13 to East Central. Southwest posted a 17-12 victory at Mississippi Delta last week.
 
"Cliff does a good job and we've played him plenty of times in the six years we've been here from his days at East Mississippi," Buckley aid. "Southwest is an athletic group and they are going to put speed on the field. They've got good schemes and we had better be ready to play."
 
Last week, Hinds took the opening kickoff and drove 45 yards in nine plays. But on the 10th play of the drive, Bobcat Lardarius Webb Jr. (Jackson Academy) returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown. 
 
On its next possession, the Eagles went 69 yards in 13 plays, but missed on a 39-yard field attempt.
 
The Bobcat offense did not run its first play from scrimmage until the 3:39 mark of the first quarter.
 
Buckley said he had never experienced that as a coach.
 
"We played 23 plays on defense before the offense took the field," he said. "We could not get off the field defensively. I have never been in a more lopsided game in 28 years of coaching where we did not have the ball."
 
The Bobcats managed to take a 14-0 lead when quarterback Quaterius Hawkins (Bastrop, Louisiana) ran 26 yards for a touchdown with 4:38 to play in the half.
 
But still Buckley was concerned about the lack of plays his offense had in the opening half.
 
"It was not the offense's fault or the defense's fault – it was the fault of both," he said. "The defense has got to get off the field and the offense has got to sustain drives. That was the disappointing thing. At one point, they had run 38 plays and we had run seven in the first half. They had 45 plays in the first half and we had 21. That's a big swing in terms of production and your kids are on the field defensively for so many snaps. 
 
"But we overcame it and got the win and that was the main objective."
 
The Bobcats took a 21-0 lead in the third quarter when wide receiver Bud Tolbert (Water Valley) hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass.
 
After the Eagles cut the lead to 21-13, Tolbert came back with an 84-yard touchdown pass from Hawkins. Tolbert had two catches for 129 yards and two scores and was named the MACCC Offensive Player of the Week.
 
Buckley was happy to see the explosive plays, but said the Bobcats had so many other chances.
 
"We look at the big plays we hit, but what makes me sick are the ones that we missed," he said. "We had our chances and it's something we have worked on – like getting the ball out of our hands quickly. But if it was not the quarterback, it was the (offensive) line or something else. It was just a combination of things of not doing your job. I think sometimes we try to do more than we can do. 
 
"Our message is always just do your job and I don't think we did our job consistently enough during that game on either side of the ball."
 
For the game, Hinds ended up running 78 plays from scrimmage, compared to just 47 for Jones. 
 
"We just do crazy stuff," Buckley said. "We did not contain the quarterback like we are supposed to and we would play one play right and two plays wrong. Until these kids understand that you've got to do what you are coached to do we are not going to be successful. Good teams are going to make you pay for it and Hinds did at times.
 
"Hinds is a good football team and we knew that going into the game. I thought we did some good things, but we also did some horrible things."
 
In last week's game, running back La'Damian Webb (Opelika, Alabama) had his fifth 100-yard game of the year, rushing 23 times for 125 yards. He has 745 yards rushing on the season, which tops the NJCAA. He averages 149.0 yards per game, which is second in the nation. 
 
Defensively last week, linebacker Drew Horton (Madison-Ridgeland Academy) had 13 tackles, one tackle for loss and half a sack. Linebacker Kenderian Dixon (Yazoo County) had nine tackles, one TFL, one sack and one quarterback hurry. Defensive backs Jervin Smith (Biloxi) and Jaylin Simmons (Jackson Lanier) each had seven stops with Simmons getting a sack and a TFL. 
 
End Kenderius Burke (Leake Central) had a sack and linebacker Kamarius Husband (West Marion) had half a sack. Defensive back Andrè Mack (Madison Central) and lineman Jordyn Mahaffey (West Marion) each had a TFL and defensive back Tylan Glass (Nanih Waiya), linebacker Ricky Willis (Harrison Central), Husband and linebacker Shaheim Carroll (Gautier) each had half a TFL.
 
This week is the only Saturday game of the regular season for the Bobcats. 
 
Buckley said the team is trying to have a regular week of practice.
 
"We are treating it as a normal week, but we've changed the days," he said. "Today (Tuesday) is Sunday for us and tomorrow (Wednesday) will be Monday and so forth. But in one way it (a Saturday game) came at a good time in that maybe we get some guys healed up with a couple of extra days. At the same time, you hate to break the routine, but it is what it is and we have to adjust accordingly."
 
Next week, Jones will have a short week of preparation as they will visit Pearl River at 7 p.m. on Oct. 14 for the 91stannual "Catfight."
 
Southwest hosts Hinds on Oct. 14.

**The Campus Bookstore will be open from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday for Homecoming. Go check out their wide variety of Jones merchandise. The Bookstore is located in the C.L. Neill Student Center across the hall from the Cafe.**