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American college football season
The 1975 Grambling Tigers football team represented
Grambling State University as a member of the
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the
1975 NCAA Division II football season . In its 33rd season under head coach
Eddie Robinson , Grambling compiled a 10–2 record (4–2 against conference opponents), initially tied for the SWAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 324 to 153 on the field. The team was recognized as the 1975
black college football national co-champion and was ranked No. 4 by the
Associated Press and No. 2 by the
United Press International in the final
1975 NCAA College Division football rankings .
[1]
Key players included sophomore quarterback
Doug Williams , receivers
Dwight Scales ,
Carlos Pennywell , and Sammie White, and running backs Fallon Bush and Cliff Martin.
[2] Williams later played nine seasons in the
National Football League .
Dwight Scales went on to play eight seasons in the
National Football League .
Grambling inadvertently double-scheduled games on October 4 against
Prairie View A&M and
Oregon State and opted to play Oregon State, leaving Prairie View idle. Grambling told Prairie View of the scheduling problem in the spring and tried to reschedule the game with Prairie View for November 22, but the negotiations fell through. On November 26, the Southwestern Athletic Conference assessed a loss against Grambling's conference record, declaring the October 4 game against Prairie View to be a forfeit.
[3] On December 12, the SWAC commissioner stripped Grambling of its share of the conference co-championship, and then almost to add insult to injury, the
athletic directors voted unanimously to send
Southern as the SWAC's representative to the
Pelican Bowl (over the other remaining co-champ,
Jackson State );
[4] Grambling had just defeated Southern soundly only two weeks before in the first
Bayou Classic to be played in the new
Louisiana Superdome ,
[5] and now the Jaguars could participate in a bowl game being billed as the black national championship.
[6]
[7] Grambling-produced publications intended for the mass media make no reference to their brief hold on the 1975 co-championship.
[8]
[9]
Schedule
Date Opponent Rank Site Result Attendance Source September 6 vs.
Alcorn State W 27–361,000
[10]
September 13 vs.
Morgan State * W 40–729,112
[11]
September 20 at
Hawaii * NR/1 W 20–629,472
[12]
October 4 at
Oregon State * No. 1/1 W 19–1216,964
[13]
October 4 vs.
Prairie View A&M L 0–0
[3]
October 11 at
Tennessee State * No. 1/1 W 28–2517,000–18,200
[14]
October 18
Mississippi Valley State No. 1/1 W 38–2220,118
[15]
October 25 at
Jackson State No. 1/1 L 14–2425,700–30,000
[16]
[17]
November 1 at
Texas Southern No. 5/5 W 37–2146,183
[18]
November 8
North Carolina A&T * No. 4/3 Grambling Stadium Grambling, LA W 42–1612,707
[19]
November 15 vs.
Norfolk State * No. 4/3 W 26–033,869
[20]
November 29 vs.
Southern No. 3/2 W 33–1773,214
[5]
*Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from
AP/UPI Poll released prior to the game
[21]
References
^
"Grambling State Yearly Results (1975-1979)" . College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from
the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2019 .
^
"Merritt Says Grambling Has Best Team Ever" . The Tennessean . October 8, 1975. p. 13 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
a
b
"Robinson Upset By Forfeiture" . The Shreveport Times . November 27, 1975. p. E1 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Jags in Pelican Bowl" . Baton Rouge StateTimes (sec. B, p. 2) . December 13, 1975.
^
a
b
"Southern Out of Tune, 33 To 17" . Daily World . November 30, 1975. p. 9 – via
Newspapers.com .
^ Joyce Davis Robinson (December 28, 1975).
"Pelican Fans: Sugar Bowl Sign an Insult" . New Orleans Times–Picayune (sec. 1, p. 34) .
^ Tom Aswell (December 29, 1975).
"Jaguars Rally To Win Pelican Bowl By 15–12" . Baton Rouge State–Times (sec. D, p. 2) .
^
"2010 Tigers Football" (PDF) . GSU Sports Information Office (p. 94) . 2010.
^ Brian Howard; Karen M. Carty; Jonathan Wallace; Jovan Hackley, eds. (2018).
"Tigers 2018 Football Media Guide" (PDF) . Grambling State University Sports Information Department (p. 124) .
