Lee, Reid to duel at homecoming

If nothing else, there will be a quarterback duel brewing between the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s top passers in Southern’s Bryant Lee and Texas Southern’s Bobby Reid Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium.
Lee, the SWAC’s preseason offensive player of the year leads the conference, completing 109-of-164 passes for 1,227 yards with 11 touchdowns and two interceptions, while Reid is 104-of-190 for a conference best 1,328 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Likewise, Lee and Reid’s top targets rank one and two in receiving as SU’s Juamorris Stewart has 34 receptions for 499 yards and six touchdowns, while TSU’s William Osbourne has 41 receptions for 577 yards and five touchdowns.
“Our team is a strong football team,” SU head coach Pete Richardson said. “They are starting to believe in each other. They have a good chemistry going.”
TSU (3-3, 0-1 SWAC) put up 623 yards total offense in its 63-39 loss to Texas State last week but put up 623 yards total offense as Reid went 38-of-64 for 481 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 71 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries.
“I don’t think anybody expected our program to be where we are right now,” TSU coach Johnnie Cole said. “We’re just trying to build and get better each week.”
Meanwhile, Southern (3-2, 2-0 SWAC) defeated defending SWAC champ Jackson State 35-28, but needed a career high 179 yards and two first half touchdowns from Stewart and his timely 11-yard grab on a third-and-3 at the JSU 37 which set up Silas Gibbs’ 26-yard touchdown to ice the game. The win was SU’s first over JSU since 2005.
“We’re not pleased defensively,” Richardson said. “We’re playing in spots, we just have to be consistent because last week we played as if the game was over.”
SU blasted a winless TSU team last year in Reliant Stadium 56-7 as Lee was 12-of-18 for 248 yards.He also had 77 yards two touchdowns on seven rushes. SU has won 11 consecutive games against TSU dating back to 1996.
Players to watch
• Juamorris Stewart
• Frank Harry
• Josh Duran
Keys to victory
• Don’t listen to hype
• Avoid giving up big plays
• Take advantage of opportunities
• Special teams
Notes
Richardson coached the Cole at Dunbar high school in Dayton, Ohio before he went on to play quarterback at TSU.
“I would love to beat coach Richardson,” Cole said. “He’s a mentor of mine and Southern has a good football team, they are probably the best team in the conference so going in to this game we know we have to score some points to win.”