Grambling beat Jackson State for the SWAC championship in 2008, just as Jackson State had beaten Grambling for the same title in 2007.
Look for them to meet again in the rubber match this December.
Reason: Despite a number of key losses to graduation, Grambling and Jackson State remain the deepest, best-coached programs in the SWAC.
Keenly interesting, always well played and blessed with proximity – the two universities are right down the road from one another on Interstate 20 – this series has been one of the most entertaining in black college football.
Here is TheDerisoReport.com’s team-by-team breakdown of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, with predicted order of finish, key games and other preseason thoughts as camp convenes:
ALABAMA A&M
Stadium/location: Louis Crews (21,000), Normal, Ala.
Head coach: Anthony Jones (eighth year at A&M, 54-28; 72-41 overall)
Who’s back: RB Ulysses Banks, who led the team with 555 yards in 2008, after running for 887 yards in ’07. Also … QB Kevin Atkins, WR Thomas Harris, DL Jeremy Maddox.
Who’s gone: DB Al Donaldson, a 2007 first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association.
Historical note: Jones and A&M posted consecutive 9-win seasons, the first in school history, then an 8-victory campaign before slumping in 2008.
This year: Much will be expected of quarterback Kevin Atkins — a touted recruit out of Southern Durham High who was No. 3 in the SWAC with 2,167 yards, along with 13 TDs and 6 INTs in 2008.
ALABAMA STATE
Stadium/location: Cramton Bowl (21,800), Montgomery , Ala.
Head coach: Reggie Barlow (third year at Alabama State and overall, 8-14)
Who’s back: LB Adrian Hardy, who made 80 tackles in 2008, including 10.5 for a loss. Also … QB Reid Herchenbach, DB Rechard Johnson, RB Rahmod Traylor.
Who’s gone: Barlow’s young team returns most of its best playmakers.
Historical note: With eight wins over two years, Barlow hasn’t matched Coe’s initial burst of success at ASU – including the Hornets’ first-ever 10 win season, two SWAC championship appearances and a title between 2003-04.
This year: Alabama State has a string of places to improve, notably on offense where it ranks last in scoring and yards. Talented running back Rahmod Traylor will have to step up.
ALCORN STATE
Stadium/location: Jack Spinks (22,500), Lorman , Miss.
Head coach: Earnest E. Collins Jr. (first year at Alcorn State )
Who’s back: LB Lee Robinson, credited with 111 tackles last season, including 10.5 for a loss. Also … WR Emmanuel Arceneaux, DL Malcolm Taylor.
Who’s gone: Head coach Ernest T. Jones, who lasted just one season.
Historical note: Alcorn State has endured consecutive 2-win years, and is on its third head coach since Johnny Thomas’s departure in 2007.
This year: Alcorn wasn’t as bad as its record would indicate, having lost seven games in 2008 by 10 points or less — and six of those were by a touchdown or less. Still, both the Braves’ offense and defense ranked at No. 8 in the league.
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
Stadium/location: Lions (12,500), Pine Bluff , Ark.
Head coach: Monte Coleman (second year at UAPB and overall, 3-9)
Who’s back: RB Mickey Dean rushed for 632 yards, second on the team. Also … DL Jared Dorn, LB Michael Weatherspoon.
Who’s gone: LB Tim Turner, DL Ledarius Anthony.
Historical note: What happened in Pine Bluff ? The Golden Lions were one win away from the West crown in 2005, and SWAC runners up in 2006. Since: They are 7-16.
This year: UAPB will rely on rising senior Mickey Dean, No. 4 in the conference last season with 632 rushing yards, along with returning talents like defender Michael Witherspoon and zippy special teams ace Mareo Howard.
GRAMBLING STATE
Stadium/location: Robinson (19,500), Grambling , La.
Head coach: Rod Broadway (third year at Grambling, 19-6; 51-17 overall)
Who’s back: DL Christian Anthony, who had posted 55 tackles and 17 for loss, tied for fourth in the league in sacks last season. Also … DB Kenneth Anio, QB Greg Dillon, RB Cornelius Walker.
Who’s gone: DB Jeffrey Jack, DL Melvin Matthews.
