NEW ORLEANS — The Jaguar Nation received THE PERFECT GIFT when their Southern University Jaguars football team (6-6 overall, 5-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) defeated the Grambling State University Tigers (10-2 overall, 6-1 SWAC) in a lopsided 48-24 victory Saturday at the 2002 State Farm Bayou Classic XXIX.
Southern received THE PERFECT GIFT when they scored their largest margin of victory this season.
SOUTHERN received THE PERFECT GIFT when it scored its most points against a team this season.
THE PERFECT GIFT was Southern being the only football team in the SWAC to defeat the 2002 SWAC Western Division Champions.
Quincy Richard received THE PERFECT GIFT when he was selected as the Bayou Classic’s Most Valuable Player.
The Jaguar Nation and the Southern University football program has the PERFECT GIFT, knowing that head coach Pete Richardson does not plan on leaving the Jaguar Nation.
THE PERFECT GIFT is the fact that Richardson can relish that he still has not suffered a losing season during his ten-year tenure at Southern.
The not-so-perfect gift was the realization of the thousands of those who figured that Grambling had a given win. After all, Grambling had sophomore quarterback Bruce Eugene. Eugene, a finalist for the 2002 Walter Payton Award finished the season with 4,070 yards and 40 touchdowns with just 14 interceptions; three of which were in Saturday’s game. Eugene was elected as the SWAC’s Offensive Player of the Year. Although he is arguably considered to be the best offensive player in NCAA Division I-AA football this season, Eugene’s 325 yards and three touchdowns were enough to break records, but not enough
We knew we weren’t going to stop him, but we did want to slow him down,” said Richardson.
When Grambling won the opening coin toss and elected to receive, that is just what they got. They received a Southern defense that was ready to play.
“We came out here to do just what we did,” said senior defensive linebacker Chris Cooper. “All year we have been waiting for this game and it has paid off. We knew that (Bruce) Eugene was a powerful player, we just had to take it up a notch.”
Eight seconds into the game, Grambling gave up the ball by fumbling and when the offense took over, so did senior running back Victor Ike. Ike received a pass from junior quarterback Quincy Richard to rush for 38 yards to the Grambling one-yard line. Unfortunately, Ike suffered a dislocated knee when he was tackled and is expected to be out at least two months. Sophomore running back Kenneth Peoples then took over with a one-yard touchdown run giving the Jags a 6-0 lead.
Southern’s defense continued to harass Grambling’s offense by stifling Eugene in the first half. Stifling the Tigers defense meant opening doors for the Jags offense.
Midway through the second quarter, Richard suffered his first sack of two, but regained his composure to send a 25-yard pass to senior wide-out Michael Hayes to give the Jags another touchdown. Richard then went for two points after the score, but the attempt failed. Grambling would later complete a field goal attempt to give them their first and only score of the first half. Southern, on the other hand, would never look back.
Southern started the second half just as they left the first half continuing their offensive strike. On the first drive of the second half, sophomore returner Ezra Landry ran the ball back 37 yards to the Southern 47-yard line.
Landry entered the game leading Southern with 840 all-purpose yards. His goal was to get 1,000 this season, but after getting only 37 yards on his returns Saturday, the victory will suit him just fine.
“I didn’t get the numbers I wanted, but I was lucky to put the ball in good position for the offense,” said Landry. “The whole team came through for this game.”
Richard wasted no time connecting with senior wide-out Al’Trevion Joubert for 53 yards to give Southern another touchdown. The Jags finally completed an extra-point attempt giving them a 19-3 lead over the Tigers.
Grambling attempted to come back with a 14-yard touchdown reception by junior wide receiver Tramon Douglas to bring the score within nine, but Southern answered back with a 27-yard run by Jags junior receiver Chris Davis. With sophomore kicker Colby Miller’s attempt signaled as good, Southern left Grambling behind 26-10.
Another Grambling touchdown by senior wide-out D.J. Clay and a completed two-point attempt gave Grambling the 18 points that they wanted, but not exactly the points that they needed as Southern still held on to the lead 26-18.
Those 18 points may have had the Tigers feeling as if they were still in the game, but it was the Jags job of taking them out of that disillusion. With little more than four minutes left in the of the third quarter, Southern scored again with a six-yard pass from Richard to sophomore runningback Leon Miller, taking the Jags to a 16-point lead over the Tigers to enter the fourth quarter 34-18.
The Jaguars’ scoring frenzy didn’t stop there as Richard rushed two yards into the end zone midway through the fourth quarter to give Southern a 47-18 lead over the Tigers. The completed extra point attempt by Miller gave Southern a 48-18 lead, their biggest lead of the game and the season in their other match-ups.
Richard’s performance in the game earned him the 2002 State Farm Bayou Classic XXIX Most Valuable Player. He finished the game with passing for three touchdowns and 242 yards, completing 21 of his 36 pass attempts.
Although Grambling tried to come back with a seven-yard touchdown pass from Eugene to junior tight end Gershone Jessie, Southern dissolved all hope when Eugene failed to complete the extra-points attempt and with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter, the Jaguar Nation began to celebrate.
On national television, the country (and some in other parts of the world) saw the thrashing that Grambling received. Coming in as the highly picked favorite, Grambling witnessed a Jaguars squad that was rejuvenated from suffering a season below everyone’s expectations.
“I think it was more important to finish up on a positive note for our football team,” said Richardson. ” I especially feel that this was important for our seniors because I wanted them leaving with a positive taste in their mouth.”
The nation can also expect to see the return of head coach Pete Richardson. Richardson states that if it is up to him and with a few overall evaluations of the program at Southern, it is probable that he will return to Southern for another crack at the SWAC.
“My plans are to be here. I still have some unfinished work to do with this program to get it to where it needs to be in the SWAC.”
Although the Jags have concluded the season at .500, they could not have ended it with a better finish or a more perfect gift to the Jaguar Nation.
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The perfect gift… Jaguars upset Tigers
December 6, 2002
TOUCHDOWN Chris Davis scored on a 27-yard run in the third quarter to give SU a 26-10 lead. Photo by Ryan P. Knight/DIGEST.
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