Showing posts with label 2010 SWAC Football Champions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010 SWAC Football Champions. Show all posts

Monday, December 13, 2010

SWAC champion TSU returns home to hero's welcome

The Texas Southern Tigers received a hero’s welcome one day after winning their first Southwestern Athletic Conference championship since 1968.


The Tigers arrived at TSU’s HP&E Arena on Sunday night and were greeted by a small group of cheering fans and members of the media who had seen them beat Alabama State 11-6 on Saturday afternoon in Birmingham, Ala. For the Tigers (9-3), it was a fitting end to an amazing weekend.

Cole makes case for TSU: Black college national title to be awarded this week

Texas Southern accomplished its primary goal by capturing the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship with Saturday’s 11-6 victory over Alabama State in the league title game. Coach Johnnie Cole, however, believes his squad should also be considered for the black college national championship.

The Tigers (9-3) were ranked fourth in the previous Sheridan Broadcasting Network black college football poll with 192 points, behind Albany State (276), Bethune-Cookman (253) and Grambling State (228), which they beat Nov. 11. TSU will likely have passed Grambling when the final ranking is released early this week, but it would hard-pressed to leap the other two teams.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010

SWAC Championship Game: Big defense, backup QB deliver Texas Southern victory against Alabama State

After Texas Southern secured the school's first outright SWAC title Saturday afternoon, coach Johnnie Cole didn't need to institute a 24-hour rule. Twenty years will be ample time to let an 11-6 victory against Alabama State sink in.

"I told the guys, 'You won't understand what you've done until you're my age, 20 years from now,' " Cole said. " 'You're the best team in Texas Southern history. You've taken the SWAC championship.' "

Playing at Legion Field, before a crowd of 22,350 fans, Texas Southern (9-3) turned to something old - Division I-AA's second-ranked defense - and something new - backup quarterback Riko Smalls -- to take home the trophy.

Photos from Birmingham



Cole has look of a winner

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Johnnie Cole wanted to be under this hot light, in this spotlight, for a long time. He used to sit in his dorm room at Texas Southern in the early 1980s, when he was a quarterback on teams that never once posted a winning record, thinking he could one day coach the Tigers to a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

Several times the school told Cole he could not do that and instead hired men who would fail to do what Cole was certain he could. It was painful for him to watch from afar, as he trekked around the college coaching landscape for more than 20 years, all the while dreaming of one day becoming a championship coach for the Maroon and Gray. Saturday was that day.



SWAC Championship football game at Legion Field

Texas Southern tops Alabama State, wins 1st SWAC title since 1968

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Prairie View A&M did it last year. This season, it was Texas Southern’s turn to rise from longtime cellar dweller to Southwestern Athletic Conference champion. The Tigers earned their first SWAC title since 1968 on Saturday behind coach Johnnie Cole’s swarming defense and backup quarterback Riko Smalls, holding off Alabama State 11-6 at Legion Field.

"I’ve been waiting on this job for over 20 years," said Cole, who played quarterback at Texas Southern in the mid-1980s. "I’ve been in the business for 24 (years) and I always wanted to come back to Texas Southern and get us to this championship."



Tigers Roar: TSU Wins SWAC Title

Birmingham, Ala. - Texas Southern did Saturday what it has done all year. The Tigers rode on the strength of their defense and wound up with a SWAC championship to show for it. TSU defeated Alabama State 11-6 at Legion Field in the 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Football Championship Game.

The toughest defense in the SWAC, and #2 ranked in the nation, and led by SWAC Defensive Player of the Year and SWAC Championship Game Defensive MVP, Dejuan Fulghum, the Tigers held the Hornets to 72 total yards and an average of just 1.7 yards per play. The "212" defense, named for the boiling point when water turns to steam, even scored two points of its own.

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ATTENDANCE: 22,350