Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson Issues Statement
“While I am disappointed that Middle Tennessee State University and Florida Atlantic University have elected to depart the Sun Belt Conference, the SBC is still very well positioned for the future and I remain very optimistic that the momentum that has been created in the past six months will continue to grow. The continuing 10 members of the SBC are committed to excellence and I am confident that the SBC will take advantage of these latest changes in the landscape. As I have stated many times in the past six months, the SBC will be a major player in the future, especially within its geographic footprint.
As for future members, there are several outstanding universities that have indicated interest in joining the SBC. While we have conducted research on these universities in the past six months, we will now focus on identifying the ones that will be the best “fit” for the conference and the ones that will contribute immediately in achieving our goal of being the best of the FBS conferences that currently do not receive automatic qualification into the BCS.
The future is still very BRIGHT for the SBC and I look forward to working with the leadership of the SBC in the coming days, weeks and months to continue the growth and development of this outstanding athletic conference.”
USA Falls In Hawaii 23-7 In Season Finale
The University of South Alabama dropped their season ending game in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday night 23-7. The Warriors gained a season-best 410 yards in the win in Aloha Stadium.
South Alabama would take the opening kickoff and drive down into the Warrior red zone however an interception in the endzone would end the Jaguar scoring threat. However, Hawaii would then drive 80 yards for a touchdown to begin the scoring.
The Jaguar defense would bend but not break the rest of the first half by holding the Warriors to three field goals for a 16-0 lead heading into the locker room for halftime. The South Alabama offense could not put together another good drive in the first half. On their subsequent five possessions of the first half, the Jags would punt each of those five possessions.
At halftime, the Jaguars would only have 55 yards of total offense with only six of those yards coming on the ground from the rushing attack.
The Jags would avoid their first-ever shutout with an 80 yard, 11 play drive that would span over five minutes. C.J. Bennett would come in and see playing time for the first time since the Jaguars game against Troy on September 29 to lead the Jaguar offense on the scoring drive. Bennett would find Bryant Lavender for a 25 yard completion to get the drive going. Julien Valentin would keep the drive alive with an eight yard rush for a first down. Bennett would keep the ball to pick up a first down on fourth and one at the Hawaii 4 yard line. Bennett would then cap off the drive with a three yard touchdown toss to Wes Saxton.
The touchdown drive would account for nearly half of the Jaguars totoal offensive output for the game. USA would end the game with 166 yards of total offense, 148 yards passing and a program-low of 34 yards rushing on 18 carries. However the Jags would gain 17 first downs, which was close to Hawaii’s 20 for the game.
Hawaii would end the game with 410 yards of total offense, 229 yards rushing matched the most ever given up by the Jaguars defense. The Warriors threw for 181 yards as well.
Senior Center Trey Clark, who started every game in his career at South Alabama and every game in South Alabama history spoke after the game. “They were tough. They were a physical group. They had some movement going on, and came with a few blitzes that gave us some problems. I think we did alright for the most part, but those sacks and fumbles hurt us.”
“The biggest thing was that we weren’t going to lay down — we weren’t going to quit. We just had that mindset that we were going to fight to the last whistle. I’m just proud of the seniors, my teammates and the coaches.”
“We came out and put together a good drive but threw an interception, and end up down 16-0 at halftime,” head coach Joey Jones explained. “We didn’t do much offensively in the second quarter, and they made some big plays. We gave up a long play on the first drive, but in the second half the defense came out and played better. They just controlled the game.”
T.J. Glover would end the game with 34 yards rushing on nine carries. Julien Valentin would add 20 yards on nine carries. Kendall Houston, who saw some action early, gained 10 yards on three carries. Ross Metheny would lose 43 yards combined in all of his sacks.
Metheny would go 11-of-24 for 111 yards and two touchdowns but also took five sacks. C.J. Bennett would come in and go 3-of-7 for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Corey Besteda would catch three passes for 42 yards, Gabe Loper would catch four passes for 32 yards, Saxton would catch three for 27 yards. T.J. Glover would add 12 yards on two receptions and Bryant Lavender would add 25 yards on one catch. Jereme Jones would keep his consecutive game with a catch streak alive with one catch for 10 yards.
Glover would have a season-high of 169 all-purpose yards as he accounted for 115 yards in kick returns, 34 yards rushing, 12 yards receiving and an eight yard punt return.
This game was the final game of 2012 season for South Alabama and the last in their two-year transition into the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Next season the Jags will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference title and for a bowl game.
The Jags will lose a long list of senior talent this season. Many of these guys committed to South Alabama before the school had anything to show. They bought into a vision and they helped to make that vision a reality. They created the foundation that all future success will be built upon.
