Interview with SU football coach Stump Mitchell

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Delaware State Hornets To Open Season In MEAC/SWAC Challenge vs. Southern Jaguars

DSU played at Michigan last season; now adds MEAC/SWAC Challenge to its resume. Go Hornets!

Dover, DE --- Delaware State University will kick off its 2010 football season in the land of Disney. The Hornets will battle Southern University of Baton Rouge, LA., in the Sixth Annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge on Sunday, September 5, 2010, in Orlando, Florida. The contest at Orlando's Citrus Bowl Stadium will be televised on an ESPN network, which will be announced, along with the kick off time, at a later date.

"This is a great opportunity for our university to participate in an outstanding event," said Derek Carter, Delaware State's Director of Athletics. "I'm sure the experience will be cherished by our student-athletes, alumni and fans will years to come. We invite the entire DSU family to join us in Orlando for the game and other event activities."

The will be Delaware State's first appearance in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, which pits a top team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference against one from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Southern will be making its second appearance in the challenge. The Jaguars defeated the MEAC's Florida A&M 33-27 in 2007 in Birmingham, Ala. Delaware State is 2-0 all-time vs. Southern. The Hornets, led by first-year head coach Bill Collick and All-American John Taylor, defeated the Jaguars 46-8 in 1985 in Baton Rouge, La. The teams met again the following year in Shreveport, La., with the Hornets coming out of top, 21-14.

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Intensity high for Southern Jaguars football practices

On Friday morning, as the first session of Southern’s spring football practice began, a walk-on got his gear and reported for duty, and he cautiously approached the field at Mumford Stadium, searching for his new position coach. Defensive coordinator O’Neill Gilbert told the player to sprint until he found the right spot. Why? Because at SU, under new coach Stump Mitchell, players won’t walk anywhere.

“I think they’re all getting an earful on the offensive side,” Mitchell said. “They’re probably all tired of me. But that’s the way it is because I’m the one installing the offense. I know what I want to see, and they’re still learning. But we’re not going to set (ourselves) up for mediocrity just because they don’t know.” Of course, the new-sheriff-in-town routine is nothing new when programs make a coaching change, but at Southern, under Mitchell, that notion has some meat to it. Monday morning, one veteran player showed up late for the team’s 5:30 a.m. practice. At the end, while the rest of the players returned to the field house, the late comer was treated to a series of bear crawls and barrel rolls.

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Southern Jaguars Rise Early for Football Spring Practice

When players reported for the first session of Stump Mitchell’s first spring practice at Southern University, the lights shone above A.W. Mumford Stadium, and the temperature stood still at 33 degrees. It was Friday morning, while much of Baton Rouge was still hugging its pillow. Practice began at 5:30 a.m. — and in the month since Mitchell took over at SU, players have learned how to read pro football time. In other words, they needed to be ready at 5:20.

Why so early? The No. 1 reason, Mitchell said, is logistics. Because many players at SU have afternoon classes, before-dawn sessions are the only way to get the entire team together at once. “You have to have reps at something,” Mitchell said. “You can’t just watch it on video or watch somebody else do it and think you can be pretty proficient at it. ... So we go early, unfortunately. Or fortunately. It depends on if you’re an early riser or not.” Of course, there are a few ancillary benefits to the early rise. First, players aren’t as likely to oversleep and blow off class — and blowing off class, Mitchell said, is a big no-no with him.

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Southern finishes first week with team action

The first full week of Camp Richardson XVI concluded with an extended segment of team-on-team action Saturday at Southern’s football practice fields. SU staged around 40 plays from various spots — at the 5-yard line heading out and at the 5-yard line heading in as well as a series of plays in the middle of the field.

The Jaguars worked with alternate units, like the No. 1 offense vs. the No. 2 defense and had a heavy emphasis on the running game, as only 12 passes were thrown. Down and distance weren’t kept. Several main cogs — running back Kendrick Smith (finger), defensive end Vince Lands (tooth), fullback Alvin Fosselman (hamstring) and end Gary Chatman — were held out.

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Mitchell named Southern University football assistant

Southern football coach Pete Richardson has turned to former free safety Jackie Mitchell to be the team’s new defensive backs coach. Mitchell played linebacker for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League but has no full-time coaching experience.

“He should help us out a lot as far as knowing what to expect on defense and also experience-wise,” Richardson said. “He’s been a professional athlete, so he can help us out on the details.”

