Bayou Classic 2003

Here are keys for a revved-up Classic
GSU, Southern look to be equals in statistical game
November 25, 2003

By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
On paper, the Bayou Classic couldn't be more evenly matched.

Southern and Grambling State rank No. 1 and 2 in scoring offense in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

They are also Nos. 1 and 2 on third-down conversions, fourth-down conversions and allowing third-down conversions.

The positions are reversed - with Grambling at No. 1 and Southern at No. 2 - when digging into the numbers on pass offense, total offense and first downs.

It makes for yet another storyline as Southern faces GSU on Saturday in the 30th playing of the Bayou Classic. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at the Superdome.

The winner also advances to face Alabama State in the SWAC championship game two weeks from Saturday in Birmingham, Ala.

"The fact that everything is on the line means you'll see a whole different game," said Melvin Spears, GSU's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. "It will be a more methodical game - on both sides."

So, it's tempting to get lost in the addition and subtraction - to get stat happy.

Too, individuals on each team follow the same eyelash-thin margin of success, with GSU's Tramon Douglas leading the SWAC in receiving yards per game - followed by Southern's Chris Davis.

Grambling State's Bruce Eugene leads the SWAC in passing yardage per game and total offense, with SU's Quincy Richard in second.

GSU's Douglas and Moses Harris are tops in conference receptions, followed by Davis.
SU's Montie Ackley is third overall in scoring, with GSU's Brian Morgan and Douglas at fourth and fifth.

Douglas is second and Richard is third in touchdowns. Grambling State's Seneca Lee is second and Southern's Erin Damond is third in passes defended.

Put away the on-paper comparisons, however, and the similarities slow considerably.
We explore the more subtle differences in these two teams, nuances that could tip the scales one way or another this weekend:

GRAMBLING LOSES IF:
It plays another slow starting, unfocused first half.

The Tigers have been inattentive for long periods of time this season, often letting lesser opponents hang around long enough to make Grambling State's wins far more interesting than they should have been.

The Tigers more than doubled their points in the second half in seven of 11 games this season.

Quarterback Bruce Eugene and his receivers were also guilty of thoughtless mistakes in execution that prevented GSU from putting opponents away, notably against McNeese State.

That's exactly how Grambling State fell to Southern last year. "We squandered five or six opportunities," Tigers coach Doug Williams said.

Calvin Colquitt lost a ball in the end zone when a SU defender smacked him. Thyron Anderson and Moses Harris dropped passes, Williams said. Douglas fumbled inside the 5-yard line. There was a bad snap.

"When you think about those things," Williams said, "if we just correct them, we'll be a better football team."

The usual deficit isn't something that GSU can recover from against Southern. The Jags' defense, though not particularly quick, is far too disciplined to allow the obvious comeback play late.

SOUTHERN LOSES IF:
It gets the big eyes.

The Jaguars played with reckless abandon last year - beginning with an opening onside kick. Arriving with a 5-6 record, Southern played like it had nothing to lose ... because it didn't.

A year later, Southern has doubled that mark for wins. But the Jaguars have to avoid thoughts of their more recent troubles - including a 19-15 mark in the previous three campaigns.

"It's a learning process for this team to be in this position," SU coach Pete Richardson told The (Baton Rouge) Advocate this week. "The more you win, the more you have to prepare to keep winning."

Southern had some odd misfires against Lincoln and Texas Southern - including a stunning eight turnovers - down the stretch, suggesting that the Jaguars were having trouble handling success.

The last time a win at the Bayou Classic meant advancing to the SWAC Championship game was in 2001. A banged-up Southern team fell 30-20.

SOUTHERN WINS IF:
It can somehow find a way to recapture some turnover mojo.

The Jaguars came racing out of the gate, picking off 12 passes in their first five games - returning three for touchdowns. Southern then cooled off considerably, snatching just one pass in the final five contests.

"We have to be ready, be disciplined, bring our `A' game," secondary coach Henry Miller told The Advocate. "They'll be our biggest test (as a secondary), and we'll be theirs, too."

A good eye for the errant pass is kryptonite to GSU's super-powered offense - one that, despite the occasional tip of the hat to a running game, is always predicated on the deep pass.

If Southern's conservative defensive scheme exploits that aggressiveness with timely interceptions, the Jaguars can duplicate last year's success: Eugene has three interceptions in 2002, with one returned for a touchdown.

