Off the heels of a 36-34 five-overtime loss to Prairie View A&M in the State Fair Classic, Grambling State head football coach Mickey Joseph is ready to use the bye week to fix the Tigers’ offensive struggles.
And that starts with getting the most out of quarterback Myles Crawley, who has noticeably been choppy the last few outings under center.
Though the redshirt senior leads the SWAC with 1,048 passing yards and 9 touchdowns, Crawley has thrown four interceptions and totaled less than 200 passing yards in two of the last three games. He also has been hit in the pocket more often than Joseph would like.
“We’re going to go back to the drawing board,” Joseph said. “It’s a good week to have off to polish up on the run game, the RPO, as well as protection. We may need to go from five-man to six- or seven-man protection to give him [Crawley] more time back there. We’ve got to reshuffle some things around with the play calling. We’ll get it fixed.”
Grambling currently ranks second behind Jackson State in the SWAC in points per game (31.6) but is sixth in passing yards per game (214.2) and eighth in rushing yards (91.6). Joseph said that the start of the week was about accountability and players expressing themselves.
“Everybody has to look in the mirror. We had ‘Tell the truth Monday,’ he explained. “Myles came in and told me how he felt, and I respect that.”
Joseph said the Tigers’ offensive identity has been consistent from the start, but ahead of a visit from Alcorn State on Oct. 12, some things may need to change.
“We know our identity; we like to throw it to run it. We may need to flip that,” he said. “We’ll do some self-scouting this week, see where we’re at. This week is to take care of ourselves, see what we need to do, and then get it done.”
Grambling will enter the Alcorn game 3-2 overall and 0-1 in SWAC West play, but Joseph is confident his team still has a chance at the SWAC championship game and more.
“Everybody’s in here working to fix some things, but we still have our opportunity,” he said. “I told the kids it’s just more pressure, and pressure is a privilege. That means something good is going to happen. We’re going to accept this pressure and get this thing back on the road.”