Historical note: Grambling has lost just six games since Rod Broadway and Co. arrived in 2007, and only once in a regular-season Southwestern Athletic Conference contest — ’07’s Bayou Classic against Southern. Going into a third year at Grambling, he has already beaten seven SWAC teams twice.
This year: Broadway has never dropped a home game at Robinson Stadium, but that streak will be tested early when Southland Conference foe Northwestern State visits on Sept. 12. Grambling fell at NSU 31-19 last season, before reeling off 10 consecutive wins to take the SWAC title.
JACKSON STATE
Stadium/location: Mississippi Vaterans Memorial (62,500), Jackson , Miss.
Head coach: Rick Comegy (fourth year at Jackson , 21-14; 129-65 overall)
Who’s back: RB Luther Edwards, who led all rushers with 445 yards last season. Also … DL Sam Washington, LB Marcus Jamison, K Eric Perri,
Who’s gone: LB Marcellus Speaks, DB Dominique Johnson.
Historical note: Comegy has won 60 percent of his games since arriving in Jackson , producing three consecutive winning seasons, two Eastern Division crowns, and a league title in 2007.
This year: Comegy showed he could mold a struggling, youthful team into shape – eventually leading Jackson State to a second straight SWAC Championship Game. He’ll have a similar task in 2009. Last season, Comegy relied on arguably the league’s best defense, but that unit is now rebuilding without Johnson and Speaks.
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
Stadium/location: Rice-Totten (10,000), Itta Bena , Miss.
Head coach: Willie Totten (seventh season at Valley and overall, 28-49)
Who’s back: WR Brandon Stargell, who averaged 12 yards a reception on 39 catches for 474 yards. Also … DL Chris Ivy, DB Michael Higgins, LB Rory Malone.
Who’s gone: KR/WR Clarence Cotton.
Historical note: Totten strung together winning seasons in 2005-06, a towering achievement for a program that hadn’t had one since 1995 – and hadn’t had two in a row since the mid-1980s. But he has won just five games since.
This year: Valley must find an offensive rhythm. QB Paul Roberts passed for 2,000 yards but his leading rusher, Ronald Brewer, gained just 224 total yards in 2008. None of the Devils’ runners made the SWAC Top 10.
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M
Stadium/location: Blackshear (6,000), Prairie View, Texas
Head coach: Henry Frazier III (fifth season at Prairie View, 27-25; 53-49 overall)
Who’s back: RB Donald Babers was a 1,000-yard rusher last season, averaging nearly 5 yards a carry. Also …TE Marlon Allen, DB Anthony Beck, DL Quinton Spears.
Who’s gone: QB Mark Spivey; and LB Zach East, the 2007 SWAC defensive player of the year.
Historical note: Prairie View’s nine wins in 2008 were the most for the program since 1964. Frazier’s fast-moving rebuilding project also includes a breakthough 2007 campaign that saw the Panthers secure their first winning season since 1976.
This year: Frazier has led the Panthers to emotional wins over Jackson State and Southern, neither of whom Prairie View had bested since the 1970s, but hasn’t beaten Grambling since the mid-1980s. A tight race in the West, as we saw last season, could come down to that game.
SOUTHERN
Stadium/location: A.W. Mumford (28,400), Baton Rouge, La.
Head coach: Pete Richardson (18 th season at Southern, 128-57; 170-71 overall)
Who’s back: QB Bryant Lee, the SWAC’s preseason offensive player of the year, boasted four games of at least 300 yards passing, and accounted for five touchdowns in back-to-back games last season. Also … LB Allan Bough, DL Dexter James, WR Jaumorris Stewart.
Who’s gone: DB Glenn Bell
Historical note: Southern has five conference titles under Richardson , including a trio of crowns from 1997-99, but none since winning the 2003 SWAC Championship Game.
This year: This is the second consecutive season that QB Bryant Lee (2,682 yards, 20 TDs and just 6 INTs in 2008) has entered the spring recovering from a medical procedure. He suffered partial tears in his posterior cruciate ligament and anterior cruciate ligament against Grambling in the Bayou Classic, a year after coming off wrist surgery to fix a broken bone in his hand.
