By T. Scott Boatright
NEW ORLEANS —No shot at a berth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship football game on the line.
No problem. Not today, for Grambling or Southern.
On a few occasions — take the annual Army vs. Navy showdown as an example — a single football game can become bigger than a season itself, boiling emotions down into a thick Louisiana stew of college football fanaticism.
Grambling State and Southern will collide in the 50th annual Bayou Classic at 1 p.m. with both teams both chasing the same goal — “just win, baby!” — in order to secure a winning season which has been an often-frustrating three months for both the Tigers and the Jaguars.
The G-Men go into the contest at 5-5 in 4-3 in the SWAC after winning 43-14 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 10.
Southern has the exact same record but has dropped two straight, including a 27-21 home loss to Prairie View on Nov. 11.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with the game being broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
For both Gramblng and Southern, this one is all about bragging rights.
Grambling coach Hue Jackson said the keys to victory for his Tigers begins with trying to play their first full 60 minutes of effort and execution this season.
“I think the offense came out and kind of steadied themselves,” Jackson said of his team’s most recent game at UAPB.. “(GSU quarterback Myles Crawley) did a good job of protecting the football and we didn’t have any turnovers. We were able to throw some touchdowns and run the ball into the end zone, so I think that was important for the confidence of our offense to get back to where we were.”
So now Jackson hopes his Tigers go to where he feels they need to go to do what they need to do.
“At the end of the day, we need to go win the (Bayou) Classic,” said Jackson, who admitted surprise last year at the hoopla surrounding a Bayou Classic showdown. “This is our biggest rival. I get it. I know what it’s like now having participated in it a year ago.
“It’s something that you want to win. It’s something we need to win for our football team and our coaching staff. This is a very, very big game for us.”
GSU assistant head coach John Simon said that while the Bayou Classic is always big, it holds even more meaning for the Tigers’ seniors.
“That’s a big part of all of this for our program and our seniors,” Simon said. “The last time we had a winning season was 2019 and the team is well-aware of that. And to have the opportunity to send our seniors out with a winning season is big for us.”
The Jaguars lead the Bayou Classic series 25-24, so squaring that total is another incentive for the G-Men.
There’s also some coaching drama to deal with. Two years ago Terrence Graves had to take over as interim coach for Grambling’s final game of the season, leading the Tigers to a surprising win over Southern.
This season Southern fired head coach Eric Cooley after the Jaguars’ last game and tabbed Graves, now an SU assistant, to take on the interim coach role again, this time against the Tigers.
“At this point we know who they are, they know who they are,” Simon said. “We’re familiar with coach Graves He’s been around the SWAC for years and if you’ve been around the SWAC that long, you know who he is and what he does.
“But at the end of the day, coaches are not going to be playing in this game, so who leads Southern out of the tunnel out on the field doesn’t matter. It’s about our players. When coach Jackson leads our team out the tunnel, he’s not going to be wearing pads. He’s not going to take a snap. He’s not going to make a tackle. This is an emotional game where we know the records don’t matter, the coaches don’t matter. They’re going to come play for Southern University and we’re going to go out and play for the Grambling Tigers.”
