Jackson Free Press

Jimmy Oliver threw three touchdown passes to lead Jackson State to a 42-31 victory over Grambling in the SWAC Championship. The Tigers won their first SWAC title since 1996.

Previous Comments

ID

97612

Comment

What a good game yesterday! I ended up taking a nap at halftime and JSU had a 28-12 lead. By the time I woke at the end of the third quarter, Grambling had scored 19 unanswered and took a three-point lead. Typical JSU football, but I'm glad they showed up in the fourth by scoring two unanswered TDs to seal the deal. BTW, am I correct to assume that the SWAC no longer participates in the Football Championhip Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs?

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-12-16T11:07:26-06:00

ID

97613

Comment

That's an excellent question golden..and one Im left to ponder. Not to take anything away from the Championship. Im a PROUD JSU grad and was on the "yard" when winning was an afterthought. It was expected and assumed before we took the field each week. However, I think that JSU and the SWAC in general is accepting mediocrity by limiting themselves to this "Championship game". Sure, its a money maker, I assume at least. And it does give teams something to shoot for. But it wreaks of underachievement to me. Why not strive for the 1-AA crown(or now the FCS)? Why not try to see how we stack up to the nations best in in our division. Maybe thats why the SWAC always has to play a play-in game during the NCAA tournament and then we're ALWAYS pitted against a number 1 seed. Why? Because they feel our league is below caliber. Now I dont have to tell you that the SWAC has turned out more pro prospects than many of the Division 1 schools but all in all we have NEVER proven how we stand up against the Appalachian State's of the world. Thats what I wanna see. Being the SWAC champ is kinda like being the big fish in a little pond. If we continue to win it what does that prove? That we're the best in a league that doesnt hold much weight anyway? Why not hold the championship game a week or 2 before FCS playoffs begin? or the week after the Classic so that the winner could be eligible to participate in the playoffs. Otherwise we'll never REALLY know how good our teams are. Beating Grambling...no big deal to me. Beating Appalachian State or Deleware..NOW we're talking. And those games will bring in money too.

Author

Kamikaze

Date

2007-12-16T13:19:27-06:00

ID

97614

Comment

The SWAC has dropped out of the NCAA playoffs. Rick Comegy has said he wants to change that.

Author

Dr. S

Date

2007-12-16T17:12:52-06:00

ID

97615

Comment

The 1-aa playoffs has never been a real priority in the swac. 2 of the big 3 programs, grambling and southern, never participated in the playoffs because of the bayou classic- which is a bigger deal to those schools than the swac championship. Jsu can opt out of the swac championship and go to the playoffs but they would have to select that option prior to the season starting. JSU did routinely play in the playoffs but i believe we never won a first round game. And alcorn lost in the first round with steve mcnair.

Author

jd

Date

2007-12-16T20:40:37-06:00

ID

97616

Comment

I agree with Kaze. speaking as a relocator to the aera, I am puzzled by the push for a swac title over and above a national title. I thought it just mattered more to the fans in this area. But, after seeing the Bayou Classic this year and noting that those schools prefer that over the swac title, I think JSU would be better served to either reschedule the swac title game or forgo it all together. Keep in mind that this has probably more to do with money than competion, which is often the case with HBCU's and athletic programs. Blackwatch!!!!!!

Author

Renaldo Bryant

Date

2007-12-17T10:44:30-06:00

ID

97617

Comment

Each time that the SWAC schools made the playoffs in football, they always lost in the first round, just like it is in basketball, when the #16 has always lost to the #1 team. There has to be a money situation behind opting out of the playoffs and playing for the SWAC. The one advantage being in the SWAC champ game is that since the game is in Birmingham, just a few hours from Jackson, it would be much easier to travel there than it would be to, say, Appalachian State or North Dakota State. The Ivy League doesn't participate in the playoffs either. Their reasons are more educational.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-12-17T11:36:12-06:00

ID

97618

Comment

I'm glad to see J-State win the SWAC again too. However, I think they would have gotten there sooner had they kept Bell who I hear now is doing security at a high school.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-12-17T14:53:56-06:00

ID

97619

Comment

James Ding Dong just finished his second season as the head coach for Taylor University in Indiana. They went 2-9 this year, which was an improvement over last year's 1-9 record. Even that was an improvement over 2005's 0-10, which was the record under the previous head coach. The team has improved 200% from the 2005 season. See, he does know what he's doing.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-12-17T16:38:21-06:00

ID

97620

Comment

Unless I missed it after searching three times, there was not a mention of JSU's SWAC championship in today's Ledge. Amazing, being that Jackson is home to JSU. No follow-up interviews with Coach Comegy or Oliver or Giles. Nothing. Maybe it's just me, but I thought they would have had several related articles such as people-on-the-street interviews, capturing the team's arrival back on campus, or maybe even a follow-up interview with former JSU coaches W. C. Gorden and Robert Hughes (if he was willing). I believe the Sunday Ledge said there were 30,000 JSU fans in B'ham. Shouldn't that have provided a story angle since JSU's home attendance has fallen off during the Bell era from leading all I-AA schools in home attendance (football). IMHO, there was so much the Ledge could have done but didn't. They dropped the ball. Again. [Pun intended!]

