Week 13: Grambling State Remains On Top in HSRN FCS Football Poll

HARTLEY, Delaware – Grambling State University's Bayou Classic win over Southern University solidified the Tigers' first place position in the final regular season HSRN FCS Football Poll.  GSU had moved into the top spot following North Carolina A&T's loss to North Carolina Central a week ago.  The Tigers had been sitting in the #2 spot for several weeks prior to moving up.

GSU, SWAC Western Division Champion, now heads to Houston to meet Eastern Division titleist Alcorn State, Saturday.  The winner will face N.C. A&T in the Celebration Bowl, December 19 in Atlanta.

Division I/FCS

Rankings did not change from the previous week.  The final poll will be released following the Celebration Bowl.

Division II/NAIA

Voting for this week's poll has been suspended until the end of the playoffs.

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Week 13 – Rankings
Division I FCS
	School (First Place Votes)	Record	Pts	Last Week
1	Grambling State (8)	9-2	88	1
2	North Carolina A&T (1)	9-2	77	2
3	Alcorn State	8-3	67	3
4	Bethune-Cookman	9-2	61	4
5	Prairie View A&M	8-2	59	5
6	North Carolina Central	8-3	49	6
7	South Carolina State	7-4	36	7
8	Southern	6-5	28	8
9	Alabama State	6-5	15	9
10	Hampton	6-5	11	10
	Others receiving votes
	Tennessee State (3)

  

TSU announces changes with Football Program

HOUSTON, Texas -- Texas Southern Tigers head football coach Darrell Asberry has informed TSU that he is stepping down from his post with the football program.

"I appreciate Texas Southern and (TSU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics) Dr. Charles McClelland for all that they've done for me and my family and the support they've given me," said Asberry.

Before joining Texas Southern, Asberry was the head coach at Shaw University for six years.

Asberry, who took over the Tigers program in 2012 helped guide the program through several years of NCAA sanctions and helped boost the programs standing as it relates to APR.

In 2013 the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) announced that the Texas Southern football program would be named the recipient of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) Most Improved Award for the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The APR Most Improved Award recognized one institution at each of the 14 FCS conferences that had the highest APR score improvement from the previous year.

"Over the course of the past four years, Coach Asberry has been a
true professional, a great administrator and someone I will always call a friend," said Dr. McClelland. "We wish him well in all of his future endeavors."

In four seasons with the Tigers Asberry had an overall record of 12-31 including a 9-27 mark in league play.

A national search to find his replacement will begin immediately.

COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

UAPB Golden Lions Topples Southeastern Louisiana, 62-60

WEST POINT, New York -- The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men's basketball team held a late comeback and slugged it out, toe-toe-, with Southeastern Louisiana Lions for 40 minutes in a 62-60 win at the Barclay's Center Classic. The Golden Lions took controlled the game mid-way through the first half and never looked back after being down 6-0 in the first three minutes of the game.

After playing one of the toughest schedule in the nation and coming off road losses to Michigan St. who has a good shot in playing in the Final Four and Nebraska and Cincinnati who projected of making the big dance, the Golden Lions stood strong on what Head Coach George Ivory preach and that's "defense". UAPB (2-5) forced SLU to 14 turnovers and taking advantage of scoring 20 of the team 30 points in the first half for a 30-28 lead.

Junior guard Ghiavonni Robinson came out the locker room with a hot hand, connecting on a three pointer from the left side of the arch with less than three minutes off the clock to extend UAPB lead 37-31 with 17:26 in the game.

Southeastern Louisiana wouldn't go down without a fight after being down by double digits (52-42) with 6:38 in regulation. The Lions would go on a scoring run, but All Tournament team senior forward JoVaughn Love stepped up big for UAPB in the second half and connected on two late jump shots and snatched a key rebound to cool Southeastern Louisiana (1-6) comeback rally.

The Golden Lions (2-5) scored a combined 27 points off turnovers, 34 points in the paint, 34 bench points and 13 fast break points.

UAPB shot 50.9 percent (27-of-53) from the floor, including 25 percent (4-of-16) from behind the arch. The Golden Lions were 4-of-10 (40 percent) from the charity stripes.

Love led the team with 15 points. DeShon Bayless and Charles Jackson each chipped in eight points for UAPB, followed by Ghiavonni Robinson with seven points and three assist T.J. Handley with six points. Love and Trent Whiting each hauled in five rebounds to lead the team.

Love also was named to the All Tournament team in this weekend Barclay's tournament.

All-Tournament Team:
Tanner Plomb, Army West Point (MVP)
Kyle Wilson, Army West Point
Harold McBride, Gardner–Webb
JoVaughn Love, Arkansas – Pine Bluff
Keith Charleston, Southeastern Louisiana

UAPB will return home for a short break before heading out to face Hawaii December 2nd in Honolulu.

COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF SPORTS INFORMATION

2015 Bayou Classic Attendance Numbers for the Classic

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- On Saturday (11.28), Grambling State blew out their nemesis Southern by a score of 34-23. However, a different set of numbers marked a victory for tourism in New Orleans. The attendance numbers were the highest logged by the annual matchup since the Storm.

62,907 fans flocked to da Dome to watch the rivals square off according to organizers at SWAC. That figure shattered the previous post-Katrina record of 59,874 in 2008.

The record low of 40,715 in 2011 is now a distant memory. In the four years since, attendance increased annually.

Numbers for the past ten years follow.
2015 attendance: 62,907
2014 attendance: 57,852
2013 attendance: 47,385
2012 attendance: 45,980
2011 attendance: 40,715

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Florida A&M edges Alcorn State in 73-71 victory

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Malcolm Bernard made a go-ahead basket just before the final buzzer to help Florida A&M beat Alcorn State 73-71 in the Corpus Christi Coastal Classic on Saturday.

Bernard had a triple-double with 14 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds and four steals. Justin Ravenal made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points off the bench in 18 minutes of play.

Florida A&M (3-4) led 38-32 at halftime but Alcorn State took a 10-point lead in the second half.

The Rattlers made eight 3-pointers on 16 attempts while the Braves were 3 for 19 from distance.

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Alcorn State holds on to beat Jackson State 14-10

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JACKSON, Mississippi --­ The Alcorn State University Braves (8-3, 7-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) held on to beat the tenacious Jackson State University Tigers (3-8, 3-6) 14-10 in front of 21,000 fans at Mississippi Veteran Memorial Stadium, in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Tigers pounced first when Teddrick Terrell took a LENORRIS FOOTMAN fumble 27 yards to the end zone for the first score of the game.

The Tigers' excitement did not last long. On the ensuing kickoff, MARQUIS WARFORD took the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, which silenced the home crowd and tied the game at 7.

The number one defense in the SWAC held Jackson to 221 yards of total offence and no offensive touchdowns.

The Tigers' defense was able to hold Alcorn to 287 total offensive yards. The Braves uncharacteristically gave up three sacks, which is a season high.

The Tigers added a field goal in the second quarter to extend the lead 10­-7 with nine minutes left in the second half. The Braves missed an opportunity to tie the game after a missed field goal with 16 seconds left in the half. The Braves missed three field goals (26, 24, and 37 yards).

In the second half, the Braves went to their bread butter, the run game. After a 15-yard swing pass to Warford, the Braves attacked with four consecutive run plays.

The Tigers' ensuing drive ended with an interception by ERIC FOSTER in their backfield.

The Braves took advantage of great field position and drove 56 yard in seven plays, capped off on a one yard Aaron Baker touchdown, to take the final lead 14-­10.

On Jackson State's final possession, they drove from their 20-yard line to Alcorn 42- yard line with 2:26 on the game clock. Jordan Williams was not able to connect on their final four plays, turning the ball over on downs.

Ragsdale rushed for 101 yards to lead all rushers. Footman ran for 76 yards and threw for 89, his lowest output since taking over for an injured John Gibbs.

The Braves clinched a title berth last week and will face the Grambling State University Tigers December 5th in Houston, Texas at the NRG Stadium for a chance to repeat as SWAC champions and represent the conference in the Celebration Bowl versus Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference representative North Carolina A&T in Atlanta, Georgia.

BOX SCORE

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COURTESY ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION 

The Bayou Classic Attendance was 62,507; Quick-strike offense puts Grambling ahead, then in control of the Bayou Classic against Southern

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Despite what many traditional thinkers may say, Grambling coach Broderick Fobbs has never cared much about how long his team possesses the ball.

He’s more concerned with how fast they can score.

Grambling’s quick-strike approach on offense — led by coordinator Eric Dooley, a longtime Southern assistant coach was a major reason the Tigers overcame a 17-point deficit and rallied for a 34-23 win over the Jaguars in Saturday’s 42nd Bayou Classic.

“With our offense, we’re always in the game,” Fobbs said. “We did a really good job of mixing in the run with the pass, but we always look to score quickly when we can.”


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After trailing 20-17 at halftime, Grambling opened the second half with a 13-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Grambling quarterback Johnathan Williams, but only took four-plus minutes off the clock.

Both teams struggled to get anything going the rest of the third quarter, but Grambling completed a four-play drive to open the fourth quarter, heaving a 54-yard bomb to Chad Williams to extend the team’s lead to 31-20.

Five of the Tigers’ six scoring drives took less than 4:10 off of the clock.

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