By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
COMMERCE, Texas – Tigers and Lions battle when Grambling State will meet a football foe for the first time ever this weekend as Texas A&M-Commerce plays host to the Tigers in a matchup of regional FCS non-conference foes.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Ernest Hawkins Field, 226 miles from the Grambling campus. Texas A&M-Commerce, formerly East Texas State in its Division II days, is a relatively recent addition to the Southland Conference.
GSU stands at 1-1 after defeating Tuskeegee 37-20 last weekend in the home opener for the Tigers. The Lions (0-2) fell at Cal-Davis, ranked No. 18 in the FCS, by the score of 36-22.
This will be Texas A&M-Commerce’s home opener and first game not in California this season. The Lions began their season with a 45-14 loss at San Diego State.
Grambling quarterback Myles Crawley, the reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week, is coming off a career-game in which the redshirt senior connected on 16-of-26 pass attempts for 304 yards and four touchdowns in less than three quarters of action.
On the season Crawley has connected on 35-of-54 passes for 407 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
Redshirt senior running back Tre Bradford leads Grambling with 78 yards on 20 carries while Ke’Travion “Bull” Hargrove has added 72 yards and the Tigers’ lone rushing touchdown this season on 17 carries.
As a team, Grambling is averaging only 68.5 rushing yards per game this season, leaving coach Mickey Joseph looking for more output from his rushing corps heading into the Texas A&M-Commerce contest.
“We have to establish the line of scrimmage,” Joseph said. “We did not establish the line of scrimmage on the offensive side of the ball (last week) and I was disappointed in that because I thought we were going to be able to run the ball.”
Sophomore wideout Javon Robinson leads GSU receivers with six catches for 178 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively the Tigers are led by redshirt junior linebacker Andrew Jones, who has 14 tackles and half a sack on the season.
Joseph will be pushing his Tigers to clean up penalty problems against the Lions. Grambling has been penalized 191 yards on 22 flags to start the season.
“We have to clean that up,” Joseph said. “You can’t do that and expect to be a good football team.”
After missing all of last season and the final 2 ½ games of the 2022 season due to injury, Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback Eric Rodriguez is back this season and was the starting quarterback in the Lions’ season opener, when he went 14-of-20 passing with a touchdown and an interception.
Rodriguez, who is expected to start against Grambling, threw 16 touchdowns in 2022, leading the Lions to a record of 4-3 in their first season of Division I competition.
While Rodriguez missed last week’s game with an injury, backup Ron Peace played a solid game behind center, connecting on 29-of-56 pass attempts for 457 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.
The Lions’ 457 passing yards against Cal-Davis were the sixth-most in a game in program history.
Texas A&M-Commerce is averaging 287 passing yards per game so far this season, tying the Lions for ninth in the FCS.
Defensively, Texas A&M-Commerce is led by redshirt senior defensive back Max Epps, a 2023 All-American and 2024 Preseason All-American who finished the last season tied for 10th in the country with four interceptions, while ranking second in the nation with 150 interception return yards.
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com