Back in Blackshire

“You can tell everybody that Prairie View football is back.”

In those words, the most remarkable rebuilding process ever to go undocumented was kept silent from the world. There was no mention on ESPN; there was no article on cbssportsline.com; there was no acknowledgement anywhere in mainstream sports society. But in the graceless ignorance given to Division 1-AA football, Prairie View A&M, the worst football program of the 1990s, has returned.Alright, the Panthers aren’t yet even in the same hemisphere as the teams that won four outright Black College National Championships and shared another in 12 years from 1953 to 1964, but are you going to say that this is the same team that lost 80 consecutive games from 1989-1998, 36 more than the unbreakable record set by Columbia in 1988? They went 3-93 in the 1990s, winning 17 less than Fordham, the team with the second lowest winning percentage. Oh, and they hadn’t won a road SWAC game since 1988 or consecutive conference games since 1971, also the last time they beat Jackson State!

And you thought Kansas State had it rough.

In an athletic department marred by scandals and money problems over the last decade, the completion of a 5-6 season, the best since going 5-5 in 1988, is as glorious as a national title.

Just four short years ago, this moribund football program was placed on one-year probation for infractions it committed during the historic 1998 season in which it ended its infamous 80-game skip. The head coach had set up an illegal account with nearly $1000 that aided players. The program took care of it quickly and smoothly, thus resulting in only a minor sanction.

Now, with the probation year almost behind it, Prairie View can move on. The school already has captured four SWAC titles in various sports since 2000, only two less than in the entire decade of the 1990s. The program has a firm commitment to rebuilding the football team, and Blackshire Field played host to four Panther football games only three years after it played host to only one game.

And with that renewed commitment, the Panthers began a season for the ages.

They were scheduled to start out in Reliant Stadium against arch-rival Texas Southern, but as Houston was the leading evacuation center for Katrina victims, this Labor Day weekend brawl was moved back to the day after Thanksgiving.

They then disposed of rival Paul Quinn, an NAIA school, in their home opener. But with four consecutive road conference games ahead, A&M suffered through some hard times. They scored a combined 30 points in the next four games, while surrendering at least 34 in three of those games. They then improved to 2-0 against NAIA schools by beating Lincoln (Missouri).

After getting blown out to drop to 2-5 and 0-5 in the SWAC, Prairie View won its first road SWAC game in 17 years, routing Arkansas Pine Bluff 34-7. And then the school reversed 34 years of history, beating Jackson State for the first time since 1971. It also was the first time that the Panthers had won consecutive SWAC games since 1971. And it was a convincing 27-9 blowout.

If Bill Snyder was the coach of the twentieth century, then Henry Frazier III is the early candidate for coach of the millennium. In two short seasons, Frazier has won eight games, or the same number of wins as the team had had in the fourteen years previous to his arrival.

That is impressive.

And with only 13 seniors on the roster, the bulk of the team will be back next season. They do lose quarterback Michael Hill, but Chris Gibson will be ready to take his spot in this run oriented offense.

With a little bit of luck and skill, Prairie View may just be able to get over the hump next season and post a winning record for the first time in decades and inch closer to its first SWAC and Black College National Titles since 1964.

They aren’t there yet, but they are getting closer.

Just two short years ago, Prairie View A&M could count 14 years’ worth of wins on two hands; now it requires four.

It isn’t Southern California, but it also isn’t the same Prairie View A&M team that had its marching band suspended for getting into a fight after the football team won for the first in nearly a decade.

That was so seven years, and 16 wins, ago.

“It’s official, Panther football is back!”

I don’t believe it either.