Grambling State Football

It's been a trying year for Grambling State in 2013, but the Tigers have a chance to make a big national statement against Southern on Saturday when the two schools battle it out in the 40th annual Bayou Classic.

Grambling State has only won a single game this season and is firmly entrenched as the worst team in the SWAC. Meanwhile, Southern comes into the contest with an overall record of 7-4 and lead the SWAC West with a conference record of 6-2.

The Jaguars won last year's Bayou Classic by a score of 38-33, but the Tigers won five in a row by large margins before falling in 2012. 

Southern has a contest against Jackson State next weekend in Houston to determine the SWAC Championship, and it would be easy for the Jaguars to overlook Grambling State this weekend. That said, Southern will suffer an embarrassing loss if it doesn't take the Tigers seriously. 

Here's a look at when and where you can catch the action.

When: Saturday, Nov. 30, at 2:30 p.m. ET

Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, La.

Watch: NBC

Spread (via Sportbet.com): Southern (-17)

Grambling State Injury Report

N/A

Southern Injury Report

N/A

Which Grambling State Team Will Show Up?

It's been a year of trials and tribulations for Grambling State, which famously boycotted its game against Jackson State earlier in the season to protest less-than-ideal traveling arrangements and shady team facilities.

The Tigers started the season with eight straight losses and didn't come within a touchdown of winning a game until late October, when they lost by six to Texas Southern in overtime. 

From that game going forward, however, Grambling State has been highly competitive. The Tigers beat Mississippi Valley State by a touchdown the week after, and then they lost by just three to Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Dennis "Dirt" Winston has his team playing its best football right now, just in time for a potential upset victory over Southern. It's worth noting that this team's last two opponents have a combined record of 4-18, however.

But a confident team can accomplish much. If Grambling State shows up with the same fire and passion it showed the past three games, then an upset could be brewing. 

Prediction

Fans can expect a high-scoring affair on Saturday when these two rivals hit the field. 

Both teams are coming off of games in which they scored over 42 points, and both teams feature defenses that have struggled to slow opposing offenses down all season long.

But Southern is clearly the favorite to win this game. After opening the season with a record of 2-3, the Jaguars have won five of their last six games—the only loss coming against Alcorn State, which won by six points in overtime.

Grambling State will do well to lose by a touchdown. 

Final Score 

Southern wins 52-38.

Follow me on Twitter @JesseReed78 

College football is among the most popular and high-profile sports in the country. Yet it is also a sport where the voices of those who play—of those who hurl themselves violently at each other for a scholarship—continue to be unheard. 

The boycott by Grambling State University football players, first reported by the Shreveport Times, is many things. Sports Illustrated's deep dive into the situation reveals as much. It is a money problem, an athletics problem, an institutional problem, a political problem and an ego problem—among many other things. 

It was also an instance when the players had enough of those problems and the cruddy working conditions that have developed as a result. So they let the school's administration know just how they felt by walking out of a meeting with university officials and later skipping practice. A game against Jackson State eventually had to be forfeited. 

Yet, for those who follow major college football, the story at Grambling can seem to be a distant concern, like a news broadcast of rioting in a Third World country.

But what's happening at that historically black college in Louisiana is a reality that many other smaller programs fear they will come face to face with before too long. 

Moldy equipment and weight rooms, lack of funding, lack of food for student-athletes—these problems aren't unique to historically black colleges and universities. As B/R's Michael Felder writes, these are problems at small-budget programs. They are problems that affect schools whose alumni bases are small and/or unwilling to donate. They are problems for schools that dip into subsidies from a student body who may not be able to pay them.  

Eventually, these issues are going to confront all small-budget programs if they haven't already. Yet getting rid of football isn't as easy as an administrator snapping his or her fingers. Rather, institutions of higher education rely on football for exposure and the hope that it'll bring in that big paycheck. 

But keeping that football program afloat costs money, sometimes money the university doesn't have. It's the ultimate catch-22. 

In the meantime, players at schools like Grambling suffer and there's no one to speak up for them. There's no NFL Players Association, no union, no board acting on their behalf. So they had to speak up for themselves. 

That takes courage and hopefully inspires other players across college football to do the same if they feel their conditions aren't reasonable. But that doesn't mean they should have to do it alone. Ultimately, there should be an organization—a student-athlete association—that ensures conditions in places like the weight room are acceptable and that on-the-field issues like player safety are addressed appropriately.

This is not the same idea as the All Players United movement, which focuses on the ongoing demands for NCAA reform. In fact, a student-athlete association focusing on player well-being would be completely separate from the NCAA. 