Mitchell spent seven years in the CFL, making the CFL All-Star team in 2003, and also had stints as a free agent in the NFL, playing for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

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SU, McNeese football to meet in 2010

Southern’s return date to play a football game at McNeese State is finally in sight, though still a few years away. The Jaguars and the Cowboys are now scheduled to play Sept. 18, 2010, in Lake Charles.

Southern and McNeese State were to have played Sept. 3, 2005, in Lake Charles, but that game was called off in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which hit south Louisiana and the Gulf Coast earlier that week.

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Southern U O-line eager after tough '07

Photo: SU head coach Pete Richardson will need to replace a defensive coach after losing line coach David Geralds to Shaw University. Richardson is also unsure if running backs coach Elvis Joseph will return.

As Southern huddled as a team at the close of football practice Thursday, center Ramon Chinyoung let out a challenge to the defense that the pads were coming on in the next few days.

Though some of that bellow is eagerness after being academically ineligible and missing last season, the enthusiasm — combined with just having Chinyoung and two others in similar circumstances, tackle Adrian Banks and guard Joshua Keelen, back at work — is welcome.

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Southern U. shuffles assistants as spring work starts today

As Southern prepares to open its spring football practices this afternoon, the defensive coaching staff is making a last-minute shuffle.

Defensive line coach David Geralds has left after three seasons, Southern head coach Pete Richardson said Monday. The move leaves no time for SU to add another assistant defensive coach and bring him up to speed for the spring workouts. Instead, the staff will have to adjust.

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Southern U gets pro-style QB commitment

Delon Mallory, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound quarterback from John F. Kennedy High in Cleveland, Ohio recently became the first commitment for Southern University 2008 recruiting class. The irony of Mallory’s decision, who chose Southern over Purdue, Bowling Green, Kent State, Akron, Youngstown State and Eastern Michigan, was made without a visit to the school’s campus.

Mallory’s academic standing, which is below NCAA requirements for incoming freshman to participate, will force him to concentrate his time away from the field on academics for an entire season.

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J-State coach calls Southern campus ‘hostile’

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

Jackson State University coach Rick Comegy said many of his team’s fans would not be traveling to Southern for the game Saturday because he had heard the atmosphere in and around A.W. Mumford Stadium is “hostile.”

“A lot of people are not taking their families,” Comegy said.

SU (5-1, 3-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) hosts Jackson State (3-2, 3-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium.

Comegy, in his second season at Jackson State, has never been to a game at Mumford Stadium.

“My understanding is, it’s always been a hostile situation when we get down there,” said Comegy, who declined to detail any specific incident.

Jackson State has played at Mumford Stadium just once this decade, in 2005. Three other games were at the Superdome in New Orleans.

“I’m quite sure there’s not going to be anything happening,” SU coach Pete Richardson said.

Gunfire marred two previous Jackson State games at Southern.

In the third quarter of the 1996 game, a Southern University police officer fired a shot into the air to break up a brawl outside the stadium between the stadium and the tennis courts. The game was halted in the third quarter, with players, coaches and officials hitting the ground.

During the third quarter of the 1990 game, a 20-year-old man was shot in the West stands after an altercation stemming from a dice game. That sent that side of the stadium into bedlam.

In each of the last two seasons, Southern has had a shooting incident outside the stadium.

In September last season, at a private parking lot across the street from Mumford Stadium, 59-year-old Freddie Jackson was shot and killed. Mississippi Valley State was the visiting team for the season opener.

And in 2005, at the homecoming game with Alabama A&M, shots were fired into a crowd of tailgaters south of the stadium. Bullets struck three, including a female Southern student.

The shooting was the result of two feuding groups crossing paths on campus, Southern University police said.

None of the instances involved one school’s fans acting out against the other school’s fans.

In the wake of last season’s shooting, Southern has taken steps to try to avoid any further problems.

The general area in which both shootings occurred, south of the stadium, has been closed to tailgaters, and blue tarps cover the fencing so that no loitering occurs. Also, game times this season have been moved to 7 p.m. from 6 p.m.

“They’re very welcome,” Southern Athletic Director Greg LaFleur said of Jackson State fans. “We welcome all of our visiting teams.”

LaFleur said perhaps the only problem visiting fans could have is with parking.

“If you’re not familiar with Southern, it can be difficult, because all the parking near the stadium is reserved,” LaFleur said.

