Prairie View in West driver's seat

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 27, 2009

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Thanks to its 16-14 win over Southern last week, Prairie View — the only team with a perfect record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play — controls its own destiny in the Western Division race. But other teams are still alive. Here’s a snapshot of the race with six weeks to go:

-- The Panthers are 4-0 with wins over Grambling, Texas Southern, Alabama State and Southern. They have Alabama A&M, Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff remaining.

Prairie View could still lose to A&M or Alcorn and reach the title game.

-- Southern must win all four of its remaining games, against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alabama State, Grambling and Texas Southern. The Jaguars also need Prairie View to lose all three of its remaining games.

-- Arkansas-Pine Bluff controls its own destiny, but the Golden Lions must win out, with games against Southern, Grambling, Prairie View and Texas Southern.

-- Grambling needs to win out and hope Arkansas-Pine Bluff defeats Prairie View in the Panthers’ regular-season finale. That would force a three-way tie, with all three teams being 1-1 against each other.

The SWAC has eight tiebreakers in place for a three-team tie this season — including point differential among the three tied teams. That was added during the offseason in hopes of avoiding a coin toss, which would’ve happened last season if Southern, Grambling and Prairie View had finished in a three-way tie atop the West (Grambling defeated Southern in the Bayou Classic to avoid the coin toss).

Still, at the moment, Prairie View has firmly planted itself in the driver’s seat.

“To play Texas Southern, Grambling and Southern early, and to be able to beat all three of those teams, it’s huge for us. ... I think the West is ours to win, and we’re going to take it one game at a time,” Prairie View coach Henry Frazier III said. “We’re not looking past anyone. But it’s huge for our football program.”

More rushes for Lee

SU quarterback Bryant Lee rushed for 59 yards on nine carries Thursday against Prairie View, easily a season high.

Although Lee sometimes scrambled for gains, he also had a handful of carries on designed draws.

All told, Lee has 102 yards on 48 carries this season — far below his total through seven games last season, when he had 370 yards and finished with the team’s leading rusher with 534.