Jags Fall To Bulldogs In Front Of Record Crowd
South Alabama’s offense lines up against Mississippi State in front of a record-breaking crowd on September 13, 2014.
South Alabama’s home opener was spoiled by Mississippi State 35-3 in front of 38,129, a new record for the Jaguars.
Dak Prescott rushed for 139 yards on 14 attempts and accounted for almost 350 yards of total offense and two scores. The Bulldogs outgained the Jags 514-345 which included a 288-57 yard advantage on the ground.
Maleki Harris led the defense with a career-best 14 tackles while forcing two fumbles. Brandon Bridge went 21-of-39 passing for 203 yards while Jereme Jones catched a career high with seven catches for 76 yards. Wes Saxton added six receptions for 30 yards while Shavarez Smith and Danny Woodson Jr both finished with four catches for 52 and 38 respectively.
Terrell Brigham and Davin Hawkings each added nine stops with Montell Garner and Jerome McClain both added six.
The Jaguars couldn’t take advantage of early opportunities and suffered from several dropped passes which kept the Jags from putting seven points on the board in the red zone.
The Bulldogs forced four turnovers, two fumbles and two interceptions, while recording five sacks and six passes defended.
Brandon Bridge came out of the game late in the second half and Matt Floyd moved the ball before throwing an interception to end another Jaguar threat.
“What a great atmosphere,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I want to thank our fans for coming out and supporting us. It’s so exciting for our players and everyone involved with the university, and we are excited they came out. It was an atmosphere our kids will never forget, and I appreciate our fans coming out and supporting them. I wish we would have played a little better, but you have to play great to beat those guys and we didn’t play great.”
“We knew how good they were on defense,” Jones explained. “You have to make big plays on them. We had a couple of chances early, and we didn’t take advantage of them. They kind of wore on us in the second quarter. They are a much-improved team. My hat’s off to them. They have a lot of good athletes out there, a lot of size and speed. You have to play pretty well to beat these guys, and I don’t think we played as well as we could.”
“We finished the game last week against Kent State and took a step forward, but this week we had some early opportunities we didn’t take advantage of and we just have to get it done. We have to make those plays.”
South Alabama will open their conference schedule when they host Georgia Southern at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday, September 20 for a 6:30pm kickoff.