Southern ends their regular season this week with the 51st edition of the world-famous Bayou Classic, one of the biggest football games played in the state of Louisiana every year. It’s always an important moment for the Southern Jags, as they face off against archrival Grambling. Both teams had a bye week before the game, and it’s the final regular season game for the SWAC before the post season begins. Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves went into detail discussing what his team did during their extra week of rest and preparation.
We wanted to get some rest, get some guys healthy. We had a little bit of the flu bug going around, so we wanted to get some guys healthy. We spent the week going over fundamentals and techniques. Things that we do well, we want to do better. Things that we didn’t do well, we want to do it better or not do it at all.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
This is a big moment for Coach Graves, a coach who has become synonymous with the Bayou Classic as of late. Despite this being his first year as a full-time head coach, it’s his 3rd time on this stage for the kick off press conference. He’s the only person to ever be the winning head coach for both Grambling and Southern in the Bayou Classic’s history. He was the interim HC for Grambling in 2021 when the Tigers won the Bayou Classic, and then moved to Southern in 2023 where he became their interim HC before last year’s edition of the game, which the Jags won. It’s a new feeling for Coach Graves, who seems to finally be here to stay.
When I looked at my name card, I was looking for the interim tag in front of my name, and then when I just saw head coach, I said ‘ok, this is the real deal now.’
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
The relationship between the two coaching staffs is a big talking point going into the game this year. First year Head Coach Mickey Joseph has a long history with Coach Graves. They were on the same coaching staff at Grambling in 2014, and have known each other since 1999.
We coached against one another for so long, and to get the opportunity to coach together, it was good. To see him elevate and go an do the things that he did, I’m ecstatic or him, and he’s ecstatic for me.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
It’s not just the two head coaches that have a long history. Grambling’s two coordinators, Jason Rollins and Eric Dooley were the two last head coaches for Southern. Jason Rollins coached the team in 2021, and Eric Dooley coached the Jags from 2022-2023, including bringing Coach Graves to Southern in 2023, where he coached under Coach Dooley. Suffice to say, these coaching staffs are intimately familiar with each other.
The majority of the coaching staffs, we’ve got history. We coached against one another so long, and we’ve hung out together, always together at the conventions, always together. We will laugh it up a little before the game, but when the whistle blows, we want to beat each other.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
In order to for Southern to win the game, they will likely depend on their new starting quarterback, Jalen Woods. The freshman started the season as the 3rd string QB, but after a turbulent season filled with murkiness at QB for the Jags, he seems to have finally cleared things up. He got his first real chance in the 2nd half of the Bethune-Cookman game, and he has played well enough to seemingly secure the starting job for the Bayou Classic.
He is constantly improving. Those guys take coaching well. For me, it’s like raising a teenager. Somedays they look great in practice, and some days, you want to just dig a hole and jump in. But those guys are doing a great job of executing what we are implementing and understanding the system even more in-depth.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
Southern’s situation as the already-clinched SWAC champions adds another important wrinkle to this game. Southern will be playing Jackson St in the SWAC championship game next week regardless of what happens in the Bayou Classic, a situation that doesn’t come up often in this game. For some teams, there could be a risk of looking ahead to the big clash next week, but Coach Graves thinks his team won’t struggle with that in this game.
The biggest thing was the Bethune-Cookman game. It helped these guys get focused. It helped the focus on UAPB, and now it helps with Grambling. You got to live in the precious present. Being the SWAC West champions are great, and to play in the championship game in another week or so is great, but that’s irrelevant right now. The focus is on Grambling, and nothing else matters right now.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
Despite being out of contention for the SWAC West, Grambling has shown plenty of fight this season themselves. They have a stable of 4 running backs – Ke’travion Hargrove, Tre Bradford, Dedrick Talbert, and Keilon Elder – who have all rushed for at least 4 yards a carry this season, and all bring their own problems as ball carriers. On top of that, they have their own question mark at the QB position. Myles Crawley has played most of the season and has shown himself to be a proficient passer, but freshman Deljay Bailey has gotten his fair share of starts.
If you’re going to win, you have to stop the run. They have a stable of running backs who can hurt you if you aren’t gap sound and don’t tackle well. That’s the first order of business, but then they have receivers who can catch it, and they can get away from you. If they start #5 [Deljay Bailey] at QB, he’s a dual threat guy, so we have to pay attention to him.
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
Coach Graves emphasized the importance of a fast start in this game, but in his own words, “for this team, fast starts are a foreign language.” We’ll see how the Bayou Classic begins for both Southern and Grambling this Saturday at 1 PM CST in the Superdome. You can tune in on NBC or Peacock.
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