Bayou Classic 2007

BAYOU CLASSIC 2007: Robinson said emotional goodbye a decade ago
November 21, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — The 1997 Bayou Classic won't be remembered as much of a game, with Southern breezing to a 30-7 victory.

Grambling State, in fact, managed just eight first downs, and was one-of-10 on third down. Southern held GSU to a season-low 123 yards of total offense.

Yet the 23rd edition of this legendary rivalry game — a blowout before 64,500 at the Superdome in New Orleans — stands as one of the most cherished in the series, since it marked the final contest coached by Grambling's Eddie Robinson.

Robinson, at the time, tried to down play things.

"I'm really not trying to think of this game as my last," he said, days before kickoff. "It's there in the back of my mind, but I'm really just trying to take this as just the next game we have to try to win."

That's not the way it turned out, of course, as a final loss marked the end of the late Robinson's sterling 57-season career. His career tally: 408 wins, with 165 losses and 15 ties over 45 winning seasons.

There was more to it, though, then and now.

"During that last game, I'll never forget looking into his eyes," said former Grambling offensive lineman Toriano Young, a Wossman product. "He had a couple of tears rolling out. He said: 'I tried to teach you as football players, but most of all as young men.' You won't find too many coaches who would talk about not just about football, but also the game of life."

Now, a decade later, the Bayou Classic is set for kickoff at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Superdome — without Robinson, its cofounder. He succumbed to complications from Alzheimer's seven months ago at age 88.

"The game itself has continued — and, for our family, there is a feeling of pride and accomplishment," said Eddie Robinson Jr., a former player who coached alongside his father for 15 seasons. "The feeling on that last day, in his last game, is something you really can't describe, though — even if you've lived it."

The emotions surrounding the 1997 Bayou Classic continue to resonate, even if the contest was over almost before it began.

LOSS NEVER IN DOUBT

Southern jumped out to a quick 20-point lead in 1997, as quarterback Marcus Jacoby connected on touchdown passes of 3 and 16 yards, while kicker Chris Diaz hit field goals of 32 and 39 yards.

"We couldn't give you a show," Robinson lamented after the game. "They played better from the beginning."

Grambling answered at 8:42 in the second period with a 49-yard catch and run by Silas Payne, but could not find the end zone again.

The deflating finale was particularly frustrating for offensive coordinator Melvin "Jim" Lee, a former standout for Robinson on GSU's undefeated 1955 teams who later served for 40 seasons as his assistant.

Lee's tenure on the sidelines included more than 300 of Robinson's wins, but concluded with six straight stumbles over that emotional season. The program, hobbled by integration, had become the victim of passing-game inconsistencies — and passing times.

"The kids tried their very best," Lee said, "but we just didn't have the talent."

More than 250 credential requests were filled, overflowing the Superdome's allotment of 175 seats for the media. The locker room and stands teemed with well-known Grambling products, including Willie Davis, James Harris, Ernie Ladd and Roosevelt Taylor. Charles Smith, Henry Dyer, Mike Williams, James Hunter, Elfrid Payton and Trumaine Johnson were also spotted.

"He was really touched by that," Robinson Jr. said.

Still, the very attention that Robinson so richly deserved as he concluded an immortal college football career — he still holds the Division I record for victories — ended up working against Grambling on that Saturday in November 1997.

"Everybody did us a favor by putting all the attention on Eddie Robinson," Southern coach Pete Richardson said then. "We just had to come in and do what we usually do."

That was win, and handily. Richardson would never fall to Robinson, and claimed two of Southern's four SWAC titles of the 1990s during his final seasons at Grambling.

"My dad never really looked at it from a personal standpoint. He just wanted to beat Southern — whoever was the coach," Robinson Jr. said. "Pete was a guy who had some good athletes. He and his staff just did a good job of coaching, not just against Grambling but against everybody."

THEN, AN EMOTIONAL SENDOFF

When this one was over, Jacoby had added a third touchdown for Southern, and the second TD toss to John Foreman, before Diaz finished the scoring with a three-pointer from 27 yards with five minutes remaining.

As the clock, and Robinson's career, winded down, GSU players like Young and defensive back Fahkir Brown could sense the enormity of the moment.

"It's a great honor, playing in his last game," Brown, now an NFL starter for the St. Louis Rams, said after the game. "I know I was playing my hardest."

Robinson's counsel still resonates for Young, called "Big Preacher" back then.

"I'm glad I got a chance, this privilege, to play under a legend in his own time," Young said. "I may not ever see him again, but I know I got chance to play for him — and to build a father-son relationship with him."

In the end, Silas — named Grambling's player of the game — led all Tigers' receivers with four catches for 76 yards. GSU quarterback Michael Kornblau only completed two other passes for 14 additional yards. Wingback Frank Bailey led the Tigers with fewer than 30 rushing yards.

Defensively, linebacker Claudell Sanford — who also kicked off for Robinson — topped all GSU tacklers with 11, adding a fumble recovery. Lineman DeCarlos "Los" Holmes, a former All-Northeast standout at Grambling High and now an assistant at Bastrop, added nine tackles — including four for a loss.

"It wasn't a really good memory because we lost," Robinson Jr. said. "That, combined with it being his last one, I would say we had mixed emotions. But the send off that the fans gave him? I thought that was great."

Robinson left the game in style, to cheers from both sides of the stadium. The Chrysler Minority Dealers Association presented the then-78 year old with a 1998 Dodge Intrepid during post-game festivities.

"We're so proud to be playing in this facility, in the state of Louisiana and in the greatest country in the world," Robinson said then, fighting back tears.

He also stopped to accept a call from President Bill Clinton.

"Mr. President," Robinson said, "to be here with my friends, and people I know and love, and to be talked to you, this is indeed a great honor."

Then just after 5 p.m., he began to make his way out of the Superdome.

"Wait, Coach," a Superdome official said, as Robinson turned the key on the Intrepid. "There is a press conference to go to next."

The event and all of its attendant duties had almost been lost in the hoopla, the game very nearly turned into a sideshow. But, in this instance, it was appropriate. Robinson's towering achievements deserved no less.

"I saw a lot of evidence of him taking it all in later," Robinson Jr. said. "The way he was treated, and the way he was honored, really hit him then."

The College Football Hall of Fame would waive its mandatory three-year waiting period following retirement for Robinson, notifying him just weeks later of his induction.

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NEW ROBINSON SPECIAL

NBC Sports will air the documentary "Every Man a Tiger: The Eddie Robinson Story" a half hour before the Bayou Classic on Saturday.

"NBC came in and spent a lot of time with us," said Eddie Robinson Jr., who coached with his father for 15 years. "We're just thankful to have him and the family recognized like that."

The 30-minute special will be presented commercial-free at 12:30 p.m. by State Farm. A trailer of the film can be viewed at www. nbcsports.com/robinson.

The longtime former Grambling coach passed last April at age 88.

— Nick Deriso, nderiso@thenewsstar.com

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BAYOU CLASSIC 2007: With plenty still to play for, Grambling moves past ULM loss
November 20, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Losing to ULM, as emotional as that was, is behind them now.

Sure, Grambling State's stumble goes on the overall ledger, but this week's Southern game counts.

In the standings, and in the lore surrounding this program.

GSU had won eight Southwestern Athletic Conference contests, including seven in row, before falling against that nearby upper-classification foe two weeks ago. A win against Southern, though, would complete a second undefeated league run in two seasons.

The Bayou Classic kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Superdome in New Orleans, and will be broadcast nationally on NBC.

"We're still 8-2," said first-year coach Rod Broadway. "We're undefeated in our league, and we're proud of that. Our goal is to win the conference championship."

Grambling secured a berth in that match by beating Alabama State on Nov. 3. Next came a two-touchdown loss to ULM.

"As much as we wanted that game, it's not a conference game," said record-breaking senior Grambling receiver Clyde Edwards, a Houston native. "We're still undefeated in SWAC. Now, we're getting ready for Southern."

Even locals like junior quarterback Brandon Landers, who prepped at Monroe's Carroll High, have put the disappointment behind them.

"Life goes on. We're focused on Southern, on the game at hand," said Landers, who is 1-1 as a starter in the Bayou Classic. "We've put that behind us; now we are focusing on the next opponent."

Southern, at 7-3 overall and 5-3 in league action, has fallen into third place in the SWAC's Western Division, taking some of the intrigue out of Saturday's game. But not much.

"If I have heard it one time," Broadway said, "I have heard it a thousand times: 'We don't care how you do, as long as you beat Southern."

Either the Jaguars or GSU have now advanced to represent the West at the SCG in seven of its eight total editions. Grambling has established a 4-0 record, while Southern is 2-1.

With a trip to the next championship contest already assured, Grambling has a chance to continue a decade of dominance that has run unabated through a series of coaching changes. Doug Williams led GSU to titles in 2000-02, while Melvin Spears helped the Tigers to another in 2005.

Still, Broadway isn't looking that far down the road just yet. Not with the emotion, pageantry and flinty competitiveness that Southern always adds to this in-state conference rivalry.

Twice, in 1999 and 2003, the Bayou Classic decided which of the two teams advanced to the SWAC Championship Game. Southern won both, on its way to a pair of titles.

"There's a lot of meat left on that bone," Broadway said of Grambling's season. "We can't get too satisfied with the championship berth with Southern staring us in the face. We've got to get ready for that."

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BAYOU CLASSIC 2007: Taking cues from a defensive guru
November 22, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — One of the most intriguing subplots of this Bayou Classic stars Clifford Yoshida.

Once a defensive coordinator for longtime Southern coach Pete Richardson, he returned to Baton Rouge in 2006 as an assistant with Rod Broadway at Division II North Carolina Central and topped his former boss.

He then followed Broadway from NCCU to Grambling, setting up a rematch in Saturday's in-state Southwestern Athletic Conference rivalry game.

Kickoff for the Bayou Classic between Southern and Grambling is set for 1 p.m. at the Superdome. NBC will broadcast the game nationally.

"We're doing something a little different, demanding some different things," said Yoshida, who was with Broadway for three seasons at NCCU. "They seem to be responding. I'm happy with the progress."

Grambling enters this weekend's contest at No. 2 for total defense, allowing 288 yards a game — and league-low 17 touchdowns. Grambling is also No. 2 in the SWAC for turnover margin, with a plus-15 ratio.

