No Deviations In Preparation For Mississippi State
How do you prepare for one of the most anticipated games of the season, if not for the history of the program up to this point? Keep doing what you normally do and keep treat it just like every other game.
That is exactly what head coach Joey Jones and his staff are doing. It can’t be easy with a fan base that is literally chomping at the bit for the Jaguars to take a bite out of Mississippi State. But according to Jones there hasn’t been a different atmosphere among the players this week.
Mississippi State has put up some big numbers this season. They average 48 points and 533 yards of total offense per game. But their defense is giving up big numbers too. At least through the air. The defense has only been allowing 92 yards per game rushing, the secondary gave up three touchdowns of over 75 yards against UAB last Saturday.
Meanwhile the Jaguars have only played one game this season and it wasn’t an impressive outing, but it was only their first outing of the season. Typically a team makes its largest improvement between their first and second games of the season, which sets up South Alabama well if the trend holds true. In the 23-13 win over Kent State, the Jags had trouble late in the first half until near the end of the game when a touchdown with a little over a minute to go sealed the win.
Coach Jones has the same goal as what he had last year when the Jags played Tennessee. They will keep fighting through the game into the fourth quarter and try to win the football game. If they can stay in the game late, they feel they have a chance to win, just like any other football game. Mississippi State has some big players so the worry is that the Jaguars could wear down by the third or fourth quarter against their SEC-sixed players.
UAB has several coaches that formerly coached at South Alabama who are now at UAB. Bill Clark was defensive coordinator at USA is head coach, Duwan Walker was secondary coach is now defensive coordinator, Bryant Vincent was quarterbacks coach is now offensive coordinator and Chuck Dunn continues coaching linebackers as he did at USA. But Jones said that what you see on video is the big thing. They have talked to different people with some ideas, but Jones said that they are good at what they do and they will just have to go out and execute.
With only one practice left on Thursday morning for the Jaguars, the gameplan is set and the rest is up to them to execute on gameday and for the fans to be the 12th man for the team.