Final week showdowns loom large
Much at stake in Bayou, Trkey Day Classics
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
Though only seven games are left on the 2001 black college football regular season
schedule, the last week has plenty to offer.
Grambling State vs. Southern
18th Bayou Classic on NBC (1 p.m., CST)
The season-ending Bayou Classic will not only bring perhaps the largest
crowd of the season to the New Orleans SuperDome but the winner of the in-state
rivalry between Southern (7-3, 5-1 SWAC W) and Grambling State (8-1,
5-1 SWAC W) Saturday will represent the SWAC West Division against East Division
champion, Alabama State (8-2, 6-1 SWAC E) in the Dec. 1 Championship Game
in Birmingham.
Also at stake is a shot at finishing the year as
the top team in black college football.
Grambling, the defending SWAC champion,
would like to claim the mythical national title that eluded
the 10-2 Tigers a year ago when Tuskegee finished
a perfect 12-0.
Grambling has spent most of the year as the
BCSP number one and on top of the Sheridan, ESPN and
other black college polls. The Tigers are still atop the
Sheridan poll though Alabama State, who defeated
Grambling 45-38 on Nov. 3, has gained the top spot in the
BCSP rankings.
And if a top ranking and spot in the SWAC title game is not enough incentive
for Grambling, how about the fact that the Tigers have lost eight straight times
to the Jaguars on national television (NBC), no less. That includes losses
in all three Bayou Classic games since Doug Williams took over as head
coach of the G-Men.
Southern handed Grambling its only black
college loss last year 33-29, an outcome that probably cost
the Tigers the national title. In '99, Southern came
back from a 31-10 halftime deficit to knock off the
Tigers, 37-31.
"Breaking Southern's streak is very important to these players,"
said Williams Saturday. "They've been thinking about it since last November.
Another SWAC championship is the goal, but the Bayou Classic would be important
even if both teams were 0-10." 
Southern limps into Saturday's game minus
as many as five starters. Starting quarterback
Terrence Levy, who has not played since being injured on
Oct. 27, is expected to practice this week and may start
the game. Third-stringer Quincy Richard, one of the
heroes of Southern's 43-28 win over Prairie View
Saturday, is the likely starter if Levy can't go.
PREDICTION: Grambling may be 8-1 but
wants this one more than any other game on its schedule.
The Tigers end eight years of frustration and set up
a rematch with Alabama State at the SWAC championship game. Grambling 38, Southern 23.
Tuskegee at Alabama State
78th Turkey Day Classic (1 p.m., CST)
Tuskegee (9-1) and Alabama State
(8-2) are playing for more than just Alabama bragging rights.
Rick Comegy's Tuskegee squad can make a
case for their inclusion as the best black college team in
the nation with a win over ASU in Montgomery while
the BCSP #1 Hornets can keep their national title
hopes alive.
This year Tuskegee's only loss was to
Morehouse when they played without starting quarterback
Aaron James. L. C. Cole's Alabama State squad had a
similar fate, losing its first two games to Southern and
Alcorn State without the full services of starting QB
Darnell Kennedy. The Hornets are 8-0 since then,
including handing Grambling its only loss of the season, and
are SWAC East Division champs.
En route to their 12-0, 2000 campaign, the
Golden Tigers knocked off 'Bama State, 28-27 in last
year's Turkey Bowl.
PREDICTION: Tuskegee proves last year's
national title was not fluke. They hang with but can't
get by the Hornets, 38-33.
© 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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