TEXAS SOUTHERN
Stadium/location: Robertson (33,000), Houston Texas
Head coach: Johnny Cole (second season at TSU, 4-8; 19-24 overall)
Who’s back: WR William Osbourne, who piled up 1,092 yards and 7 TDs on 82 catches. Also … LB Dejuan Fulgham, TE Andrew Thomas, DB De’Markus Washington .
Who’s gone: Oklahoma State transfer QB Bobby Reid.
Historical note: A late injury at quarterback meant the Tigers could finish no better than 4-8, but even that was a drastic improvement over the previous year’s 0-11 mark. Those four wins, in fact, equalled former TSU coach Steve Wilson’s career mark over nearly four years.
This year: Cole is relying on another quick infusion of talent from some big-time transfers — including quarterback Arvell Nelson (Iowa), and receivers Ricky Dixon (LSU) and Chip Gregory (Arkansas): “These guys are play-makers and that’s what we were missing,” he has said said. “They are big-time players who played in the big leagues — and adding (LSU transfer offensive tackle Ernest) McCoy upfront should make our offensive line one of the best in the conference.”
PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
EAST
Jackson State
Alabama A&M
Alabama State
Mississippi Valley State
Alcorn State
WEST
Grambling
Southern
Prairie View
Texas Southern
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
WR William Osbourne, Texas Southern
DE Christian Anthony, Grambling
BIGGEST SHOES TO FILL
It’s hard to overestimate what losing celebrated linebacker Marcellus Speaks does to Jackson State. The now-departed former Delta State transfer became the SWAC’s 2008 defensive player of the year with 115 tackles (including 20.5 for loss), along with one interception, two forced fumbles, and one blocked kick during the regular season
SWAC GAMES TO WATCH
SEPT. 6:
Grambling vs. South Carolina State
In the absence of an actual black college national championship game, we have the MEAC-SWAC Challenge. Even a year later, though, bragging rights are on the line.
SEPT. 12:
Jackson State vs. Tennessee State
For all its SWAC success, Jackson has dropped every Southern Heritage Classic against TSU going back to 2002. Is this the year, Rick Comegy breaks the spell?
SEPT. 19
Grambling at Jackson State
These two are 1-1 in the SWAC Championship Game. But Grambling has also beaten Jackson in both regular season meetings since Rod Broadway’s arrival before the 2007 season.
SEPT. 26
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alabama A&M
A rematch of the 2006 SWAC Championship Game, which A&M won handily. A rebuilding Pine Bluff might be hard pressed to change that storyline this year.
OCT. 3
Grambling vs, Prairie View A&M
Prairie View must get past Grambling, winners of six of the last nine Western Division title, if it hopes to win that elusive SWAC championship.
OCT. 10
Mississippi Valley at Alcorn State
This will be Alcorn’s first home game at Jack Spinks in 2008, and it features a key in-state rival. Valley fell 35-21 last season to the Braves, just weeks before the entire ASU staff was let go, then rehired, and so on.
OCT. 17
Grambling at Alabama State
In the past, Alabama State has played the spoiler, both in Grambling’s favor and against it. The Hornets knocked off Tuskegee last year, opening the door for GSU’s national championship — but also dropped the Tigers for their only loss during a SWAC championship run in 2001.
OCT. 22
Prairie View at Southern
Should Prairie View beat Grambling for the first time since 1986, this has the potential to set up as a winner-take-all in the West. The Panthers beat Southern in OT for the first time in 13 years back in 2006.
OCT. 31
Alabama A&M vs. Alabama State
A&M has won this in-state rivalry game four straight times, but that doesn’t stop the fans from cramming into the stands. The 2008 Magic City Classic set a new attendance record last year, drawing more than 69,000.
NOV. 12
Texas Southern at Grambling
Call this The Spears Bowl. Melvin Spears, now a overseeing receivers at TSU, returns to the stadium where he once roamed the sidelines from 2004-06 – winning two Bayou Classics and the 2005 SWAC championship as a head coach.
