Six points from TheDerisoReport.com on Grambling’s fifth week of 2009 football, including an upset loss to Prairie View A&M in the State Fair Classic at Dallas’ historic Cotton Bowl:
ONE
Back on Aug. 2, I called it: Prairie View would be the game of the year.
Was told “Prairie View is still Prairie View.”
I didn’t think so then, and I have a feeling some Grambling fans don’t feel that way anymore, either.
That said, there is still much in front of each of the SWAC West’s top teams from 2008.
Grambling (now 0-1 in SWAC play) plays host on Saturday to a home game against Alabama A&M — one of a string of six consecutive contests (Alabama State, Mississippi Valley, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Texas Southern and then Southern) that also count in the standings.
Prairie View (2-0 in the SWAC) has five more conference games — Alabama State this week; then Southern on Thursday, Oct. 22; A&M on Nov. 7; Alcorn on Nov. 14; and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 21.
Southern (1-1 in the SWAC), which lost a game that counted against Jackson State on Saturday, still has league contests against PV, Pine Bluff, Alabama State, Grambling and Texas Southern games to play.
TWO
What a difference a year makes.
Win a championship, and you’re a hero.
Lose to Prairie View, and you’re a goat.
I got some e-mails calling for staff members to be let go after Saturday’s upset by the Panthers, less than a year after Grambling won 11 games for just the fifth time in this school’s storied football history.
Meanwhile, GSU hasn’t lost a home game since this group got here. Has claimed two consecutive divisional titles, and the school’s 22nd SWAC championship. In fact, has only been below .500 for four weeks out of the two-and-a-half years it has served. Has had no institutional control problems, or scandals of any note.
And yet. It lost to Prairie View.
This isn’t that Prairie View anymore, the one that lost 80 games in a row in the 1990s.
There is no shame in losing to good teams. It happens.
Not saying there isn’t room for improvement with this staff, or these players. But you’ll find a number of programs in this league that would trade just about anything for that kind of consistency of success over the past few years.
Heck, for a few SWAC schools, they’d trade anything for that kind of success — ever.
THREE
One of the Grambling players who took the Dallas stumble most to heart was Christian Anthony, held to a relatively quiet four tackles — including one for a loss.
Saturday night, he was already working on what he’d do to improve for next year’s game, going so far as to say that the crushing loss had impacted his ongoing evaluations on leaving college early for an NFL try.
FOUR
A third-quarter that saw Grambling score 19 points — part of a 33-point offensive explosion — showed what this team can be when it plays with focused determination.
Down 28-10 with 9:32 left in the third, Greg Dillon orchestrated a 5-play, 62-yard drive that ended on a 37-yard touchdown pass to Van Phillips. Then the defense forced consecutive turnovers by Prairie View — first on a blocked a punt by Gabriel Fleming for a touchdown then, about a minute later, on a circus-catch pick by Toby Mott. Grambling scored two plays later to take a brief 29-28 lead.
This team has the talent to do that for four quarters a night. It just hasn’t put them together yet.
FIVE
Tucked inside of Grambling’s loss was a 100-yard receiving day for Kiare Thompson, who had eight catches — none more impressive than a 50-yarder that set up a Tiger touchdown.
His 133 yards on Saturday were most by a Grambling receiver since Clyde Edwards’ 102 against Texas Southern in October of 2007. That’s 23 games without a 100-yard receiving day — including all of last season. (Kenneth Batiste came closest, with 95 against Nevada in the 2008 opener.)
Thompson also led at GSU receivers against the Panthers last season, but with just 39 yards.
SIX
This Prairie View game reminded me of Grambling’s pitched battles against Southern every season in the Bayou Classic. Plenty of emotional turning points, furious comebacks, wild plays on both sides, and a high score at the end of the night.
For too long, the State Fair Classic was more about the ferris wheel turning outside historic Cotton Bowl stadium than with what happened on the field. Fans would pile in, sure, but after the marching bands played — they’d hit the midway for roller-coaster rides, and food on a stick.
The over-the-top commercialization of this event, with more ad breaks than total offensive yards most years, seemed to encourage us all to ignore the actual game.
Saturday’s breakthrough win for Prairie View was a signature moment for a program that had beaten every other Southwestern Athletic Conference opponent since Henry Frazier’s arrival except Grambling. But it also felt like a turning point for the State Fair Classic itself.
Can this series become a rivalry? One where what happens between the lines is as well remembered as all the flashy sideshows that surround it?
That’s a win for everybody.
I have been saying this all year. We can not continue to let teams get a lead on us. We need to play four quarters of football. The game this weekend will not be easy either. I will continue to support the team for the rest of the year. Go Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Broadway is a defensive minded hc, that’s his approach to the game. His statement 35 points should win any game, past GSU oc 35 points halftime score. Broadway is to consertive and will never beat teams with equal talent. Bottom line he is at best just and average coach.