What We’ve Learned So Far This Season
With the breaking news that the South Alabama game against Troy in the annual ‘Battle for the Belt’ has been postponed due to Covid-19 concerns, now it a good time to look back on what we’ve learned about the Jags through three games.
First we’ve learned that we all have to stay vigilant in the face of Covid. No matter what you think about the virus itself, an outbreak on the team can and will disrupt the season. With the Troy game postponement, the first opportunity for both teams to face off, based on their current schedules, would be December 12. The date of the Sun Belt Conference Championship.
The South Alabama Jaguar football (1-2) team closed our their home-and-home series with UAB (2-1) with a second 32-point loss. Not the showing you want against a peer in-state opponent, especially when you get outscored in the two games by a combined score of 77-13.
Looking at it through red, white and blue glasses you can point to the fact that the Jags scored more points this time around and they stayed in the game longer than too.
But a loss is a loss. UAB still bested us by 32 points both times (35-3 last year, 42-10 this year).
There’s seems to be a pattern that we can identify. The Jags come out of the gate in the first game of the season with fire. In 2018 they lost a close game to Louisiana Tech at home 30-26 before going on the road to Oklahoma State and getting blown out 55-13 then the season goes downhill from there.
In 2019, they traveled to Nebraska and gave the Cornhuskers a bit of a fright in a game that was closer than the 35-21 final score indicates. They then came home and defeated FCS Jackson State 37-14 before the debacle that was Memphis (42-6 and the infamous PAT) which started the nine-game losing streak.
After the season-ending win over Arkansas State and the season-opening win over Southern Miss, you started to think that ‘Maybe the Jags have finally turned the corner.’
That thinking continued into the second half against Tulane before the 21 unanswered points that was the remainder of the second half.
Then the blip of offense that was the UAB game that provided us with the 10 points in the second quarter and clawed the Jags to within four points of the Blazers. But that was short lived and the Blazers cruised to victory from that point on.
So what have we learned from the UAB game and the season so far?
Offensive Line
The Jags offensive line still has lots of work to do. They struggled to protect Chance Lovertich the entire game and the rushing game struggled overall too.
The Jags had 0 passing yards and only 28 yards of offense in the first quarter.
Actually both lines suffered. The defensive line couldn’t get any rush on redshirt quarterback Bryson Lucero the entire game and they had problems stopping Spencer Brown consistently.
Without a pass rush, the Blazers were able to torch the secondary through the air. It all started with the 56 yard bomb on their first offensive play to set the tone for the game. When you have single coverage in the secondary with no pass rush, well you see what happens.
Third down efficiency
South Alabama was 3-of-12 on third down conversion attempts. Again this stat is reminiscent of the last two seasons.
But the third down scenarios were somewhat self inflicted.
The offense often found themselves behind schedule with poor first down play selection and execution. In the first quarter, on the five 1st down plays the Jags offense had the results were: 2 yard rush, incomplete pass, -2 yard rush, incomplete pass, 0 yard rush.
So five plays and a net of zero yards of offense.
Of the three 3rd downs they faced in the first quarter, the Jags shortest attempt was a 3rd & 8. That just makes a defensive coordinator smile when they can consistently get an offensive into those situations. I mean, give me that all day in NCAA Football (yes, I still play it occasionally RIP) or Madden (this is speculation, I haven’t played Madden in many years).
Distractions
So the Jags blew an 18-point lead against Tulane to lose the opener at Hancock Whitney Stadium. I don’t know if that carried over into the UAB game, but even in pregame warmups everything felt off. The team and even the fans were flat.
If we’re being honest here, it’s been a while since the fans have been fired up for more than one or two games a season. The opening of Hancock Whitney Stadium is one of those occasions this year. Troy is typically another one.
Granted the previous week saw the area take a hit from a hurricane and people were recovering from it. The university had class cancellations and the football team missed some practice time. But they had two weeks to prepare so I wouldn’t think the missed time was that much of a difference maker.
The major factor is getting the team back up after a loss. Especially one like the one to Tulane.
They have an extra week to attempt to get over UAB now that the November 3rd ‘Battle for the Belt’ has been postponed.
Despite Troy traveling across the continental United States to play BYU, any fan of these two schools know they were going to be ready for their first trip to Hancock Whitney Stadium. They were relishing the opportunity to get a win on their first opportunity in the new venue.
Offensive playcalling
The play calling in the first six quarters of the season was pretty good. I don’t think anyone would say a lot of negative things about the playcalling against Southern Miss or the first half against Tulane either.
The Jags moved the ball, scored points, and generally looked good.
But things changed in second half of the Tulane game. The offensive line started getting pushed around by the Green Wave defense. Jaguar quarterbacks started getting more pressure applied.
Lovertich, and Desmond Trotter in what snaps he got before reinjuring his shoulder, started having to move around and get rid of the ball quicker.
It seemed that the Jaguar coaching staff were determined to run the ball against UAB from the start. It didn’t go very well. Even with 6 or 7 in the box, the Jags stuck with the run.
Yes Carlos Davis would occasionally bust one outside and get a big run, but overall it just wasn’t as effective.
The South Alabama players and coaching staff had two weeks to prepare for UAB. Now they have two weeks to prepare for Texas State.
