Rematch could determine 2003 national champ
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The ASU Hornets sit behind Southern, Grambling
State (9-3), North Carolina A&T (10-3) and
Bethune-Cookman (9-3) in the rankings and
have lost to all the teams ahead of them except A&T.
But barring their 35-10 loss to Southern on Sept. 27, the Hornets have played the others close, losing 31-26 in a controversial ending to B-CC and 37-34 to Grambling when the G-Men scored twice in the last nine minutes to overcome an 11-point deficit.
Their other loss was a close 20-17 decision to No. 7 Alabama A&M at the Magic City Classic.
A win over the top-ranked Jaguars in their rematch Saturday would give Charles Coe III's squad at least an argument for being No. 1. They could say the teams ahead of them lost their final game (A&T and B-CC in the I-AA playoffs, Grambling to Southern at the Bayou Classic) while they knocked off the No. 1 ranked team in their finale.
While the national championship is an interesting subplot, the main thing to be determined Saturday is the new king of the SWAC.
Southern knocked Grambling from its three-year perch atop the conference with a 44-41 win at the Nov. 29 Bayou Classic that gave Pete Richardson's troops their first SWAC West Division title since 1999 and got them back to the title game for the first time since then.
It seems like ages ago that Southern took the inaugural SWAC Championship Game 31-30 over Jackson State back in '99, capping their own three-year run with the crown. Since then, they've played second fiddle to Grambling's return to dominance orchestrated by head coach Doug Williams.
But the Bayou Classic win has put the Jags back in the limelight in their own version of "Return to Dominance," the theme on the cover of their 2003 Media Guide,
Dominate is exactly what the Jaguars have done, leading the conference in both scoring (41.7 ppg.) and scoring defense (15.5 ppg.) while coming within a last-second, two-point loss to Alcorn State of a perfect season. The average margin of victory in their 11 wins was 28.8 points.
Those wins included the 35-10 victory over Alabama State earlier this season. In that game, Southern scored touchdowns on four of their first five possessions to put the game away by halftime with a 28-3 lead.
The theme of dominance was furthered illustrated last week when Southern quarterback Quincy Richard and defensive backs Lenny Williams and Jamaul George were named SWAC offensive, defensive and freshman players of the year (See story below).
But the Alabama State story may be even more compelling. Coe, an experienced Div. I assistant but never a head coach, took over as interim coach at Alabama State in August only three weeks before the start of the season after the school had an ugly, publicly drawn-out split with former head coach L. C. Cole.
With just three weeks to prepare, and impressions that the program was in disarray the Hornets were picked in the preseason by SWAC coaches to finish last in the East Division Coe guided the Hornets to a surprise 38-22 win over highly-regarded Florida A&M in the season-opener in Detroit.
They followed that with the outstanding performance against MEAC-favorite Bethune-Cookman in Mobile. A week later they returned home to knock off Alcorn State 49-28.
Even in their loss to Southern, Alabama State had its chances, coming away with one field goal in three forays inside the Southern 5-yard line.
Along the way, the Hornets also lost Coe for two games to open heart surgery.
So any impression that this game is a sure Southern is misguided.
The emergence of Richard (3,270 yards, 31 TDs) , a fifth-year senior who led a contingent of seven Jaguars to all-SWAC honors, was the key to re-establishing Southern as an offensive juggernaut. Three receivers, first-teamer Chris Ard (51 rec.), second-teamer Chris Davis (46 rec.) and Lionel Joseph (46 rec.) were among the top ten in receptions in the SWAC and junior running back Kenneth Peoples was third in the conference in rushing (82 ypg.).
Coe developed a steady defense to go along with the high-scoring offense that Cole had been know for at ASU. While Williams (1,095 yards), a Tennessee transfer, and QB Tavarius Jackson (2,175 yards, 18 TDs), an Arkansas transfer, lead the offense, linebacker Ronald Dillon leads the defense with 99 tackles including 7.5 sacks.
© 2003 Azeez Communications, Inc.