The Grambling State offense is officially at a crossroads.
After only being able to muster 306 total yards of offense on just 4.3 yards per play and a single touchdown in a 17-15 loss to Alcorn State on Saturday at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium that put the Tigers two full games behind the SWAC West lead, first-year head coach Mickey Joseph is pondering changes.
And it likely, said Joseph, will involve — again — how to get more productivity from the quarterback position.
Heading into the bye week after Grambling State’s overtime loss to Prairie View in the State Fair Classic, Joseph — witnessing Myles Crawley take too many hits and be shaky in the pocket — suggested running the ball more and deploying six and seven-man protection schemes to give his senior QB a shot.
Against a tough Alcorn State team, Grambling called 43 running plays (second-most all season), and Crawley only threw it a reasonable 28 times. But the same problems that plagued the offense didn’t go away. The unit struggled at times to move the ball. Crawley completed 16 passes for 149 yards and tossed an interception. He was also sacked four times and hit on numerous other dropbacks.
Joseph admitted after the game that he became so concerned for Crawley that he thought about replacing him with redshirt sophomore Ashton Frye to add a “little bit of the quarterback run game.”
“I thought about taking him (Crawley) out when he’s not being protected,” said Joseph.
“It’s not just the sacks all the time. It’s usually the hurries and the hits that he’s taking that make him a little jittery in the pocket.
Grambling fell to SWAC West leader Alcorn, 17-15.
Post-game, I spoke with @GSUFootball01‘s Mickey Joseph about potentially benching starting QB Myles Crawley and defensive lapses in the final drives that allowed Alcorn’s winning field goal.@KTVEKARDSports | #Grambling #SWAC pic.twitter.com/WQl83VEJsf
— ayanna (@ayanna_maleah) October 13, 2024
While being measured in his assessment of the offense, Joseph indicated that he would consider playing multiple quarterbacks moving forward to provide a run threat at the position to ease opposing pass rushes.
Prior to the matchup with Alcorn State, Grambling had averaged 24.5 points per game, fifth-best in the conference since league play began. The Tigers had also scored only five touchdowns, which tied for second-worst with Mississippi Valley State and Bethune-Cookman.
“We will figure it out,” the coach said.
