Jackson State put together a dominant second half against Grambling State on Saturday night, but Deion Sanders wasn’t quite satisfied.
He wasn’t satisfied with his team’s first-half performance, and he wasn’t happy with the crowd at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in JSU’s 66-24 win. At least the Grambling State crowd.
“The Jackson turnout was phenomenal,” Sanders said. “The Grambling turn out was pathetic.”
Sanders continued to explain his issue.
“We always talking ‘we got y’all and we’re for the culture. Where they at?” Sanders asked rhetorically. “Then when we get up by two touchdowns, they runnin’ for the cars. That’s what I mean by this “traditional mess? Tradition, tradition…what tradition? When a team gets up on you leave? When we got up on Miami…I mean FAM…the band left? That’s not tradition. That’s front-runners. That’s what’s got to change.”
The Grambling State band released a statement on Saturday night explaining its departure was due to severe heat, as several members experienced heat exhaustion in the stands. Two weeks earlier Florida A&M’s Marching 100 reported that it was not allowed back in the stands due to heat exhaustion during the Orange Blossom Classic.
Final attendance numbers were not available at press time.
Deion Sanders wanted more out of Shedeur Sanders in the first half
Another thing that Sanders didn’t like: his team’s first-half performance. JSU led 21-17 at halftime, but he felt like it could have gotten more, from quarterback Shedeur Sanders in particular.
“I didn’t like the first half whatsoever. Because I know him. I know when he’s on and when he’s sharp – I know when he’s that dude,” Deion Sanders said. “He was a little shaky the first half, but he got it together.”
He most certainly did, completing three touchdown passes in the second half and running for another. He finished the day completing 21 of 31 passes for 357 yards and four touchdowns as well as running for two touchdowns.
“If we had hit a couple of deep ones, it would have been a whole different story in the first half as well. But we hit all of them in the second half. All the shot balls – he went and did what he needed to do. But it was a tale of two halves.”