Re: Re: The Explanation Part I........
Originally posted by Miami Jag
I didn't know you went to Southern
That was a good one, MiamiJag!!!!!
But...No, I didn't go to Southern, but I was there on 101390.....
The night it rained Tiger touchdown passes in Baton Rouge
By Mark Alexander
[email protected]
Robert Kent is in the process of attaching his name to every individual school passing record at Jackson State.
Shawn Gregory is just one of many outstanding former Tiger quarterbacks to have records fall in Kent's wake the past two years. But there's one Gregory moment that Kent nor any other quarterback can ever erase from the storied annals of JSU football.
The date: Oct. 13, 1990. The site: Southern University's A.W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge.
Jackson State dismantled Southern 52-14 thanks in large part to Gregory, who completed 14 of 23 passes for 462 yards and five touchdowns. All five of those touchdowns came in the first half as the Tigers jumped ahead 28-0 before many of the 20,718 got to their seats.
"The man of the night, plain and simple, was Shawn Gregory," wrote Clarion-Ledger sportswriter David Cummings.
Gregory got the Blue and White block party started with a 70-yard scoring pass to Jimmy Smith and ended it with a 22-yard scoring strike to Antonious Kimbrough. In between, the senior threw touchdown passes of 64 and 37 yards to Smith and a 28-yarder to Tim Barnett, leaving the Jaguars' defense dazed and down for the count.
"He came out lighting the sky up with balls," said current JSU coach Robert Hughes, an assistant coach at the time. "He and Jimmy had a magical connection that night. We jumped on them 30-something to nothing before they realized they had a football game."
The 70-yard touchdown pass to Smith remains one of the longest in school history, and the five first-half touchdowns still stands as a record.
"The year before Southern beat us on our homecoming," said Gregory, now the offensive coordinator at Mississippi Valley State. "I was definitely geared up for that game. I just had one of those superstar nights. Everything was clicking for us early in the game and it continued through the game."
JSU had 450 yards total offense in the first half and led 45-0 at halftime. Southern's two touchdowns came late in the fourth quarter of a game that was over before the bands took the field for the halftime show.
That 1990 Sonic Boom MONSTER!!!!!
"In all my years here, I've never seen a Jackson State team play that well in the first half," JSU coach W.C. Gorden said afterwards. "And Shawn was amazing."
Adding to Gregory's fantastic night was the fact the 462 passing yards were, at the time, the most ever thrown in a game by a JSU quarterback. And he became JSU's all-time leading passer, a record since eclipsed.
Southern had hoped to contain Gregory and the high-powered JSU offense by employing a zone defense. It didn't work. Smith, now one of the NFL's top receivers with the Jacksonville Jaguars, had four catches for 184 yards in the first half alone.
"No one can stop us with a zone," Smith said afterwards. "We found the seams and Shawn threw the ball perfect all night."
Gregory triggered an offense that averaged a Division I-AA best 38 points per game that season. The Tigers also claimed their fifth SWAC title in six years.
"I've seen a lot of Jackson State football games, and I'd have to say that's one game that really jumps out when you're talking about a performance by a quarterback," longtime JSU sports publicist Sam Jefferson said. "It was something to see."