By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
GRAMBLING — Grambling State football coach Mickey Jackson expects an electric atmosphere when Jackson State visits for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Saturday at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.
It’s always that way when these nearby rivals meet. With Grambling kicking off the Southwestern Athletic Conference season at home on a two-game win streak, it’s expected that home fans will turn out in droves and Jackson State’s following will be significant.
GSU enters the game at 2-1 and is riding a two-game win streak while Jackson State also stands at 2-1 with wins over Lane and SWAC rival Southern following a season-opening loss at ULM.
The teams didn’t meet last year, but JSU has won two straight over the G-Men since falling to Grambling 44-21 in 2019.
“We understand what kind of atmosphere we’re getting into,” Joseph said. “We’re playing a good Jackson State team. A well-coached football team with good players and a great tradition, so we’re happy to have them here. Everybody’s going to have to do their job.”
Grambling is coming off a hard-fought 35-28 overtime win at Texas A&M-Commerce last weekend. Grambling rallied for a final-minute score in regulation and won in the first OT with a TD and a game-ending interception one play later.
“Any time you take a team on the road — I don’t care if it’s middle school, high school college or NFL — it’s difficult because they’re not in their normal surroundings,” Joseph said. “So to take our young team — our transfer portal and high school team — and take them on the road in a tough environment to play in, is tough.”
Joseph hopes that winning two straight games, including that tough one last week when starting quarterback Myles Crawley was benched for a series early in the second half before leading his team to the comeback victory, will provide some momentum for his G-Men heading into Saturday’s game against Jackson State.
“We asked them to play 60 minutes and they had to play more than 60 minutes because the game went into overtime,” said Joseph, who will be coaching his first SWAC contest. “At halftime we told them not to look at the clock or the scoreboard but just play, and they did. We’ve got to clean some things up, but it’s always a tough situation when you take a team on the road and play one of the Southland (Conference) schools.
“It was time to show some grit. It was time to show it’s not over until there’s nothing but zeros on the clock. They played hard and I was proud of the way Myles came back in, but we have to come out better after the half. I’ve got to do a better job of preparing them to do that.”
One thing Joseph will be looking for other than a win is fewer penalties called against the G-Men. Through three games, Grambling has been flagged 35 times for 257 lost yards, including 10 penalties for 66 yards last week at TAMC.
“We’re never going to be happy with penalties but sometimes you have to take the aggressive ones,” Joseph said. “It’s the non-moving ones that are the ones that hurt the most, and we have seven of those (against TAMC). So we can’t line up offsides, we can’t have illegal procedure penalties and those kinds of things.
“So we’re just going to keep working on those things as we’ve been doing in practice. So we’re got to do a better job of getting the defensive line to stay back (before the ball is snapped. We had seven or eight (penalties in the first half and only two or three in the second. There’s never going to be a perfect game, especially when it’s on the road and they’re not your (conference) officials.”
Joseph has been looking for more rushing yardage from his Tigers but knows those might be hard to get against a Jackson State defense that held Southern to under 50 yards on the ground last weekend.
“They play good football in Jackson,” Joseph said. “They’ve been playing good football there for a long time. I remember when I came into the conference in 1998, and they’ve always had a really good defense.
“So we’ve got to find some things that we can do and take advantage of. But mainly we’ve got to execute. We’ve got to block and we’ve got to execute. We haven’t done that in the last two games for 60 minutes. So we’re looking to come out and do that for 60 minutes. The kids know (Jackson State) is going to be a tough defense, so we have to get them prepared as coaches, get a good game plan and smooth it out as the game goes on.”
Joseph also knows Grambling’s defense will have to be prepared to face a JSU offense that is well-balanced and does many things well.
“I think you’ve got to play hard and do your job,” Joseph said. “That’s what they do over there, but if we come out and do our job, then I think we’re going to be good. You’ve got to do what the scheme asks you to do.
“We understand that they’re a very talented offensive team with the backs, the receivers, the quarterbacks and the line. They’re equipped across the board, so we’re going to have to be on our A-game. We understand they’re skill-heavy with really good football players.”
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com