South Alabama Falls To Central Michigan In Final Seconds, 34-30
South Alabama came into their homecoming game against Central Michigan with the same momentum that they had when they left Stillwater last Saturday, but it faded quickly after the first quarter. They finally found it again in the fourth quarter after falling behind by two scores.
But in the end they left too much time on the clock and made too many mistakes as Central Michigan takes the win 34-30 at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jaguar defense came out and stymied the Chippewa’s in the first quarter with two three-and-outs and held them to a mere 60 yards of total offense. The Jaguar offense came out hitting on all cylinders. Behind Kentrel Bullock and La’Damian Webb’s one-two punch, the Jags put up two touchdowns on both first quarter possessions with 146 yards of total offense.
The script flipped in the second quarter.
The Chippewa’s outgained the Jags 104 to 36 and put two touchdowns on the board themselves, however the Jags retained the lead on a missed extra point, 14-13.
The Jaguars woes continued into the third quarter with an opening three-and-out. The Chippewa’s took advantage with a 10 play, 56 yard drive burning 5:35 off the clock to take their first lead of the game.
Diego Guajardo ended the scoring drought late in the quarter with a 32 yard field goal to cut the Chippewa lead to three points. The fourth quarter started with quarterback Jase Bauer being chased to his right, being knocked off balance but being able to stay up with his free hand, and being able to throw downfield for Jesse Prewitt III and a 70 yard touchdown. At that time the Jags were down 27-17 and the crowd was quiet.
But just three plays later, Carter Bradley threw down the right numbers for Caullin Lacy, who ducked inside the defender to make the catch, and then won a footrace to the end zone for a 72 yard touchdown to electrify the crowd, and his team, again.
The Jaguar defense found their feet again and held the forced the Chippewa’s to punt twice. The second one Lacy was able to return 21 yards to the Jaguar 41 with 6:09 left in the game. Behind that spark and the spark lit in the crowd, the Jags drove down the field on some key third-down conversions by La’Damian Webb and Kentrel Bullock. Facing 3rd and 8, Webb found running room and gained 19. A few plays later the Jags faced 3rd and 2 and Bullock reeled off a 29 yard run before being forced out of bounds at the 1 yard line. Webb punched it in to give the Jags the lead once more with 2:42 left in the game.
But that was too much time.
A fairly even game had been called by the officials, but that would change in the final few minutes of the game. On a 2nd and 1 at the Jags 48, Jaden Voisin was called for defensive holding when the receiver obviously slipped down, like he had similarly earlier in the game, but this time the official threw a flag. Instead of 3rd and 1, they had a fresh set of downs at the Jaguar 38.
When it looked like the Jags was going to force Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain to choose what to do on a 4th and 7 at the Jaguar 35, but it would not happen that way. Quentin Wilfawn would finally allow the emotion and frustration of the game to get to him. He would get flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the Chippewa’s an automatic first down with the ball at the Jaguar 20 yard line.
Facing 3rd and goal at the 4, quarterback Jase Bauer used the same thing that he had plagued the Jags defense with for most of the game: his legs. He was able to duck behind his line, find a crease and duck into the endzone for game-winning score with just 18 seconds left on the clock.
After a quick 20-yard pass to Jamaal Pritchett, the Jags had 7 seconds left to make a play or two from their own 45. Bradley was pressured to roll to his right, narrowly avoiding a sack. He heaved the ball downfield as he was running and the ball was just a little behind Lacy near the numbers between the 10 and 15 yard lines but fell incomplete with no time left on the clock.
“I want to start by apologizing to our fan base. The loss certainly… hat’s a disappointing thing,” head coach Kane Wommack said after the game. “But the way we lost the game. We played with reckless emotion. We did not play in a way that represents this university well.
“There have been a lot of people that have worked tirelessly and done it the right way to build South Alabama’s football program and the University of South Alabama, and the City of Mobile and we did not represent any of those entities well tonight. And it goes way beyond the score.”
“We did not handle adversity well, both emotionally and from an execution standpoint,” Wommack said.
“We just let them completely off the hook … and we have nobody to blame but ourselves,” said Wommack of the Chippewa’s final drive and the costly penalty by Quentin Wilfawn. “I will say they were a very chippy team all night. They were pushing, shoving our guys, talking to our guys after each play. We can either make a decision that we choose the team and to sacrifice a piece of our own ego or we can react. Which is exactly what we did.”
Stats
The Jags (2-2) ended the game with most all of the statistical advantages in the game, but the scoreboard didn’t go in the Jags favor.
South Alabama outgained Central Michigan 405 to 355 total yards, 254 to 230 through the air, and 151 to 125 on the ground.
The Jags were 7-of-13 on 3rd down attempts and 0-of-1 on 4th down attempts. Bradley was sacked twice for 11 yards. They were flagged five times for 49 penalty yards.
The Chippewa’s were 9-of-16 on their 3rd down attempts and converted their only 4th down attempt in the game. They were sacked twice for 21 yards and were flagged four times for just 30 yards.
The Chippewa’s finished the game with a 33:44 to 26:16 time of possession advantage.
Carter Bradley was 17-of-27 for 254 yards and two touchdowns.
Caullin Lacy led the Jags receivers with 132 yards on 6 catches with two touchdowns. Jamaal Pritchett also had 6 catches for 62 yards.
La’Damian Webb led the Jags rushing attack with 68 yards and 18 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Bullock added 65 yards on five attempts even though he missed a big chunk of the game after an injury on a kickoff return.
Diego Guajardo made his only field goal attempt of the game from 32 yards out, though he missed one extra point in the game.
Bert Emanuel Jr started the game for Central Michigan and only attempted one pass, which he completed, for 6 yards. Jase Bauer came in after the first two possessions and finished 19-of-30 for 224 yards and a touchdown.
Jesse Prewitt III led all receivers with 10 catches for 142 yards and a touchdown. Marion Lukes had 4 catches for 31 yards.
Bauer led the Chippewa’s rushing with 55 yards on 15 carries with all four rushing touchdowns. Lukes added 35 yards on 9 carries. Lyles Bailey had 27 yards on 12 carries.
Next
The Jags will look to regroup as they begin Sun Belt Conference play at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Virginia next Saturday September 30th. The Dukes entered the weekend a perfect 3-0 with a 36-35 win over Virginia and a 16-14 win at Troy.
The game will be televised on ESPNU and is scheduled to kickoff at 11am.
