By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — Every now and then a good team can snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.
Grambling State football coach Mickey Joseph has to be hoping that’s what he watched happen Saturday night.
Joseph’s Tigers tied the contest with 10 seconds left in regulation before racing a scoop and score fumble recovery in overtime to rally for a 37-31 overtime win over Kentucky State at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.
Confirmation of the win came after an approximately video review of a third-and-four situation for the Thorobreds offense in the first overtime period before it was determined the KSU’s Jon McCall had fumbled the ball at the Grambling 17-yard line before Tigers defensive back Tyrell Raby picked it up and outraced everyone to the opposite end zone for the unlikely overtime win.
“I want to take my hat off to Kentucky State,” Joseph said. “Like we expressed to the boys at the beginning of the season, anytime any team plays Grambling, it’s their Super Bowl. I didn’t get my team ready. I’ve got to get their focus that when people come to play Grambling that’s it’s going to be their Super Bowl. I’ve got to do a better job with my players, and I’ve got to do a better job with my coaches. And I will. I will get it done.
“But Kentucky State fought, and I’ve got to take my hat off to them because I knew they would fight. I knew they wouldn’t give up and that they would fight to the end. They showed that last week. But sometimes a loss can beat you twice. That loss (at Ohio State) didn’t hurt us last week. It was today. My players have to block out the noise and focus on one play at a time.”
That seemingly didn’t happen for Joseph’s Tigers for much of the game against the Thorobreds.
GSU was held to a three-and-out series on the game’s opening possession before punting with the Thorobreds taking over at their own 31.
Kentucky State then marched 69 yards on nine plays to take a 7-0 advantage at the 8:33 mark of the opening stanza.
After holding the Tigers to another three-and-out, the Thorobreds were back at it on their second possession, using a misdirection run game to march 60 yards on eight plays to take a 14-0 lead with 2:21 left in the first quarter after Chad Elzy slashed seven yards left fo the score.
Joseph admitted he didn’t expect to see all the misdirection Kentucky State’s offense threw at his Tigers. But in hindsight, he also admitted he wasn’t surprised.
“You have to understand that football is a copycat game,” Joseph said. “We saw those same plays last week. We went over those plays in corrections. We’ve got to gap it out. That’s not going to be the last time this team sees that.
“I’ve got to do a better job with the defense. We’ve got to do a better job. Now, (our defense) played a helluva game in the second half. But we can’t give up points like that. And on offense, we can’t stall. We’ve got to do better on special teams. We had two holding calls on special teams. We’re making bonehead plays on special teams and we’ve got to get that fixed. Like I said, everything is my fault. I take the blame.”
Grambling finally got on the scoreboard on a 23-yard Josh McCormick field goal with 12:18 left in the second quarter before cutting Kentucky State’s lead to 14-10 with 8:39 remaining in the first half as quarter C’zavian Teasett fired a 12-yard scoring strike to George Tyson.
The Thoroughbreds counterpunched with an 11-yard touchdown pass but the Tigers roared back 1:01 later as Teasett took a quarterback keeper to the left and raced 13 yards to paydirt with 1:10 left in the first half to cut Kentucky State’s lead to 21-17 at intermission.
“They’re going to fight,” Joseph said. “We’re raising them that way — to fight. But we’ve got to get them to focus and make them understand who they are. They have to understand they play at Grambling. I keep telling them — one family, one legacy. Back in the day, somebody from Grambling whooped someone from that team’s family and they don’t like Grambling.
“So, when other teams come in here, it’s their Super Bowl. I’ve got to drive it into them that they’ve got to get ready for a Super Bowl whoever they play. You can’t read your press clippings. You can’t worry about people patting you on the back. You gotta work. You’ve got to focus and finish, and we didn’t do that today.”
Grambling’s defense tightened things up after halftime, allowing the Tigers to take their first lead of the game at 24-21 when Teasett connected with Keith Jones Jr. on a 36-yard touchdown pass with 3:51 left in the third quarter.
Jones finished with two catches for 84 yards.
“Kid played two years of football,” Joseph said of Jones. “I found the kid on the basketball court. Kid played two years of football at Edna Karr and comes from a championship program. It’s not too big for him. He just has to learn how to play the game. Keith’s a pro. I’m hoping I have enough loot to keep him here. But he’s a pro and he doesn’t blink.
Kentucky State regained the lead at 28-24 midway through the fourth quarter and stretched that lead to seven points with a 43-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining.
Grambling took over at its own 25-yard line on the ensuing possession and using a no-huddle offense, Teasett marched the Tigers 75-yards and calling his own number on an 11-yard scoring scamper with 10 seconds left on the clock to tie things up at 31-31 and push the game to overtime.
“I take my hat off to (offensive coordinator Shyrone) Carey for calling a helluva game, because I had to give it to him after a while because I had to focus on other things. Coach Carey did a helluva job coaching. (Offensive line coach Erik) Losey, (running backs coach Kris) Peters, (tight ends coach Wyatt) Anderson, (wide receivers coach Reggie) Moore — the offensive staff did a helluva job and just kept grinding, working together.”
Grambling won the toss in overtime and elected to defer. The Thoroughbreds were then held to no gain on a first-down run before completing a six-yard pass on second down to set up what became the game’s final play.
On third-and-four KSU quarterback Torrence Bardell hit McCall on a pass at the GSU 17, but Tryell Raby stripped the ball from McCall’s hands, reached down and grabbed before kicking on the afterburners and racing 83 yards to the end zone to give Grambling the win following a long wait for the officials’ final decision on confirming the fumble.
Joseph admitted he had doubts before the officials finally announced the play stood and the Tigers went into celebration mode.
“No, I haven’t,” Joseph said when asked if he had ever coached a game like that one. ““I thought Grambling was going to be Grambling. I thought they were going to say it was fourth down (by overturning the initial call of the KSU fumble in overtime). But nobody blew a whistle.”
Teasett completed 13-of-27 passes for 228 yards and two scores while adding 99 rushing yards and another touchdown on nine carries.
The Tigers (2-1) return to Robinson Memorial Stadium next weekend as they play host to East Texas A&M (0-2) for a game that will kick off at 7 p.m. Saturday.
