Rivals to vie for bragging rights
Panthers seek to win 4th straight in series with scuffling Tigers
PRAIRIE VIEW — Eric Dooley is well versed on the significance of the annual football game between Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M, even though the first-year Panthers coach has been on the outside looking in on the grudge match.
A veteran assistant coach at three Southwestern Athletic Conference schools, Dooley is going to experience the rivalry firsthand Saturday when the teams meet at Panther Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
“I knew it was big time,” Dooley said. “I know it means a lot to both programs. It means a lot because of the area we’re in. When you take a rivalry that’s within driving distance.”
Approximately 50 miles separate the two universities. But the football programs have been headed in different directions of late. Prairie View has won the last three meetings, two with Michael Haywood as the Tigers’ head coach.
The Panthers are 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the SWAC. TSU, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2000, is 2-8 and 1-5. Prior to this year, Prairie View had three straight winning seasons under coach Willie Simmons, who left last December to take the same position at Florida A&M.
“We didn’t have a great season or a season we anticipated, but it’s a game that’s going to have a lot of challenges,” Dooley said. “It’s going to be huge for me.
“When you have something of this magnitude, you go in to expect the unexpected. Be prepared for everything that can take place.”
The team with the best record doesn’t always win in this series, which TSU leads 41-30-1.
“There will be a lot of emotions in the game,” Haywood said. “It will be an outstanding football game, and we’re looking for a lot of physical play.”
Panthers linebacker Isaac Claiborne, a senior from Summer Creek, is 3-0 in the series.
“It’s one of our rival games, so we take it very seriously,” Claiborne said. “It’s all about bragging rights throughout the city of Houston. To beat them four straight years would be very exciting.”
Prairie View is coming off a 6613 demolishing of Alabama State. Panthers quarterback Jalen Morton recorded his second six-touchdown game of the season, victimizing the Hornets’ man coverage.
“The last game, we played exceptionally well,” Dooley said. “(The players) understand what we’re looking for and what they have to do. Now, it’s (time to) just finish strong and carry on to the next year.”
It’s the season finale for both teams. No winning record or divisional championship is on the line. But there’s always plenty at stake in the game referred to as the Labor Day Classic, which goes back to being the first game of the season for both teams in 2019.
“TSU is going to bring it, so we’re going to have to bring it, too, for the entire game,” Claiborne said. “It will be competitive.
“We have three big rivals. We got Grambling, we got Southern, and our main rival is TSU. The main reason TSU is our main rival is because they’re so close.”
TSU has played well in spurts defensively. Its offense centers upon transfer wide receivers Bobby Hartzog (Kansas) and Tren’Davian Dickson. Hartzog tops the conference in catches (56), yards (1,028) and receiving touchdowns (seven) while playing only eight games. Dickson has caught 39 balls for 728 yards.
In last week’s 15-10 home loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, TSU failed to score inside the 5-yard line in the final seconds.
“We have to get better as a team,” Haywood said. “We play with a lack of discipline. We just don’t finish plays off.
“We need to do better on offense. We got to do a better job of recruiting offensive linemen. It’s no secret that we’re not able to move people.”