On Saturday, Sept. 30, Prairie View A&M University and Grambling State University will battle it out for bragging rights at the annual State Fair Classic in Dallas, Texas.In this Texas-Louisiana rivalry, Grambling State leads the series. The Prairie View Panthers haven’t been victorious since 1986 with a final score of 24-19 under the leadership of Coach Conway Hayman.
This year’s meeting is deemed to be different with Prairie View coming into the series with a 2-1 record overall and 1-1 in conference play. Since finishing the 2005 season 9-0, Grambling State has lost 8 starters, including star quarterback Bruce Eugene, and has started the season off slow with three loses in a row.
Last year’s State Fair Classic ended in an upset for the Panthers with a final score of 50-7, the sixth consecutive loss for Prairie View by more than 20 points.
In last year’s meeting, Grambling had 26 first downs, 618 passing yards and quarterback Bruce Eugene had 7 touchdown passes. Prairie View had more rushing yards and had fewer penalties, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Grambling Tigers as they increased their winning streak once again.
This season, Grambling’s opponents have had more rushing yardage, and more first downs contributing to the Tigers’ slow start while Prairie View has had more rushing and first downs than their opponents, which seems to be the key element in this week’s game.
Either way, the State Fair Classic continues to bring out faithful students, alumni and members of the community to witness two black college power houses battle on the gridiron year after year.
Not only do the two football teams bring out thousands of fans, but both schools feature impressive bands during the halftime battle of the bands showdown.
The Grambling State Marching Band and the Prairie View A&M Marching Storm have a rivalry history too with Prairie View voted as the better of the two with their excellent percussion section, “The Box” and their flashy but classy Black Foxes.
The Panthers enter week five of the season hoping to break the 10 year losing streak against Grambling State University.
If the Panthers continue to dominate offensively, it could lead to a victory for Prairie View at the State Fair Classic once and for all.