The Jackson football team plays against Poplar Bluff on the road Friday night.

The Indians beat the Mules 35-21 at home last year.

Poplar Bluff is coming in with a 4-2 record after posting a 21-20 victory over Central last week. Jackson enters with a 2-4 record after a 42-38 loss to Farmington at home.

The Jackson defense is surrendering 25.16 points per game this season. Last year, including the 25-14 loss to Waynesville in the Class 5 state playoffs, the Jackson defense gave up just 10.6 points per game. Offensively, the Indians are scoring an average of 26 points per game this fall in comparison to an average of 28.3 points per game in 2007.

One plus for Jackson this week is that running back Adam Zweigart is back from serving a one-week suspension. Although the amount of time he'll play is still in the air.

The following is a question and answer with Jackson coach Van Hitt --

Question: Will Adam Zweigart be back this week? And will he start?

Van Hitt: He'll be back. He won't start. I don't think so. That's coach Nathan Norman's call. He's the position coach for that. But I don't think he will start. No.

Q: Why won't he start?

Hitt: Mitchell [McCulley] had a heck of a ballgame. So I think he or [Drew] Bucher based on last week's game deserves a start. That is kind of what we go on -- the previous game.

Q: Do you think Poplar Bluff is going to be more pumped after almost losing to a winless Central team? It's a home game for the Mules and their coaches must be upset with the way they played with Central. Is that a factor?

Hitt: It will be. They will use that as motivation for them. But Cape Central, of course, is a much improved ball club. They are going to win some ballgames before this year is over. They are improving every week. The kids over there are working hard. They are listening to their coaches. And if you watch them on film they do a lot of things very good. But Poplar Bluff in the same tone is a very good football team. I think their offensive line is going to be one of the best offensive lines we'll face because they have very good blocking technique. They play with their pad level very low. It's hard to get under them and they do a good job.

Q: What type of offense does Bluff feature?

Hitt: They don't run a lot of different formations but they do a lot of different things out of that offensive sets that they are in. ... When you look at it, it looks pretty simple, but if you sit down and look at it, it's one of the more diverse offenses we've seen this year because in a spread offense you're pretty much limited to throwing the football or maybe running the zone or the reduced trap out of it. They can do all of that in their run game and plus still have a real strong power game out of it.

Q: What type of runner is Mules tailback Zach Furgeson?

Hitt: He's kind of a slasher type runner. He picks his holes real well. He's not a power runner. And he's not a finesse runner. He's a very patient runner. And once it opens, he'll dart through it. He has very good speed of course.