Growing pains for Grambling State University's young offense continued Saturday as the Tigers dropped a 20-14 home decision to Alabama A&M before a crowd of 7,118 at Robinson Stadium.

GSU fell to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference while Alabama A&M moved to 2-1 and 1-1.

Grambling actually outgained the Bulldogs with 419 total yards compared to Alabama A&M's 316.

But eight GSU turnovers were too much to overcome as a fourth quarter rally by the G-Men fell short against a strong Alabama A&M running game.

"We once again did those kinds of things that killed ourselves," GSU Coach Doug Williams said. "Fumbles that shouldn't have happened. Interceptions that shouldn't have been thrown. We have to learn to do a better job of protecting the football.

"We moved the ball offensively. We led in time of possession. We had red zone opportunities we didn't take advantage of. We just have to learn to stop doing things that cost us games."

GSU starting quarterback D.J. Williams hit on eight-of-18 passes for 107 yards with two sacks and two interceptions before giving way to Frank Rivers, who sparked a GSU rally by connecting on four-of-nine passes for 116 yards, including a 77-yard scoring strike to Mario Lewis.

"He just put the ball right where it needed to be and I caught it midstride and kept going," Lewis, who totaled six catches for 147 yards, said. But like D.J. Williams, Rivers also threw two interceptions.

"They're both young quarterbacks and they're playing like it," Doug Williams said. "They both did some good things and bad things."

One bonus for GSU's young offense was the play of running back Dawrence Roberts, who took over on the ground and finished with 198 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries.

"He did a good job running the ball," Doug Williams said. "And it was good to see our offensive line find some pride and open up holes the way they did out there."

The teams battled to a scoreless first half before Alabama A&M's run game took over in the third quarter, scoring on a run of five yards by Kenderius Lacy before capitalizing on a 53-yard fumble return by Vandric Jackson after Roberts left the ball on the grass.

Grambling tightened things up in the fourth with a four-yard scoring scamper by Roberts and the bomb from Rivers to Lewis to tie things up at 14-14.

But a nine-platy, 54-yard drive by the Bulldogs chewed 3:13 off the clock and culminated with a two yard TD run by Lacy.

Grambling got one last chance when the Bulldogs missed the PAT. The G-Men drove down to the A&M 32 yard line, but Rivers was picked off by Snipe at the Bulldog 10 with 24 seconds left to hand GSU a loss in its home opener.

"The good thing is that these are all correctable mistakes," Doug Williams said. "We just have to keep working hard and that's what we'll do."