The Rams fell 42-7 to Southwestern Assemblies of God University at Farrington Field on Saturday.

The game was the team’s first against a Central States Football League opponent and afterwards head coach Joe Prud’homme said part of the reason for the loss was a lack of intensity through all four quarters.

“We played well for a long time,” Prud’homme said. “We didn’t play well long enough.”

SAGU (3-1, 2-0) scored seven points in the first quarter, 14 in the second and 21 in the third, according to ramsports.net. The Rams’ only touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Colby Reed hit Marquette Kennedy from 11 yards out.

While the loss was disappointing, there were bright spots. The Rams had more time of possession than SAGU, and reduced their penalties from 11 for 148 yards in their first game of the season to eight for 93 yards, according to ramsports.net.

“Overall, we were better at giving up less penalty yards,” linebacker Vincent Stephenson said. “As a defense, we defended run much better this week and are continuing to improve in most aspects of the game.”

Here is what Prud’homme and quarterback Kane Hardin say the Rams need to do to improve.

1. Defend against big plays

The Rams can’t win if the defense gives up big plays, Prud’homme said.

“We can’t give up big plays and expect to have success,” he said.

The Rams did stop SAGU’s run game pretty well, Prud’homme said.

“Their quarterback threw for seven touchdowns last week,” he said, “so we did slow him down a little bit. Just gave up plays at the wrong time. If you take away their big plays they’re not driving the field on us so that’s a positive.”

2. Avoid turnovers.

The offense didn’t do as well this weekend. Four turnovers led to the Lions scoring 21 of their 42 points, according to ramsports.net.

“We didn’t do very great on offense,” Hardin said. “We struggled. We just have to keep our heads up, it’s a learning process and we just need to get better every week.”

3. Keep growing.

The team will continue to get better with time as the team gets older. The majority of the roster holds true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and some sophomores while the Rams’ opponents start mostly juniors and seniors, Prud’homme said.

“We still have a ways to go,” he said. “We’ve just got to grow up.”

The Rams travel to Oklahoma to take on the Langston University Lions on Saturday. Kickoff is 2 p.m. The Lions beat the Bacone College Warriors 36-6 on Saturday, according to langstonsports.com.