Saturday, August 20, 2011

KEYS: Upstarts have fashioned recent SWAC parity

It was quite a sight, wasn’t it?

Eleven years ago, they showed up in the tens of thousands, stuffing themselves into every corner and cranny of Veterans Memorial Stadium. They arrived by car, by motorcycle, by RV, by bus. Given no other option, Southern and Jackson State fans might’ve pulled up in a Big Wheel.

The 1999 showdown between SU and JSU was that important. That year, those two teams played for the right to call themselves The Team of the ‘90s in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Before a crowd of 62,000, the Jaguars won 26-14. Two months later, in front of 47,621 in a rematch at the SWAC championship game, Southern gave Pete Richardson his third straight title.

At the time, none of this seemed unusual. Of course, Southern and Jackson State were duking it out for SWAC supremacy. Didn’t they always do that?

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