by T. Scott Boatright
Defensive domination was the name of the game for Grambling State Saturday night as the Tigers roared to a 55-7 season-opening win over Langston before a crowd of 18,435 at the Shreveport Kickoff Classic inside Independence Stadium.
Grambling held the Lions to only 97 yards of total offense — 1.8 yards per snap — on the night, not allowing Langston to drive any deeper than the GSU 34 until the final 10 minutes of the contest.
The G-Men totaled five sacks on the night and created three Langston turnovers to help spark the win.
“I thought the depth at D-line was really good,” Joseph said. “I thought the linebackers and defensive backs played well. But I’ve got to get with our coaches and look at video because there were a lot of nontraditional, unscouted looks we faced with wide splits splitting it out there.
So, I take my hat off to our defensive coaches and players because there were a lot of unscouted looks. We didn’t have any offensive (info on Langston) from last year. We had to go look at where (Langton’s new offensive coordinator) came from.
“So, we really didn’t know what we were going to have to face, but our coaches did a really good job of preparing and then nobody — players or coaches — panicked when we got those unexpected looks from Langston’s offense. It was a good defensive game for us.”
A strip sack by graduate transfer defensive end Shayne Masonto that was recovered by Issac Washington set up Grambling’s first score on a 34-yard drive culminated with Andre Crews diving into the end zone on a six-yard scoring scamper at the 5:51 mark of the first quarter.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback C’zavian Teasett got the start behind center for the Tigers and made his first touchdown as a G-Man one to remember as he lofted a 55-yard scoring strike to Tyson George with 2:30 left in the opening stanza to push the GSU lead to 14-0.
Grambling cornerback Tyrell Raby, a graduate transfer from Memphis, set up GSU’s third score by hauling in an interception at the Langston 30 before returning it 29 yards to the Lions’ 1-yard line.
Two plays later, redshirt freshman running back Byron Eaton Jr. plunged to paydirt from one yard out to put Grambling up 21-0 with 10:15 left in the first half.
Graduate running back Tre Bradford accounted for GSU’ fourth score as he burst up the middle and raced 38 yards to the end zone to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 28-0 at the 4:07 mark of the second quarter.
Grambling’s fifth and final score of the first half came on a 3-yard Teasett pass to senior tight end Covadis Knighten 2:07 before intermission.
Teasett’s third scoring strike came with 8:34 left in the third quarter as he hit senior receiver Barron Miles on a 3-yard touchdown pass before sophomore quarterback Ashton Frye joined GSU’s scoring parade by hitting sophomore receiver Andrew Frazier on an 11-yard touchdown pass that made it 48-0 GSU after the PAT kick was blocked.
“I was happy with Teasett and him finishing up 20-of-25 (passing for 203 yards),” Joseph said. “Those are good numbers for me. But he missed some throws I thought he should hit. But he had some drops (by receivers), too.
“But I thought he was poised. He didn’t let this atmosphere get to him in the first time being in a Grambling uniform, especially with the tradition that we do have at quarterback here at Grambling. I thought the kid played well. He can’t do anything but get better. So we’re going to continue to push Teasett to get better.”
Frye, the runner between the two Grambling quarterbacks, first entered the game on a fourth-and-two situation that Joseph called his first timeout to set up.
But Frye was stuffed on that play for no gain before bouncing back to complete six-of-eight passes for 44 yards and the touchdown to Frazier.
“Ash played a good game,” Joseph said about Frye. “We put him in there that first play to hit the A gap, we’ve been preaching that in practice, but he tried to bounce it (outside). That’s why we kept Ash in the game so long. He hasn’t played a lot and we wanted to be sure he got the reps he needs.
“But I think both quarterbacks played well, but they will get better, and we’ll need them to.”
Grambling’s final score came with 12:56 remaining when Tony Phillips slashed through the Langston defensive line on an 11-yard touchdown run.
Grambling’s running back by committee offense saw four different Tigers score rushing touchdowns.
Bradford led the way with 56 yards on six carries.
But GSU’s four younger running backs also played key roles.
Clyde McClendon Jr. totaled 52 yards on 10 rushes, Crews added 47 yards on nine carries, Crews ran nine times for 47 yards, Eaton Jr. recorded 46 yards on seven attempts, and Phillips chipped in with 23 yards on five times toting the rock.
“I had a lot of success at Nebraska as a player on an offense that used three, four, five running backs, because they all had different styles,” Joseph said. “They all hit it a little differently. So, I was really pleased the way our young kids ran the ball.
“Tre’s going to be Tre. He put the ball on the ground and I wasn’t happy about that, the ball getting punched out like that. But Tre’s a pro. I was really happy with the young kids and the way they played with a lot of grit. They were good at (pass) protections. They just have to work at getting better every time they hit the practice field.”
The main negative takeaway for Joseph came in the final stanza as Grambling went to its reserves and Langston was able to score its lone touchdown on a 21-yard pass with 9:22 left on the clock.
“We came in wanting to establish the run (offensively) and stop the run (defensively),” Joseph said. “For the most part, we did that. I thought we were clean for about three quarters. I thought the fourth quarter wasn’t clean when we went to some of our backups, and that’s no excuse. We tell our backups they have to prepare like they’re starters. We wanted to finish clean.
“So, I was disappointed with that. Like I told my coaches that everybody is going to be judged on those backups. The coaches are going to have to ask some questions, and those kids are going to have to answer some questions (in team meetings later today) about why that happened. But overall, I want to congratulate my staff and congratulate my players. … I’m excited we were able to win this game, but I wasn’t happy about that.”
Next up for Grambling is a 2:30 p.m. contest next Saturday at Ohio State.
“It was a good win,” Joseph said of the victory over the Lions. “Langston is a good football team and that will show by season’s end. They’re a good NAIA football team and Coach (Quinton) Morgan is going to get them to rally back from this.
“We just want to get better every time we hit the practice field,” Joseph said. “So (today) is ‘Tell the Truth’ Sunday and we’ll get back to our routine.”
