By T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT, Lincoln Parish Journal
DALLAS — Throw the records out of the window, because now it gets real.
Grambling State University opens its Southwestern Athletic Conference football season starting at 6 p.m. Saturday as the Tigers face off against Prairie View A&M in the 100th annual Texas State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Coming off two consecutive nailbiting home wins, GSU coach Mickey Joseph knows his 3-1 Tigers will be playing in a game on a whole new level than that pair of victories.
“Right now, it’s SWAC play,” Joseph said. “These last two opponents came in ‘The Hole’ (Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium), and that was their Super Bowl. I told our kids (for the Prairie View game), ‘Don’t look at the scoreboard. This is a Classic.’ You can throw records out of the door. It’s a Classic. When they say Classic at an HBCU, oh yeah, it’s on.”
Grambling’s recent wins came over Division II Kentucky State (37-31 in overtime) and then Southland Conference member East Texas A&M (31-28) last weekend. Joseph said those two wins are misunderstood by those who feel his Tigers should have won those games by larger margins.
“After watching the film (East Texas A&M) is a very good football team,” Joseph said. “They played SMU and they played Florida State, so they played two money games. So, I take my hat off to them.
“At the end of the day, we fought. It doesn’t matter what level they’re on, when it gets down to DII and FCS, the big difference is Power 5 and the FCS, DII and FCS. If you’ve been in coaching, been in this game, you know that’s not much of a difference. That’s the same type of kids. One university has more scholarships, but it’s the same type of kids.”
Now the Tigers open SWAC play with a game that Joseph expects to be an old-fashioned smashmouth football game featuring a lot of running, at least by the Panthers (2-2, but 1-0 after starting the season with a 22-21 SWAC win at Texas Southern).
“We’re going to have to be gapped out on defense because they’re going to run the ball,” Joseph said of the Panthers. “I think they ran for 352 (last weekend) against Northwestern (State, in a 27-24 home win). I think they had one kid go for 186 and the quarterback ran for more than 100. So, they’re going to run the ball. They’re going to be plus-one with the quarterback run game so we’re going to be gapped out. We need to have gap integrity and use our safeties to try and make them throw the ball over our head.
“Now that’s easier said than done about gapping it out because they’ve got a really good offensive line and a really good quarterback. He started at Memphis, went to Middle Tennessee State and now he’s at PV. I think he was Memphis city player of the year, so he’s a kid to be reckoned with.”
Tevin Campbell is that Memphis product and has completed 33-of-59 passes for 327 yards with one touchdown and one interception while adding 171 rushing yards and four scores on 33 carries.
But Joseph believes the Panthers will also utilize quarterback Cameron Peters, who has completed 33-of-39 passes for 385 yards and two touchdowns along with one interception while adding 76 yards and a score on 21 carries.
“I think he’ll play both,” Joseph said of Prairie View’s head coach Tremaine Jackson. “After hearing him on the call-in (SWAC video press conference), I think he’ll play both.”
And while he’s preparing his Tigers to face the pass, he knows his defense will be facing a solid Prairie View rushing attack led by Chase Bingmon, who leads the Panthers with 361 yards on 60 carries.
That averages out to 6.0 yards per rush by the Prairie View freshman.
“I think it’s a well-balanced offense,” Joseph said. “With Tremaine’s background, and what he did at Valdosta, they’re going to run the football. So, we’ll need gap integrity, but we’re going to need to run with them when they throw it.”
Grambling will also stick to the run a lot on the offensive side of the ball, but Joseph said the Tigers are willing to throw if that’s what’s needed.
“I think we do what we have to do to win,” Joseph said. “But I think we do have to take more shots down the field.”
Contact Scott at tscottboatright@gmail.com