With Grambling improved, excitement grows for the Bayou Classic

NEW ORLEANS -- There was a time when conventional wisdom held that, when it came to the Bayou Classic, records didn’t matter. Fans would fill the Mercedes-Benz Superdome regardless.

And they did, making Thanksgiving weekend in New Orleans a must for those wanting to both see and be seen — the model for such events around the country.

But times change and, with one program or the other down in recent years — sometimes both — turmoil inside and outside the athletic departments of both schools and even a post-Hurricane Katrina malaise, that hasn’t been the case.

Some even suggested the Classic needed a major shakeup — namely, dropping Grambling and finding another foe to face Southern.

That didn’t happen.

And now, with the SWAC Western Division title on the line for both teams Saturday for ...



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