GRAMBLING WINS IF:
It remains patient - on offense and defense.

Fans love the lightning-strike score. But a more considered attack, featuring intermediate passes and the odd inside running play, should open up the game for more drama late. Texas Southern gained 139 yards in the first half alone against SU, slowly building a lead before falling on a last-minute play.

"The quarterback has to take what they give him," Spears said. "We'll have to do the little things on offense. Catch the ball. Play well on third down."

Grambling State is in a far different position than it enjoyed last season, when the Tigers had clinched a trip to the SWAC championship game whether they won in New Orleans or not. That could have contributed to a lackadaisical approach to the 2002 Bayou Classic.

Grambling State needs to guard against seeing the reverse come true this year - that is, risking too much too early on offense in a bid to earn a fourth-straight title try.

Meanwhile, a second season with offensive coordinator David Oliver has stabilized that unit. The Jags are eating up the clock, even while averaging a Division I-AA-leading 42 points per game in scoring offense.

"We've got to control field position," Spears said. "They have elements of a wide-open offense in their scheme, but in the end they try to control the ball."

SU quarterback Quincy Richard will also gamble. He's had 12 interceptions on the year - with half of those coming in SU's final three games against Allen, Lincoln and Texas Southern.

Containment rushes might spring GSU's corners for their own game-turning interceptions.

g g g
GSU wants same routine for week
·As several Tigers fight flu bug, team starts prep work for year's `biggest' game.
November 24, 2003

By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - They move practices to Eddie Robinson Stadium.

But Grambling State coaches try not to alter their routine in anticipation of the annual game against Southern - despite the glitz and the history and the long bye week that precedes it.

"We're not changing anything," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "We know each other too well."

The 30th Bayou Classic, broadcast nationally on NBC, is Saturday at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Grambling State is undefeated in Southwestern Athletic Conference play, while Southern has one SWAC loss.

"Emotion is always going to play a part," said GSU offensive coordinator and assistant head coach Melvin Spears, "in a game of this magnitude."

But rarely more so than this year, it would seem: The winner of the game advances to face Alabama State in the SWAC Championship game two weeks later in Birmingham, Ala.

"This is what we want, though," Spears said. "This is what we are after. I think the players are going to rise to the occasion."

That a fourth-straight championship berth is at stake only adds another layer of intrigue in the onion of pressure, expectation and rivalry that surrounds this game.

"You've got some fans who would rather be 1-10, if you won the Bayou Classic. But I don't think that way - and I try to make sure none of the coaches think that way," Williams said. "Our goal is to get to Birmingham. It just so happens that, this year, the Bayou Classic is the only way we can get there."

This is the first bye week of three this season where Grambling State isn't coming off a loss. GSU fell to San Jose State and McNeese State in out-of-conference play.

"When you lose, you want to jump right back into it," senior receiver Tramon Douglas said. "Sitting out, though, it helps your team with injuries."

More particularly, in the case of Grambling State, it helps with illness: Nine different players have missed practice since the Nov. 15 win over Savannah State because of a stampeding flu bug.

Spears said some starters are likely to miss out on conditioning while they try to get well.

"It's going to stagnate you a little, with respect to preparation," Spears said. "But I'm not particularly worried about it. Michael Jordan put up 50 one night with the flu. When it comes to crunch time, they've got to be ready to go."

That's because, once again, a long season finishes with a flourish in New Orleans.

The big-game atmosphere holds true, whether the Bayou Classic has championship implications or not: Last season, Southern entered the game at 5-6, but still easily defeated the defending SWAC champions.

In fact, Grambling has gone 1-for-5 in the Bayou Classic since Williams took over for Robinson - even while the Tigers have won a trio of conference titles. Southern now has a one-game edge since its founding in 1974.

"I don't get caught up in that one-game syndrome," Williams said. "If I did, we might not have won the SWAC championship last year after we lost the Bayou Classic."

Coaches think a year that included not just every SWAC team, but also the nation's No. 1 Division I-AA school - McNeese State - will be a crucible for success this year. The season started with a national television audience for that first-in-the-nation opener against San Jose State on ESPN2.

"We communicated to our guys that week in and week out, you're going to play a big game," Spears said. "I think the fact that we've had such a tough schedule will make them much more fit for the Bayou Classic."

g g g
SWAC title hinges on this Classic
· Grambling State-Southern winner goes on to the conference championship game.
November 29, 2003

By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - "There's nothing like walking out of that tunnel at the Bayou Classic in the Superdome," said Grambling State offensive coordinator and assistant head coach Melvin Spears. "It's another whole level."

