NEW ORLEANS — During the season,Southern head football coach Pete Richardson preached that the Jaguars had tocontrol their own destiny.
Even after winning six consecutivegames, including five wins against conference foes, the road to the championship game still isn’t too visible.
An upsetting 24-13 loss to GramblingState on Saturday night put the Jaguars between a rock and a hard place in thebid to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.
“It was really disappointing,knowing we couldn’t keep control of our own destiny,” said the Jag’s seniorquarterback Thomas Ricks. “Ireally hate to rely on somebody else to have to do a job for you.”
The fate of the Jaguars (8-3overall, 6-1 SWAC) lies in the hands of Alabama State.
The last thing Southern wanted tohappen to determine a trip to Birmingham, Ala., was to allow someone else tocontrol their destiny or rely on a coin toss. The coin flip possibility was eliminated after the Universityof Arkansas-Pine Bluff was no longer co-leader in the SWAC Western division.
Alabama State (8-2, 6-1), the SWACEastern division champion must defeat UAPB (6-2,
5-1) Saturday to ensure a trip tothe championship game for the Jaguars.
The Jaguars’ loss in the XXXI StateFarm Bayou Classic at the Louisiana Superdome
in New Orleans was the first defeatin SWAC plays this season and the first road loss in 14 games.
Grambling (6-5, 3-4) utilized astrong running attack to victimize the Jaguars defense.
The Tigers rushed a season-high 279yards with junior Ab Kuuan as the leader with 128-yards and three touchdowns.
“We knew they were going to run thefootball,” Richardson said. “Theygave the illusion they were going to throw it. But they’ve got that hugeoffensive line and they kept beating on us and pounding on us. Those 2 yardsbecame 4. We had a tough time trying to control them.”
It was Kuuan’s third straight100-yard rushing game and Grambling’s second straight victory.
“I was dreaming of making plays,”Kuuan, Grambling’s Most Valuable Player said about the restless night he hadbefore the Bayou Classic.
“Thinking about this game sentchills down my spine. I was visualizing making these plays,” Kuuan said.
A 39-yard field goal fromGrambling’s senior kicker Brian Morgan at 10:05 in the second quarter put theTigers up 3-0.
Then Jag’s junior wide receiverEmile Bryants’ 48-yard touchdown reception at the end of the first half putSouthern up 6-3, but sophomore kicker Breck Ackley missed the extra point.
From there the game score changedleads twice, and Southern had two key field goals blocked, and a fumbled punton a Gabe Wallace return.
Kuuan ran 11 yards for Grambling’sfirst touchdown with 11:31 left in the third quarter sending the score to 10-6in Grambling’s favor.
An 11-yard rushing touchdown at 2:59in the third quarter by Jag’s freshman running back Devin Herbert put Southernup 13-10.
Kuuan scored the last two touchdownsof the game at 12:53 in the fourth on a 1-yard run and with 4:22 left on a2-yard run to dash all the Jaguars hopes of winning.
“The main thing is that we’ve beenthrough a whole lot,” said Grambling’s first-year head coach Melvin Spears.”Our guys believed and we got it done today. The main thing is that we playedfor 60 minutes. In the past wewould play every now and then but I take my hats off to the players and thecoaches did an outstanding job.”
In the Tigers’ season opener theylost All-American quarterback Bruce Eugene to a knee-injury. Grambling playedtrue freshman Brandon Landers who finished 8-of-13 for 72-yards.
Southern returned to the gridironafter a bye week with all of its starters back. The
Jag’s seniortailback Gerald Holmes was taken out of the game after re-injuring his rightleg and junior leading wide receiver James Vernon was not 100 percent aftermissing two-and-a-half games with a knee sprain.
With some keyplayers not at full strength, four Jaguars totaled a mere 131-yards rushingcombined. Ricks alone rushed for over 100 yards three straight games prior tothe Bayou Classic. Ricks named the Bayou Classic MVP for Southern completed20-of-41 passes for 176 yards, rushed for 93 yards and one touchdown.
“I’ve got togive it to Grambling,” Richardson said. ”They played hard, they made the plays they had to.”
The series isnow Southern 16, Grambling 15.
Southern’sprevious loss in the Bayou Classic came in 2001. Prior to Saturday’s loss, the Jags’ boasted a 10-1 recordunder Richardson including eight straight wins.
The SWACchampionship game is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Birmingham, Ala.
