Grambling Hoopla Hardly Robinson’s Style
It’s been 10 years since Grambling’s Eddie Robinson became the winningest coach in college football history. Time for another milestone.
Robinson passed Bear Bryant’s 323 victories in 1985 and he has kept right on winning. Now he is at 399, poised to reach No. 400 tonight against Mississippi Valley State and anxious to get on with it.
All the hoopla surrounding the achievement is not Robinson’s style. He prefers to concentrate on football, not personal achievements. At 76, he’s had his share of those, including nine black college championships and more than 200 players who moved on to the NFL, including Hall of Famers Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan and Willie Davis.
Robinson has been at Grambling for 54 years and says coaching there was all he ever wanted to do. “I loved every minute of it,” Robinson said. “I felt like I was building something worthwhile.”
When Robinson started, the school was known as the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute. He recruited 33 of the 67 men enrolled at school to play football and they won all nine games they played without giving up a point. It was a perfect season that no school, large or small, has ever duplicated.
Perfect now is unbeaten and 10 of the Top 25 teams in The Associated Press poll still enjoy that status. Of that group, only No. 2 Nebraska (5-0) has today off. The other unbeatens are No. 1 Florida State (4-0), No. 3 Florida (4-0), No. 4 Colorado (5-0), Ohio State (4-0) and Southern California (4-0), tied for No. 5, No. 7 Michigan (5-0), No. 13 Kansas State (4-0), No. 19 Stanford (3-0-1) and No. 24 Kansas (4-0).
In other ranked team showdowns, Florida plays at No. 21 LSU, Ohio State is at No. 12 Penn State, Michigan entertains No. 25 Northwestern, No. 10 Tennessee is at No. 18 Arkansas and No. 23 Notre Dame visits No. 15 Washington.
Colorado scares Kansas coach Glen Mason in the Big Eight collision of unbeatens.
“They’ve been able to combine a tremendous running attack with some big-play people in the passing game, which forces you to cheat one way or the other,” Mason said.