SWAC title game rematch to wrap 2005
Grambling looking for conference and black college national title
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Head coach Melvin Spears' West Division champion Grambling State Tigers can clinch their first Southwestern Athletic Conference championship since he took over from Doug Williams last year when they go up against East Division winner Alabama A&M for the second time this year at Saturday's 7th SWAC Championship Game in Birmingham.
The game will be the last game of the 2005
black college football season and will be carried live
on ESPN Classic beginning at 1 p.m. Central Time.
The 10-1 Tigers, whose only loss was 44-7 to Div. IA Washington State on Sept. 17, also have the black college national championship in their sights. They moved to the top of the BCSP Top Ten following their 50-35 Bayou Classic win over Southern on Nov. 22 and MEAC champion Hampton's 38-10 loss on the same day to Richmond in the first round of the I-AA playoffs. Grambling is second to Hampton (11-1) in the Sheridan poll.
The Tigers rolled to the West Division crown outscoring conference opponents by an average of 42-19. Their only scares were a 26-23 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Oct. 15 and a 37-22 decision a week earlier over Mississippi Valley State where they scored 24 fourth-quarter points to pull out the victory.
Alabama A&M (9-2) began its run to the East title after an embarrassing 17-7 homecoming loss on Oct. 1 to lowly Texas Southern, TSU's only win in a 1-10 campaign. Since then the Bulldogs have won six straight games, including a 31-28 come-from-behind win over defending division and SWAC champ Alabama State at the Magic City Classic. Their 9-2 mark is the best in school history.
SWAC CHAMPIONSHIP YARDSTICK
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Grambling shutout and shellacked Anthony Jones' A&M Bulldogs in their first meeting on Sept. 10, getting ten sacks in a 44-0 rout.
"There was no doubt after watching that game from the sidelines that they would be representing the West," said Jones. "I had to try to find a way to mature my team to try to have a rematch. We're a very, very much improved football team than then."
This will be the G-Men's fourth appearance in the title game. Under Williams, they won title game matchups in 2000, 2001 and 2002. A&M is making its third championship game appearance, the second under Jones, but has yet to win a title. Grambling beat then head coach Ron Cooper's Bulldogs in 2000, 14-6. Jones' troops lost to Williams' G-Men, 31-19 in 2002.
As it was in the teams' previous meetings in the title games and in the regular seasons, this game pits Grambling's customary prolific offense against the Bulldogs' perennially stingy defense.
This year, the Tigers will again be led by senior QB Bruce Eugene, recently named the conference's offensive player of the year on the strength of 3,953 passing yards, 50 TDs and only six interceptions. Eugene's championship game appearance closes out a career that ranks as one of the best in SWAC and I-AA history. In three seasons at Grambling, Eugene has passed for over 13,000 yards and 134 TDs, shattering Williams' school records and threatening all-time I-AA marks held by former Alcorn State and now NFL star QB Steve McNair and former Mississippi Valley State QB and now MVSU head coach Willie Totten.
The nation's passing efficiency (172.0) and total offense (367.0 ypg.) leader, the 6-1, 270-pounder leads an offense that is tops in the SWAC and I-AA in scoring (44.0 ppg.), passing (357.7 ypg.) and total offense (493.2 ypg).. It features a bevy of talented receivers led by second team all-SWAC pass-catcher Henry Tolbert who led the conference with 63 receptions for 1,207 yards and 15 TDs, averaging 19.1 yards per catch. WR Clyde Edwards averaged another 19.8 yards on his 45 receptions and hauled in ten scoring tosses. In all, Eugene threw TD passes to 12 different recipients.
Though the Tigers' running game doesn't get many opportunities, tailback Ab Kuaan has rushed for 837 yards and eight TDs while averaging a robust 5.1 yards per carry.
Alabama A&M's defense is once again the best in the SWAC, leading the conference in every major category; rushing defense (100.0 ypg.), passing defense (174.6 ypg.), total defense (274.6 ypg.), and scoring defense (16.3 ppg.). Even in Grambling's win earlier in the season, Eugene could manage just eight completions in 21 attempts though three of them went for touchdowns covering 39, 26 and 70 yards. It was Eugene's first game back after going out in the first game of the 2004 season with a knee injury.
The A&M offense, which totalled just 157 yards in that meeting, has come to life since. QB Kelcy Luke finished the season completing 56.8% (138 of 243) of his passes for 1,975 yards, 13 TDs and 7 interceptions. The running attack, which was held to 34 yards in the first meeting, bounced back to lead the SWAC in rushing at 206.6 yards per game. Nic Luke with 775 yards and 7 TDs leads the way.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.