Nov. 6, 2005

Final Stats

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Less than two weeks ago, Alabama State was in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division driver's seat. But after a 32-27 loss to Grambling State on Saturday, the Hornets are now riding shotgun and might find themselves out of the race for a second straight SWAC championship altogether.

Combined with a 52-6 win by Alabama A&M over Jackson State, the Hornets need a win next week at Mississippi Valley State and a loss by the Bulldogs to either Alcorn State or Prairie View A&M in the next two weeks to have a chance to repeat as championships.

"It's heartbreaking," offensive coordinator Chris Kapilovic said. "Everything you've worked so hard for has gone down the drains in the span of seven days. It's tough."

Behind four touchdown passes from quarterback Bruce Eugene, Grambling State took a 32-7 lead early in the third quarter. ASU staged a furious comeback behind three Tarvaris Jackson touchdown tosses but the Hornets were unable to recover an onside kick and the Tigers ran out the clock.

"The guys didn't quit," head coach Charles Coe said. "You have to respect that. We've got to go back now, shake this off and focus on next week. Hopefully, the guys can put this behind them."

Behind is where the Hornets played from the entire game, starting with two Tim Manuel first quarter field goals - the first from 47 yards. Late in the first quarter, an errant screen pass by Jackson turned into a GSU interception and eight seconds into the second quarter, it turned into a 12-0 Tigers lead on Eugene's first scoring pass.

ASU, though, would answer on its ensuing drive, marching 80 yards behind a yeoman effort by running back Robert Randolph. His 36 yards rushing on the drive put the Hornets in position to score on a 1-yard run by Keldrick Williams that brought the score to 12-7.

But that seemed to ignite a dormant Grambling passing game and Eugene went to work. He threw two more first half touchdown passes, the last with 10 seconds left in the first half to give the Tigers a 25-7 advantage after 30 minutes.

It only got worse at the start of the second half. GSU's Tim Landry returned the opening kickoff 71 yards and two plays later, Eugene and Henry Tolbert connected for their second touchdown of the game that pushed Bama State into a 32-7 hole.

The third-ranked offense in the country then started to find its groove. The Hornets used almost nine minutes off the clock but went 84 yards on 16 plays, culminating in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Alvance Robinson to start ASU on the comeback trail.

Another long drive went much quicker in the fourth quarter as the Hornets moved 80 yards in just six plays. Chris Maddox was the recipient of a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jackson and ASU was back in business.

The Grambling State offense continued to sputter and Alabama State continued to take advantage. Jackson and Maddox hooked up again with 2:34 remaining, this time on a 21-yard touchdown pass, and the ASU found itself down by only five points.