Les East: Grambling’ s Broderick Fobbs restores the roar after program’s recent struggles

NEW ORLEANS -- Grambling is back.

The Tigers sent notice last season they were well on their way back to football prominence when they entered the Bayou Classic in position to reach the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. They fell short in a last-second 52-45 loss to Southern, the defending SWAC champion that claimed its second-straight division title.

But as Grambling gets ready to face the Jaguars in the 42nd Bayou Classic on Saturday afternoon in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, it does so as the newly crowned Western Division champion.

The Tigers will try to complete an undefeated SWAC regular season before moving on to the SWAC championship game against Alcorn State next Saturday in Houston. If they win that, they will move on to Atlanta on Dec. 19 to face Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion North Carolina A&T in the inaugural Celebration Bowl.

So, yes, Grambling football is back.

It was just two years ago the Tigers hit rock bottom during one of the most humbling seasons any football program and university could ever experience — let alone one with Grambling’s pedigree.

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