^
"Williams, G-Men Smother Alcorn" . The Clarion-Leger and Jackson Daily News . September 7, 1975. pp. 1G, 3G – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling crushes Morgan State, 40-7" . The Baltimore Sun . September 14, 1975. pp. B1, B4 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Rainbows improve but lose" . Honolulu Star-Bulletin . September 21, 1975. pp. D1, D6 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling Topples Oregon State 19-12" . The Oregon Statesman . October 5, 1975. p. 31 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"G-Men Outlast Tennessee State" . The Shreveport Times . October 12, 1975. p. 4D – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling Runs Away Again" . The Shreveport Times . October 19, 1975. p. 3D – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling Falls To Jackson St" . Santa Cruz Sentinel . October 26, 1976. p. 28 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Final 1975 Cumulative Football Statistics Report" .
National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved December 22, 2022 .
^
"Grambling Batters TSU" . The Shreveport Times . November 2, 1975. p. 2D – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling Has Easy Time" . The Shreveport Times . November 9, 1975. p. 4D – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Grambling Blanks Norfolk" . The Shreveport Times . November 16, 1975. p. 4D – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"Final 1975 Cumulative Football Statistics Report" .
National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved November 19, 2022 .
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore People
Seasons National championship seasons in bold
1920s 1920s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Wiley (1921)
Paul Quinn (1922)
Wiley (1923)
Paul Quinn (1924)
Bishop (1925)
Samuel Huston (1926)
Wiley (1927)
Wiley (1928)
Wiley (1929)
Wiley (1930)
Prairie View (1931)
Wiley (1932)
Langston &
Prairie View (1933)
Texas College (1934)
Texas College (1935)
Texas College &
Langston (1936)
Texas College (1937)
Southern &
Langston (1938)
Langston (1939)
Southern &
Langston (1940)
No champion (1941)
Texas College (1942)
No champion (1943)
Wiley ,
Texas College , &
Langston (1944)
Wiley (1945)
Southern (1946)
Southern (1947)
Southern (1948)
Southern &
Langston (1949)
Southern (1950)
Prairie View (1951)
Prairie View (1952)
Prairie View (1953)
Prairie View (1954)
Southern (1955)
Texas Southern &
Wiley (1956)
Wiley (1957)
Prairie View (1958)
Southern (1959)
Southern ,
Prairie View , &
Grambling (1960)
Jackson State (1961)
Jackson State (1962)
Prairie View (1963)
Prairie View (1964)
Grambling (1965)
Grambling ,
Southern , &
Texas Southern (1966)
Grambling (1967)
Alcorn A&M ,
Grambling , &
Texas Southern (1968)
Alcorn A&M (1969)
Alcorn A&M (1970)
Grambling (1971)
Grambling &
Jackson State (1972)
Grambling &
Jackson State (1973)
Grambling State &
Alcorn State (1974)
Grambling State ,
Jackson State , &
Southern (1975)
Alcorn State (1976)
Grambling State (1977)
Grambling State (1978)
Grambling State &
Alcorn State (1979)
Grambling State &
Jackson State (1980)
Jackson State (1981)
Jackson State (1982)
Grambling State (1983)
Alcorn State (1984)
Jackson State &
Grambling State (1985)
Jackson State (1986)
Jackson State (1987)
Jackson State (1988)
Grambling State (1989)
Jackson State (1990)
Alabama State (1991)
Alcorn State (1992)
Southern (1993)
Alcorn State &
Grambling State (1994)
Jackson State (1995)
Jackson State (1996)
Southern (1997)
Southern (1998)
Southern (1999)
Grambling State (2000)
Grambling State (2001)
Grambling State (2002)
Southern (2003)
Alabama State (2004)
Grambling State (2005)
Alabama A&M (2006)
Jackson State (2007)
Grambling State (2008)
Prairie View (2009)
Texas Southern (2010) vacated
Grambling State (2011)
Arkansas–Pine Bluff (2012)
Southern (2013)
Alcorn State (2014)
Alcorn State (2015)
Grambling State (2016)
Grambling State (2017)
Alcorn State (2018)
Alcorn State (2019)
Alabama A&M (2020)
Jackson State (2021)
Jackson State (2022)
Florida A&M (2023)