It was an evening of woe for Grambling State at TDECU stadium; the Houstong Cougars were anything but hospitable and laid a 45-0 beat down on the Tigers.
Grambling did themselves no favors, stumbling out of the gate after Aldon Clark put the ball on the ground and Houston recovered, needing just six plays to go 47 yards to hit Pau dirt when quarterback Ike Ogobu hit Nathaniel Dell on a 16-yard pass to give Houston an early 7-0 lead.
Houston would find themselves in the end zone after a 48-yard punt return from Marcus Williams to put the Cougars up 14-0 with 10:40 to go in the first half. A subsequent 8-play, 80’yeard drive, culminating in an Alton McCaskill 17-yard touchdown run gave Houston a 21-0 lead with 5:23 left in the second quarter.
A 34-yard touchdown run by McCaskill, his second of the game, extended the advantage to 28-0 early in the third quarter. Nathaniel Dell’s second touchdown haul of the day from 10 yards out capped a 6-play, 58-yard drive to put Houston up 42-0 with a little over two minutes left in the third period.
Mercifully for Grambling, the scoring would end with a 22-yard Dalton Witherspoon field goal that came at the end 15-play, 62 yard drive.
From Grambling Athletic Communications:
CHECKING THE BOX SCORE
– Grambling State (1-2) finsihed with 102 total yards and three first downs- The Tigers registered 53 rushing yards and 49 passing yards- Aldon Clark got the start at quarterback and went 4 of 12 passing for 49 yards- CJ Russell recorded 18 yards on 10 carries- Darqueze Brutton added 18 yards on nine touches- Greg White caught one pass for 37 yards- Garrett Urban punted the ball 12 times for 422 yards, averaging 35.2 yards per punt- Garrett Urban’s longest punt was 50 yards, with four inside the 20- Defensively, Blake Thomas had five total tackles, including three solo stops and half of a sack- Demario Cleaves added five tackles, with three coming on solo stops- Houston finished with 422 total yards of offense and 24 first downs- The Cougars registered 258 yards through the air and 164 yards on the ground- Ike Ogbogu was 14 of 22 passing for 196 yards and a pair of touchdowns- Alton McCaskill rushed the ball 16 times for 114 yards and two scores- Nathaniel Dell tallied 134 yards on eight receptions, with two touchdowns- Donavan Mutin registered seven total tackles, including five solo stops- The Cougars controlled the time of possession (34:58)
GAME NOTES
– Grambling State fell to 0-3 all-time against Houston- The Tigers were playing the first of two consecutive games in the state of Texas- Houston returned a punt 48 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter, its third touchdown return in the last two seasons- GSU dropped to 9-6 during the Fobbs era in games played in the Lone Star State- The Tigers fell to 14-14 (opening month) during the month of September- Grambling State is 17-19 when the opponent scores first and 13-15 when trailing after one quarter- The Tigers have not scored in eight quarters- Grambling State has been shut out twice in a season for the first time since 1976
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH BRODERICK FOBBS”Tonight we played a very good Houston football team. We played well early on, but when you are playing good teams, you can’t make mistakes. We need to eliminate these mistakes, which will help us be a better football team. We look forward to having a good week of practice and stepping into Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play next week.”
UP NEXTGrambling State steps into Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play on Saturday with the annual trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas as the Tigers meet Prairie View A&M in the State Fair Classic. The Panthers played host to Houston Baptist on Saturday. PVAMU is 1-0 in the SWAC after opening the season with a 40-17 victory over rival Texas Southern. Kickoff on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl is set for 4 p.m.