Never moreso than during the Classic's 30th playing today - the first game in years that hasn't been overshadowed by the rivalry of Grambling State and Southern itself.

The winner of this afternoon's Classic advances as the Western Division champion in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game in two weeks. The loser goes home.

"It's for all the marbles," said GSU coach Doug Williams, now 1-4 in this heralded rivalry game between the SWAC's only Louisiana schools.

So, this traditional bellwether game rings louder than ever.

In keeping, GSU has game-planned relentlessly - trying to outguess and ultimately outplay Southern and outcoach Pete Richardson.

The same is true down in Baton Rouge. "This year," Richardson said, "the magnitude of the game has changed a bit."

An assumption might be that today's contest will be a shootout, with Grambling State and Southern finishing the 2003 season at the top of most significant offensive categories.

"I think it will be more of a ball-control-type game," Spears countered. "It will be very, very methodical for both teams."

GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene agreed. "They just sit back," he said, "and wait for you to make a mistake. We've been known as a vertical offense. But we'll have to take what they give us."

Experience at cornerback and safety - where three of the four defenders are a senior - could also help GSU fight off Southern's impressive attack. "In a game of his magnitude, they'll have to step up to make plays," said GSU defensive coordinator Heishma Northern.

A hard-fought contest usually whittles itself down to individual plays, often on special teams. Southern changed the momentum of the Bayou Classic last year with an opening onside kick - and forced Grambling State to make mistakes as it tried to come from behind.

"We'll have to make plays," Williams said. "And I think we can. Our linebackers weren't what they are now. Our front four wasn't either."

Also at stake for Grambling State: A record fourth-straight SWAC championship. The Tigers won a quartet of titles before, a series begun when Williams was quarterback at GSU, but they only did so by sharing the championship. With the founding of a title game in 1999, the SWAC now crowns an outright champion each year.

"Southern," Spears said, "is in the way. We only have one objective - and that's to be in Birmingham."

Last year, Grambling State had clinched a trip to the SWAC championship game - whether the Tigers won in New Orleans or not. That could have contributed to a lackadaisical approach, as GSU fell 48-24.

"The last three years, there wasn't a lot of pressure about who won," Richardson said.

Sadly, the less significance the game has actually had, the more cherished add-on events have taken center stage. The Bayou Classic can in some ways become an event that has little to do with football.

"To me, the No. 1 priority should be football," Williams said. "That bothers me a little."

Those worries dissipated this year.

Southern has built its modern reputation on measured actions - something that has keyed a nine-of-10 win streak in the Bayou Classic. Grambling State coaches said they hope to match the Jaguars' patience today.

"We'll have to mix it up - and play smart," Northern said. "We want to take away the running game, make them one dimensional. If you look at how the quarterback played late in the year (when Quincy Richard had more than half of his 12 interceptions coming in the season's final three games), and we stay patient, we ought to be able to get some turnovers."

Say what?: Any in-state rivalry features a spicy roux of smack, garbage talk and innuendo.

That's always been true of the Bayou Classic - whether the phone lines carried human voices or, in the new century, Internet buzz.

One rumor - spread from neighbors to SWACfootball.com - had quarterback Bruce Eugene injuring three fingers on his throwing hand in practice this week.

It wasn't true. Eugene jammed the small finger on his non-throwing hand.

Not that everyone at Grambling didn't have some fun with it, anyway: Spears jokingly asked that the news be put on the front page.

"I didn't practice all week. My status for the game never looked good," Eugene said, laughing. "We'll be running the ball."

Williams had a theory on how it all got started: "I think somebody saw him come off the field and saw him holding his hand," he said.

Tiger bites: Eugene, a New Orleans native, has 55 relatives and friends coming to the game. ... GSU's Spears said, despite two weeks of game-planning for Southern, that he will not map out the game's first series today. That's not his style. "We're not a scripted team," Spears said. "We go with what they give us. We don't have a set template, not even for the first play." ... Southern quarterback Quincy Richard is 1-1 in Bayou Classic games.

g g g
30 (was really) something
· Southern just a little better than GSU in another wild showdown
November 30, 2003

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS- A see-sawing year for Grambling State could have only ended with an up-and-down game against Southern on Saturday.

