Sensing the season slipping away and facing a double-digit halftime deficit against Grambling State at the State Fair Classic, Bubba McDowell knew he had to intervene.
The Prairie View head coach challenged his team to be desperate. McDowell then demanded the Panthers coaching staff deploy the roster’s best players during the fiery meeting in which Gatorade cups were thrown to emphasize the urgency of the moment.
“I had a come to Jesus talk with the coaching staff,” McDowell said on Monday during the SWAC coaches’ press briefing. “I told them what I expected. Why are we not playing this person? I need you to play this guy. Then I told the players we had to figure out how to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and find a way to win this game.”
Changes to the game plan and personnel were made. The most impactful of them all was Jaden Johnson being inserted at quarterback in place of starter Cameron Peters, who McDowell said “wasn’t getting it done” after he threw for 81 first-half yards and an interception.
The move worked. Johnson helped lead the Prairie View offense to 17 straight points between the third and fourth quarters, including accounting for a rushing and passing touchdown in a half where he threw for 104 yards and rushed for another 39 on the ground.
Prairie View would go on to win 36-34 in five overtime periods.
Johnson to Savage sends it to 2OT😤#PVAMUFootball | #StateFairClassic pic.twitter.com/AZDRI3iWts
— Prairie View A&M Football (@PVAMU_Football) September 29, 2024
Coming off the bench to lead a comeback victory wasn’t exactly a new experience for Johnson. As a redshirt freshman at Missouri State in 2021, Johnson led the Bears to 21 unanswered points en route to a 21-10 victory to claim a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title.
McDowell credited the team’s response to the halftime adjustments and Johnson’s spark with pulling out an early season-defining victory.
“Those guys (the players) put it on each other,” he said. “That’s what we want them to do. That’s what we want to see. That was a perfect opportunity for those guys to do that.”
McDowell indicated that he considered roster changes weeks ago, saying he thought about replacing Peters with Johnson against Southern. In the 31-24 overtime loss to the Jaguars on Sept. 21, Peters went 9 of 20 for 193 yards and was sacked seven times, including on the game’s final play.
“That was one of the meetings (among coaches) we had,” he said. “I told the coaches, let’s get this thing done, get Johnson in position to make plays and other players to make players because this is what I brought you here to do.”
Now that the Panthers have survived its first of what will be many tests of their mettle to stay in the SWAC West chase, McDowell said that Johnson, a redshirt senior, will start at Incarnate Word on Saturday.
“We’re going to stay with the momentum because I’m not a big advocate of switching quarterbacks in and out,” said McDowell. “He (Johnson) will be the starter as of right now. If something happens where we have to make a decision again, we will do that. But when that time comes, we will make that decision.”
