KSU steps up; G-Men, FSU fall short
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The upstart Thorobreds (3-0, 2-0 SIAC) forced themselves into the SIAC championship picture (and the BCSP Top Ten) with a big 19-13 win on the road Saturday night at Albany State (2-2, 1-1 SIAC).
And what's so big about a win over Albany State, a team that third-year head coach Donald Smith's 'Breds beat a year ago (30-27)?
Albany State head coach James White and his Golden Rams were riding high after three great games to start the season, a 21-3 loss to Valdosta State, the top-ranked team in NCAA Div. II, and wins over Miles and West Georgia. The 34-10 win over Miles came only a week after Miles had knocked off three-time defending SIAC champ Tuskegee 43-11 and perhaps had ASU thinking the conference title was theirs for the taking.
But KSU got an inspired performance in
front of a national TV (MBC) audience from 6-3,
235-pound freshman running back Anthony
"Roni" Robinson (110 yards, 26 carries) and junior
QB Joe McBride (23-49, 210 yards, 2 TDs) in the win.
"We came in this year to prove that last year was no fluke," said Smith, whose team finished just 3-8 in 2002 . "We've been at this for three years, we worked hard and knew this day was coming. There's no turning back. We have to continue to stay focused and keep working hard." Kentucky State, who joined the SIAC in 1995, has never won the conference title but finished in a second place tie in 1997 and represented the conference in the first Pioneer Bowl.
| GAMES OF THE WEEK
Alabama State @ Southern SWAC battle pits current division leaders Southern (3-0, 1-0 SWAC W) and ASU (3-1, 1-0 SWAC E). The game counts on both teams' divisional record. Did not play last season. Fayetteville State @ Bowie State
Hampton vs. Morgan State in E. Rutherford, NJ
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Elsewhere in the Top Ten, BCSP No. 2 Grambling (2-2, 1-0 SWAC W) won the battle through the air but I-AA No. 1 McNeese State won the battle on the ground and the war, winning 31-20 at Grambling. Grambling wide receiver Tramon Douglas's 17 receptions for 216 yards and three TDs were matched by McNeese State RB Vick King's 215 rushing yards and three scores as MSU scored the last 17 points to erase a 20-14 fourth-quarter Grambling lead. GSU QB Bruce Eugene completed 36 of a Tiger record 68 attempts for 397 yards in the loss.
GSU head coach Doug Williams, whose team lost 52-20 to McNeese State a year ago, is not much into moral victories but he praised his team's effort. "It's hard to take too much positive out of it when you lose," he said. "But I've got to give the team a lot of credit. To sit here and say I'm not proud of the way they played? That wouldn't be fair to them." Grambling drops to third in the BCSP rankings.
Head coach Kenny Phillips's Fayetteville State (2-1, 0-0 CIAA W) squad once again showed its mettle, battling Catawba, ranked sixth in NCAA Div. II football, before losing 17-14 Saturday. The loss ended a seven-game home winning streak for the Broncos who dropped from seventh to eighth in the rankings.
BCSP No. 4 Hampton (2-1, 1-0 MEAC) was a big 53-0 winner over Tuskegee (2-2, 1-1 SIAC) before a crowd of 43,688 at the Ohio Classic in Cleveland's new Browns Stadium. But the biggest crowd of the day and of the season so far, 70,185 at the Atlanta Classic in the Georgia Dome, watched Florida A&M hold off Tennessee State, 10-7. The Rattlers (2-2) moved back into the Top Ten at No. 10 with the win.
RB Rodney Johnson rushed for 108 yards on 19 carries as BCSP No. 1 Bethune-Cookman stayed unbeaten with a 24-14 win over Florida International. QB Allen Suber was held to 18 rushing yards on 11 attempts but passed for 141 yards in the win.
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