NOV. 14
Jackson State and Alabama A&M
The East’s two best teams over the last decade – A&M won the crown in 2000, 2002, 2005-06, while Jackson took the division in 1999, 2007-08 – meet in a game that typically has title implications.
NOV. 26
Alabama State vs. Tuskegee
Even when ASU arrives with just three wins, this one is interesting. The Hornets defeated previously unbeaten Tuskegee 17-13 in the 2008 Turkey Day Classic, and handed the Sheridan black college national championship crown to Grambling.
NOV. 28
Grambling vs. Southern
Three times over the last decade, including 1999 and 2003, this in-state rivalry game has decided who advanced to the SWAC Championship Game – but never more entertainingly than in 2008. Had Southern won, the West would have been decided – no kidding – by a coin toss. The league has since fixed that rule.
get ready GSU is bout to go on a butt kicking spree….
Nice preview… I disagree with the assertion: "Grambling and Jackson State remain the deepest, best-coached programs in the SWAC."
Jackson didn't make the 2008 SCG due to being well-coached, they made it due to geography. They were fortunate that the GSU loss didn't count and they've ducked PV since 2007…still ducking them.
This is not a bad preview and GSU deserves to be picked first, but JSU is not that great. Even more if they were in the West they would be lucky to be the fourth best team. SWAC should get rid of east and west and let the best two teams play. JSU would not see a SCG anytime soon!!!!
The fact is, Jackson State has been the best team in the East for years now — and that's who the West representative plays for a championship. Whether they'd be the second, third or worst team on the other side of the bracket is pie-in-the-sky stuff.
I'd argue, too, with the idea that JSU isn't well coached.
Comegy and Co. were in a hole similar to Grambling's last season, starting 1-4 with a struggling transfer quarterback and managing 18 or fewer points in each of their first four contests.
JSU staff then switched from a spread look to a run-first attack in late October, steadying Rutland while springing rusher Luther Edwards. Edwards instantly ran for more than 80 yards a game over the balance of that month.
Jackson State’s defense also came to life, ultimately propelling that formerly 1-4 squad to its second SWAC Championship Game in as many seasons.
JSU would finish the regular season ranked No. 1 in the league for total offense (233 yards ppg), No. 2 in rush defense (73 yards ppg), No. 1 in pass defense (161 yards ppg) and No. 2 in sacks – besting eventual SWAC title game-winner Grambling in each of those categories.
That's the mark of a good team, with good coaches.
First I never stated JSU wasn't well coached; Comegy has managed to find a way to win everywhere he has been for example Central State, Tuskegee and JSU. Next, the point I am making is they are at best over the past years the fourth best team in the conference and have the luxury of being in a weak division!
All that information is good and well but the truth remains the same; the East is weak and Jackson State is fortunate the SWAC has two divisions.
It wont be long before they get some quality programs in that division, so JSU enjoy the moment!
Rick,
The reader comment about yours mentioned coaching …
NICK
Nick, I just don't share your opinion that their team was better coached than PV of SU… they merely benefitted from two things, the schedule (Gram and PV) and being in the West. You mentioned their wins coincided with a switch to a run oriented offense…it also coincided with playing teams with a losing record down the stretch.
I'm not saying Jackson State is a better team, or is better coached, than other teams in the West. Because that's irrelevant.
The SWAC Championship Game isn't played between the two best teams, regardless of their divisional designation, in the SWAC — anymore than the Super Bowl is.
It's played between the best teams from each side, and that has been — and is — Grambling and Jackson.
As such, reconfiguring the conversation is an empty exercise.
You could argue all night about the relative strength of other teams, and their schedules, and so on … but that's not the way it works, is it?
We'll have to do an Obama type Beer Summit and discuss this further.
@Mikebiig, "Obama beer summit" LOL. I agree with Mikebiig, but also agree with Nick. The East is weak, but it isn't Jackson State's fault. If Southern or PV was in the East they would kill in that divison, but it isn't like. It comes down to it PV and Southern would have to beat the top dog in the west to make it to the big game and that's the only real deal. Good luck to all the SWAC teams, what I wish is that TVone or someone start showing more SWAC and MEAC games on tv, these have been some entertaining games missed by the rest of the country.