Also, there are limited roads into campus, making traffic flow difficult for big games. Saturday’s homecoming game with Alabama A&M was sold out, and cars were still flowing over the Harding Boulevard ramp as late as halftime. That game drew a sellout crowd of 24,600.

“We’re excited about having Jackson State come, because they have a huge following,” Richardson said.

The game has traditionally been one of the biggest draws in either black college football or Football Championship Subdivision football. Games at Jackson State’s Memorial Stadium traditionally draw 50,000 to 60,000.

“It shows the excitement and passion of SWAC football to the utmost,” Comegy said. “It shows what the SWAC can do. &hellip It should be setting up for an exciting game. I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’ll be great.”

Jackson State University Sonic Boom of the South Marching Band

Alabama A&M finds new identity with passing game

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

The question, since slapping 49 points on the scoreboard against Tennessee State in the season opener, has been exactly who is Alabama A&M?

The score wasn’t a fluke. The Bulldogs put up 41 on Clark Atlanta, 45 on Mississippi Valley State and 48 on Texas Southern.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference isn’t used to conservative, defensive-oriented A&M regularly dropping 40-plus points per game.

“The makeup of our team is a little different than in the past,” A&M coach Anthony Jones said. “I try to do what the kids can do. &hellip We have some kids who are a little more explosive.”

A&M (4-1, 2-1) faces No. 25 Southern (5-0, 3-0) for homecoming at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night in A.W. Mumford Stadium.

A&M won its first SWAC title last season doing the things that got the Bulldogs to all of their title game appearances (2000, ’02, ’05 and ’06): solid defense and a run-based offense.

The program made its reputation on stalwarts like Robert Mathis (Indianapolis Colts) and Johnny Baldwin (Kansas City Chiefs). From 2000-05, the Bulldogs were in the top five every season in rushing defense. That included 39.7 rushing yards per game in 2000, a Division I-AA record.

Entering this season, the Bulldogs had to replace three fifth-year seniors on their offensive line, their top two running backs and three of four wide receivers after the title run.

However, in the retooling, there was an opportunity to change the team’s identity.

A&M wrapped speed at the skill positions around senior starter Kelcy Luke, a former Auburn transfer and the conference’s most experienced quarterback.

“It’s a combination of things, and a senior quarterback,” Jones said.

“I think, with them, is they’re doing a little more with their quarterback, going downfield to complement the running game,” Texas Southern coach Steve Wilson said.

Luke has thrown for 14 touchdowns and is 88-for-150 (58.7 percent) for 1,161 yards and four interceptions. He’s also run for 90 yards and another TD.

“We have to put some pressure on him,” SU coach Pete Richardson said. “If he gets his feet set, he can throw.”

Jet-quick sophomore Ulysses Banks, meanwhile, has 491 yards and four touchdowns on the ground and 156 yards and two TDs through the air.

Banks is one of seven players to have caught a TD pass. That group is led by Thomas Harris, with 431 yards and four TDs.

And all of this production has come despite a hiccup of just six points in a humbling 31-6 loss at Grambling last month.

“That taught us some things,” Jones said. “We went back to make sure we knew what was going on.”


So, what about that defense?
“People are saying we’re not the defense of old, but we’re making plays,” Jones said. “We’re more of a bending defense now.”

A&M, still coached on defense by Brawnski Towns, has made 12 takeaways. And the Bulldogs are ranked third nationally in sacks, with 20 total and 3.8 per game.

“They’re getting to the quarterback. That’s a typical A&M team,” Richardson said. “We’re very inexperienced on our offensive line. I’m sure they’re going to be after us.”

The defense, despite losing Baldwin (originally drafted by the Detroit Lions before being claimed on waivers by the Chiefs), returned eight starters.

Linebacker Carlton Rice, who got his degree at Mississippi State in December, is second best on the team with 28 tackles (plus one sack, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery).


“He’s making a big impact on what we do,” Jones said.
Senior linebacker Avery Moland, the second-leading tackler last season, leads A&M with 30 tackles.

Senior end Christopher Traylor, with three sacks this season, paves the way up front.

No Bulldog had made more sacks and tackles for loss than Traylor in the past three seasons. He had 9.5 sacks despite missing four games last season.

And junior free safety Al Donaldson leads with two interceptions and five pass breakups.

“We’re going to have to eliminate (Southern’s) big-play ability,” Jones said. “We’re going to have to make them earn everything they get.”