"'Coach Yo' is a big improvement from last year, I must say," said senior Grambling defensive back Jeffrey Jack, an LSU transfer. "He makes good calls, and prepares us very well. He puts us in good position within the game so we can stop people."

This remade Grambling staff has won eight SWAC games already, with a chance to go undefeated in regular-season league play at the Bayou Classic. In fact, its only two losses are against upper-division teams, Pittsburgh in September and ULM earlier this month.

Even in that two-touchdown loss to the Warhawks on Nov. 10, Broadway took time out to praise his improving defenders for plugging up the middle.

"Our defense never gave up," Broadway said. "For the most part we stopped the run, though we lost containment a couple of times and the ball got outside. We created some turnovers that weren't able to capitalize on."

The connection between Yoshida, a 37-year coaching veteran, and Richardson goes back to the Jaguars' initial SWAC championship in 1993. He and Richardson went 11-1 (the program's second 11-plus win season ever) and brought home Southern's first league crown in 18 years — and its first outright crown in 34 seasons.

That began an impressive streak for Southern, though Yoshida departed for East Carolina. The Jaguars would win five titles over the next 10 seasons — a run that included SWAC Championship Game victories in 1999 and 2003 — as well as a runner-up finish in 2004.

Many credit the groundwork installed by "Coach Yo," who's helped reshape a similarly moribund Grambling defense that had hovered near the bottom of the league in many key categories for much of last season.

"It's pretty comparable," Yoshida said. "They've taken a little while to get used to what we are trying to teach. Old habits are sometimes hard to break — after all, they had played under the old system for three years."

Grambling would end up allowing a league-worst 34 touchdowns in 2006, with 21 surrendered by its cellar-dwelling rush defense.

Meanwhile, on that return trip last year to Baton Rouge, Yoshida befuddled Southern — forcing the Jaguars into seven turnovers (six interceptions and one fumble recovery) on the way to a shocking 27-20 victory.

"We've got shut them down again, to keep his reputation up," said Jack, who leads all Grambling tacklers with 64.

That NCCU win in Baton Rouge was part of a school-record 11-0 season, as Broadway and Yoshida won a second consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Football championship.

Broadway, one of black college football's hottest commodities last offseason, then found his way to Grambling and brought Yoshida along.

They found a Grambling defense in transition.

The program had missed critical on-field leadership as consecutive defensive ends left through the NFL Draft in 2005-06, first Kenneth Pettway and then Jason Hatcher, then saw four starters graduate going into 2007.

But all was not lost, Yoshida said.

"In my opinion, we have some pretty good guys in the back end — and we have some size up front," Yoshida said.

He and the Grambling staff have been able to transform senior lineman Jason Banks into an every-down menace on the nose, and maximized the emerging talent of sophomore end Chris Anthony.

Fellow end John Scroggins, though hobbled this week with an ankle injury, provides critical disruption for the youthful linebacking unit led by junior John Carter and converted safety Zaire "Pitbull" Wilborn. A veteran secondary manned by Jack and DeMichael Dizer, among others, rounds out the group.

"I think we've got some athletic ability; the kids run pretty well," Yoshida said. "When we put it all together, I think we're pretty decent."

Described by more than one Grambling defender as a mad scientist-type, Yoshida has used inventive schemes and one-of-kind personality in the film room to forge a newfound confidence.

This group has, in fact, been at its best in league matches that mattered most.

Grambling allowed an average of 11 points in games against defending league champion Alabama A&M, eventual 2007 Eastern Division winner Jackson State and in the contest against Alabama State that clinched a berth in the SWAC Championship Game.

A&M managed just 147 total yards (30 of it on the ground), while only 34 of ASU's 169 total yards came by air. Jackson State had better passing numbers, but could eke out just 25 yards on the ground.

"I think we can get a lot better," Yoshida said. "We're just taking it one week at a time, and trying to improve. It's typical coach-speak. But that's really what you are trying to do."

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BAYOU CLASSIC 2007: Lewis arrives for Grambling in 'Nick' of time
Big-play junior has become Tigers' leading receiver in yards per catch
November 19, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Southern will likely have a tight focus on passing downs against Grambling State.

After all, GSU starts widely respected receivers Clyde Edwards and Reginald Jackson. The former holds a school record for career touchdowns, while the latter is a guy who's gobbled up 57 passes so far in 2007.

That tends to draw attention away from junior Nick Lewis, who's managed just 10 receptions.

He's taken an opportunistic approach when the ball comes his way, though, rewarding the patient with some memorable, electrifying experiences.

That was Lewis, for instance, dashing 51 yards for a score against Texas Southern at homecoming, then adding another 63-yard stunner against Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Louisiana-Monroe two weeks later.

"Nick can run, and now he's catching the ball better," said first-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway. "That's what it's all about, growth. He's growing as a player, and getting better and better."

Up next for GSU is its pitched in-state rivalry game against Southern, in the 34th edition of the Bayou Classic. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Saturday at the Louisiana Superdome.

Lewis arrives in New Orleans as the perfect check down, when Edwards and Jackson are covered, for the deep passes that open up Grambling's running game.

"That sets the mold for how we want to play the game," said Lewis, a 6-0, 180-pound Marshall, Texas, product.

A knack for the big catch has helped Lewis shoot up to No. 4 on the team for total receiving yards with 239.

He's averaging a team-best 23-yards per catch, well past the SWAC's leading receiver — Alabama A&M's Thomas Harris, who is averaging 18. Only Jackson has made a longer catch and run for Grambling this season.

"Nick is very deceptive, and has great size," said 10th-year Grambling receivers coach Sammy White. "He came out of Marshall as a running back, but has been working with me for three years and we're looking for big things out of him."

Lewis says he's fine, for now, outside the spotlight. A backup who never saw the field when GSU surged to the Southwestern Athletic Conference title in 2005, he is more focused on the big picture of winning.

Beating Southern this week at the Bayou Classic, Lewis said, would help Grambling regain whatever momentum it lost in that two-touchdown stumble against ULM.

"We can see on the film that they are a pretty good team," Lewis said. "On offense, we've got step up."

When Lewis hauled in that 51-yarder at homecoming, it was his only catch of the day — and just his seventh on the year.

Still, Lewis has already matched his receptions total as a sophomore, when he averaged just 14 yards a catch. And he didn't even appear in the stat sheet for four games, sitting out against Alabama A&M and Prairie View and being held without a catch at Alcorn and FBS foe Pittsburgh.

"When he gets the chance, he's making the best of it," said junior quarterback Brandon Landers. "We're trying to get everyone involved in the offense right now, and he's making plays."

That includes critical receptions on each of Grambling's first three scoring drives against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. They went for 18, 17 and then 27 yards, helping GSU regain a lead it would never relinquish.

His 15-yard reception at Alabama State was part of Grambling's second scoring drive. Lewis also had one catch (for 17 yards) against Mississippi Valley, and two against Jackson State.

Each was a league win for Grambling, part of a streak of seven in a row that hurtled GSU to its fifth Western Division crown since 2000.

"He's got all the tools," Edwards said. "He's making the best of his opportunities."

And Lewis is making them at just the right time, since both Edwards and Jackson are departing seniors.

"It will be between him and (junior Clinton native) Kovarus Hills," said White, himself a former All-SWAC wingback at Grambling. "Nick has really been coming around. He could definitely be our No. 1 receiver one day."

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OPENING DRIVE: Grambling vs. Southern, Bayou Classic XXXIV
November 24, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State has won eight straight Southwestern Athletic Conference games so far.

The Tigers have clinched a trip to the SWAC Championship Game, their fifth since 2000.

So what?

All of that means little to many fans if Grambling falls in the Bayou Classic, its annual nationally televised Superdome contest against in-state rival Southern.

Lose them all, supporters have told first-year GSU coach Rod Broadway, but you better win this one.

That would appear to be an easy proposition

After all, Grambling's only 2007 losses have been to upper-classification foes Pittsburgh and ULM. Meanwhile, the once-streaking Southern opened with five wins but then finished 2-3, leaving the Jaguars to play the spoiler role.

But this is a spot that suits the Jaguars, who are a respectable 2-2 in the Bayou Classic when Grambling has already booked a trip to Birmingham — winning in 2000 and '02.

"This is one where I've been told you can throw the records out the window," Broadway said. "I don't know if how we are doing, or how they are doing, has anything to do with this game. It's how well you prepare and how well you play during the course of the game."

Southern, which is trying to avoid finishing lower than second place in the West for the first time since 2000, has gone 11-3 against Grambling since Pete Richardson took over. That run has pushed Southern ahead by one all-time victory, but the series is knotted at 3-3 since 2001.

GAME DETAILS
Grambling (8-2) vs. Southern (7-3)

• Kickoff: 1 p.m. today, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans

• TV: NBC

• Series: Southern, 17-16.

•Coaches: Grambling, Rod Broadway (first year, 8-2; 41-13 overall); Southern, Pete Richardson (15th year, 121-52; 163-66-1 overall).

•Line: Grambling by 11 1/2

KEYS TO VICTORY

Do the little things

As dramatic as the Bayou Classic can be, with so many stirring twists and turns, the games have typically turned on one or two key plays.

Grambling fell last year, for instance, when a fourth-year starting running back couldn't convert on a fourth-and-one from the Southern 2-yard line with less than two minutes remaining.

The pitched emotions associated with the Bayou Classic require a centered, fundamentally sound approach. Broadway has stressed that all week.

TOP MATCHUP

Grambling running backs vs. Southern defense

When Grambling couldn't get its running game going against ULM two Saturdays ago, the passing attack was grounded as well. The new scheme installed for junior quarterback Brandon Landers relies on the rush, and intermediate passing, to set up deep strikes to receivers Clyde Edwards and Reginald Jackson.

If Southern makes GSU one dimensional, as ULM did, the Tigers could fall for a second time in as many years.

GET IN GAME

Grambling's defense has been drilling extensively for the screen play, something Southern has used to bedevil the Tigers.

"They threw a lot of them last year, and they beat us," said Grambling defensive back Jeffrey Jack, the team's leading tackler. "We've been working on executing against that. If we give a good effort, we can win."

2007 IMPLICATIONS

The Bayou Classic doesn't count in the sense that Grambling has already secured a berth in December's SWAC Championship Game.

