Grambling State head coach Mickey Joseph didn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead when asked about Saturday’s trip to Columbus to face Ohio State.
He framed the matchup as a clash between two storied football names but emphasized the gap between where the programs stand today.
“I don’t know if Ohio State would have called Coach Rob back in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s and said, ‘Let’s play.’ He just had loaded talent. He had a loaded locker room,” Joseph said Tuesday during the SWAC’s weekly coaches press conference. “[Grambling] is a national brand. Ohio State has a national brand. It’s going to be great for both universities to square off in the Horseshoe. …We’re just on two different levels now. There’s levels to the game. It’s the $20 million level, and it’s not the $20 million level. We understand that.”
Joseph pointed to the Buckeyes’ tradition of winning long before NIL and revenue-sharing changed the landscape of college sports.
“Ohio State’s been winning before NIL and before the shared revenue,” he said. “Their program, their administration, their athletic department has been consistent for years, and that’s why you win.”
For Grambling, the key this week is discipline and execution against one of the deepest rosters in the country.
“It’s got to be clean,” Joseph stressed. “Having 11 people on the field, not 12, not nine. Compete one play at a time. Just give it everything you have, one play at a time.”
Joseph said the Tigers aren’t trying to go toe-to-toe with Ohio State’s resources — instead, they’re focused on seizing the opportunity.
“This is a great opportunity, a great memory for our kids,” he said. “We’re just going to go in there and swing. That’s all we’re going to do.”
Building Momentum from the Langston Win
The Tigers enter the Horseshoe fresh off a commanding season-opening win over Langston, where they excelled in all three phases and leaned heavily on the run game, piling up more than 200 yards on the ground.
“We changed our philosophy a little bit. It was a philosophy that I had for about the last five or six years — throw to open up the run,” Joseph explained. “We’re going to run the ball to run the ball to run the ball. And we’re going to use multiple backs. We’re going to bloody your nose every single time.”
Quarterback Czavian Teasett also impressed in his first start, completing 20 of 25 passes for 201 yards while showing strong command of the offense.
“He put us in the right run plays, he had us in the right protection, he read it the way we wanted it to be read,” Joseph said. “He’s got a high football IQ, he’s a competitor, and we’re happy to have him.
