The Alabama State football team had its final full practice before their Friday morning travel to Grambling, La. to face the 2011 Southwestern Athletic Conference Champion Grambling State Tigers this Saturday.
 
The showdown is slated for 6 p.m. at Robinson Stadium on the campus of GSU. The contest can be heard on WVAS 90.7 FM and will be watched online on SWACTV via www.swac.org.
 
“Practice today wasn't what I was expecting, going into a huge conference game like this one,” Head Coach Reggie Barlow said. “I don't know if the guys weren't focused or what, but there were too many mistakes made today.”
 
The Hornets focused mostly on the intangibles like special teams and personnel assignments. ASU had problems with kicking extra points, getting two blocked on last Saturday against Mississippi Valley State.
 
“Last week, one of our starters went down and our back-up guy was inexperienced,” Barlow said. “We've now corrected the problem and look to not have the same issues this week against Grambling.”  
 
Alabama State and Grambling were both picked to win their respective divisions back in July in the preseason voting.
 
“It's a blessing to have been picked to win our divisions, although Grambling has gotten off to a slower start than they would like,” said Barlow. “We haven't played our best ball either, so we have to improve all around and I imagine they are looking to do the same.  It'll be great to see how we match up against a great Grambling squad and at the end of the season, see who will be the teams playing for the SWAC Championship.”
     
 



                                                                                                Go Hornets