There were five lead changes - and neither team could separate itself from the other by more than 10 points.

"From the fans' standpoint, this was a great game," said GSU coach Doug Williams. "For TV, this was a great game."

But for the Tigers, this was also a game that prevented them from advancing to a fourth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.

This teetering struggle was not decided until Eugene tossed an interception to SU's Erin Damond with 1:08 left. Southern won 44-41 in front of just over 70,000 at the Louisiana Superdome and a national television audience on NBC.

"We were fortunate to have the ball in the end," said Southern coach Pete Richardson - who, with the win, advances to his first title match since 1999.

Moments after the clock ran down, tears trickling down his face, Eugene remained speechless.

"I can understand that," Williams said. "But I told him to hold his head up. Bruce Eugene doesn't have anything to be ashamed of. For the past two years, he's been the horse we've rode - and hopefully next year, he'll be the horse we ride again."

As with the bulk of the Tigers' 10-3 campaign in 2003, eye-popping hot streaks were followed by ever-so-slow periods of sluggishness.

GSU recovered from an early touchdown by the Jaguars to pull ahead 17-7 as the second period began, but then didn't score again until midway through the third quarter - when Brian Morgan hit a field goal to make it 20-16.

Southern's Quincy Richard answered with a 65-yard touchdown pass to push the Jaguars back out in front, 22-20. One 76-yard touchdown pass from Eugene to Henry Tolbert later, and GSU regained the lead.

The crowd followed along with the yo-yoing scoreboard. One side was up, then the same side was down.

The issue seemed to have been settled when, four minutes into the fourth quarter, a Eugene fumble followed the fourth of five Richard touchdown passes. The Jaguars were again ahead by 10. Then GSU's Lennard Patton - a defensive tackle! - rumbled 40 yards to score on an interception. The Southern lead was cut to 37-34.

Ebb, then flow.

Perhaps none of that should have been a surprise, coming as it did from a Grambling State team that so often ran hot and cold in 2003.

Comebacks over Alabama State and Jackson State were thrilling, but perhaps unnecessary had the Tigers played better early.

Grambling State ran side by side with the nation's best Division I-AA school at home against McNeese State, then was held scoreless in the fourth quarter against winless Savannah State in Robinson Stadium.

An emotion-packed game like the Bayou Classic played on those tendancies, as momentum veered wildly - sometimes seeming to change not with every possession, but with every play.

Facing a seemingly insurmountable third-and-seven on its own 15 in the third quarter, SU's Richard connected on two consecutive long passes, for 38 and 28 yards, to set up another score.
Suddenly, Southern was up by three. They never relinquished the lead.

Still, thought, it was back ... then forth.

All the while, touchdowns rained down in torrents, as players on both teams made the Superdome look like their own back yard.

There were eight touchdown passes thrown, with Richard accounting for a 65-yard bomb and Eugene adding his own 76-yarder.

"It was going to be a dogfight," Williams said. "We knew that coming in. There was a lot to play for. It lived up to the hype."

Southern began the scoring with a Grambling-esque drive featuring a huge 43-yard catch by redshirt junior Alfred Ard.

There would be no conservative, ball-control offense - not when the Jaguars' first play featured five receivers out wide. Seven plays later, Southern took its first lead of the game.

But a seven-play drive for 82 yards by SU was answered by a one-play, 71-yard drive by Grambling, as Eugene found a steaking Tim Abney down its own sideline.

That was the longest passing touchdown of the year for Grambling - and the longest of Eugene's already sparkling career.

Well, until the third quarter - when Eugene hit Tolbert for 76 yards and another score.

At one point, with 8:14 left in the first quarter, Eugene was stunning 2-for-3 for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 48 yards - primarily on a designed keeper play the team had worked on all week - while the Tigers built an early 10-point lead.

Make that a fleeting 10-point lead.

Up, then down.

Richard continued a nearly flawless early run: He was 20-for-22 in the first half, including a 15-yard strike to Adam Nelson, to trim Grambling State's lead to 17-16.

Richard was still picking the GSU backfield apart late into the afternoon, completing a 53-yard pass midway through the fourth quarter to keep Southern ahead 44-34.

"You never knew which one of those guys is going to show up," GSU defensive coordinator Heishma Northern said. "Is it going to be the group who held Jackson State scoreless in the second half? Or is it going to be the group of guys who got behind against Mississippi Valley?"

