Can Prairie View football - the former laughingstock of sports - win the SWAC title?

If Monday’s coaches’ conference call is any indication, the spotlight will be squarely on the Panthers. Most of the questions, even those posed at Alabama A&M head coach Anthony Jones, were about Prairie View.

“They’re the best in the conference. We always enjoy a challenge and we’ll have one this Saturday,” Jones said.

Many already know the story. The Panthers lost 80 consecutive games in the 1990s and played enough homecoming games to be considered an alumnus of several schools. The beatdowns were often tragic, as a 92-0 loss in 1991 was more the norm than an aberration. Prairie View - a charter SWAC school - hasn’t even won a league title since 1964.

But the swagger is in full force at Prairie View. On the field, the Panthers are a 3-point road loss to Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) New Mexico State from a perfect regular season. The team is confident, led by sixth-year head coach Henry Frazier, whose business-like approach is offset by his faith in his squad.

Frazier certainly didn’t act shy about how he would look at his team’s season if they were to fall short of a championship with a loss to Alabama A&M.

“I haven’t thought about not winning. But ask me that question on Saturday,” Frazier said. “We’re Western Division champions so we have that behind our names. But hopefully, you won’t be asking me that.”

The Bulldogs would seem to be in a more comfortable position for Saturday’s contest. They are playing in their fifth SCG - second only to Grambling State - and won on their last trip in 2006. Speaking of trips, the ride to Birmingham is just more than an hour for Alabama A&M while Prairie View is many moons away in suburban Houston, Texas.

But Jones said his program really won’t enjoy much of an edge.

“Their guys haven’t played in the SWAC championship, but they haven’t lost one either,” said Jones, whose team lost its first three trips to the title game. “It probably favors them because they’ve been more consistent in beating us over the years.”

The Panthers have won the last four matchups between the two teams, including a 33-27 victory last month. Frazier said that might have been exactly the kind of game his team needed because it nearly blew a 26-point advantage in the second half.

“We got up early and they came back. For us to be up big and allow a team to come back like that, it got us refocused,” Frazier said.

Jones said that game showed that the Panthers won’t easily make his team a footnote on what could be the story of the decade in Black College Football.

“It showed that our kids have a lot of heart and that we can play with them. Whether we can play with them for four quarters, it’ll be known on Saturday,” Jones said.