Jags fall in overtime on the road 27-20
Jags line up for a 3rd & 1 with 41 seconds left in the 4th quarter in the Georgia Done versus Georgia State.
South Alabama fought hard in the second half to force overtime, but fell in double overtime when C.J. Bennett’s pass was intercepted at the 1 yard line. This win snaps a five game losing streak for the Panthers. This is the third loss of the season, the first in the programs history to a FCS team.
Kendall Houston led the Jags rushing game with 83 yards on 17 carries. Demetre Baker added 74 yards on 20 carries with two fumbles and losing one. C.J. Bennett was 14-of-29 passing with two touchdowns but four interceptions for the game.
Corey Waldon caught three passes for 35 yards and a touchdown, Kevin Helms also caught three passes for 30 yards and Jereme Jones caught three passes for 27 yards. Paul Bennett caught two passes for 22 yards and a touchdown.
Georgia State’s Donald Russell rushed for 136 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown. Quarterback Kelton Hill ran 14 times gaining 45 yards.
Hill also went 12-of-15 passing for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Most of the yards went to Albert Wilson who caught 5 passes for 175 yards and their two touchdowns.
South Alabama had 24 first downs to GSU’s 17. Georgia State out gained the Jags 429 to 323 in total yardage. The Panthers rushed for 220 yards to the Jags 178 yards. The Panthers passed for 237 yards to the Jags 211 yards.
Coach Jones had the following to say in his post-game talk. “My congratulations to their team. I thought they came out and played hard. They were hungry for another win, and they played with a lot of effort. It came down to the end and one or two plays, and they won it — they made a play at the end and we didn’t.”
“But I am so proud of our guys for fighting back,” Coach Jones continued. “That was an unbelievable drive at the end of regulation to even get a chance to go into overtime. That’s admirable — great heart. We have a lot of fight and heart, but any time you look over a game like this there are some mistakes that happen. But my hat’s off to them, they played a real good game and they deserved to win.”
The final drive was made of grit and determination. Starting at the Jaguar 46 yard line after B.J. Scott sparked the offense with a 45 yard kickoff return. C.J. Bennett completed back to back passes to Kevin Helms for 3 and 6 yards, but the second would be negated by a hold. Facing 2nd and 17, Bennett would rush for 9 yards. Bennett would then go back to the air with a key completion to Jereme Jones for 16 yards on 3rd and 8 for the first down.
Bennett would run for a yard on first down before taking at time out with 2:11 left in the game. Bennett would throw back to back incompletions to bring up 4th down and 9 at the Georgia State 35 yard line. Bennett would find Corey Besteda for 14 yards and a first down at the Georgia State 21 yard line.
Another false start on the Jags would back it up five yards to the GSU 26 yard line. Bennett would run for a yard on first down to bring up 2nd and 14. A completed pass to Corey Waldon for 13 yards, coming up one yard short of the first down at the GSU 12 yard line. Bennett would find Jereme Jones for four yards to the GSU 8 yard line and a much needed first down to stop the clock momentarily.
Georgia State would call a time out with 30 seconds remaining. An incomplete pass to Waldon would stop the clock again. A complete pass to Lamontis Gardner for four yards to the 4 yard line would force Bennett to run to the line and spike the ball to stop the clock with 8 seconds left. Facing 4th and goal from the 4, the Jags offense would get mixed up with Lamontis Gardner running on late and drawing a false start penalty. However if the play had stood, it would have been an interception and the end of the game.
After the five yard mark off, facing 4th and goal from the 9 yard line, C.J. Bennett would find Corey Waldon in the end zone for the touchdown. Jordan Means would add the PAT to tie the game at 20 with 4 seconds left in the game.
Starting off on offense first, the Jags weren’t able to move the ball and Jordan Means would miss the 44 yard field goal.
Georgia State would move the ball to the Jaguar 7 yard line. Coach CUrry would send in the kicker but Clifton Crews would block the kick to force a second overtime.
With the ball first, Georgia State would run the ball with Donald Russel three times and chunks of 9, 8 and 8 to put the ball into the end zone.
In the Jags half of the overtime, Demetre Baker would rush three consecutive times for 8, 1 and 2 yards. Then Bennett would run for four yards. Then Baker would run two more times for 7 and 1 yards each. On second and goal at the 2 yard line, Bennett would float the ball off of a play-action pass that would be intercepted at the one yard line to end the game.
Jags return home to host Henderson State on Saturday, October 29th with kickoff scheduled for 4pm.
Go Jags!