Grambling outlasts Tuskegee

GRAMBLING – Grambling State proved it was the one, true Tigers on the field Saturday in a 37-20 win over Tuskegee Saturday night at Eddie G. Robinson Memorial Stadium.

In Mickey Joseph’s first win as head coach of the G-Men, GSU lit up the night sky with explosive passing and timely takeaways in the program’s first home night game since 2018. Grambling quarterback Myles Crawley put up 297 passing yards and a career-high 4 touchdowns on just 14 completions in the first half, connecting with 2023 SWAC Freshman of the Year Javon Robinson on 4 catches for 151 yards and a score. He also found Nick Howard for 3 catches for 48 yards and a score – Howard’s first score at the Division I level.

When the Tigers scored, they took it to Tuskegee in a flash, with all four of their touchdown drives in the first half taking less than 2:15 of game clock. Crawley finished his night with 304 passing yards and 4 touchdowns – both career-highs for the redshirt senior. His 304 passing yards were the most by a GSU quarterback in a single game since Oct. 6, 2018, when Geremey Hickbottom had 345 yards. Crawley’s 4 scores were also the most passing touchdowns by GSU quarterback since Devante Kincade had 4 on Oct. 22, 2016.

"We took Myles out but we have explosive players. So, we can get the ball into space to all the kids that are explosive," GSU head coach Mickey Joseph said. "But we have to establish the line of scrimmage. We did not establish the line of scrimmage at offense at all."

The score may have ended with GSU on top with room to spare but the G-Men flatlined in the second half with no points, four punts, and a missed 55-yard field goal. Tuskegee, meanwhile, added 17 points with a 13-yard rushing touchdown, a 15-yard touchdown pass and a 47-yard field goal.

After forcing Tuskegee into 3 punts, 2 interceptions, a fumble, a made field goal and a missed field goal on 8 drives in the first half, GSU’s defense allowed 195 yards and 17 points over the final two periods. GSU’ offense managed just 61 yards in the second half.

With the second half scores, Tuskegee nearly outgained GSU - finishing the night with 380 yards to GSU's 384.

Joseph was upset with the team's lack of execution in the second half.

"I thought they played good for maybe 20 minutes out of the 60. I thought we were clean for 20 minutes. The other 40, we were bad," Joseph said. "We had 16 penalties for 166. That's terrible. We can't revert back to foolishness, and that's what we reverted back to. I gotta do a better job as head coach and I will. My assistants gotta do a better job and we'll clean that up."

GSU started the scoring on its second drive with tight end CJ Knighten catching a 2-yard TD from Crawley. Less than three minutes late, Crawley connected with Nick Howard on a 9-yard screen pass for a 13-0 GSU lead. Two minutes into the second quarter, after a 27-yard catch from Javon Robinson near the goal line, GSU tacked on another score on a 4-yard pass from Crawley to true freshman tailback Tony Phillips for a 20-0 lead.

GSU kicker Reed Harradine added a 36-yard FG to make it 23-0 GSU with 2:32 left in the. Exactly a minute later, on GSU’s next drive, one play was all it took on a 53-yard touchdown catch from Crawley to a streaking Robinson for a 29-0 lead.

The big play was a friend of GSU’s early and often, with the G-Men putting up 9 pass plays of 15+ yards in the first half alone.

But it wasn’t just an offensive showcase for the Tigers, as defensive end Bryce Cage’s sack of Tuskegee quarterback Christopher Robinson allowed linebacker Josh Darling to take the fumble to the house for a scoop and score a touchdown with 28 seconds left in the half.

Joseph was pleased with the defensive pressure the Tigers created, along with two other takeaways from sophomore linebackers Brenden Barley and Marcellius Johnson picking off Robinson. 

After committing just six penalties for 25 yards against Louisiana-Lafayette, sloppiness crept into Grambling’s home opener with 16 penalties for 166 yards. 

"You gotta take the win. You're on the plus side. You gotta take the win. But you're not gonna beat many teams in this conference the way we played tonight," Joseph said. "And I expressed that to the kids. We won't win many games like that if we play that way. We were frontrunners tonight."

Tuskegee took advantage of a late personal foul by GSU’s Bryce Cage to get inside the 15 and scored a second touchdown within the final 3:00 of game clock.

Grambling State travels to Texas A&M University-Commerce next Saturday for a 6 p.m. kickoff.