That's because the issues like the ones at Grambling are not in the NCAA's wheelhouse, and never have been. The NCAA is more concerned about spending three years figuring out which Miami football players got a free dinner from booster Nevin Shapiro and less with preventing players who are concussed from returning to a football game. 

The NCAA is an entity that serves the interests of its members through legislation and enforcement. As it turns out, one of its members, Grambling State, isn't so interested in running a sustainable football program. 

So leave the player well-being to a group whose full-time job is making sure demands are met. 

The word "entitled" can often have a negative connotation, but student-athletes are every bit as entitled to safe and reasonable conditions as the average student is to a safe and clean dorm room or science lab. For all the debate about whether football player should be paid, it's the least that can be done for them. 

This weekend saw Grambling State University forfeit a football game to Jackson State due to an all-out player boycott. The situation began with players walking out of a meeting with the school's administration the Tuesday before Saturday's game and skipping that Wednesday's practice, as reported by the Shreveport Times. 

Grambling's issue is a referendum on the state of some less-funded schools—not a platform to stump on the ills of what happens if players stand up for themselves.

While so much time is focused on the "haves" of the college football world, there are schools struggling, and at times failing, to make ends meet. For those familiar with historically black colleges and universities, the problem of "not having" is nothing new. The same goes for those who understand lower-division football and the bottom end of the FCS ranks.

What's worse is when those working for what should be a common goal cannot make it work on the limited budget. Whether it is ineptitude or politics—both in this instance, according to the Shreveport Times—forcing athletes to work without the proper tools is never a good thing. In the case of Grambling, the athletes' disgust with conditions manifested itself in the boycott.

Weight-room equipment in various states of disrepair; improper ceiling and flooring setups; players purchasing their own Gatorade instead of drinking the water from a community hose that was provided. The letter obtained by ESPN from the Grambling players also details mold, mildew and staph infections.

Mold and mildew claims were refuted by a TSPN-obtained copy of the inspection report. However, the pictures displayed by HBCU Gameday from current Tigers defensive back Naquan Smith did speak to substandard conditions. Throw in the excessive busing and the missed meals on trips and Grambling's players certainly had a reason for their actions. 

Yet upon hearing these things, the reaction from many people was to worry if their favorite sport or if their favorite team possessed players with the will to stand up for feeling mistreated. There were people shouting for the players to fall in line and just play, when these young men had a legitimate cause.

There is so much fear of players standing up for themselves and what it might to do to college football that the issues of an underfunded school were swept aside for a talking point. A talking point that was against the better treatment of the student-athletes subjected to the substandard conditions. A talking point so markedly selfish and narrow-minded that there were people who advocated pulling scholarships to force the athletes to play.

The reality is that this is a real problem, and by boycotting Saturday's game, the Grambling State players set the problem at the nation's front door. But instead of picking it up off the front stoop, digesting the issue and recognizing the real problem, many tossed it aside and considered it as athletes getting out of their place, with everyone hoping no other athletes would follow suit.

Schools all over battle this issue, while perhaps not as serious as Grambling's case. While everyone focuses on getting a scholarship or playing a sport as the privilege, the same should hold true for colleges and athletic departments.

With decreasing funding at the federal and state level, shrinking donor support and poorly managed financial decisions, having athletic programs has to become a privilege as well. Getting a chance to play collegiate athletics only counts as a positive if your experience is worthwhile. Substandard conditions and health risks certainly do not make the case for these players being "the lucky ones."

It does not have to be about pushing to strip down athletics at the lower levels, but rather asking people to manage finances and assess situations realistically. Grambling is an extreme case, but the bottom of the FBS ranks are loaded with schools operating on thin budgets, exemplified by ESPN reporting that New Mexico State was asking for fan donations for team snacks a couple of seasons ago.

Budget cuts are the becoming more the norm. When miscommunication, mismanagement and politics get added to the mix, things  go from bad to worse. At Grambling, student-athletes caught in the middle decided to make their voices heard. 

Hopefully, the message becomes more clear; having an athletics department is a major responsibility and part of accepting that charge is providing the proper tools to the kids being asked to provide the blood and sweat.

Grambling State has been embroiled in controversy, with the football team boycotting two consecutive practices this week. That led to interim head coach George Ragsdale being fired and defensive coordinator Dennis Winston being named interim head coach, the third head coach the team has had in a five-week period.

