By Nick Deriso, The News Star
PASSION OF THE TIGERS
First-year Grambling coach Rod Broadway said he noticed something in Prairie View last week that his own team lacked.
“We’ve got to play with passion,” Broadway said.
The Panthers kept pace with GSU late in the game before finally falling by three points in the State Fair Classic.
“We’ve got to play at a faster speed than what we played last weekend,” Broadway said. “We’ve got protect the football. I didn’t like the way we played last weekend. (Prairie View) played hard, and they played fast. We’ve got to get back to doing that this weekend against Valley.”
TIP OF THE HAT
Grambling’s offensive guys recognize that teammates on the other side of the ball helped rescue them in a sputtering effort in Dallas.
Having the league’s best run stoppers to fall back on, senior receiver Clyde Edwards said, could make GSU all the more dangerous.
“I don’t think these SWAC teams have seen many defenses like ours,” he said. “That defense is going to be special.”
RUN FOR THE BORDER
Even as Grambling has regained some consistency in its rushing attack, there remains this startling stat: Freshman Cornelius Walker, this week’s SWAC newcomer of the week, has scored GSU’s lone rushing touchdown this season.
“We’re still one guy away from breaking one of those big runs,” Broadway said. “Once we can get our running backs scoring some touchdowns, I think it will improve us as a football team. We’re getting pretty good yardage, but we’re not making those big plays.”
Walker punched in from the 2 against Alabama A&M on Sept. 22, finishing a seven-play, 77-yard drive to put Grambling up 17-3. A&M eventually fell 31-6.
ENEMY LINES: MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
Mississippi Valley, which hasn’t had a bye week since Willie Totten returned to coach at his alma mater, got some much-needed rest last week.
After all, the Delta Devils (2-2 overall; 1-2 in SWAC) had just fallen against Alabama A&M and cross-state conference rival Jackson State.
“We’ve been playing straight through,” Totten said, “so that was something different for this team. We needed the break after those two devastating losses.”
Valley was leading Jackson 13-6 in the second quarter, but collapsed later in an eventual 50-16 shellacking. The Devils narrowed A&M’s lead to three points at the half but ultimately fell 45-14.
“If we can minimize our mistakes,” Totten said, “if we can put two halves together, that would be key for us. That’s something we’ve been concentrating on this week.”
Valley used the extra time to prepare for Grambling, which enters Saturday’s game with at 3-1 with a 3-0 league mark, but also to do some soul searching.
“It gave us an opportunity to go back and regroup, and to look at some things that we are doing,” Totten said. “We looked at the players we’ve been playing. Some, we thought were ready, and some of them aren’t.”
Valley’s pass and total offense had slipped to the bottom of the SWAC, as has its pass and total defense. That led to a sweeping bye-week revamp that began with a change at quarterback.
Paul Roberts (440 passing yards, four TDs and no picks) will be replaced by former juco passer Semaj Williams, who has been 3-for-8 for 26 yards, no scores and an interception in two relief appearances for Valley.
Totten was just getting started. He also reshuffled the offensive line, switched receivers, moved defensive linemen and linebackers around, and shifted safeties.
“They know that we are not getting the job done in the second half,” Totten said. “They know we played everybody tough in the first half, but we’ve got to put a second half together.”
Ronald Brewer is Valley’s leading rusher, with 86 yards a game and two touchdowns on the year. Its top receiver is tight end Abner Brown, with 172 yards and a score in 2007.
SWAC ATTACK
A&M’S LEE WAY
Alabama A&M will make a point this week of trying to stop Southern’s talented quarterback Bryant Lee.
“He’s scary,” said A&M coach Anthony Jones. “He’s completing the ball at a high percentage rate. He’s making really good decisions. And he’s athletic enough that, if he doesn’t like what he sees, he can get out of there.”
Lee has a SWAC-best completion average and is second in passing yards and TDs. Only Prairie View’s Chris Gibson has more rushing yards among league quarterbacks.
RENEWED CONFIDENCE
Prairie View was bolstered by its showing against Grambling, coach Henry Frazier said.
“After that ballgame, I’ve never seen so many alumni in the locker room,” said Frazier, who fell by the smallest margin in Grambling’s two-decades old streak of wins. “You can see the pride coming back.”
That newfound confidence will come in handy as the Panthers face an Alcorn program that Frazier has never beaten.
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