By T. Scott Boatright
DALLAS — Now it gets real.
Riding a three-game win streak, the Grambling State Tigers open their 2024 Southwestern Athletic Conference season when they take on Prairie View A&M at 6 p.m. Saturday in the State Fair Classic at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Grambling stands at 3-1 on the season while Prairie View is 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the SWAC West. Grambling’s homefield 41-20 victory over Jackson State last Saturday did not count on the SWAC schedule.
The Tigers, who moved up for No. 4 in the BOXTOROW HBCU poll this week, lead the State Fair Classic series 28-10.
GSU head coach Mickey Joseph let defensive coordinator Jason Rollins handle the bulk of interview work this week. Joseph spent Monday in Dallas doing promotional work for the upcoming contest, but got a few words in from the Big D.
“We’re honored to be playing in this game,” Joseph said during a Dallas press conference. “We won’t get caught up in the sideshow. I’m excited and the team is excited.
“It’s a great atmosphere and a great crowd. We’re playing pretty good football right now, but that was last week. “We’re going to get ready for this one and hope we put on a good show. We’re happy, we’re excited and we’re ready to roll.”
Rollins’ crew was much of the talk Monday during the SWAC virtual press conference.
Grambling’s defense scored a pair of touchdowns against JSU with Caleb Collins returning a pick six 22 yards to paydirt and Patrick Marshall pouncing on a fumble in the JSU end zone for another TD.
Defensively, Grambling leads the FCS in defensive touchdowns with four and takeaways with 10, and is tied for second in fumbles recovered with four, and second in interceptions with four.
The G-Men also are atop FCS turnover margin statistics at 2.75 per game.
Rollins said the turnovers created by his defense haven’t been a coincidence.
“You get what you emphasize,” Rollins said about his defense. “We chart. Every strip attempt, it’s charted. Coach Joseph has certain segments of practice that are about protecting the ball and taking the ball away. So it’s kind of what you emphasize, and we’re getting a lot out of it.”
Rollins said the Tigers didn’t do anything different on defense last Saturday.
“We kept it simple and let our guys play fast and play with confidence. We didn’t do anything different from what we’d done in the past. We just kept it simple so they could get lined up and play as fast as they possibly could and as physical as they possibly could.”
Rollins said the Tigers are prepared to face a challenge against a talented Prairie View offense.
“They’re big and physical up front,” Rollins said. “They can put a body on a body and make and can move people.
“The quarterback (Cameron Peters) is very athletic and they have some explosive wideouts, so we’re going have to say on our Ps and Qs, be gap sound and play a solid game.”
Peters is averaging 177 yards passing per game and has hit on 46-of-90 attempts with four touchdowns and three interceptions while Shemar Savage leads the Panthers with 15 catches for 282 yards
“We’ve got to work on containing him because it’s hard to totally stop a guy of that caliber,” Rollins said of Savage. “We’re going to have a lot of eyes on him, I promise you that. He’s going to have our full attention.
“If I say anything else, they’re going to game plan for it. So I’ll leave it at that.”
Grambling’s run-heavy offense features transfers Ke’Travion “Bull” Hargrove” and Tre Bradford handling the bulk of the rushing chores.
Hargrove, a Ruston product who is a senior transfer from Memphis, leads the Tigers with 190 yards and three touchdowns on 44 rushing attempts while Bradford, who came to Grambling from LSU, has added 175 yards and two scores on 47 carries.
GSU quarterback Myles Crawford has connected on 65-of-122 passes (58 percent) for 762 yards and seven touchdowns while Javon Robinson leads the G-Men with 14 receptions for 136 yards and one TD.
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