Who: Grambling State (1-1) at Houston (1-1)
Where: TEDCU Stadium (Houston, Texas)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 96.3 FM (Ruston), 103.1 FM (Monroe)
Radio Talent: Santoria Black (PxP), Ossie Clark (Color), Nick Harrison (Sideline), T Lay Collins (Sideline)
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By T. Scott Boatright
Grambling State University finds itself facing a test for a second straight week as the Tigers hit the road to play at the University of Houston at 6 p.m Saturday at TEDCU Stadium.
The Tigers (1-1) fell 37-0 at Southern Miss last weekend, a game that USM led only 10-0 at intermission before pulling away in the second half.
Houston also comes into this weekend’s game at 1-1 after falling 38-21 at home to Texas Tech in the Cougars’ season opener before cooking up a win at Rice last weekend..
After seeing his Tigers total only nine first downs and a mere 141 yards of total offense in the loss to USM, GSU head coach Broderick Fobbs is looking for more offense, even against a tough Houston defense that held Rice to one score last week in a 44-7 win.
“We played well in the first half but we made some timely mistakes with penalties,” Fobbs said. “We came out and competed hard against a good Southern Miss team. Now we’ll go back and look at the film, make the adjustments we need to make and prepare for a very good Houston football team.”
Houston and GSU have faced off twice before with the Cougars winning both, including a 47-0 victory in 2014 that remains the largest win in TDECU Stadium history. It was also their first win at the facility.
The Cougars won the first matchup between the schools by the score of 44-22 in 2006.
Grambling State played two quarterbacks at USM — Elijah Walker and Aldon Clark. Walker started the game and went 8-of-13 passing for 30 yards while Clark went 8-of-19 passing for 60 yards with one interception.
Fobbs will also be looking for a stronger run game from an offense that has averaged 96.0 rushing yards per game early on.
Walker leads the Tigers with 81 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries while Darqueze Brutton (5-7, 185) has added 61 yards on 18 carries and Arcadia product CJ Russell has chipped in with 53 yards on 20 attempts.
Grambling’s Kobe Ross leads the team in receptions with four for 22 yards while Ruston High School graduate Donald “Red” Johnson and Greg White have added three catches for 26 yards each.
“There’s not a question of our kids playing hard; we just need to play better,” Fobbs said. “On offense, we didn’t match anything to put on the board. In games of that magnitude, in order to apply pressure that are FBS teams, you’ve got to score points and you’ve got to put the pressure back on them. We just neglected to do that.”
Defensively, the G-Men are giving up an average of 334.5 total yards of offense per game while being held to 165.5 offensive yards per game themselves.
Kenan Fontenot, a defensive back, is Grambling’s top tackler with 10 takedowns while four other Tigers have nine each. Lewis and Blake Thomas each have recorded a sack for the G-Men.
“I feel really good about our kids, our players. I thought our defense played lights out for two-and-half quarters. They just wore us down once we got late to the third quarter and into the fourth quarter. We’re a work in progress and we’re excited about playing this week against another big opponent.”
Photo: GSU Athletics
