South Alabama Downs Texas State For First Conference Win, 30-20
The third time really IS the charm.
After 23 days between games, the Jags (2-2, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) finally returned to the gridiron and pulled out a 30-20 win over Texas State (1-5, 1-2 SBC) for their first-ever win at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Carlos Davis had a career day with 32 rushes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Desmond Trotter returned from his illness and shoulder injury by going 18-of-22 for 187 yards, a touchdown and two sacks to help lead the Jaguars over the Bobcats on homecoming.
Trotter broke the tie midway through the fourth quarter when he found Kawaan Baker on an eight yard touchdown pass. Then led the offense on a time consuming drive late in the game to ice it with a 44-yard Diego Guajardo field goal.
Riley Cole led all players with 15 tackles, 10 of them solo, and 1.5 tackles for loss. Jeremiah Littles got the only sack by a Jaguar.
The Jaguars converted 10-of-18 3rd down attempts while holding the Bobcats to 4-of-13 on 3rd down.
After winning the toss and electing to receive, the Bobcats marched down the field to the USA 35 yard line. However the Jaguar defense forced an incomplete pass on their 4th down attempt to take over the ball on downs.
The Jags then proceeded to march down the field with Carlos Davis running down to the 1 yard line. However Hadon Merchant was flagged for a personal foul which set the Jags back 15 yards to the 16 yard line. USA had to settle for a 33 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
Texas State then responded with touchdown drive of their own. The Bobcat kicker Seth Keller then hooked the PAT left however Davyn Flenord was flagged for being offsides. The retry was good to put the Bobcats ahead 7-3 with 4:07 left in the first quarter.
It would turn out to be their only lead in the game.
With the scored tied at 10-10, South Alabama started their final drive of the opening half with 4:48 left. Behind Chance Lovertich at quarterback, the Jags drove down the field aided by some Texas State penalties. The Jags had two scores taken off the scoreboard before the third attempt finally stuck on a 1 yard touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert with :12 left on the clock to take a 17-10 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Jaguar offense came out in the second half completely flat with three consecutive three-and-outs.
The Jags would finally get the offense back in gear when the return of Trotter to the field and add a field goal to break the 17-17 tie early in fourth quarter.
USA would take the lead for good with 7:10 left behind the pounding of Carlos Davis and capped off by an 8 yard touchdown pass from Trotter to Kawaan Baker. Then Diego Guajardo would ice the game with 1:09 left in the game with a 44 yard field goal.
Chance Lovertich went 7-of-12 for 66 yards and a touchdown in his short stint at quarterback.
Jalen Tolbert led all receivers with 9 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Baker caught 5 passes for 43 yards and the one touchdown.
Riley Cole had a career day with 15 total tackles, 10 of the solo with 1.5 tackles for loss. The next closest was Nick Mobley with 7 total tackles. Jeremiah Littles was the only Jag to record a sack.
Brady McBride went 28-of-40 for 260 yards and a touchdown for the Bobcats.
Jackson Lanam caught 5 passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Marcell Barbee also caught 5 passes for another 45 yards. Eight other Bobcats caught passes in the game.
Jahmyl Jeter led the bobcat rushing attack with 5 carries and 31 yards. Brock Struges carried it 8 times for 30 yards and the only rushing touchdown.
The Jaguar offensive line allowed two sacks nine tackles for loss in the game.
USA put up 385 total yards of offense, 132 on the ground and 253 through the air. Texas State gained 348 total yards, only 88 on the ground and 260 through the air.
“It’s huge for a lot of different reasons,” Campbell said about the win after the game. “It’s the first win in Hancock Whitney, but also we needed to get a win and get back going again. I thought we started the season off hot, but we definitely cooled off for a little while. … The biggest deal for us, in our half of the conference, we’re not looking up at anybody. We can only do what we can do. We’ve played one (conference game) and we won it. Now we just have to take care of business.”
“Getting this win was huge,” Trotter said. “Coming off of that layoff, everyone was fresh. This was a huge win going into conference (play), now we’re just looking toward next week.”
South Alabama will host Louisiana-Monroe (0-5) on Saturday, October 24 for a 6pm kickoff.