B.J. Scott, Jonathan Cameron, Brandon Ross, Gabe Loper, Cori Barnett, Charles Harris, Chris Rivers, Michel Chapuseaux, Jake Johnson, Anthony Taylor, Tremain Smith, Phillip Press, Trey Clark, Kennedy Helms, Ryne Baxter and Andy Dalgleish all will not put on the Jaguar uniform again. But they will not be forgotten.
Thank you guys. Thank you for coming to South Alabama, working hard and helping to build this program. I hope to see you around the program in the future. I also wish you the best in all of your future endevours.
“It was a great experience, and we were able to play another non-conference game,” B.J. Scott said after the game. “We got a chance to experience a bowl-like atmosphere, and we have a lot to look forward to next year. We were just a few plays away in every game we lost this year. For the young guys, I just want them to stay focused and continue to work hard. I feel like we can easily flip this season around with just a little more attention to detail and focus.”
“I think we will have a great team next year,” Scott said.
Know Your Stadiums: Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
The University of Hawaii play their home games at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The stadium also hosts the Hawaii Bowl and has been home to the NFL’s Pro Bowl game since 1980 (except 2010) and the NCAA’s Hula Bowl from 1975 through 1997 and again in 2006.
Aloha Stadium also hosts numerous high school football games during the season and is a venue for large concerts and events. One of which is a swap meet in the parking lot every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday which draws large crowds.
The stadium is located west of downtown Honolulu and two miles north of Honolulu International Airport. It was built in 1975 at a cost of $37 million as a replacement for the aging Honolulu Stadium that was demolished in 1976.
The first football game held at the stadium was between the University of Hawaii and Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) on September 13, 1975 in front of a crowd of 32,247.
Aloha Stadium can be reconfigured into a number of different configurations for different sporting events and other purposes. It was actually the first stadium in the United States that featured this capability.
There are four movable sections, each weighing 3.5 million pounds and with the capacity of 7,000, can be moved via air casters into a diamond configuration for baseball (and also used for soccer), an oval for football, or a triangle for concerts.
In 2003 the stadium surface was changed from the original AstroTurf that had been in place since the stadium opened to FieldTurf.
Then in July 2011 the field was upgraded to UBU Sports Speed S5-M synthetic turf system that features removable Active Panels as part of a multimillion dollar renovation to the stadium. This synthetic turf covers 110,000 square feet and has 22 removable Active Panels located in seven locations. The Removable Active Panels have inlaid logos for the University of Hawaii, Aloha Bowl and blank panels in order to accommodate the NFL Pro Bowl and NCAA Bowl Games so they can be custom pained for each event.
A 2005 study by a Honolulu engineering firm determined that the stadium required $99 million to be completely restored and would require an additional $115 million for ongoing maintenance and refurbishment over the next 20 years to extend its useful lifespan.
In January 2007 the stadium was permanently locked into its football configuration because of cost and maintenance issues. An engineer from Rolair Systems, the NASA spin-off company that engineering the system, claimed that the problem was caused by a concrete contractor that ignored specifications for the concrete pads under the stadium.
The State of Hawaii lawmakers have had numerous discussions concerning the physical condition of the stadium. There are several issues regarding rusting of the facility, hence the nickname “The Rust Bucket”, several hundred seats that need to be replaced and restroom facilities that need to be expanded to accommodate more patrons.
Then in early 2007 the state legislature proposed to spend $300 million to build a new facility as opposed to spending an estimated $216 million to extend the life of Aloha Stadium for another 20-30 years. This new stadium would be used to lure a NFL Super Bowl in the near future, possibly targeting 2016.
One council member said that if immediate repairs are not made within the next seven years, the stadium will probably need to be demolished due to safety concerns. Thus in May of 2007, the state alloted $12.4 million to be used towards removing corrosion and rust from the structure.
In 2008, the state of Hawaii approved the bill of $185 million to refurbish the aging stadium. In 2010, they completely retrofitted its scoreboard and video screen to be more up to date with high definition capability. The Aloha Stadium Authority plans to add more luxury suites, replacing all seats, rusting treatments, parking lots, more restrooms, pedestrian bridge supports, enclosed lounge and more. There is also a proposal to close the four open corners of the stadium to add more seats.
The stadium has been home to a number of events during it’s existence. The Police performed their final US tour on their Synchronicity Tour on February 25, 1984. Michael Jackson’s HIStory World Tour landed there on January 3-4, 1997 for his only US shows that decade and was the first person to sell out the stadium. Among other big concerts.
Aerial view of Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Aloha Stadium on a University of Hawaii football gameday.