NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- It's often said around sports: certain teams are better than their records may indicate. Norfolk State might be the perfect example of this situation and the proof is in the numbers.
The Spartans enter the week with a 2-5 record, but their last three defeats have all come by a touchdown or less. Add a bizarre loss to Virginia State in the season opener and that adds up to four potential additional victories. Despite coming up on the wrong side of down-to-the-wire match-ups lately, NSU head coach Dawson Odums is staying the course.
"I kind of look at it like a baptist minister," Odums said during his weekly media availability on Tuesday. "You come to church every Sunday and you say 'will you come?' There are a lot of Sundays people don't come, but you don't stop changing that message."
Plenty of fight has been shown by the green and gold throughout the course of the season in good times and bad. They climbed out of holes and put together valiant comeback attempts against North Carolina A&T and Tennessee State, then moved the ball well against Howard before a late score sent them to a loss.
"I keep preaching the same thing," Odums noted. "We stay on what we believe. We're going to stay focused and we're going to stay on that process and that process is chop wood, carry water. Fall in love with it."
While it would be easy for players to call it quits and get discouraged, Odums says that his guys don't fall into those categories. He's been happy with the way the Spartans have shown up and responded each and every week and truly believes that success is right around the corner.
"They're putting in the work to be better," he pointed out. "They're putting in the time. They're asking the right questions, so they give us hope that we're real close. I always say you've got to go through some storms, but what's on the other side is the rewarding part and that victory is on the other side and I really feel like we're gaining on that."
Saturday finds Norfolk State back home to face Morgan State on homecoming. The Spartans will look to get right against a Bears team that has lost five in a row since upsetting Richmond to open the season. NSU has won the last three straight in the series.
"Sacrifice. I told our guys that's the word of the week," the head coach said. "We've got homecoming, we've got a lot of distractions, a lot of things going on, but you've got to lock in."
Norfolk State and Morgan State kick off at 2:00 PM on Saturday at Dick Price Stadium.