Brian Morgan missed a field goal to end the first half, then had another kick blocked to start the second. One play later, former Farmerville standout Dimitri Carr took advantage of a rare Richard mistake, picking him off for the first time all day.

To and fro.

This game was never going to be decided on the ground. With eight minutes left in the game, Richard already had more than 500 yards in the air.

Southern finished the initial period with just 19 yards on the rushing. Grambling didn't hand the ball off to a running back until just 40 seconds were left in the first quarter.

So, in the end, despite the uneven performance by Grambling State, an amazing aerial show on both sides made for perhaps the most exciting Bayou Classic ever. In truth, the magic of this contest had much to do with its very whip-sawing nature.

Even the 2000 game, usually cited as the best ever, was far less dramatic - if only because it was defined by a sustained comeback by Southern rather than an ever-in-doubt score.

"It's a classic," said Grambling State receivers coach Sammie White - himself the co-MVP of the first Bayou Classic ever played at the Superdome. "That's something, despite the ending, that you can never take away."

NUMBERS GAME
1,136 --Total yards of offense by GSU and Southern.
67% --Passes completed by both starting quarterbacks (60 of 90).
8 --Combined touchdowns scored from 20 yards or beyond by both teams.
3 --Years in a row GSU had won the conference crown before Saturday's loss sent Southern to the SWAC title game.
70,151 --Saturday's attendance.

g g g
GSU seniors close out stellar careers
November 30, 2003

By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - The Grambling State seniors of 1999 were the last to see their season end in New Orleans. Each group since has played two weeks after the Bayou Classic in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.

Saturday's slim 44-41 loss to Southern changed that.

"When I look at these players who are in their last Bayou Classic or their last game at Grambling, and what they have contributed, you want to put your arms around them," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "There has been blood, and sweat, and tears."

Two of the hardest-hit seniors were wide reciever Tramon Douglas and linebacker Antoine Smith.

Douglas had his lowest total yards since playing UAPB on Oct. 18, Douglas' first game back after minor knee surgery caused him to miss a month of the season.

Smith was involved in a scary first-half collision that broke his shin.

"It's disappointing because I didn't even finish the second quarter - and it was the last game of my career at Grambling," Smith said. "I was in so much pain it was tough for me to focus on everything that was going on on the field."

Douglas leaves GSU as the school leader in receptions (for a year and in a game), receiving yards and touchdowns - and the SWAC leader for receiving yards in a single season, a record previously held by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.

"I love him with all my heart," said GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene, who counted Douglas as his favorite target. "I'm hurting because we went out like this - for this to be his last game."

Douglas had a team-leading nine catches for 83 yards on Saturday.

"It's didn't hit me all week, and now it finally has - I'm losing my top receiver," said GSU receivers coach Sammie White. "We thought we were going to play another one."

Other seniors this year include: DE Calvin Arnold; DB Octavius Bond; SS John Brantley; DB Earin Bridges; WR Corey Brownfield; DL Traveres Comegys; WR Calvin Colquitt; TE Gershone Jessie; DB Seneca Lee; and OL Warner Stewart, among others.

"It becomes emotional in that dressing room," Williams said. "I always go back to something my dad used to tell me. We'd sit around, when he was living, and he'd say: `Man, the best of friends must part sometimes.' "

Bond finished with 146 yards on kickoff returns. Colquitt had four catches for 47 yards.

"It hasn't hit them yet," Williams said. "But they will miss Grambling. When Randy Hymes first left, and he was in Baltimore that first year, he'd call me. He'd say: `Coach, I wish I was still at Grambling.' It's just something about it. You missed being there. You miss being a part of it. It takes some getting used to."

Long time coming: One of the forgotten challenges for coaches in preparing for the Bayou Classic is hard-wired in its very celebrity: Playing a nationally broadcast game - something that requires frequent commercial timeouts - means that the action on the field only happens in fits and starts.

One quarter last season lasted more than an hour.

"It's a zoo up there," said Grambling State offensive coordinator Melvin Spears, who has to call plays based on situations and personnel in a matter of seconds. But then, on other occasions, he might have to wait 10 minutes between downs.

To combat the time constrictions, GSU for the first time used wristbands with codes for each play during Saturday's game. Every offensive player had one on.

"Even with the clock running, I can just give them a number," Spears said.

