South Alabama Falls To Troy In Season Finale 29-0
South Alabama dropped their third consecutive ‘Battle For The Belt’ to Troy 29-0. The Jaguars (4-7, 3-5 Sun Belt Conference) was stymied in the first half, particularly in the second quarter, by the Trojans (5-5, 3-3 SBC).
In the end the “battle” felt more like a flailing or a flogging depending on which side you were on.
Despite coming into the game missing a few players and with a few players banged up, the Jags expected to compete in the game. Missing linebacker Christian Bell, tight end Brandon Crum, and wide receiver Kawaan Baker the Jags were missing some key contributors. But they also had player banged up such as Riley Cole, Desmond Trotter, and backup quarterback Tanner McGee.
It was the first time in program history that the Jags have been held scoreless at home, in either Ladd-Peebles Stadium and in the first season at Hancock Whitney stadium. It’s also the first time in the series that a school has won three consecutive games.
It is only the second time in school history that the Jags have been shut out in a game. The only other time was a 52-0 loss at Georgia Southern that effectively ended Joey Jones’ tenure at head coach.
The first points of the game were not scored until there was 6:02 left in the opening quarter. Troy had converted all five 3rd down attempts prior to the failing to convert on 3rd and goal at the Jaguar 1 yard line. The Trojans settled for a 22 yard field goal for the early 3-0 lead.
It was the second quarter where the Trojans did their most damage and pretty much put the game away.
The Jags opened the second quarter with a punt and Troy converted both 3rd down attempts on the drive and finished the touchdown drive with a 15 yard pass from Gunnar Watson to Khalil McClain to grow their lead to 10-0 with 11:06 left in the second quarter.
After connecting with Jalen Wayne for 11 yards on 3rd down, Trotter would get sacked and fumble the ball which Troy would recover at the Jaguar 28 yard line. Three plays later the Trojans would score again on a 15 yard pass from Watson to Kaylon Geiger with 9:26 left in the first half.
South Alabama drove down to the Troy 37 before facing 4th and 5, instead of letting Diego Gujardo try to match this career long head coach Steve Campbell opted to leave the offense on the field down three scores. Trotter threw low and behind his intended receiver and TJ Harris picked him of on a diving catch to take over at the Troy 32.
Continuing to use their very up-tempo offense, the Trojans marched right down the field gashing the defense. On the eighth and final play of the drive, Watson found Tray Eafford for a 21 yard touchdown pass to go up 24-0 with 3:56 left in first half.
After starting at their own 35 yard line from a kickoff out of bounds, the Jags drove down to the Trojans 36 yard line. Facing 4th and 9, Trotter would hold onto the ball too long and get sacked to turn the ball over on downs at the Troy 44 with only 31 seconds left until halftime.
Yet Troy was still not done.
Watson connected on two quick passes for 12 and 11 yards before calling time out at the Jaguar 33 yard line with 15 seconds left in the half. Then Watson connected with Vidal again but for only 6 yards forcing the Trojans to use their final time out with 10 seconds left. Troy head coach Chip Lindsey opted to kick to try for the points with a 44 yard field goal. Coach Campbell called a time out just prior to the snap, but Evan Legassey went ahead and kicked it, missing it wide right. The following snap he would split the uprights to go up 27-0 with 8 seconds left.
When the teams finally headed to the locker room, Troy had put up 24 points in the quarter.
The second half was mostly just running the clock out for Troy. South Alabama moved the ball better but never could hit paydirt.
The Jags Devin Rockette blocked the only scoring attempt in the second half by the Trojans. However Troy also blocked Jack Brooks punt attempt a short time later. The ball went out of the back of the end zone for the only points in the second half, a safety, for the final score of 29-0.
Desmond Trotter went 15 of 28 for 144 yards and an interception. Freshman Eli Gainey lead the final possession and went 6 of 9 for 38 yards. Redshirt freshman Tanner McGee, who finished out last weeks win was unavailable to play due to a shoulder injury.
Caullin Lacy led the Jaguar rushers, I wouldn’t call it an attack, with 38 yards on four carries. Jared Wilson added 33 on eight carries. Carlos Davis was held to a single yard on four carries.
Jalen Tolbert caught 5 passes for 92 yards and because the first Jaguar to break 1,000 receiving yards in a season, ending the year with 1,085 yards. Jalen Wayne caught four passes for 32 yards.
Jaguar linebacker Riley Cole recorded 10 total tackles in his final game as a Jaguar. In a pre-game ceremony to honor seniors on Senior Day, he was surprised with his official invitation to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl. Cole will get to play at Hancock Whitney Stadium once more on January 30.
Gunnar Watson went 34 of 41 for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Kaylon Geiger caught seven passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. Former Blound standout Reggie Todd caught six for 49 yards. Kimani Vidal caught five passes for 29 yards.
Vidal led all rushers with 76 yards on 22 attempts.
Linebacker Carlton Martial, a fellow Mobile native and McGill-Toolen standout, recorded a game-high 14 tackles.
The Trojans won every statistically category. Total yards: 414 to 239. Passing yards: 297 to 182. Rushing Yards: 117 to 57. First downs: 25 to 17. Third down conversions: 10 of 15 to 5 of 15. Sacks: Troy had 5, Jags recorded one sack. Turnovers: Troy recovered two turnovers, the Jags came away with just one. Time of possession: 31:47 to 28:13.
“It got away from us in the second quarter,” head coach Steve Campbell said. “They got on a little run and we had a hard time stopping them. We didn’t generate what we needed to offensively at all.”
“I’m very disappointed in the way it wound up,” Campbell said about ending the season with a loss. “I thought we had gotten over a little bit of a hump, but we didn’t play very well at all today. We didn’t play the way that we needed to, to finish up. We had a chance to finish strong. But I give Troy a ton of respect, they are a good football team. I thought we practiced well this week and the guys worked hard though a bunch of stuff. I thought we would come out and play better than we did today, and we didn’t.”
“It’s an ongoing problem, but it can be either side of the ball,” Jalen Tolbert said. “We should be able to pick each other up when one side is playing off, and today neither side was able to pick it up. Offense nor defense was doing good, it was just a poor performance by us today so we have to get that fixed.”
With the regular season over and the program shifting into post-season mode, there will be talks about the staff.
Through three seasons the Jags are 9-26 under Campbell.
After a 3-2 start the Jags limped to a 1-5 finish. The programs four wins this season came against teams with a cumulative 8-34 record.
Finally Campbell is now 0-3 against Troy which is one of South Alabama’s most competitive recruiting foe in the area. In those three losses, the Trojans have outscored the Jags 104-30 with the closest margin of defeat coming in 2018 in a 38-17 loss.
Campbell has one more season left in his 4 year contract with a buyout of $350,000. Campbell and Athletics Directory Joel Erdmann will be meeting in the coming days, as he always do with coaches at the conclusion of their seasons.