Then again, the Southern game is critical to state recruiting, and to bragging rights. Players like senior GSU defender Jason Banks would also like to gain momentum with a final regular-season victory.

"You don't want to go into the championship with a loss," Banks said. "Southern lost to us in 2004 and went on to lose the SWAC."

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BAYOU CLASSIC 2007: New Orleans game still big deal for Robinsons
November 24, 2007

y Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — For Doris Robinson, the trip back to New Orleans was one of both joy and melancholy.

There are so many things she remembers, in and around the Superdome, about her life as the wife of late longtime Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson.

Robinson co-founded the Bayou Classic in this place, perhaps his most obvious legacy after passing last

April at age 88. His name is written on a commemorative banner inside the facility — and, even today, across her heart.

"I have cried today," said Doris Robinson, who cared for her husband through a long bout with Alzheimer's-like symptoms. "But I am through with that now. I am going to enjoy the rest of this weekend."

This is just the second time she has attended the Bayou Classic, today's nationally televised in-state rivalry game against Baton Rouge-based Southern, since Robinson retired a decade ago.

Married as childhood sweethearts in 1941, Doris and Eddie were present when the Superdome honored Robinson with that banner.

"It means a lot," Doris Robinson said. "Everything has. When people say good things about him, I know that way back then I wasn't wrong."

Robinson and her son Eddie Robinson Jr. were set to spend the rest of Friday night visiting with friends and family. Today, she will be honored — fans have taken to calling Robinson the "First Lady of Football" — before the 34th playing of the Bayou Classic.

"It's always been a real good event for the state, and one that everybody has come to associate with my father and the family," said Robinson Jr., who coached alongside his dad for 15 seasons. "It brings back a lot of good memories."

The last few months have been a whirlwind for the Robinson family, as a series of the coach's former Southwestern Athletic Conference foes honored a man who still holds the Division I record for wins. The SWAC also announced that its football championship trophy will be renamed for Robinson.

At Grambling, the football team is wearing jersey patches in memory of the former coach, and Doris Robinson was also recognized before GSU's first home game.

Today, NBC Sports will also air a 30-minute Robinson documentary at 12:30 p.m., a half hour before kickoff, called "Every Man a Tiger." Included is never-before-seen archival footage as well as new images and interviews collected earlier this year.

"It has been great, and sometimes overwhelming," Doris Robinson said. "Of course, they were not telling me anything that I didn't know about him already. It just so happened that everything I knew about him was good. It's been nice sharing the memories."

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BAYOU BUMMER: Grambling falls to Southern for 2nd straight Classic loss
November 25, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Grambling State University fell behind in the first quarter and never regained the lead in a tightly contested Bayou Classic loss to Southern University.

GSU's 22-13 stumble, its first in Southwestern Athletic Conference play, leaves the team at 8-3 overall.

"The most embarrassing part is they played harder than us," first-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway said. "I think they had a little more intensity than we had tonight."

The Tigers have lost two straight after falling to the University of Louisiana at Monroe in non-league action two weeks ago.

Despite that skid, Grambling has already secured a berth in the SWAC Championship Game, to be played Dec. 15 against Eastern Division champion Jackson State. GSU earned the Western crown for the fifth time since 2000 with a win over Texas Southern in October.

That didn't lessen the impact of losing to Grambling's in-state conference rival.

"They outcoached us, and they outplayed us," Broadway said. "We'll regroup in the next couple of weeks and try to win the SWAC Championship."

Southern, which has taken two in a row against GSU, now leads the all-time series 18-16. Over the years, Southern has had overwhelming success when the games are close, winning nine of 11 contests decided by a touchdown or less since the game moved to the Superdome in 1974.

Attendance on Saturday, announced at 53,297, was the fourth-lowest ever. Last season's crowd of 47,136, in the first-post Katrina playing of the Bayou Classic, set the record for smallest gate.

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BAYOU CLASSIC: As always, this rivalry leaves little room for error
November 25, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Southern scored.

Grambling scored.

Southern scored again.

It was only the first quarter in the Bayou Classic.

Always a back-and-forth affair, and often featuring whisker-thin margins of victory, this is the way it goes when Grambling and Southern play.

This makes for a November afternoon spent twisting and squirming in edge-of-the-bleacher anticipation.

That's true for fans as much as it is for first-time participants like rookie Grambling coach Rod Broadway.

"I enjoyed everything," he said, "except the outcome."

There are now just two victories separating Southern and Grambling since this intense, emotional rivalry moved into the Superdome. The Jaguars have won 18 times while GSU has taken 16.

Over the past six years, each had won three times. Coming into this game, Grambling quarterback Brandon Landers was 1-1 all time as a starter against the Jaguars.

So, not surprisingly, the 34th Bayou Classic began with a knotted-up initial period, then deadlocked with a series of failed attempts to score after Southern established a 14-7 lead.

Southern ran 35 first-half plays, and Grambling ran 34. GSU had 10 first downs through half time, while Southern had 13. Each had an interception.

"Oh, man," junior Grambling quarterback Brandon Landers said, as senior receiver Reginald Jackson sat nearby trying to compose himself after the game.

"We both came out fired up," Landers finally continued. "Southern stayed on us, though."

Blows were landed, and countered. But both teams stood, a bit bloodied but resolute, having resolved almost nothing as the bands played.

All was as expected.

Grambling might have seen an opening when starting Southern quarterback Bryant Lee left the game with a fractured thumb. Instead, the second half began with two punts.

Even when Southern put together a drive deep into Grambling territory early in the third period, backup passer Warren Mathews lost a fumble after being smothered by a group of Tiger tacklers.

Nobody had scored since the 1:50 mark in the first period.

Somebody would have to make a mistake. Any mistake would do, with a game this close.

Grambling made that mistake, then made another.

Both miscues came on special teams, leading to five points by the Jaguars, first on a safety then on a field goal.

"It got us in trouble, but the difference was they played harder than us, and faster than us," Broadway said. "It's not one thing. It's a lot of things. We couldn't defend the pass; we couldn't stop the run. We couldn't throw; we couldn't catch. It was a total breakdown on our part."

Southern had the smallest sliver of a lead, 19-7 midway through the fourth quarter.

It would be enough. It usually is.

Southern is 9-2 in Bayou Classics decided by a touchdown or less — a streak that includes last year's edition, when Grambling lost after failing to convert on fourth-and-one to extend its final offensive drive.

An offensive showcase-turned-defensive battle that produced just two points over two periods then turned again.

Southern scored, then Grambling scored, then Southern scored again in a fourth quarter every bit as fast-paced and thrilling as the first.

The contest had blown open with an almost visceral suddenness, like a balloon popping.

Grambling added a 27-yard touchdown pass from Landers to senior Clyde Edwards — tightening his grip on the school record for scoring receptions — but then gave up a long pass to set up the deciding Southern field goal.

"They're a good team," Landers said. "They made the plays down the stretch. You've got to take your hats off to them."

A final Landers interception made it official. But this one had been over since that first snap was lost at the feet of Grambling punter Tim Manuel.

In a rivalry like this, played to a virtual draw, there is no room for error.

And certainly not for two.

Grambling, as expected, would lose.

"They played harder than us; they played better than us," Broadway, clearly frustrated, finally said. "It's just embarrassing."

NICK DERISO is assistant managing editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. Contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso thenewsstar.com

GRAMBLING-SOUTHERN RECAP

GOOD PLAY

Junior Grambling defensive back Aaron Brown picked off a Bryant Lee attempt early in the second quarter, the first turnover of the 34th Bayou Classic and his first-ever interception. Brown is a brother of Chris Brown, a key secondary contributor on Grambling's 2002 championship team.

BAD PLAY

Junior quarterback Brandon Landers, set up late in the first half at the Southern 30, was hit on a safety blitz just as he threw, sending the ball wobbling between two GSU receivers. Southern defensive back Michael Williams was there to pick it off, snuffing a chance for Grambling to even the score at 14.

BIG HIT

Sterlington product DeMichael Dizer, a senior Grambling defensive back, put a stinging hit on Southern receiver Clevan White — knocking him back three yards on the Jaguars' initial drive of the day.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

Senior Grambling kicker Tim Manuel had a trio of effective, if not very pretty, directional punts in the first half, pinning Southern deep in its own territory. But a blocked attempt in the third quarter, then a mishandled ball inside the Grambling 10 on a final-period bad snap, erased what had once been a stellar day on special teams.

DID YOU NOTICE?

Senior Grambling quarterback Larry Kerlegan took the field for the first time since re-injuring his ankle against Mississippi Valley, lining up in the slot during Grambling's initial drive. He later spelled at quarterback when Landers took a breather after a third-quarter clobbering by Southern's Joseph Selders and D.J. Bolton.

GET IN THE GAME

Attendance at the game, announced at 53,297 on Saturday, was the fourth-lowest ever. Last season's crowd of 47,136, in the first-post Katrina playing of the Bayou Classic, set the record low. The biggest gate ever remains the initial playing in 1974, when 76,753 fans crammed into the old Tulane Stadium. The two highest-attended Bayou Classics of the last decade were in 1996 and 2002, both with Superdome capacity crowds of 72,586 announced.

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BAYOU CLASSIC: Grambling's Broadway confronted by furious fans
November 25, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — First-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway got a rude introduction into the furious emotion associated with losing the Bayou Classic.

In the frenetic moments following Southern's 22-13 win in this in-state rivalry game, Broadway was accosted by several supporters — including former Grambling defender Elfrid Payton.

Broadway was still stung by the fans' response, as reporters encircled him outside the GSU lockerroom in the Superdome moments later.

"They can have this (expletive) job," Broadway said. "If that's the way they want to do, they can have this (expletive) job."

Payton also confronted former Grambling coach Doug Williams after the 2003 Bayou Classic, which GSU lost 44-41, nearly causing a fist fight.

"That's a shame," Broadway said. "We are trying as hard as we can try. That's why I don't want (fans) down there (on the sideline). That stuff is uncalled for."

RECOGNIZING THE ROBINSONS: Doris Robinson appeared at midfield in pregame ceremonies, where she was recognized along with son Eddie Robinson Jr. and grandson Eddie Robinson III.

The late Eddie Robinson coached his final game at the 1997 Bayou Classic, wrapping up a career that included a Division I record 408 wins. The Superdome later honored him with a commemorative banner that still hangs in the facility. He's one of just five people ever to be so recognized — and the only one not associated with a New Orleans sports team or the Superdome itself.

Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal and Grambling president Horace Judson were among those who shared the spotlight with Robinson's widow, who was decked out completely in gold.

A moment of silence was held for Robinson before kickoff.

TIGER PAUSE: The Grambling football team debuted a new jersey on Saturday, playing in gold with black and white stripes — reminiscent of the style worn by the Tigers under Coach Eddie Robinson in the 1970s, but with a black stripe down the side and without the red accent. ... The Tiger Marching Band, meanwhile, appeared in white tuxedos, a look from the 1980s. ... Ford Motors, a game sponsor, handed out thundersticks before the game, added a tremendous amount of volume to the raucous proceedings. ... Grambling captains were Jason Banks, Clyde Edwards, DeMichael Dizer (a Sterlington product) and Tim Manuel. ... Freshman Grambling running back Frank Warren was prominently featured in a commercial during the Bayou Classic for a new video game focusing on black college football programs.

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BAYOU CLASSIC: Fans say they understand Grambling coach's frustration
November 26, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Grambling State's Rod Broadway can be forgiven for angry comments made in the furor of emotion following Saturday's loss in the Bayou Classic.

That's the response from many GSU fans, a day after their first-year coach lashed out when confronted by disappointed alumni on the Superdome sidelines.

"I was always of the opinion that fans are supposed to be the support group of an athletic entity," said Michael Watson, a 1977 Grambling graduate. "How was this latest display of contempt toward Coach Broadway supportive?"

Moments after exchanging heated sideline barbs with supporters, including former Grambling defender Elfrid Payton, Broadway became increasingly frustrated in front of a group of reporters when asked about the situation.

"They can have this (expletive) job," Broadway said, stabbing the air with his index finger. "If that's the way they want to do, they can have this (expletive) job."

Broadway then stormed back into the locker room.

"The guy approached Coach in an ignorant manner which in no way reflects the attitude of loyal Grambling, alumni, supporters and friends," said GSU fan Kendall C. Price, a Monroe native. "What Coach said wasn't in his heart, but he said it in human defense of his feelings."

Besides, longtime Grambling fan Beverly Thomas said, Saturday's loss can't tarnish the stellar job this new staff has done in rebuilding after a dismal record last season.

"Coach Broadway has turned a 3-8 team into an 8-3 within a year," she said. "GSU went from SWAC champs in 2005 to SWAC chumps in '06 and now is on the road to becoming SWAC champs again in '07. My hat goes off to him."

Widespread support for Broadway could also be found on The News-Star's story chat and on various Web-based message boards.

"Broadway is well within his rights with what he said," OPLioninVA wrote on thenewsstar.com forums. "Elfrid Payton is a shining example of what is wrong with sports today: Overzealous fans that really need to either apply for the job, or have a seat. He and the others are an embarrassment to quality fans of college football programs all over the country."

Poster Yankkee added: "Coach Broadway is a class individual who deserves better treatment than this."

Asked again later about the incident, Broadway reiterated that he felt stiffer screening measures should be put in place to keep packs of roaming onlookers from impacting the game.

Grambling athletics director Troy Mathieu said the school had given out sideline passes to only a select few key alumni — including former players Trumaine Johnson and Doug Williams, who later coached at GSU from 1998-2003. Mathieu was unsure how others gained the necessary credentials to walk the sidelines.

"I fully support Coach Broadway and I understand his frustration," said Kenn Rashad, a 1990 Grambling graduate who owns the black college sports message board TSPNSports.com, where a lively discussion on Broadway's comments continued into Sunday.

"Unfortunately, in the game of college football, fans seem to forget what their role is," Rashad said. "That role does not include accosting a coach or player — especially right after an emotional loss. Considering that this is nothing new for Elfrid Payton, Coach Broadway is justified in his remarks."

Payton also confronted Williams after the 2003 Bayou Classic, a gut-wrenching three-point stumble that kept Grambling from an historic fourth consecutive conference championship game.

"What really disappoints me is that a former player from Coach Eddie Robinson's lineage was a major player in the group that embarrassed all true fans of Grambling," Watson said. "On a day in which we were honoring this great man, one of his former players acted in a manner that was the antithesis of what Coach stood for and tried to teach his players."

OPLioninVA, posting at thenewsstar.com, added: "Keep your head up Coach Broadway and staff. Although we did not win this game, I still see the big picture, and I know many others do, too."

Bayou Classic 2006

Classic makes welcome return to New Orleans
In-state SWAC rivals played in Houston last year after Katrina
November 20, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — A year away has taught Grambling State's football team just what it means to miss New Orleans.

The Bayou Classic returns to the Superdome this week after being moved to Houston's Reliant Stadium last season in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That was the first time in 33 years that the event has been played outside of New Orleans.

"Just going back after what has happened, back to the place where the Bayou Classic started, that's big," said sophomore Monroe quarterback Brandon Landers, who is expected to share time with fellow sophomore Larry Kerlegan. "Houston was a great place to have the game, but New Orleans, it just has a special feel."

Kickoff for the Bayou Classic, which is nationally televised on NBC, is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
The traditional job and college fair begins on Friday at the Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal St., in New Orleans. The Battle of the Bands and Greek Show also returns to the Superdome, with a start time of 7 p.m. Friday. The indoor fan festival that precedes kickoff is at 10 a.m. Saturday.

This flurry of tourism — an average of 200,000 fans have poured into New Orleans after Thanksgiving in years past — is another signpost in the recovery of a hurricane-besieged city.

Officials heralded the game's return in a news conference held late last month, belated recognition for an event that's had a sometimes-rocky relationship with the state.

Louisiana "cannot afford to let the game and its financial impact leave the state," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, while announcing Classic's return. "In previous years, this event has pumped some $30 million into our economy, providing direct support into the New Orleans region. ... The storms were strong, but they can't stop us, and they can't stop the State Farm Bayou Classic."

More than 20 cities submitted bids in 2005 to play host the game, including Shreveport. But school officials settled on Houston, saying its facility was better suited in the event of inclement weather — prescient in that last year's game day dawned cold and rainy.

The city had also taken in thousands of evacuees, though that didn't translate in ticket sales.

Houston's game drew 53,214, second smallest ever behind only 1984. The Bayou Classic had averaged more than 70,000 in the previous five seasons at the Superdome.

Ironically, Houston was perhaps the most serious alternative site considered by school officials when the 10-year contract with New Orleans went through contentious renegotiation in 2002.
Ultimately, Grambling and Southern signed a new three-year deal that included some reduced fees and remained at the Superdome — at least until Katrina intervened. That contract was extended just last week for another season.

Neither team has had much to brag about so far this year, with Southern arriving at 4-6 on the year and Grambling at 3-6. That could be why both coaches have focused on the idea of homecoming as much as football in pre-game interviews so far.

"It's a chance to go back home, and that's so important," said GSU coach Melvin Spears, who has won the last two Classics. "We hope our fans have fun supporting the game, but also the reconstruction of New Orleans."

Pete Richardson, who had opened his career at Southern by stringing together eight consecutive Classic victories, said: "Going back to New Orleans has a different ambience for our game. Houston did an outstanding job, but people are excited about going back to New Orleans."

Still, winning this game brings its own bragging rights — and Grambling has won three out of the last five Bayou Classics, including the last two in a row.

More recent winning streaks aside, however, GSU holds just a one-game edge, 27-26, in this knotted-up rivalry, which actually dates back to 1933.

The two teams are tied at 16-16 since moving the event to a neutral site in New Orleans.

That's why emotions still percolate around this contest, no matter the teams' record.

"Being back in New Orleans," said senior Farmerville linebacker Dimitri Carr, "only adds to this game."

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GSU returns to prepare for Southern with new energy
November 15, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — When Grambling's first practice in four days was over, coach Melvin Spears couldn't help himself.

"Good practice!" he said, as the team encircled him on Tuesday night.

Senior running back Ab Kuuan, still stoked from a goal-line play for a touchdown moments before, began hopping up and down.

"Great practice!" Kuuan corrected, in a good-natured way.

In the midst of an unprecedented 20-day layoff before the Southern game, GSU had sat idle since last week, and the time away seemed to energize the group — which was last seen during a flat homecoming performance where Alabama State scored 22 unanswered points to win.

"A couple of days off, it gave us time to clear our heads," said senior Farmerville linebacker Dimitri Carr. "It gives us a chance to focus on football now. I know it did for me."

Uptempo passing plays, many with the addition of senior punt returner Landry Carter in trips formation, were run by both Brandon Landers and Larry Kerlegan. Each looked sharp.

"We had a chance to get our minds straight, with the time off," Landers said.

Grambling began practice working on inside running plays, reminiscent of the bye week regimen before its emotional 2004 Bayou Classic win, with senior fullback Ruben Mayes blowing open holes for Kuuan.

Whoops and shouts of encouragement echoed around Robinson Stadium, where the team practiced, and it became contagious, said Landers, the SWAC's leading passer.

Spears seemed energized by their enthusiasm, and spoke from the heart afterward.

"Nobody can stop us when we put forth the effort," he said. "Encourage each other. You are all the other guy has got."

Senior receiver Henry Tolbert, apparently recovered from some lingering maladies, ran with the first team, though junior Tim Abney was still sidelined with an ankle problem. Spears said all the other regular starters would be ready to play on Nov. 25, when GSU plays its traditional Thanksgiving weekend matchup on national television.

Grambling stands at 3-6 on the year, and is on a two-game losing streak — both to teams with losing records. This will be the first time ever that both GSU and Southern will enter the Bayou Classic with losing records.

Still, Carr said Tuesday's practice gives him hope of continuing a streak over Southern than now stands at two games.

"I haven't had this much fun in a long time," said Carr, third on the team with 61 tackles. "That's what's been missing this year."

Classic will stay for another year
Grambling and Southern have extended a 2002 contract to play the Bayou Classic in New Orleans for another year.

Southern signed off on the extension on Friday, and Grambling's Bayou Classic committee followed on Tuesday, said member Douglas Porter.

The original agreement meant the Bayou Classic, held in New Orleans since 1974, would remain at the Superdome for three years, with an option for a fourth.

