Taking a look at the stats as they are, you would think that on The Lion defense is just as subpar at the Tiger defense looks to be, but there is a mile of difference in the quality of opponent both teams have faced.

Currently, Grambling is averaging 23.50 points per game, with 68.5 yards on the ground and 244 passing yards per game for 312.50 yards per game. The Lions are allowing 40.50 points per game, 458 total yards per game with 267 yards through the air and 191.5 on the ground.

If you look at both squads, you would think The Blue Gang has no business stopping a decent Grambling Squad. Only if you look at the quality of the teams both have played on offense, you see the following-

The Lions have faced a ranked FCS team and a 1-1 FBS Group of 5 team who scored not on sustained drives, but with explosive plays and turnovers with an All-American running back. The Tigers have faced a winless Division II team and a 2-0 G-5 team. The FBS matchups might be a bit of a wash, but the Lions kept two All-Americans at bay most of the game this past week, while the Tigers allowed 20 points to a Division II school, albeit most was at the later part of the game.

If you are a Tiger fan you might be tempted to look at this matchup and think “we will score on these guys easily” but again when you look at the quality of the opponents it will not be quite what it seems. The Lions have allowed a good amount of points straight off turnovers and two on explosives that were due to blown assignments that were the byproduct of fatigue and two teams that were just deeper in scholarships and also in talent. That makes all the difference.

The Lions have an ace in the hole by forcing Grambling to become a one dimensional attack on offense. Looking at the film, Grambling has a very weak running attack, and forcing the Tigers to throw the ball feeds right into a Lion secondary that has been taken their lumps, but has some serious threats in the defensive backfield as always led by Max Epps, Kendall Paul, and Jaden Rios. Grambling’s passing game is subpar at best. They only threw for 275 yards against Tuskegee, and the Lion defensive backfield is much stronger than anything TU has to offer.

1. Force Grambling to throw, they don’t want to.
2. Attack the Grambling running game and force them up the middle.
3. Rotate bodies in and blitz, especially from the secondary if possible.
4. Play press coverage and keep a safety over the top to help with Javon Robinson, who is the best threat the Tigers have.
5. Hands up every time a pass goes in the air. Myles Crawley is 6’4 and will try to check down some passes, when the trajectory lowers, the opportunities to knock the passes out of the air, or pop up for a possible INT, will arise.