Players also walked out of a meeting the school administration had arranged Thursday in order to discuss the situation. On Friday, things finally boiled over completely. Grambling State had to cancel their game against conference opponent Jackson State after the players failed to show up for the bus to Mississippi, according to Sean Isabella and Daniel Uthman of USA Today.

Per ESPN, Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner Duer Sharp announced that the game would be declared a forfeit.

Jackson State will be refunding the tickets for the game, which was scheduled to be their homecoming game. Homecoming events will still take place, though.

George Dorhmann of Sports Illustrated detailed widespread conflict between the football players and the school that go beyond just petty differences. There are numerous grievances the players have against the school, all of which paint the administration in a very poor light.

From crumbling facilities that the university refuses to fix despite the materials being donated, to forcing the team to take a lengthy bus trip to Indianapolis last week instead of flying, it appears that the school is forcing the athletes to work with conditions almost unheard of in Division I football.

Friday, the players finally had enough and made their strongest stand yet, a move that is impossible for the school to ignore. Where this saga goes now is up to the administration, as the players have made it clear that something has to change on the school's part or there will be no more Grambling State Tigers football games this year.

Players walking out of a meeting, boycotting practices and getting coaches fired? That was just the beginning of a week in the life of a Grambling State University football player.

Things got really serious with the announcement on Friday afternoon that Grambling players won't make the trip to take on Jackson State this weekend. 

But, in the broad scope of things, could it be a sign of things to come in the world of college football?

First there was a report that Grambling players attended and then walked out of a meeting with the school's administration. This was then followed up by a walk-on player being kicked out of a weight-training session the next morning (for reportedly speaking his mind at the meeting). The team walked out of practice because of it. 

On Thursday the team boycotted another practice, and word is that the interim head coach, George Ragsdale, has now been "reassigned." 

So, what is the crux of the matter at Grambling? 

According to Matt Vines of the Shreveport Times, frustrations began when former head coach Doug Williams was fired mid-September. The players claim they weren't getting full meals while on the road and were forced to take a bus (instead of flying like opponents) to games in Kansas City and Indianapolis over the past year. 

The article also hints that players aren't happy with the state of facilities at Grambling, or the way the administration treats them overall. 

On the surface it seems the players are being backed into a corner and defending themselves the best way they know how. Per Vines:

“It was basically a mutiny,” the source said. “(The team) rode the bus all that way (to Indianapolis), and then come back and are disrespected like that (in Tuesday’s meeting)."

“(The team) is standing together because they don’t know if anybody else is standing with them.”

So, while there appears to be specific reasons for what is going on at Grambling, one has to wonder if this is something we may see more of at universities all over the country? 

Players are getting bolder and bolder at a national level, and some ex-college football players are admitting to taking money—not to mention the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit's ever-expanding footprint. 

Earlier this year we saw players band together for the "All Players United" movement by writing A.P.U. on different parts of clothing or tape to bring to light issues they'd like to see addressed (i.e. getting paid). 

Then you take a look at the National College Players Association, who helped to organize the A.P.U. movement, gaining a foothold with the players at major universities and you begin to wonder where this is all going.

The NCPA is an organization that says they are all about "advocacy" for players of college football and basketball. In reality, it acts more like a mouthpiece of a players union in waiting, than anything else. 

All of it adds up to players becoming more bold in their demands on the world of college football. What happened at Grambling is perhaps a starting point in players beginning to throw their weight around to get what they want.

Is it such a stretch to think that if players don't like the facilities or meals a school is providing or don't get first-class accommodations on the road, they wouldn't rise up and "pull a Grambling," if you will?

For me it wouldn't be a surprise if players, who are becoming more organized in their efforts to get paid, stage ever bigger protests until they get things their way and their way only. 

What we've seen in recent months in the world of college football indicates to me that we've seen the inmates starting to take over the asylum. Unless the NCAA begins to get a handle on the issues players would like to see addressed, the game we all love may be in for some really rocky times ahead. 

Let's be honest, the players are beginning to realize that without their efforts the rest of what happens around college football doesn't exist. As they get more organized, things will only get ratcheted up a notch or two.

Will players go all "mutiny" at places like Alabama, Oregon or Nebraska? If they do, it will be interesting to see how the public reacts—especially considering the multi-millions of dollars members of said public have forked over for ever-expanding facilities, staff and stadiums. 

Players are walking a fine line, and if this is something that begins to happen on an increasing basis, they run the risk of losing the public whose support is ever increasing as time goes on. 

*Andy Coppens in the Big Ten Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @ andycoppens.