Last year's contest was temporarily moved to Houston, a city that made a formal bid for the game in 2002, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina but has subsequently returned to Louisiana. The 2006 Bayou Classic is set for 1 p.m. Nov. 25.

Herb Simmons, Grambling's Bayou Classic coordinator in '02, said then that a new rate to rent the Superdome was set at just under $50,000, compared to $300,000 for previous years.

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Quick slants: Grambling
November 7, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
KNOW THE FOE:
GSU vs. Southern, 1 p.m. Nov. 25, Bayou Classic in New Orleans.

Senior Grambling running back Ab Kuuan has had trouble moving the ball behind a remade offensive line that's never found its rhythm.

His numbers show just how much trouble: Through nine games, Kuuan has gained only 481 yards. At this point last year, he'd already run for 649 — despite missing two games with an ankle injury.

At his current rate, Kuuan will finish the season with 587 yards, a far cry from the 1,200-yard season members of the offense openly talked about during the preseason — and his worst total since 2003.

Kuuan had steadily increased his output since taking over as the starter that season, rushing for 423 yards in '03, then 637 in 2004 and finally 891 yards last season.

His best night so far has been a 113-yard night against Prairie View, but that has been Kuuan's only time past the century mark. Those numbers were bolstered by a 61-yard scoring run.

ZERO TOLERANCE
Grambling was shut out in the second half last week against Alabama State for just the second time in five seasons.

The Tigers had most recently failed to score any points in the final two periods in a 28-10 win against Texas Southern in 2004. GSU was also blanked against I-A San Jose State in 2003, losing 29-0.

Grambling only scored three points in the second half against Southern in the 2001 Bayou Classic, though it held on for a 30-20 win under former coach Doug Williams.

BY THE NUMBERS:
1: Grambling's rank in SWAC for scoring, passing and total offense
18,652: Average attendance at GSU's home games, No. 5 in I-AA
16: Passing TDs by Grambling's Brandon Landers, tops in the SWAC

HOT TOPIC:
THAT LENGTHY LAYOVER
With no games scheduled for three weeks, Grambling is settling in for a long winter's nap.

The Tigers' next game is actually not until Nov. 25, when they take on Southern at the Bayou Classic in New Orleans.

This scheduling hiccup, a result of moving games around to accommodate non-conference opponents, provides the team a chance to recuperate from some lingering injuries.

"We hope to use this time to get some guys back," Grambling coach Melvin Spears said. "The layoff will give them an opportunity to get their legs back under them."

It also provides the coaches a chance to consider next season. GSU will practice today through Thursday, then the staff will begin a recruiting run, Spears said.

Grambling must replace at least five returning senior starters on offense and four on defense. Oddly enough, many of those veteran players are the ones in need of time to heal up.

Utility lineman Jamar Dorsey went down last week with a sprain, missing the balance of an eventual rout by Alabama State. Cornerback Greg Fassitt was also in street clothes by the end of the game.

Receivers Henry Tolbert and Tim Abney have both tried to play in recent weeks, but been unable to go — the result of a non-football related problem and an ankle sprain, respectively.
Spears said he hopes to get all of them back over the 20-day layover between dates.

This week, sitting in front of the Bayou Classic bye, has been filled over the past five seasons with non-conference opponents like Morris Brown, Savannah State and Concordia. This year, Grambling played the University of Houston in Week 3.

After Southern, GSU finishes with a final Southwestern Athletic Conference game against Alcorn State at home. That contest was originally scheduled as the season opener, but was moved to the back of the schedule to accommodate a non-conference date in Birmingham, Ala., against MEAC champion Hampton.

"It's unusual with respect to Alcorn State, to play so late," Spears said. "Traditionally, there aren't any more games after the Bayou Classic."

Until last year, anyway. Alcorn moved its home game to the end of the year in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Moving the Alcorn contest to Dec. 2 means Grambling will be play a regular-season game two weeks after six of the league's 10 teams have already finished their schedule. Mississippi Valley will have been done for a month.

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Throw the records out for this Classic? Gladly
November 21, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — This is a Bayou Classic, perhaps, that only a diehard fan would enjoy.

Grambling enters the contest with just three wins, having put together the first losing season since former coach Doug Williams' rebuilding project began in 1998.

Southern, which once boasted a run of 11 straight winning seasons under Pete Richardson, has managed only four wins in 2006 — and faces the prospect of a second consecutive losing campaign.

The response from GSU's players: So what?

There still burns inside of them that desire to beat Southern, as evidenced by up-tempo, emotional practices over the past two weeks.

"Throw the records out the door," said senior fullback Ruben Mayes, who made a game-changing touchdown reception in last year's 50-35 win over Southern. "Our guys are ready to play, no matter how the season has gone."

It's gone terribly.

Never before, in fact, have these two teams met in a Bayou Classic with both sporting losing records.

That makes Saturday something of a litmus test for a fan base used to having something to play for.

"You have fair-weather fans on both sides," GSU coach Melvin Spears admits, "but it's all about the true Jaguars and the true Tigers that are going to stand up and come down. We're going to have a great time."

Not to say there weren't times when one or the other struggled.

Southern was 5-6 in 2003, and needed a win over Grambling to finish 6-6 on the year. GSU, however, had already collected 10 victories. Both finished with losing campaigns in 1991, but Grambling actually entered the Classic at 5-5.

More often than not, however, one or the other of these programs was on a roll.

Between them, GSU and Southern have won eight of the last nine Southwestern Athletic Conference crowns — and 17 titles over the 32 previous times the Bayou Classic has been held.
Grambling slumped to consecutive losing records in 1995-98, but that was during a period of unprecedented dominance for its in-state rival, as Richardson won the SWAC in 1997-98. After beating Grambling in 2003, Southern went on to take the league title.

Not this year. For the first time since its 1999 inception, neither GSU nor Southern will represent the Western Division in the SWAC Championship Game.

"It's always a big challenge when you have an opportunity to play in the Bayou Classic, because it means so much to both institutions," said Southern coach Pete Richardson. "Both institutions are struggling, but I think our fans are excited about it — and our players understand that we want to finish up strong."

The best either team can hope for is a season-ending mark of 5-6. GSU has two more games, with a home contest against Alcorn still to come. This is Southern's final date in 2006.
Both programs will likely look back with more than a little sense of wonder about what went wrong.

Southern, picked in the league's preseason voting to win the Western Division, lost four games by a touchdown or less — including two in overtime. So did GSU, which hit a skid after winning the conference crown just a year ago.

"It's been a rough season," said junior Grambling receiver Clyde Edwards, who had a career day in this game last year — piling up 161 yards and three touchdowns. "The Bayou Classic is our last opportunity to get this bitter taste out of our mouths."

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Will GSU return to run in Classic?
2004 game in New Orleans deviated from usual high-scoring shootouts
November 22, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Forgive the poor soul who came in thinking the 2004 Bayou Classic was going to be a pass-happy scoring bonanza.

After all, that's nearly become the template for this game. Just a season before, Grambling and Southern had combined for a staggering 1,136 yards of total offense, with 961 of it coming in the air.

Not in 2004, the last time the Classic was played in New Orleans.

Grambling, with true freshman Brandon Landers subbing for the injured quarterback Bruce Eugene, instead unleashed a brutal ground attack — chewing up yards, the clock and, finally, Southern. GSU won 24-13, in one of the lowest scoring Classics ever.

How much that resembles this year's Bayou Classic, with Landers again under center and the game making a triumphal return to New Orleans, remains to be seen.

But it certainly worked last time.

Back in 2004, Landers only attempted 13 passes — with his longest, a 19-yarder, going to fellow freshman Clyde Edwards — but beamed with open-hearted joy while running back Ab Kuaan hoisted the MVP trophy.

"Getting a chance to go to the Dome in 2004 and play was a dream come true," Landers says these days. "That was the biggest game of my career."

Southern quarterback Thomas Ricks, chosen SWAC offensive player of the week five times that season, did his best to spark his team — passing for 176 yards and a touchdown and leading all Jaguar rushers with 93 yards.

But GSU held onto the ball for more than 36 minutes while four rushers combined for 292 yards.
Kuuan accounted for 126 of those yards on 18 carries. His three rushing touchdowns gave Kuaan back-to-back 10 touchdown seasons and tied his single-game best.

That, Southern coach Pete Richardson insists, was a long time ago.

Now 0-2 against Spears in the Classic, Richardson has no doubt noted Kuuan, who averaged more than 100 yards rushing for the final month of 2004, is gaining just 53 a night this season.

Grambling enters this year's game looking more like the 2005 edition, leading the conference in passing and scoring just as it did after Eugene returned with a medical redshirt.

"I'm concerned about Brandon Landers," Richardson insists. "They spread the ball around."

But sticking with the familiar downfield approach hasn't led to the same success without Eugene.

Last year, GSU went undefeated in league play, including a 50-35 win over Southern in Houston. Using a quarterbacking tandem of Landers and fellow redshirt sophomore Larry Kerlegan, Grambling has stumbled to 3-6 - with no hope even for a winning season.

That's got some fans hoping this homecoming to New Orleans will mean a return to a run-first look.

It worked, they remind, last time.

"This year, it will be more of a combination, a more balanced attack," Spears said. "Our offense is one that is based on what they give us. Certainly, we'd like to run the ball — but if they put nine men in the box, trying to stop Ab Kuuan, we will have recognize that formation and adjust."

As he did in 2004, Edwards remains Landers' favorite target. He leads Grambling in catches, yards and touchdowns.

"Brandon and I have worked well together from the beginning," Edwards said. "We certainly would like to continue doing that. The Bayou Classic is always a big game. Whether we pass it or run it, we just need the win."

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Southern stumbled after series of '06 mishaps
November 23, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Southern needed a week off, quite literally, to lick its wounds.

There's something that hurts worse than a second-ever losing record for the Jaguars under 13th-year coach Pete Richardson.

It's losing more than a dozen players to injury over the course of this year.

Two quarterbacks have fallen. And tacklers? By the bushel — including four before last week's dismal blowout to Arkansas-Pine Bluff alone. The Jags even had an offensive guard go down ... with a finger infection.

Ouch.

"It's been a funny year for us," Richardson said. "Every game, it seems like we lost somebody."

The result: Southern is 4-6, just the third time Richardson has entered the Bayou Classic with a losing record — and only the fourth for the Jaguars in 20 seasons.

