By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — As the Alabama State and Grambling State football game moved into its final minute Saturday afternoon, it appeared once again the ball would bounce the wrong way for the G-Men, who were playing their 2024 home finale at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium.
GSU entered the contest having lost four of their last five games by a combined total of 14 points, including a pair by only two points.
So as Alabama State lined up to kick a 28-yard goal in the waning seconds, there was a feeling of deja vu doom in the Tigers’ minds.
But instead of bouncing the wrong way toward a loss, this time the ball drifted outside of the right goalpost upright into a 24-23 win for the Tigers, snapping a two-game losing skid.
GSU coach Mickey Joseph attributed the win to his G-Men remaining focused throughout the contest and sticking with a run game that totaled 224 yards and three touchdowns.
“We asked them to take one quarter at a time,” Joseph said. “And in that one quarter at a time, to take one play at time. I take my hat off to this team and my coaches, because nobody’s quit this year. Nobody’s quit. They play until the end. We might not play our best football for 60 minutes, but they never quit.
“So we knew we weren’t going to quit and said let’s just keep chopping wood. Let’s keep chipping away at it, chipping away at it and finally we got our break and said OK, we can run the ball. The O-line did a great job of moving people and getting a hat on a hat.”
Joseph said getting that tight game monkey off his team’s back was admittedly a relief.
“The thing is, the crowd is always great here at home and we always get good support here, so it’s good to get back home and win a tight one,” Joseph said. “I stepped into this situation (of taking over the GSU football program) and said let’s get it done now. And then I had to have a reality check and say that a lot of things have to go bad for everything to get right.
“But it’s starting to turn around. We’ve still got to clean up some penalties. But we’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to get some of those penalties. But we got some of the stupid ones, and those are the ones we’ve got to stop. But we can’t do nothing but grow from this game.”
Getting that tight game monkey off their backs didn’t come easy for the Tigers, who moved on top 10-3 at the 11:14 mark of the second quarter on a nine-yard scoring scamper by graduate running back Keilon Elder, found itself trailing 23-10 heading into the final stanza.
GSU’s comeback started with a six-yard touchdown run by senior Tre Bradford that cut the Hornets’ lead to 23-17 with 13:47 remaining in the contest.
Then the Tigers’ took advantage of a strip sack of ASU quarterback Kareem Keye by GSU freshman linebacker Jamal Jordan that gave Grambling possession on the Hornets’ 43-yard line with 8:45 left on the clock.
From there came three consecutive runs by Elder for four, seven and then four yards again before graduate running back Dedrick Talbert broke off a 14-yard scamper before powering his way for another 14 yards to paydirt that put the Tigers on top 24-23 with 6:19 remaining following Reed Harradine’s PAT kick.
Elder led the Tigers against Alabama State with 104 rushing yards on 17 attempts while Bradford added 42 yards on eight carries and Talbert added another 42 yards on nine totes with Hargrove contributing four touches for 15 yards.
While Hargrove and Bradford were the Tigers’ bellcow rushers early on, Joseph admitted seeing Elder and Talbert giving GSU a loaded and deep running back corps at this point of the season.
“You take your hat off to both of those kids, because both of those kids, when our backfield got full with ‘Bull’ and Bradford being a two-headed monster, those kids kept busting their tail on special teams,” Joseph said of Elder and Talbert. “They’re team guys, and that’s what you win with. Whatever we need those two kids to do, that’s what they’re going to do. They show great leadership.
“I want some of my young kids to model their careers off of those two, because it’s not always going to go your way. But you gotta keep fighting. And those two kept fighting and at the end of the game, Elder had over 100 yards rushing. And he’s been around here a while and loves Grambling. But you take your hat off to those two kids, because they stayed the course.”
Freshman quarterback Deljay Bailey, who made only his second start of the season in replacing injured Myles Crawley, the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Preseason Offensive Player of Year, did a solid job of controlling the game, completing six-of-12 passes for 76 yards.
“The kid is 19 years old,” Joseph said of Bailey. “I tell the team all the time, when I was 19, I was a senior in high school. Deljay is a tough cookie. He’s a strong-minded kid and that was his second start, so we’ve got to do the things that he can do. I don’t think he’s much of a dropback (quarterback). He’s more a RPO, quick game guy who can bootleg out of the pocket.
“But he showed good leadership skills. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t bat an eye when the game got close. And he ran the offense to perfection with the run game and putting us in the right plays, so we take our hat off to (offensive coordinator Eric Dooley) and getting (Bailey) caught up, because he hadn’t had a lot of reps this year. I think last week was the first time he played over 40 reps in his college career. So Deljay is going to be a good quarterback.”
Alabama State began its final drive at its own 20-yard line and marched down to the GSU 6 to set up a 28-yard field goal attempt by Brandon Gilliam with 53 seconds remaining.
Joseph admitted that the thought of losing another close game in the closing seconds was flowing through his mind as he watched that field goal attempt.
“I was saying drive, drive, drive to the interior guys and I was saying (GSU defensive back) David (Jones) , you’ve got to get there,” Joseph said. “We work on that every week — extra point or field goal block. So yes, we found ourselves in that situation again (of playing in a tight game going down to the wire).
“But I think by being in these tight games we didn’t panic, because we’ve been there before. The thought is this really going to happen again was going through our heads, but I was also thinking that, hey, we’ve got to pull this out. I’m happy they pulled it out, because there’ve been some tight games, and you get tired of going into the locker thinking, OK, we lost another tight game. And nobody gets a trophy for that. So we finally pulled one out and I’m tired of my players and my coaches for working so hard and not quitting.”
And as Gilliam’s kick sailed wide right, GSU’s seniors knew they were going to celebrate a win in their final game at Robinson Stadium.
“I give them a hard time and tell them that Senior Day doesn’t count — Senior Day only counts in high school,” Joseph said. “But you’re happy for those kids because those kids had to get into a new system, a new coaching. I’m their third head coach. So when you see those kids stick with the team and graduate from college and do things the right way — you’ve got to understand, it’s like being married three times. They’re thinking they adjust to one and now they’ve got to adjust to this new one, and then Mickey Joseph, who’s a firecracker, comes in, and there’s nothing laid back about him.
“So you take your hat off to them. I enjoy them, I love those kids and they’re always going to be part of my family, always going to be part of the Grambling family and they’re going to be very successful in life.”
Grambling, now 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the SWAC, will next play a road game kicking off at Alabama A&M at 7 p.m. Thursday.
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