Author

Kacy

Date

2007-12-17T23:22:32-06:00

ID

97621

Comment

Yeah wait until MSU play their bowl game, they will cover that until next year, its sad, but let something bad happen on campus, it would be in the clarionledger everyday. And Ladd where is the JFP exstensive coverage yall aint doing no better than the ledge, can Jackson's team get a from page cover dang.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T09:29:45-06:00

ID

97622

Comment

Well, it's a top story on the site, and we ran a story last week. It's hard for any sports team to get a cover, being that we only do sports covers for previews. (Note that I'm a Dawg, and Croom wasn't on the cover, either.) We don't pretend that sports is our "franchise" as the Ledger does; that's the difference. However, as we continue to grow, so will our sports coverage because it's meaningful to Jacksonians and Mississippians, as it is to us. It certainly won't shrink as the Ledger's is doing.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T10:03:32-06:00

ID

97623

Comment

OK thanks Ladd, but can we get a feature interview with comegy and the trophy.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T10:09:51-06:00

ID

97624

Comment

Not this week. We go to press today and again Friday due to the holiday. And Comegy can be hard to pin down.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T10:12:12-06:00

ID

97625

Comment

NewJack, Marshall Ramsey's cartoon is about JSU today. That's something anyway.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T10:17:22-06:00

ID

97626

Comment

Yeah Ladd i saw that, it seems to be a concerted effort by the ledge to make it a editorial and a cartoon, we at JSU can't expect more and we know better than to ask for more, its best to take what we can get. Thanks ledge for the crumbs we's sorry we got a little uppity we gone go back to swac land and sit down.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T10:22:06-06:00

ID

97627

Comment

I feel you, NewJack. I think it's safe to say that JSU readers aren't the Ledge's target audience (although a murder there gets TONS of coverage). We always wish we could do more on every front, and I promise, promise that we will do everything we can to do right by JSU. We love JSU, our city's university. As you know, our star reporter (Adam) is a JSU grad, and many/often most of our interns come from there. I'm on the mass comm advisory council and do workshops there. Go, Tigers!

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T10:28:42-06:00

ID

97628

Comment

You showing off ladd, but JSU fans just expected everyone to be excited for our championship win like we are when MSU or OLE MISS and Southern MISS win, thats all. It shocked us when our hometown news organizations wasn't that in depth with coverage, we are not mad, we are glad we are champs in b ball and football, we just wanted some more exposure, Winning on ESPN not only was good for JSU it was good for the city of Jackson and the state, JSU help Give Mississippi exposure, we should in turn get that back in local coverage.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T10:48:26-06:00

ID

97629

Comment

OK, wait a minute. You complain that we don't show JSU enough love. Then I tell you, and others, the ways in which we try to support JSU, and you accuse me of "showing off"? NewJack, aim at your toes and fire one at a time. One of the worst maladies in Mississippi is the kneejerk tendency of Mississippians to accuse other Mississippians of "showing off" or getting defensive when we answer a question head-on, or show confidence in our own abilities and in those around us. If there is any damn thing we need to do in this state more often, it's learn to sing our own praises and dodge the kinds of state-inflicted self-loathing that makes us turn on our own. When I was in graduate school in New York, I was surprised to learn that I still carried some of this Mississippi inferiority thing with me. After famous journalists and others spoke to our classes, I would watch so many other students line up one at a time to shake their hands and, yes, to ask for advice or a connection to someone. They had the confidence to do it and sing their own praises. I got better at doing it (although never as good as those who were born into confidence in their abilities), but it saddens me to watch Mississippians try to keep others on the bottom of the barrel with them. That's what attacking people for "showing off" (if they are being honest in their remarks) does. It keeps us down. It causes divides. It is petty and self-defeating. So stop it, at least here. At the JFP, we promote ourselves, each other, our own, our readers, our city and our local colleges. Get. Used. To. It. I think you're right to ask for more exposure. I'm being straightforward to you about what we can and cannot do and why. Try asking Ronnie Agnew the same thing and see what happens.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T11:01:36-06:00

ID

97630

Comment

i got you ladd, just playing with the showing off

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T11:41:07-06:00

ID

97631

Comment

Alright, I forgive you. But remember that is the kind of "playing" that can hurt our efforts in this state.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T11:46:23-06:00

ID

97632

Comment

The C-L always find ways to underrate their coverage of JSU. I remember when two JSU players (Sylvester Morris to the Kansas City Chiefs and Rashan Anderson to the Carolina Panthers) were drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft (2000?), the coverage was relegated to the front page of the sports section. But the minute Eli Manning was drafted first pick overall by the Chargers, it was front page news. Peyton Manning's snub of Ole Miss may've received more press than anything over JSU.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-12-18T15:26:32-06:00

ID

97633

Comment

i meant gone girl you showing off, not the hating version

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T17:41:21-06:00

ID

97634

Comment

We need a NewJack translator. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-12-18T18:19:13-06:00

ID

97635

Comment

No we dont, y'all should know me by now.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-12-18T22:44:49-06:00

ID

97636

Comment

Congrats to JSU on their win. I found out about it Monday night, but I didn't see this thread until today.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-12-19T16:50:23-06:00