Too, there's a consideration that's a little less obvious: The coaches and players never get to experience the pageantry and pomp that is the Bayou Classic's halftime show.

Spears tapes it, for viewing after the season is over. "I've got them all," he said. "I make sure."

Asked who he picked in the Battle of Bands, Spears said: "There's no other. We've got the best band in the land!"

Hello, it's me: A sold-out game with a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game berth in the balance can rustle up old friends. Well, old friends looking for tickets, anyway.

Fans worked any connection they could remember to gain entrance into black college football's biggest annual contest.

Some were very, very old friends indeed: Williams heard from a grade-school classmate - "somebody I went to school with from first grade through integration, about ninth grade," he said.

"That's been, I bet you, 30 years. `I just called for a couple of tickets,' he said. He didn't ask how I was doing. Nothing!"

Every phone in the athletic support building at Grambling State rattled incessantly all week - echoing the scene at Southern in Baton Rouge.

"I can't imagine how many telephone calls I've received," SU coach Pete Richardson said. "Everybody is looking for tickets. I told them I'm not in the ticket business."

That job often falls on the assistants. GSU's offensive coordinator gave at least one interview with a phone stuck on one ear.

"This Classic has meant calls from people I haven't heard from in eight, nine, 10 years," said Spears. "All of a sudden, they show up asking: `What's been going on?' It's been 10 years! But, in some ways, that's understandable. In all actuality, this was the championship game."

Nothing personal?: Despite the heated nature of this game, there are several close connections between Grambling State and Southern.

SU linebackers coach Tom Lavigne holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from Grambling State.

GSU defensive coordinator Heishma Northern graduated from SU. He took over midseason from fellow Southern grad Michael Roach, when Roach took a leave of absence. Grambling State offensive line coach Marshall Hayes is also an SU graduate.

"But they want to win for Grambling now, because it's their job," Williams said. "It's a pride thing. The alumni sometimes get carried away and don't realize that, when it's all over, it's still a game. It's nothing personal."

Bayou bites: Southern has three players who prepped in northeastern Louisiana on its roster: sophomore defensive back Jarvis Bridges from Wossman; and sophomores Ronnie and Donnie Skinner from Tallulah High School. ... GSU's Smith and junior offensive lineman Darryl Rodgers were named to the Academic All-District VI second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Smith has a 3.52 grade-point average in electronic engineering technology. Rodgers has a 3.56 in draft engineering. ... Among those in attendance was former GSU quarterback James "Shack" Harris, now a front-office executive with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
SU-Kenneth Peoples 8-43, Gerald Holmes 6-34, Leon Miller 1-2, Davis 1-0, Richard 8-(minus-35).
GSU-Eugene 11-80, Reuben Mays 8-24, Kauuan 4-19, Henry Tolbert 1-9, Tramon Douglas 1-(minus-1).
PASSING
SU-Richard 34-42-2 552.
GSU-Eugene 26-48-2 409.
RECEIVING
SU-Lionel Joseph 8-67, Davis 7-128, Holmes 6-18, Ard 4-144, Bridges 4-122, James Vernon 3-54, Peoples 2-19.
GSU-Douglas 9-83, Abney 4-117, Tolbert 4-102, Calvin Colquitt 4-47, Moses Harris 3-45, Chris Day 2-15.

TEAM STATISTICS
SU/ GSU
FIRST DOWNS 24/ 24
Rushing 5/ 6
Passing 18/ 17
Penalty 1/1
RUSHING YARDS 44/ 131
Rushing attempts 24/ 25
PASSING YARDS 552/ 409
Comp-Att-Int 34-42-2/ 26-48-2
TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS 66/ 73
TOTAL NET YARDS 596/ 540
Average gain per play 9.0/ 7.4

PUNTS-AVERAGE 2-36.0/ 1-36.0
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1/ 1-1
PENALTIES-YARDS 4-31/ 8-60
PUNT RETURNS-YARDS 1-1/ 2-20
KICKOFF RETURNS-YARDS 8-156/ 8-186
INTERCEPTIONS-YARDS 2-8/ 2-45
THIRD-DOWN CONVERSION 6 of 10/ 6 of 13
FOURTH-DOWN CONVERSION 1 of 1/ 1 of 3
SACKS BY-YARDS 1-1/ 2-16
TIME OF POSSESSION 30:26/ 29:21