GSU survives against Bethune-Cookman

GRAMBLING – What showed up as a win in the scorebook didn’t exactly feel like one for the Grambling State Tigers (4-4, 3-2 SWAC) after a 28-14 victory over Bethune-Cookman (1-7, 0-5 SWAC) on Saturday.

Hue Jackson and his players walked into their locker room after earning their fourth win of the year with looks of blank stares, recognizing the Tigers could have very well let another home game slip through their hands.

After leading 21-7 through the first quarter, with Chance Williams rushing 5 times for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead an offense that outgained the Wildcats 168-57, the Tigers began to go into an early hibernation on offense, scoring one more time the rest of the afternoon with under 10 minutes left to play in the fourth quarter to breathe a little easier.

After Williams punched in his second score with 10 seconds left in the first quarter, the Tigers’ drives went like this the rest of the game: fumble, punt, punt, punt, punt, FGA, punt, punt, touchdown, punt.

GSU head coach Hue Jackson was pleased the Tigers held on but knew before kickoff BCU was going to hang around longer than most fans would have thought.

“I was not happy with the way we played offensively,” Jackson said postgame. “I thought our defense rose up to the challenge. I thought our offense was very uncharacteristic of how we played. I give a lot of that credit to Bethune-Cookman. I told our guys before the game I just didn’t like our focus and exactly where we were. And it showed. When you have that feeling as a coach, you try to get it turned as fast as you can and we weren’t fully able to get that done so I take responsibility for that. The most important thing is we won and we get to go back to practice and get better.”

To understand the frustration of Jackson and how ineffective GSU became after the three-score, here are all the missed chances for the Tigers after its first quarter lead.

GSU’s first drive of the second quarter got down to the BCU 22-yard line. It ended in a scoop and score fumble recovery touchdown for the Wildcats to cut it to 21-14. On the next drive, GSU got to the BCU 29 and eventually had to punt. BCU turned the ball over on its ensuing series but the Tigers came away with no points after starting at the BCU 28.

Donald Lee intercepted a pass inside the BCU 20, setting up GSU for a prime scoring opportunity. Instead, the Tigers went three and out and had to attempt a 37-yard field goal, which ended up wide left.

GSU had -1 yards in the third quarter, and still maintained its lead thanks to the play of senior defensive end Sundiata Anderson, senior linebacker Lewis Matthews and multiple defensive backs.

Anderson, the SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, finished with 11 tackles, 3 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 6 QB hurries – moving his season total to 10.5 TFL and 4.5 sacks.

“I told him, ‘you gotta go dominate in this game and he did,” Jackson said of Anderson. “Him and Lewis, and those seniors over there, and that defensive line, linebackers, secondary too they got after it. Those guys can play.”

Matthews finished second on the team with 8 tackles, 1 TFL, and 2 QB hurries, while DBs Trent Henry, Norey Johnson, and Donald Lee came down with interceptions.

BCU managed 74 total yards in the second half and failed to take the lead in the wake of GSU’s offensive sluggishness.

Chance Williams and Floyd Chalk buried the Wildcats with a combined 214 yards and 3 touchdowns between them, as Williams led the team with 134 yards and his first-half scores. Chalk delivered the game-sealing touchdown on a 34-yard scamper to finish his day with 9 carries for 80 yards.

GSU (3-4, 2-3 SWAC) heads to Alabama State (3-3, 2-2 SWAC) on Saturday, Nov. 4 in Mobile, Alabama to continue league play.