The Jackson State football team has had Saturday, Nov. 16, circled for a long time, and with that day finally here, a SWAC Eastern Division championship is close at hand.
The Tigers, 4-0 in SWAC East play, wrap up their division schedule at preseason favorite Alabama State this weekend, and according to head coach T.C. Taylor, his guys have been waiting for it all season long.
“They’re locked and loaded. They were talking about it after the game. This is a game we’ve had marked all year on our calendar,” Taylor said during his weekly press conference. “The motivation of [ASU] being picked to win the SWAC and the SWAC East, so a lot of players have had this tabbed. We’ve been taking it one game at a time, but I know a lot of guys have been looking down the road for this one.”
The Tigers are 8-2 overall and 6-0 in SWAC play. The American Football Coaches Association ranks them No. 20 in the latest Football Championship Subdivision poll. Even with all of that going for them, Taylor doesn’t expect Jackson State to let up when they hit the field.
“We’ve got to play our best football this week,” he said. “They came in here (at Jackson) last year and spoiled our homecoming, and we know they’d love to spoil us being East champions, so we’ve got to be on point. The team is motivated. They’re ready to go. They came into the team meeting on Sunday locked in and looking forward to the challenge this week.”
With a spot in the SWAC championship game for the taking, Taylor didn’t have to remind his team of much, except for what it has taken to get them to this point.
“I told the guys this is the first game that you can see where all your work is going towards,” he explained. “It’s just the work they’ve been putting together all summer long and all season long on the football field. This is one of the goals we had as a program. Like I told you guys last week before you play for a conference championship, you’ve got to win the Eastern Division. We have an opportunity for that this week.”