They face a similarly struggling Grambling, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Superdome in New Orleans.

"This is a rivalry, even if we are 3-6 and they are 4-6," said redshirt GSU sophomore Larry Kerlegan, who has been sharing time with quarterback Brandon Landers. "We both have something to prove."

For the Jaguars, it just might be whether they can get through it without running ruts in the Dome turf with a trainer's cart.

Quarterback J.C. Lewis, the Jaguars' starter as the season began, missed three contests and parts of two others with a concussion and then an injured throwing arm. His replacement, C.J. Byrd, also suffered an arm injury.

Offensive guard Tremaine Johnson had a bum ankle. Cornerback Michael Williams also had an ankle thing. For linebacker Johnathan Malveaux, it was a shoulder.

Linebacker Keidrick Bailey, a key element in Richardson's defensive scheme, was lost for nearly a month with an ankle problem, as well. Defensive end Lionel Howard? Ankle, too.

That dramatically changed the Jaguars' season. Luckily, a bye week proceeds their nationally televised in-state rivalry game against Grambling.

"Defensively, we have to get some people back, specifically on the outside," Richardson said. "The week of rest helped us out a great deal."

As Southern has been decimated by injury, the inexperienced replacements who followed have made a series of stunning errors — and often at moments when the game is on the line.

Southern had no turnovers through its first seven quarters, then bottomed out with 32 as injuries set in over the rest of the season. The Jaguars — who never gave the ball up against Bethune-Cookman and Alabama State — are now No. 8 in the 10-team league for turnover margin, at minus-7.

Still, Richardson has produced another squad that focuses on the little things: His is the SWAC's least penalized team, and it's terrific on special teams — leading the league in punting and field goal percentage.

For all of its uncertainty under center, Southern has contended for much of the season — losing five games by a touchdown or less, and two in overtime.

No. 3 quarterback Bryant Lee, though prone to turnovers as a redshirt freshman, is a shifty threat on the ground. Talented Southern receiver Gerard Landry is catching what this trio is throwing, sitting at No. 2 in the SWAC.

"They've changed a lot, because of personnel reasons," GSU coach Melvin Spears said. "They are not are wide open as usual. They have changed a whole lot. Now, you can look for the quarterback to run on a number of different occasions. We've just got to come in and take what they give us."

Grambling's No. 1 pass offense will tangle with the league's No. 1 pass defense. Southern has allowed just 136 yards per game so far this season — compared with Grambling's 164, which ranks No. 5 in the SWAC.

Neither team has had much success running the ball, with Southern just one spot above Grambling at No. 8 in the SWAC with 109 yards on the ground per night.

Southern is just as bad against the run, as well. The Jags have given up 166 yards a number to rank one spot above Grambling, as well.

Richardson, for his part, understands what's at stake with this game. He signed a new contract just before the 2004 season, and has heard increasing rumblings amongst Southern supporters after losing the next two Classics in a row.

"We are inconsistent at the present time, and part of it's because of injuries. We just have to get ready and finish up strong," Richardson said. "It's been a very disappointing season for both teams, but we are excited about this game. It means more for some people than winning the championship."

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For Bayou Classic fans, no place like home
November 25, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Bayou Classic fans said a homecoming for their game confirms the budding recovery of storm-ravaged New Orleans.

"It's more than just the return of a football game — it's a revival, a rebirth of sorts," said Grambling fan Donovan Simmons of Lafayette. "Hurricane Katrina did not kill our Crescent City. It was a serious setback, but the return of the classic signals the major comeback for Louisiana's crown jewel."

Kickoff for the Bayou Classic is at 1 p.m. today at the Louisiana Superdome. The game will be broadcast live nationally on NBC.

Supporters of both Grambling and Southern could be found milling about the refurbished Superdome on this cool Friday night, as diehards began lining up for the Battle of the Bands.

"I don't care if we lose!" said Grambling fan Sherry Williams of Houston, point-
ing to her Tigers T-shirt. "I'll be right back down here tomorrow night just like this!"

Others haggled, recalling old times, at kiosk after kiosk along Poydras in front of the Dome. There were dozens more touring the historic streets of the French Quarter, which went largely untouched by Hurricane Katrina.

The same couldn't be said for the Superdome, which had to undergo extensive renovation after being used as a shelter for storm evacuees. The Bayou Classic, after being held 31 consecutive times in New Orleans, was played at Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2005 while the work continued.

"Last year, I went to Houston, and it wasn't the same," said Louis Wright of Grambling. "Here, you walk around. There, you're in traffic. There's nothing like the Crescent City."

Even something so routine as the pre-game walk-through at the stadium turned into an emotional experience.

"I walked into that Dome and I just had chill bumps all over," said GSU coach Melvin Spears. "They have done an outstanding job of putting it back together. Every time I go to New Orleans I get the same feeling. I roll in and all of a sudden the Superdome pops up out of the middle of the city, it's just one of those things. The dome is like no other place, and we play all over the world. It has this aura, like being at home."

A group congregated at the team hotel Friday at the annual Legends' Affair, where former Grambling receiver Trumaine Johnson was among those honored.

While fans thanked Houston for its hospitality last season, many said there is simply no place like home.

"The tradition, passion and pageantry of this spectacular weekend is unparalleled — and as we experienced in Houston last year, it cannot be duplicated," Simmons said. "The Bayou Classic belongs in New Orleans."

Official museum kickoff
The official kickoff announcement of a national fundraising campaign for the Eddie G. Robinson Museum will be held at 10 a.m. today at New Orleans' Astor Crowne Plaza in conjunction with the Bayou Classic's Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus jazz brunch event.

"The only reason we get the opportunity to be featured in a game like this is because of people like Eddie Rob, who did it better than anybody else," said GSU coach Melvin Spears.

Scheduled speakers include Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, state Rep. Rick Gallot, members of the Robinson family, Grambling State University officials and New Orleans native and original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris.

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Grambling still looking to replace former leaders
November 24, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Grambling only lost a handful of starters in the off-season, but that was enough to shake up its delicate formula for winning.

Grambling coach Melvin Spears admitted as much when — while talking recently about departed players like quarterback Bruce Eugene, defensive end Jason Hatcher and safety Jermaine Mills — he referred to them as the "heart and soul" of his team.

Their graduation left Grambling with plenty of remarkable athletes, but without an emotional center. That in turn played a decisive role in GSU's disappointing 3-6 mark coming into Saturday's Bayou Classic.

Kickoff against Southern is set for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
As much as Spears' pre-season optimism about a return to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game seemed justified when GSU flashed bursts of athletic brilliance in 2006, they too often were followed by game-turning mental errors.

Four of those six losses were by five points or less.

One game was lost on a special teams mishap, another on an over-aggressive play call. One game ended on a badly thrown incompletion, another on a fumble.

"It's been a combination of things," said junior receiver Clyde Edwards, a terrific, though quiet, performer. "We've just made some big mistakes at key moments."

Add to that a questionable coaching decision to stay with a vertical offensive scheme, despite the switch under center, and the die was cast for this season of disappointment in Grambling.

A team last seen at the Bayou Classic in the midst of an 11-1 coronation as the conference champion is now assured a losing season — no matter what happens in its remaining two contests.

"I think our team has progressed," Spears said. "But anytime you uproot the chemistry of the football team, it takes a little time to gel. We are looking forward to coming down (to New Orleans) and leaving it all on the field."

That would be in stark contrast to its most recent second half of football, when Grambling disappeared late in its own homecoming game against Alabama State — falling 35-16 after giving up 22 unanswered points over the third and fourth quarters.

"It's my senior year, so I don't want to go out like that," said Farmerville linebacker Dimitri Carr. "Besides, this is my last Bayou Classic. You can't lose that one."

Spears calls the ASU collapse an aberration, noting that Grambling's four other Division I-AA losses came by a total of two touchdowns. That includes margins of one to Hampton, three to Alabama A&M and five to both UAPB and Texas Southern.

He promised a revitalized effort against Southern, and that has certainly characterized the practice sessions leading up to the eve of Grambling's biggest rivalry game.

The reason: For all the jaw-dropping turns the games themselves often take, no SWAC opponent has been a steadier opponent than Southern.

The overall Bayou Classic series record is 16-16. No other league foe has a non-losing record against Grambling.

That the event returns to New Orleans, after a year spent at Houston in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, only adds to the pitched emotions.

"You are on the big stage, the only show in town," Spears said. "With NBC, millions of folks have an opportunity to watch as you showcase your brand of football in front of the world. We live for it every single year, because we love the pageantry and all the things that go with it."

Even if there is a tinge of regret attached to this one, which pits two losing teams for the first time ever.

The players say, despite Grambling's record, there is still much to play for: Pride of ownership and, just maybe, an opportunity to turn things around next season.

"This game determines how the off-season goes," said redshirt sophomore Larry Kerlegan, who has shared time at quarterback all year with Brandon Landers. "I want to win these two, then come back and win the starter's job in the spring."

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OPENING DRIVE: GSU vs. Southern
November 25, 2006

Southern and Grambling, since the Bayou Classic's first playing in 1974, have combined for 19 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and 14 black college national titles. One or the other has appeared in each of the previous seven SWAC championship games.

Yet they arrive for the first time in Classic history with a pair of losing records — and no chance to represent the Western Division.

Grambling has won the last two Bayou Classics in a row, and three of the last five, to send the once-invincible Pete Richardson into a tailspin at Southern.

Since Melvin Spears took over at GSU, the Jaguars have been beaten by a combined 74-48. Southern lost to Grambling in 2004 (the same season Richardson signed the richest coaching contract in the league) and has proceeded to compile a record of just 8-12.

SMALL STUFF
• TV: KTVE-10 (NBC)
• Radio: KNBB-99.3 FM
• Web: www.espn933.com
• Series: Tied 16-16
• Last year: GSU won 50-35
• Coaches: GSU, Melvin Spears (third year, 20-12); Southern, Pete Richardson (13th year, 113-49)
• Line: None
• Last week: Both teams were off

KEYS TO VICTORY
Try for a rerun — literally — of 2004.

Back then, GSU quarterback Brandon Landers only attempted 13 passes while four rushers combined for 292 yards. It was a low-scoring affair, with Grambling on top 24-13, but the point total didn't fully illustrate how thoroughly Southern had been beaten.

