Bottom line, you don’t advance to a championship game to only prove that you were exactly who we thought you to be. Credit is due to Jackson State for defying odds and their own body of work to advance to a second-straight SWAC football championship match-up against the Grambling State Tigers. But in the end, JSU looked much like they had throughout the 2008 season, and took it on the chin in a 41-9 mauling.
While Jackson State must bear some of the responsibility of this lopsided loss, it can’t lay total claim on its self destruction in Birmingham. Jackson State head coach Rick Comegy never truly trusted Trae Rutland behind center, and it showed in Jackson State’s inconsistency through the air throughout the season. The saving grace for Jackson State was its stretch of games against the laughable Eastern division, and two wins against the Western division cupcakes didn’t hurt either. These games were lightwork for the stout JSU defense and runing game.
Almost too light.
You’ll get no argument from anyone about how the schedule falls and playing the team that comes out of the opposite loker room every Saturday, but it couldn’t have been a good thing for JSU to face six weeks of subpar competition, only to run up against a Grambling juggernaut riding the high off the Bayou Classic. Make no mistake, Grambling had its share of gimme games late in the season, but the early wins over Jackson State and Prairie View A&M were perfect projections for what was to come throughout the 2008 campaign.
Grambling is the only team in the entire SWAC able to boast a better conference performance in 2008 than Jackson State. And on yesterday afternoon, Grambling was the only team that made good on its right to play for the SWAC championship.
TYRONE 12:19 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink
I DON’T THINK GRAMBLING COULD STAND UP TO EITHER OF THE MEAC TEAMS LIKE FAMU OR SOUTH CAROLINA STATE. ACTUALLY STATISTICALLY FAMU SHOULD HAVE BEEN UNDEFEATED. THEY ACTUALLY HAVE A BETTER TEAM THAN SC STATE.
TYRONE 12:20 am on December 15, 2008 Permalink
LOOK OUT NEXT YEAR BECAUSE FAMU DIDNT HAVE ANY REALLY KEY PLAYERS THAT WERE SENIORS.
Mark 10:26 pm on December 15, 2008 Permalink
A FAMU team that lost Morgan State, gave up a half hundred to SU. Yeah right. Morgan State defense aint nowhere near Grambling and shole aint nowhere near Appy State.
Grambling State Captures 2008 Black College National Championship | HBCU Sports Blog 12:05 pm on December 16, 2008 Permalink
[...] State thumped the Southern Jaguars in the Bayou Classic, and the SWAC Championship put the anti-climatic ending to a predictable story [...]
JC 12:53 pm on December 16, 2008 Permalink
Morgan did have a good defense, and if they had an offense to match, maybe the MEAC would have looked a little different.
Statistically FAMU should have been undefeated? Statistically, they lost.
dp 6:20 pm on December 16, 2008 Permalink
Come on people, we (GSU) used to schedule Morgan as a patsy win to get the revenues in the Yankee Stadium Whitney Young Classic. While FAM periodically puts up a good fight, Coach Rob took Bear Bryant’s record in Tallahassee. The meac is no comparison to the SWAC. As mentioned, a weak SU team this year blew up the scoreboard on FAM.