Grambling State is on pace to win more games this season than it did all of last year.
But after losing three of its last four games, the Tigers have fallen out of the SWAC West Division race. The slight increase in victory total isn’t exactly good enough for second-year head coach Hue Jackson.
Grambling State was all but eliminated from the division race after an uninspiring 17-6 loss versus Alabama State on Saturday to drop to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the SWAC.
“We’ve got to play better, coach better, all of that,” Jackson said Monday during the SWAC coaches’ media conference. “We don’t want to be the team one game better than a year ago. It means nothing to us. We’re excited to have more wins, but we want to be in the race. That’s where we expect to be. We have some work to do. We want to win the West.”
Grambling State started conference play with impressive wins against Texas Southern and Prairie View as part of three-game winning streak. But then the Tigers blew a fourth-quarter lead in a 25-24 loss at Alcorn State, the current SWAC West leader, which led to its forgettable four-week stretch that saw Grambling State drop from first place to fourth.
During its late-season slide, the Tigers have committed 10 turnovers, allowed 29 points per game, and failed to rush for more than 130 yards in losses to Alabama State, Alcorn State, and Alabama A&M.
Jackson reaffirmed that his team overall is more talented than it was in 2022, but the results have led to the consistency that was hoped for.
“We’ve been slowed down a bit,” Jackson said. “As our defense has gotten better, we haven’t been scoring as many points as we have. We’ve got to kick it back up and finish every game we play.”
