Jags Looking To Finish Season Strong Beginning With FIU
The South Alabama Jaguars celebrate their first FBS win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday, October 20th 2012. The Jags look for another celebration this evening against FIU.
The practices this week has had a focus on two things. The obvious one is Florida International but the other is finishing the season on a strong note. The motto that has cropped up this week has been the word “finish”.
They want to finish games and they want to finish the season. “The theme for the rest of the year for us is finish, finish this week, finish the games, finish the season, and I think they’ve got a great attitude toward that right now, I really do,” said Jaguar head coach Joey Jones after Thursday’s practice.
Finishing the season has a beginning and that beginning is this weekend against Florida International. If they wish to have a winning season, they must win all five of their remaining games to achieve it. It’s not outside the realm of possibility for this team.
The Jags enter today’s game with a 2-6 record overall and a 1-3 Sun Belt Conference record. While FIU enters the game desperate for a win. After being chosen as the favorite to win the Sun Belt Championship, they have an overall record of 1-8 and are winless in all five Sun Belt Conference games they have played this season.
However coach Jones is not taking this game lightly. He has continually told anyone within earshot that FIU is a good team and not to get caught up in with their record. They have a number of NFL prospects on their team and they were chosen to win the Sun Belt Championship for a reason.
“I said earlier in the week we’ve got to be physical and we’ve got to play physical with them because they are a very physical football team and if we don’t match that then we won’t play very well in the game,” Jones said. “Obviously penalties and turnovers, like every coach says every week are important, but I think in this game especially the physical aspect is going to be very important.”
As noted yesterday when we broke down the conference stat rankings between USA and FIU, we noted that FIU is averaging 24.6 points per game and 386.4 yards per game, however their defense is allowing an average of 34.8 points per game and 416.8 yards per game. On the other side, South Alabama is averaging 19.6 points per game and 324 yards per game offensively while allowing 29.5 points per game and 368.5 yards per game defensively.
“The thing about this league, and I can honestly say from top to bottom there’s really not a lot of difference,” Jones said. “Obviously somebody has to win and somebody has to lose each week, But when you look at the teams from top to bottom I don’t see a team that can’t beat anybody in the league. I really don’t. Now there are some that are above some of the others, but the pack is pretty tight.”
“We want to finish strong,” Jones continued. “We want to climb the ladder in the Sun Belt and we want to get some wins at the end of the season. We have challenged our kids to do that and I think it’s very important for our football program.”
“We’ve made a mark and we’ve done some good things. But I think we could make an even more significant stamp on our team if we finish this season with some wins.”
The Jaguars and the Golden Panthers kickoff at Ladd-Peebles Stadium at 2:30pm. The Jaguar Prowl will take place in the south parking lot around 12:10pm. Stadium gates will open at 12:30pm.
With five games remaining, they have plenty of time remaining to make their statement known around the conference. Finish.
Comments
One Response to “Jags Looking To Finish Season Strong Beginning With FIU”
National rankings:
USA Jags 110th
Auburn 111th
Bring’em on :)