For Southern University, 'T' is for team, Thomas

Photo: Converted TE Trent Thomas facing FAMU as SU starting RT.

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

One day during preseason camp, Southern University offensive coordinator Mark Orlando called his guys up around him and told them about Trent Thomas.

By this time, everybody thought they knew all they needed about Trent. That he was a senior. That he was a top student. That he was a team player. That he has always been a likeable guy.

The thing is, though, early in camp, everybody found out how much of a team player Trent was.

Southern lost (or was in the process of losing) six offensive linemen to grades. To help offset that, there was this crazy idea: Move Thomas from tight end to left tackle, which is the most important position on the line other than center.

Thomas is 6-foot-2 and a shade above 245 pounds, where standard tackles are 6-6 and three bills. And then there was the little fact Thomas had never played tackle.

Trent’s parents didn’t like the move at all. He wasn’t crazy about it, either.

“It hurt him,” Orlando said. “The first week or so, I couldn’t get two words out of him.”

Photo: SU line coach Mark Orlando

The other players not getting their academics set wasn’t Trent’s fault. Why should Trent have to pay for the mistakes of others? Why should his burden become more?

Everything hinged on Trent, though. One left tackle would move to left guard. The right guard would move to center. Another tackle would move to right guard.

Know this about Trent: Trent came through. His quickness and athleticism — assets that flashed early in scrimmages, confirming the move could work — have carried him.

“It’s getting easier,” Trent said the other day of the transition.

Southern leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference in rushing and is second in total offense and scoring offense. The Jaguars are 4-0.

“He’s been a big help to us, converting within a short time,” said SU offensive line coach Damon Nivens, who was a black college All-American at left tackle for Southern and helped coach another one in Myniya Smith in 2003. “He’s become a big part of the offensive line for us, and I appreciate it very much with him sacrificing and being a team player.

“He has my utmost respect with that.”

What was true as Orlando called the troops up during camp is still true now.

“I told them, he’s put it all on the line to help us win,” Orlando said. “I told them, this is what we need right here. For us to win, it’s going to take the unselfish attitude Trent has shown.”

There are two things the attrition of 17 to 19 players did across the board for SU.

First, there was a tremendous sense of urgency for the offensive line as soon as camp began.

Second, as an entire team, the players who are left on this team are the players who most wanted to be here.

“The unselfishness he’s shown has drained into some of the other guys,” Orlando said. “He’s giving us everything he’s got to help us win.

“That kind of sacrifice can only make us better.”

SU tries to get ground attack on track

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

One week after Southern ran for 293 yards against Mississippi Valley State, the Jaguars came down to earth, with 67 yards on 31 carries in a 12-2 win over Prairie View.

The rushing total against Valley was the best total since September 2003 and reinforced the 238 rushing yards from the season opener.

Though the rushing total against PV was still better than five anemic totals last season, it was the worst since Mark Orlando became the team’s offensive coordinator for the final three games of last season.

“We have to get our running game started back,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “We cannot afford to just sporadically try to throw the football. Our throwing game has evolved around us running the football.”

Southern (3-0) hosts Tennessee State (2-1) of the Ohio Valley Conference at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium.

The Jaguars are 5-1 since making the move to Orlando after a 26-10 loss at Alcorn State in which SU ran for 53 yards on 34 carries.

Saturday’s output, however, was the worst rushing game since SU made the staff move and, concurrent with that, emphasized the ground game.

In the first eight games of last season, Southern had running game clunkers of 1, 57, 63 (against Prairie View), 95, 61 and 53 yards. Since then, SU has run for, in order, 236, 152, 131, 238 and 293 before PV (2-1) corralled the Jaguars to the 67 yards Saturday.

There’s a realization Prairie View, in its third season under defensive coordinator Heishma Northern and with linebacker Zach East, is pretty stout defensively.

“Prairie View really came to play,” junior running back Kendrick Smith said.

However, there’s also a concern Northern might have laid down a plan for stopping the Jaguars.

“Prairie View did an outstanding job,” Richardson said. “People will take a look at that.”

Another concern for Saturday is, SU will have to play the first half without senior wide receiver Gerard Landry, who has scored a touchdown in all three games and is the unit’s emotional leader. Landry was ejected midway through the fourth quarter and, by NCAA rules, must sit out the first half.

“You have to be concerned. &hellip It’s going to be a struggle getting to the second half, because he’s made some outstanding plays for us,” Richardson said.