GSU held onto the ball for more than 36 minutes, with most of the damage being done by current senior running back Ab Kuuan — who collected 126 of those yards on 18 carries.
So far, Southern has been just as bad against the run as Grambling, giving up 166 yards a number to rank one spot above the cellar-dwelling Tigers.

The problem: Grambling, even without record-smashing quarterback Bruce Eugene, has stuck to its pass-first ways. Meaning Kuuan has gained only 481 yards.

At this point last year, he'd already run for 649 — despite missing two games with an ankle injury. Kuuan's best outing so far, and only time with more than 100 yards, was a 113-yard night against cellar-dwelling Prairie View.

In all, Kuuan has run for 275 career yards and four scores on 43 carries in the Bayou Classic.

TOP MATCHUP
If this turns into a ground-oriented game, Grambling's SWAC-worst run defenders look to have their hands full. Southern has been talking about starting the athletic freshman quarterback Bryant Lee, and has seen Kendall Addison run for an average of 103 yards over the past five games.

Meanwhile, GSU has given up more than 200 yards on the ground four times this season. Only one opponent has been held to less than 100 yards rushing all year.

GET IN THE GAME
Senior receiver Henry Tolbert ran with the first team during most of Grambling's 20-day wait for this game, apparently fully recovered from non-football related maladies that kept him out of most of two previous games.

That's good news for the GSU offense. Tolbert has 11 career catches for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the Bayou Classic.

Despite being slowed by injury, Tolbert only needs to average 103 yards, two touchdowns and eight catches over Grambling's final two games this season to break that trio of career school records.

2006 IMPLICATIONS:
Grambling, at 3-6 so far, hasn't lost more than six games in a single season since former coach Eddie Robinson posted 3-8 marks in his final two campaigns at GSU in 1996-97. It hasn't lost six since going 5-6 in 1999, the first year of successor Doug Williams' rebuilding project.

Really, though, a Grambling coach can almost afford to go 1-10, if this is his lone win. As Williams quickly learned, for GSU fans — and, truthfully, the administration, too — the Bayou Classic counts more than any old championship.

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Measure of a team
Another close game turns into another close loss for Grambling
November 26, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Of course.

Of course, Grambling State jumped out to the lead, then gave it away. Of course, they played sloppy, even ugly, then charged back to the arm-waving precipice of a stirring win — only to fall just short.

Of course.

After all, the Tigers lost their first game this season by one point. And their second game by three. And three more now by 5 points each.

This Grambling squad is the embodiment of a football cliché. Theirs is a life of inches.
They've existed in space between here and . . .

here.

So, of course, they lose 21-17 to Southern in the Bayou Classic, but only after failing to gain a first down on fourth-and-one from the SU 2 in the game's waning minutes.

There were 19 points, all of them an inch away, between this underachieving GSU team and an 8-2 record. Between them and a return trip to the SWAC Championship Game.

"We had our opportunities," said Henry Tolbert, who led all Grambling receivers with 67 yards on four catches. "We just didn't capitalize."

There has been, from the beginning of 2006, an inch or two separating this team from what it would like to be, from what perhaps it should be.

Still, there was nothing to suggest the disquieting prospect of this game's nearly unwatchable first half.

We saw two deposed SWAC powers underscoring why they had but six wins between them, after each has averaged eight a season over the last 10.

Unlike so many recent Bayou Classics, these 1,000-yard passing nights that seem so very far away now, this contest didn't look to be one where the team that scored last would win.
It would be the team that scored at all.

Grambling and Southern split their first-quarter time of possession almost exactly in half, with similar results: Tigers 0, Jaguars 0.

Grambling finally found the end zone in the second period, followed by a chorus of touchdowns from both teams late in the game, but even then there was little music to this game's backbeat of mistakes on both sides — from questionable coaching to untimely penalties and messy execution.

Southern had a tremendous 25-yard third-quarter touchdown by Bryant Lee on a designed quarterback run called back on a holding penalty. Jaguars kicker Breck Ackley, who'd only whiffed three times all year, had a 26-yarder blocked and then missed from 41 yards out.
The deciding points from Southern followed a badly mishandled punt return by Landry Carter that gave the Jaguars the ball inside GSU's red zone.

That score, a 2-yard outside run by running back Kendall Addison, was actually keyed by a fumble from Southern quarterback C.J. Byrd — who briefly replaced an injured Lee. The fumble rolled forward, however, and Byrd recovered for a first and goal.

It was that kind of afternoon.

I don't even want to think about Grambling punting on third down. Or Southern taking three points off the board in a failed attempt to score a touchdown after a GSU penalty.
Somebody had to win. They just had to.

Ultimately, it became clear that it would be Southern, which eventually began getting out of Lee what GSU had hoped to get out of starting the athletic Larry Kerlegan — tough-to-figure scrambles mixed in with a timely pass.

But Kerlegan had been ineffective in the early going, so he was replaced by fellow redshirt sophomore Brandon Landers.

He then joined in what has become a familiar refrain: Southern tied it, then went ahead, then Grambling answered back, then the Jaguars scored again, leaving GSU in the same position it occupied so many other times all year.

That is, with time short — and a very long field.

Landers methodically moved Grambling along, even as the fourth quarter drained away, handing off to senior running back Ab Kuuan at the Southern 25, the 11, the 4, then the 2.
That's where it stood, with less than three minutes remaining. GSU was left with a fourth down, and the Bayou Classic to go.

Get a yard, and there are four more downs to negotiate the remaining yard. Get two yards, and Grambling is ahead by two. Follow that with the extra point, and Southern must score a touchdown to win.

Instead, GSU lost two yards.

GSU coach Melvin Spears called "Power I, Right, 43 Lead," with Kuuan — the MVP of this game in 2004, the last time it was played at the Superdome — going over tackle.

When the senior reached the hole, it had collapsed. Just that quickly, two Southern defenders were on top of him.

Kuuan tried to bounce outside in an effort to free himself, but that's where he met Southern defensive back Jarmaul George.

A senior who, because of injury and ineligibility, had never played in a Bayou Classic before.
Of course.

"You don't know how much that hurts," said senior Grambling offensive lineman Jamar Dorsey. "To come up a yard short?"

He paused, then said: "It hurts."

The resulting tackle, which pushed Kuuan back to the SU 4, sent Southern fans into a frenzy.
See, they'd lost two Bayou Classics in a row, but these Jaguars have a knack for winning the close ones. Going back 15 years, Grambling has fallen to Southern by 3 points in 2003, by 4 in 2000, by 5 in 1996 and by 1 point in 1991.

Of course, they would win another nail-biter.

"You've got to finish that run," said Spears, shaking his head. "You've got to finish it. As a result, we lost."

He knows the words by heart, like a song that once played in heavy rotation.

There have been other details, but the results? They lost.

"It's the story," senior Henry Tolbert repeated, "of our season."

We should have known it would come down to something so mundane as an inch for the 2006 edition of the Grambling State Tigers. To something as obvious as a play here, or a player there.

Of course. It has all year.

NICK DERISO is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. His weblog is at http://www.thenewsstar.com/news/blogs/blog3/index.html. Contact him at 318-362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.

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It's not curtains yet for GSU's year
Alcorn St. looms in season finale
November 27, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS — Even as they try to adjust to losing the Bayou Classic for the first time since 2003, Grambling State's players must now do the almost unthinkable: Prepare for another league foe.

GSU, which fell 21-17 against Southern in a nationally televised in-state rivalry game, plays Alcorn State this week at Robinson Stadium. It's the only Southwestern Athletic Conference game slated.

"As football players, we have to get ready to play," said senior GSU cornerback Greg Fassitt. "This is what we have to do. We have to get ready and close out at home."

The Alcorn contest was moved to the end of the schedule to accommodate a television date against Hampton in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge to open the season.

The switch meant Grambling didn't play at Robinson Stadium until Oct. 21, against Jackson State. That 36-7 victory has been followed by three consecutive losses, at Texas Southern, back home against Alabama State and then last week at the Bayou Classic.

Grambling (3-7, 3-5) had entered that stretch a half-game back of Western Division-leading Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but has now fallen all the way back to third place. UAPB will represent the division in the SWAC Championship Game on Dec. 19.

"This game teaches you how to be a man," said senior GSU offensive lineman Jamar Dorsey. "You can be at the top one minute, and then sometimes find yourself right back at the bottom. You've got to learn to live with both."

While Grambling slumped, Alcorn (5-5, 4-4) arrives having beaten its own in-state rivalry, Jackson State, in the Capital City Classic on Nov. 18. The Braves were off last week.
"This too shall pass," said GSU coach Melvin Spears. "The bottom line is, the sun will come up tomorrow. We've got to get ready for Alcorn this week. We'll try to keep it close and hope this time we come out on top."

Their GSU legacy: Grambling seniors finished their careers on a down note, but still participated in two victories over archrival Southern.

GSU had taken just one Bayou Classic since 1993 when this group, then mostly sophomores, won 24-13 in the Superdome back in 2004. A season later, as juniors, they helped Grambling to a 50-35 win after the game was moved to Houston in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"We played good in all of them," said senior linebacker Dimitri Carr, third on the team with nine tackles last Saturday. "I guess I went out 50/50. I'm 2-2."

Grambling has won three of the last six Bayou Classics, but falling to Southern this season pushed the Jaguars to a 17-16 all-time series lead.

"It's my last one," said dejected senior running back Ab Kuuan, who came up a yard short Saturday on a fourth-down attempt in the final period that would have put Grambling in a position to win. "We're 2-2, but I still have a sour taste in my mouth."

The five-point margin of victory was the narrowest since Southern won by three in 2003, the first year many of these seniors saw playing time. Southern has won the last five Bayou Classic decided by five points or less.

"It's just that much tougher because of everything I went through to get here," said Dorsey, who suffered a knee injury that he'd just begun playing on again. "I worked so hard to get back. But the decision to come to Grambling was the best one I ever made. I feel certain that these Tigers are in good hands."

Southern's streaks: Jaguars coach Pete Richardson is now 12-4 in the Louisiana Superdome. He is 12-2 all-time against Grambling in games played there, having dropped last season's Bayou Classic at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

His kicker, Breck Ackley, finished his collegiate eligibility having scored in 42 consecutive games —- every game he played in for Richardson.

