Grambling reclaims BCSP No. 1 spot
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
It took a couple of years longer than expected but Grambling State quarterback Bruce Eugene has put himself and the Tigers back at the top of the black college football world.
The pudgy 6-1, 270-pound New Orleans native, almost forgotten on the national scene after missing all but one game last season because of a knee injury, capped off a brilliant 2005 season Saturday with a 473-yard, six-TD performance as the Tigers won the seventh Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game with a dominating 45-6 thrashing of Alabama A&M.
The win gives second-year head coach
Melvin Spears' Tigers an 11-1 mark with their only loss coming
to Div. IA Washington State early this year. The convincing win also helps keep the
Tigers ahead of Mid Eastern Athletic Conference
champ Hampton (11-1) in the final
BCSP Top Ten. A&M
(9-3), which posted its best regular season ever at
9-2, finished fifth in our final ranking.
Hampton, who had a perfect 11-0 record in the regular season, fell badly to Richmond (38-10) in the first round of the NCAA Div. I-AA playoffs on Nov. 26 and finished second for the second year in a row.
Eugene's journey back to the top began in 2003 with a heartbreaking loss to Southern in a Bayou Classic (44-41) shootout that halted the G-Men's bid for a fourth straight SWAC title and their third black college national crown in four years. The Tigers and Eugene entered 2004 as the BCSP preseason No. 1 team and as the odds-on favorite to reclaim both the SWAC title and the national crown, only to have him go down with a knee injury in their first game. Prior to the 2004 season, Eugene was selected as a preseason I-AA all-American and the leading candidate for the coveted Walter Payton Award given to the best offensive player in I-AA. Without Eugene, Grambling finished 6-5 in 2004. Albany State and Hampton went on to claim the top rankings in 2004 while Alabama State won the SWAC crown.
After being granted a medical redshirt and thus another year of eligibility, Eugene somehow was overlooked nationally and did not get the acclaim that followed him in 2004. But he shone even brighter.
He threw for 4,408 yards, a I-AA record-tying 56 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions this year, the best single-season numbers in a career that will go down as one of the best in I-AA history. The output brings his career totals to 13,530 passing yards, second best in I-AA history to former Alcorn State QB Steve McNair, and sets a new I-AA record with 140 career TD passes. Though he was snubbed for the Payton Award, he'll be the runaway winner of the 2005 BCSP Offensive Player of the Year award.
With just a measure of playoff success, Hampton could have challenged Grambling for the top spot. The stage was set for Joe Taylor's troops to get a breakthrough I-AA playoff win, which would have been the first for a I-AA black college team since 1999. They rose as high as No. 2 in the nation on the strength of their unbeaten regular season mark and earned a high playoff seed (third) and a first round home game to boot. But it wasn't enough as they were outplayed by a Richmond team that flamed out in the second round.
MEAC runner-up South Carolina State (9-2) began its season with a win over defending SWAC champ Alabama State but could not get by Hampton in the MEAC. They finished third in the final ranking.
Hampton was one of three black college teams that could not get it done in the playoffs this season.
Albany State surprised many by holding off Tuskegee to win its second straight Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. But unlike last year when the Golden Rams (8-2) got a first round bye, won a second round game and dropped a heartbreaker in the Div. II quarterfinals, this time they battled gamely but fell to Central Arkansas in the first round, 28-20. They finished sixth in our final ranking.
This season it was North Carolina Central (10-2), who broke through an ultra-competitive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association race to take its first title in 25 years and grab a first-round bye in the D2 playoffs. The Eagles represented well battling Gulf South Conference champ North Alabama before losing on a last-second field goal. Rod Broadway's Eagles earned the No. 4 spot in our final ranking.
The only team Tuskegee could not handle was Albany State, who handed them a 31-21 loss in their pivotal SIAC showdown. The Golden Tigers went on to capture their fourth Pioneer Bowl title with a win over CIAA runner-up Bowie State (8-4), who finished tenth in the final ranking.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the final Top Ten is the presence of Delaware State. Second-year head coach Al Lavan's Hornets finished at 7-4, losing only in the MEAC to Hampton and South Carolina State and takes the eighth spot in our final ranking. Fort Valley State (7-3), who finished just behind Albany State and Tuskegee in the SIAC, holds down No. 9.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.