Lee’s completion percentage Saturday was a strong 61.1 percent, but PV kept SU from turning short passes into long gains. Receiver Del Roberts, who turned dink passes into big plays the week before, was held to 38 yards on nine catches.

“It was bad for everybody,” said sophomore quarterback Bryant Lee, 4-1 as a starter. “We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to.”

Lee threw for 144 yards and a touchdown and ran for a season-low 21 yards (also a career low in games in which he’s played at least a half).

“He’s a young quarterback and he’s learning, but we were inconsistent, dropping some passes that cost him some big plays,” Richardson said. “Overall, we hung in there with a good football team.”

SU’s offense, meanwhile, has started slowly all season. The Jaguars had minus-6 yards on 10 plays, with three, three-and-outs, in the first quarter.

The Jaguars had to come up with big plays to score Saturday.

Lee hit Landry on a hot read for a 15-yard touchdown on a third-and-9 in the final minute of the first half.

And holder Nick Benjamin found tight end Evan Alexander for a 12-yard TD on a fake field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“The play was inconsistent, offensively, for us,” Richardson said. “Missed assignments caused some problems for us. Of course, a lot of that was caused by Prairie View putting the pressure on us.”

Southern players lauded Tennessee State as having a physical defense and said getting back offensive rhythm will be a challenge.

“We didn’t perform like we were supposed but the defense stepped up,” Smith said. “We have to execute better than we did. In the game we had some mental busts.”

Southern U--PVAMU Matchups

SU Video: http://media.swagit.com/s/wbrz/The_Advocate_Sports/09142007-25.high.flash8.html

SU Video: http://media.swagit.com/s/wbrz/The_Advocate_Sports/09062007-10.high.flash8.html

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Southern LB Johnathan Malveaux

19 tackles, 1 pass breakup

Other than DT Joseph Selders, the junior is the most experienced defender among the Jaguars’ front seven. And like Selders, Malveaux is getting the job done. Malveaux leads SU with 19 tackles. His career has been held back by a series of minor injuries, but Malveaux seems to be at his healthiest and strongest these days. That’s a huge plus, because he’s always been a relentless, ferocious tackler and has plenty of speed.

PVU QB Chris Gibson

26-for-49, 248 yards, 2 INTs; 199 yards, 2 TDs on 24 carries

Gibson, a senior, is charged with both improving a horrendous passing game and shoring up the running game. Though suffering from a shoulder injury, Gibson came off the bench in the fourth quarter to help the Panthers to a stunning 26-23 overtime win over Southern. He scored on a 1-yard run and then marched PV to the tying and winning touchdowns.

WHO HAS THE EDGE?

Quarterbacks: SU

Running backs: SU

Offensive line: SU

Wide receivers: SU

Tight ends: SU

Defensive line: PVU

Linebackers: SU

Defensive backs: SU

Kickers: PVU

Kick returners: PVU

Intangibles: SU

Coaching: SU

PREDICTION

Southern has to prove to itself after the debacle that unfolded last season. SU’s offense — balanced and diversified — will get a test from a defense that was the best in the SWAC last season. PV’s offense begins and ends with QB Chris Gibson. The Panthers have also been getting contributions from special teams, a factor they didn’t have last year. Both teams, losers a year ago, bring a lot of confidence tonight.

Southern 34, Prairie View 9

-- Joseph Schiefelbein

SU Jaguars can’t overlook Prairie View this time

By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

What Southern has to do this week, the Jaguars should already know.

Southern is 2-0, just like last year. Southern is facing Prairie View on Saturday, just like the Jaguars did at this point last year.

For them, what happened last year has to be remembered — and what happened last year can’t be allowed to happen again.

A year ago, their season dissolved in an amazing fourth-quarter collapse on a cauldron of a field in Houston. The result of blowing a two-touchdown lead late in the fourth quarter: PV won its first game against Southern since 1971 with a 26-23 overtime decision.

That loss began a stretch, for Southern, of five losses in six games.

What Southern (2-0, 1-0 Southwestern Athletic Conference) will face in a 6 p.m. season opener Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium is a Prairie View team (2-0, 1-0) that is better than last season’s edition and one which has the confidence, unlike previous Panthers teams, that Southern is no longer invincible.



This looms as a big early season Western Division showdown.