He had three points on Saturday, kicking extra points after two touchdowns in the third and then a fourth-quarter score that provided the difference in the Classic.

Ackley scored a personal-best 11 points twice over that span, and became the school's all-time leading scorer in last year's loss to Grambling.

Southern leads the overall series against GSU, which dates back to 1933, by a margin of 28-26. The rivalry was moved to New Orleans in 1974, and was first played in the Dome a season later.

Bayou Classics That Mattered Most

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
More than three decades in, which Bayou Classic games mattered the most? I'm talking turning-point moments. Not just because that particular day was (or wasn't) a big win, but because it had a lasting impact. Leading up to Saturday's Bayou Classic, I'll make my six points:

1980 Bayou Classic
November 19, 2006

SIX: When Mike Williams walked off the Superdome carpet with the most valuable player award after the 1980 Bayou Classic, it marked the end of an era.

The Williams' era.

A quarterback named Williams, either Mike or older brother Doug, had started for Grambling in every Classic until that point - and had won four of the seven MVPs ever given.

GSU had also gone 6-1 against Southern with a Williams under center, falling only in 1979. Five of the Top 6 best-attended games, including Nos. 1-4, occurred during this span, as well.

Doug Williams remembered the very first game, played at Tulane in 1974 while construction of the Superdome was completed:

"I looked around and said: 'What am I doing here?'" he told The News-Star in 2003. "We had 75,000 at a historically black college football game. I was a redshirt freshman, and scared to death. I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn't put too much pressure on me."

Doug Williams would, of course, be named MVP in that game, as well as the third Bayou Classic in 1976. Mike Williams took over in 1978, and won the Classic MVP that season and in 1980.

(Grambling wingback Sammy White, now the program's offensive coordinator, was MVP in 1975, followed by GSU wingback Robert Woods in 1977. Southern quarterback Wilfred Charles was the 1979 honoree.)

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1993 Bayou Classic
November 20, 2006

FIVE: In 1993, rookie Southern coach Pete Richardson stormed into the SWAC - beating his first six league opponents by an average of 30 points. In fact, he'd only stumble once coming into the season-ending Bayou Classic, and that was against out-of-conference foe Nicholls State.

"I voted for him for Coach of the Year," former GSU line coach Billy Manning told The News-Star in 1993. "It's hard to come in and turn a team around like that. ... It all boils down to execution, motivation, technique and preparation. The talent has been there."

Southern had already punched its ticket to the Heritage Bowl, after GSU fell to Alabama State three weeks before. Richardson then topped Eddie Robinson in the 1993 Bayou Classic 31-13 with sophomore quarterback Eric Randall as MVP.

A subsequent bowl win over South Carolina State meant the first-year coach had led Southern to the school's second 11-win season ever, its first SWAC title in 18 years and its first outright championship since 1959.

What followed was a stunning run of dominance for Southern, as Pete eventually took eight straight Classics -- six from Robinson and two from Doug Williams, Rob's eventual successor. He beat Grambling by an average of two touchdowns over that span.

Before Pete, Grambling actually held a 13-6 Classic series lead, and Southern had never won more than two in a row (1981-82 and 1987-88). By 2000, the Richardson had already won four SWAC titles (1993, then 1997-99) -- and pulled ahead in the Classic series, 14-13.

It all started with that 1993 victory.

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1990 Bayou Classic
November 21, 2006

FOUR: In many ways, the 1990 Bayou Classic was somewhat routine, as Grambling won 25-13 - Eddie Robinson's second in a row over Southern coach Gerald Kimble. GSU had, at that point, won 12 of the initial 17 editions.

Only this time, 200 million people had the opportunity to experience the game - not to mention the halftime pageantry - through a new partnership deal with NBC TV.

Former Grambling sports information director Collie J. Nicholson's dream - 12 years after his celebrated 30-year run at GSU ended - had finally been completely realized.

"When Eddie Robinson came to Grambling, people in Lincoln Parish didn't even know where Grambling was," Nicholson told The News-Star in 2003. "It took a long time to build name recognition for the school, during the time of segregation."

This was a guy who used to type up the game stories, then drive 70 miles to Shreveport to wire them all over the country. Now, Nicholson's game was being beamed into every home in America.

GSU quarterback Shawn Burras was the 1990 Classic's MVP, leading a unit that included SWAC offensive player of the year Walter Dean and future NFL receiver Jake Reed. Still, I think my favorite guy from this period is Raymond Smith, the 6-7, 435-pound offensive tackle who so richly earned the nickname: "World."

Oddly enough, despite the addition of television coverage, the 1990 edition turned out to be the highest attended Classic since Southern beat Grambling 22-17 in 1982. The announced crowd of 70,600 was then No. 7 all time.

Nicholson, who was recognized with the Bayou Classic Founder's Award two seasons later, passed earlier this year after experiencing a series of health problems. The press box at Robinson Stadium is named in his honor.

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1992 Bayou Classic
November 22, 2006

THREE: Coaching legends Eddie Robinson and Marino Casem - winners between them of 568 college contests - faced off again, producing another remarkable rivalry game.

And another razor-thin margin.

Three times, they roamed the sidelines at the Bayou Classic. The average margin of victory: 6 points.

This time, GSU won 30-27 before a sold-out crowd of 71,283, the year before Casem moved up to become Southern's athletics director. It was the last time these two Southwestern Athletic Conference legends met on the field.

The Classic's most valuable player was Grambling quarterback Alex Perkins, who would then help craft a 45-15 win over Florida A&M in the Heritage Bowl to win the '92 black college national championship - the final under Robinson. (Current GSU running backs coach Darius Matthews was also on that team.)

This would be the only time Robinson got the better of Casem in New Orleans. Southern beat Grambling by a touchdown in both 1987 and '88. (Southern's Daryl Garner and Chris Scott, respectively, were named MVPs.)

In all, 182,516 people saw these titanic struggles, which led to one of the most famous descriptions of this game from Casem - who called it "the biggest and best thing in all of blackdom."

Known as The Godfather of the SWAC, Casem served as coach and athletics director at both Southern, Alcorn and, for one season early in his coaching career, at Alabama State.

That run included seven football titles at Alcorn, where he set a school record for wins. (Though the two played to a virtual draw over Casem's first decade at Alcorn, Rob eventually established a 13-8 advantage). Casem oversaw another four SWAC championships as AD at Southern, then had another brief tenure in the same position at Alcorn before retiring.

Both Robinson and Casem, who finished with a coaching record of 160-91-8, are now members of the College Football Hall of Fame.

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1975 Bayou Classic
November 23, 2006

TWO: It's not just that this game was the first to be played in the Superdome, which is reason enough.

This one boasted more eventual NFL talent from Grambling than any Bayou Classic ever: Eight starters went on to play three or more years in the pros, and at least 15 were eventually invited to NFL camps.

"Grambling's football tradition is second to none," former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told The News-Star in 1992. "Under Eddie Robinson's leadership, Grambling contributed an unusually large number of players to the NFL."

Wingback Sammy White (Vikings, 1976-86) took handoffs from quarterback Doug Williams (Buccaneers, 1978-83; and Redskins, 1986-89). Now GSU's offensive coordinator, White was named the game's most valuable player.

Williams also had Dwight Scales (Rams, 1976-79; Chargers, 1981-83; and Seahawks, 1984) as a top target. Big Ron Singleton (Chargers, 1976; and Niners, 1977-80) would play both tight end and offensive tackle. The group scored 33 points that year on Charlie Bates' Jaguars, thrilling a crowd of 73,214 at the Dome.

Defensive back James Hunter (Lions, 1976-82) and linebacker Robert Pennywell (Niners, 1976; and Falcons, 1977-80) led a unit that held Southern to 17 points. The defensive line was anchored by Robert Barber (Packers, 1976-80) and Michael St. Claire (Browns, 1976-79; and Bengals, 1980-82).

Others from this amazingly talented Tiger team who appeared on NFL rosters included offensive tackle Larry Favorite (Falcons); defensive end Arthur Gilliam (Broncos); defensive tackle Jessie O'Neal (Oilers, Seahawks and Redskins); offensive lineman Robert Simon (Oilers); defensive backs Eugene Williams (Jets) and Michael Harris (Eagles, Jets and Steelers); and center Billy Manning (Saints) -- who later became an assistant under Robinson.

The Bayou Classic would be played another 29 times at the Superdome before Hurricane Katrina rendered the facility unplayable in 2005. After a one-year hiatus at Houston's Reliant Stadium, the contest returns home this year.

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1997 Bayou Classic
November 24, 2006

ONE: There would be no stopping Southern's Pete Richardson, then in the midst of eight years of domination in New Orleans.

Nevertheless, Eddie Robinson's final game, after 57 seasons at Grambling, provided the proper send off to college football's winningest coach.

The NBC broadcast included several features chronicling his storied career. Tributes flowed in from then President Bill Clinton, fellow coaches like Penn State's Joe Paterno and a bevy of former players.

More than 300 media credentials were issued, and they quickly scattered out to interview the likes of Willie Davis, Charles "Tank" Smith, Elfrid Payton, Henry Dyer, Mike Williams, James Hunter, and others.

The build up threatened to subsume the Bayou Classic itself.

Of course, Robinson took it all in stride: "I'm really not trying to think of this game as my last," he told The News-Star in 1997. "It's there in the back of my mind, but I'm really just trying to take this as just the next game we have to try to win."

That didn't happen, as Southern dispatched GSU, 30-7.

Even so, there were other numbers threading through the four-hour broadcast, staggering numbers - 408 wins in 587 games, 17 SWAC titles and 210 players in the NFL. Hundreds, if not thousands of young men, with a road map to life in the form of a college degree.

In carrying the game, NBC shared the story of Eddie Robinson with the world one final time.

The 1997 Classic was one instance - this year, with the return to New Orleans, is another - when it seemed appropriate that the game turned into a sideshow. Robinson's towering achievements deserved no less.

Also considered: 2004 Bayou Classic, an upset win by Grambling that sent Richardson into a tailspin. Then the reigning SWAC champion, the Jaguars went on to lose in the '04 title match and haven't had a winning season since. ... 1974 Bayou Classic, the first ever held. This game was held at Tulane Stadium while construction of the Superdome continued. ... 2006 Bayou Classic, which is set to include an emotional homecoming in New Orleans, a year after Hurricane Katrina.