By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — Last week, the Grambling State football team pulled off the unlikeliest of rallies as the Tigers battled back from a 17-point deficit with 10:18 remaining, scoring 28 points in the final stanza to escape with a 63-59 win Saturday over Alcorn State in a wild Homecoming showdown.
Things don’t get any easier for the G-Men this week as they host Jackson State, the No. 1 team in HBCU football polls, in a 4 p.m. showdown at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium.
Grambling State stands at 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division, while Jackson State enters the game at 5-0 and 3-0 in the SWAC East.
After giving up 411 yards and five scores through the air in last week’s 63-59 comeback victory, Grambling State coach Mickey Joseph knows his team will need a stronger showing against a JSU offense that ranks fourth in FCS football and leads the SWAC in scoring offense with 39.8 points per game, while also ranking fifth among FCS teams and leading the SWAC in total offense with 471 yards per game.
Joseph said his team’s defensive struggles are evident in the numbers — the G-Men rank eighth in SWAC scoring defense (35.2 points per game), eighth in SWAC total defense (433.8 yards per game) and 11th in conference pass defense (270.2 yards per game).
“It’s not the scheme,” Joseph said. “It’s individuals. They’ve got to do what they’re coached to do. That’s why you gotta ask — you have to ask them what they saw. I think we’ve got to speed up the tempo in 7-on-7 with them and try to help them with that. We’re going to try to change some things around so they can see it and get them better this week.”
Offensively, GSU will be looking to build on a ground attack that saw the G-Men rush the ball 34 times for 229 yards — 6.7 yards per carry — with Jamarion Parker leading the team with 98 yards on the ground, while running back D’Shaun Ford and quarterback Ashton Frye each added a pair of rushing touchdowns.
“I think just keep handing it off and letting the back get hot back there and cut down the rotation with personnel like we did,” Joseph said. “I think that worked. We gotta continue to do that.
“By the third (offensive) series, we know what kind of (defensive) movement we’re going to get and how to handle it. We’ve got to continue to hand the ball off and clean up some things to make sure we’re getting better every week.”
Joseph said his G-Men will continue using a two-quarterback system with Jakobe Robinson and Frye as RJ Johnson III remains away from the team dealing with an undisclosed health issue, according to GSU officials.
“I think it’s working. I think it helps, sometimes, when the quarterback knows he’s on a short string and it makes him focus,” Joseph said. “Like on Ash’s pick (against Alcorn), it’s like, ‘Ash, you’ve got to read the safety.’ Ash said he didn’t see the safety. Well, if he didn’t see the safety, hand the ball off. Why would you throw it? Then Jakobe missed two long passes on hurry-ups that a D1 quarterback should make.
“Together, they played a good game. They played well enough for us to win. So, we will continue to use both of them until one of them separates themselves, but right now they’re not consistent enough to play the entire game.”