Southern beat Mississippi Valley State 23-6 Saturday in Chicago, while PV, with Val Ford returning two blocked punts for first-half touchdowns, beat Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference member North Carolina A&T 22-7 in Los Angeles.

Southern, after two straight losing seasons, is trying to live up to the program’s good name under Pete Richardson and A.W. Mumford. A win Saturday would continue the momentum and help erase memories of last season, with Prairie View players taunting Southern players relentlessly at game’s end.

Prairie View is still trying to scratch out respect as a conference contender, something the program, so down in the 1990s, hasn’t had for decades. A win Saturday would give them consecutive victories over Southern, something which last happened when the Panthers won three straight from 1962 through ’64. That would be a powerful statement.

There should be a tremendous sense of clarity and will from both sides.

This is going to be quite the home opener.

Make sure you’ve got tickets.

Photo: SU QB Bryant Lee vs. MVSU, runs for first down.

Do more of this

Southern has a nice trio at running back, with Darren Coates (25 carries, 197 yards, two touchdowns), Brian Threat (15 carries, 117 yards, one TD) and Kendrick Smith (nine carries, 61 yards — plus two receiving TDs Saturday). Coates, in the season opener, and Threat, Saturday, have already posted their first career 100-yard games.

Make that a four-man threat, with quarterback Bryant Lee (30 carries, 88 yards, one TD) included.

The Jaguars already have 531 rushing yards so far. At this point last season, they had 58. More, the 531 is almost half of what SU totaled in 11 games last season: 1,233.

Work more on this

Southern has to avoid the slow starts on offense. Granted, the first offensive play of the season was a 90-yard touchdown run. The point here, though, is getting into a rhythm as a unit. Once SU gets going, the Jaguars have been dynamite.

“We made a few adjustments. &hellip We have to figure out what defenses are doing,” said Richardson, who also mentioned the exuberance of youth as a possible factor in keeping SU from settling in.

Quick hits

Saturday’s reported attendance of 49,872, though the entire upper deck on the West side was empty and the stadium seats 61,500, was better than any total, even the Bayou Classic (47,136), that saw the Jaguars last season. The total was certainly better than the last time SU played Valley in Chicago, with 9,069 coming to see the Jaguars win 51-30 in the 1997 season opener. The public address announcers were often way out of line, talking about betting on the game while in progress and drinking Courvoisier after the game. Then, there were lines like, “He jumped on that boy like he caught him stealing out of his momma’s purse.”

Up next

Southern hosts Prairie View at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium. The home opener begins a stretch where SU plays five of its next six games at home. SU is at home for three games in October and will take that final Saturday off.

Southern Jags roll before 49,872 at Soldier Field

BY CLYDE TRAVIS, Chicago Sun-Times

What began as a potential one-night stand has turned into a 10-year love affair between the city and the Chicago Football Classic.

The Classic annually has brought the atmosphere of black college football to Soldier Field. On Saturday, Southern University of Baton Rouge, La., and Mississippi Valley State, which were the original participants in the Classic, took the stage before a crowd of 49,872.

Southern won the first Classic 51-30 and the 10th as well with a 23-6 victory.

The Jaguars (2-0) took a 14-0 lead on a 54-yard touchdown pass from Bryant Lee to Gerard Landry with 8:18 left in the second quarter and on a 12-yard strike from Lee to Kendrick Smith six minutes later.

Mississippi Valley (1-1) drove 80 yards in nine plays and scored on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Paul Roberts to Clarence Cotton with six seconds left in the half.

Lee tossed his third touchdown pass, hitting Smith again from 20 yards out with 6:04 left in the third quarter. Josh Durant completed the scoring by nailing a 30-yard field goal with 14:09 left in the fourth quarter.

Lee, the game's offensive MVP, said he never was worried despite his team's slow start.

''Everything was perfect. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, we were playing at Soldier Field. It just took awhile for everyone to get on the same page,'' said Lee, a redshirt sophomore who completed 16 of 28 passes for 206 yards. ''The offensive line really was the key. They dug in and give me enough time.''

Southern rushed for 293 yards, 106 of them by Brian Threat.

The Jaguars' Vince Lands was named the game's defensive MVP

Two Chicago players played in the game: Harlan's Johey Hargrett of Mississippi Valley State and Homewood-Flossmoor product Sir-Edward Staten of Southern.

''It felt great to be home with family and friends and getting some of that home cooking,'' Hargrett said. ''This is a dream come true. Not many people get a chance to come back and play at Soldier Field.''