As mid-October arrives the SWAC faces one of those "Lines In The Sand" Saturday's. First place in the SWAC East and SWAC West are on the line as Florida A&M visits Jackson State for the first time since 2014 and the very first time as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Alcorn State travels down Highway 61 to visit Southern for homecoming. Before the clock strikes 12 and Saturday turns into Sunday we'll have a leader in the clubhouse in both divisions.
In Jackson we have a matchup that features two teams that are ranked in the top 25. 18th ranked Florida A&M makes the trip to Jackson to face off against 25th ranked Jackson State. The two have faced off in some highly contested battles recently down in Miami but now this annual battle returns to the campuses. Jackson State comes into Saturday's contest ranked in the top 3 in the SWAC in total offense and total defense and looking to knock FAMU off the top of the SWAC hill. FAMU has struggled both offensively and defensively being ranked 6th in total offense and 9th in total defense but yet the Rattlers have found ways to win ball games. Quarterback Daniel Richardson is ranked 4th in the conference in passing yardsand tied for 3rd place with 9 passing TDs. In the early going he has been the MVP for this FAMU football team. Jackson State holds a 12-8-2 series lead over FAMU which includes wins in 4 of the last 5 matchups.
Down in Baton Rouge we have a meeting between two teams who have played downright ugly football all year. Neither Southern nor Alcorn have looked very impressive this year outside of their records. Defensively Southern is ranked #2 in the conference only surrendering 279.8 points per game while Alcorn State is 5th giving up a shade over 350 total yards per game. Despite it not being "pretty" offensively or even with the special teams the Jaguars and Braves find themselves sitting atop the SWAC Western Division. The Braves are coming off a big win in Grambling a week ago. Southern is coming off a come from behind win against Texas Southern which has the Jaguars in the thick of the Championship race. A year ago the Braves and Jags met under similar circumstances in Lorman and the Braves blasted the Jaguars 44-21. Coach Graves and Coach Thomas are both in year 1 at their respective programs and a win on Saturday would help either Coach win over the skeptics in their fan base.
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