That is whenever they can resume workouts after the Covid-19 pause.
South Alabama Falls In Battle For The Belt 37-13
Questionable play calling, mistakes, and a porous defense were the key in the Jags 37-13 loss at Troy.
South Alabama falls to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play while Troy improves to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
After Troy opening the game with a field goal, the Jags answered by driving down to the 1 yard line. On back-to-back plays Jared Wilson and Cephus Johnson would both be stopped dead in their tracks and head coach Steve Campbell would settle for a 17 yard field goal to tie the game.
On the ensuing possession, Troy would methodically drive down and put a touchdown on the board with a 1 yard rub pass towards the front pylon.
The Jags next possession would stall at the Troy 35 and Frankie Onate would drill a 51 yard field goal, but the Trojans would be flagged for a personal foul for hitting the kicker giving the Jags 15 yards and a first down at the Troy 20 yard line. Minter would carry the ball on back-to-back plays to give the Jags a 1st and goal at the 3 yard line. Minter would add two more yards and then the offense could not put it in the end zone. Minter would be snuffed on two consecutive plays. Then on 3rd and goal, Cephus took the snap from the shotgun, Troy would bring pressure up the middle and drop him for a two yard loss.
After a time out, Cephus would throw the ball too high for Jalen Tolbert, who was in double coverage anyway and Troy would get the ball.
Three plays later, Troy quarterback Kaleb Barker would just lose his grip on the ball and the Jags would recover at the Troy 3 yard line.
A jet sweep to Kawaan Baker would net the Jags a touchdown, their only one of the game.
Travis Reed would pick off Barker at the USA 22, but then two plays later Johnson would be picked off at the Troy 43 yard line.
The Trojans would get three points off the turnover.
USA would get the ball with 1:08 left in the opening half trailing 13-10. They would draw up passes on first and second down before giving it to Minter up the middle for no gain. Troy would get the ball back after only :21 when Jack Brooks punt was shanked and only netted 24 yards.
Behind Barker’s passing, the Trojans quickly moved the ball but the Jags defense held for only a field goal to go into the locker room at halftime trailing 16-10.
USA opened the second half with two first downs before having to punt. Brooks would pin the Trojans at their own 13 yard line but Barker and the offense would pick apart the Jaguars slashing runs and precision passing. Barker would cap the drive off with a 15 yard touchdown pass to Kaylon Geiger to make it 23-10.
Tra Minter breathes some life into the team with a 45 yard kickoff return to the Jags 47. After a jet sweep to open the drive, which gained one yard. The Jags then threw the ball on 8 consecutive plays. On the final one, Johnson had Jalen Wayne in the end zone but he dropped it. Onate’s 45 yard attempt would miss wide right.
The Jags would get the ball back two plays later when Barker was intercepted by Travis Reed again. But the drive would stall at the Troy 14 yard line and Onate connected on a 31 yard field goal to make it 23-13.
Troy would miss a 36 yard field goal giving the Jags the ball at their own 20 yard line.
Cephus then threw what looked like was supposed to be an out route but the receiver was at least 10 yards farther down the field, and it was intercepted and returned 29 yards for a Troy touchdown.
After the Jags could not convert 4th & 1, Troy took over at their own 31 and just ground out 69 yards on 13 consecutive run plays, with four of them going for 10+ yards, to make the final score 37-13.
The confusing and frustrating part were so many attempts from the 1 yard line and not a single one of them came from a snap under center. Instead the ball was snapped to the quarterback in the shotgun and either handed off or the quarterback was stopped once stopped for a 2 yard loss.
Another frustrating set of play calls came on the Jags final possession of the half. With 1:08 left, 1st and 10 from your own 25 yard line and still in the game trailing 13-10. Kenny Edenfield calls two passes that fell incomplete and stopped the clock then came back with a draw up the middle for just one yard gain. Something we’ve seen countless times this season. That coupled with a poor punt and a defense playing deep and not putting pressure on receivers allowed the Trojans to quickly move the ball and get a field goal as the first half expired.
Troy did their best to help keep the Jaguars in the game. Two interceptions by Travis Reed and a fumble recovery by A.J. DeShazor led to 10 of the Jaguars 13 points in the game. But they left points on the field offensively.
Unfortunately the defense wore down as the game played out and by the fourth quarter Troy was gashing the defense both on the ground and through the air.
The game was effectively put away when Troy scored the pick-six at the 14:02 mark of the fourth quarter and yet they would put another score on the board as the Jaguar defense just was unable to slow down the Trojan ground game.
“I’m very disappointed in the loss,” coach Campbell opened his post game press conference. “I thought the kids gave a good effort, but we obviously came up short in a game like this. We need to go back to work, keep improving and find a way to win a game like this; we had opportunities.”
“We need to make a few more plays, we talked about what we could’ve done better,” Campbell said when asked what he told the players in the locker room after the game. “There are some calls I wish I could have made differently, and there are some things that we can definitely do better to put ourselves in a position to win. This game hurts and those players in the locker room are hurting. Let’s get back to work. No defeat is ever final and no victory is ever final; you have to get back and get to work, and we have some things we need to work on.”
“We probably could have run the ball outside a little bit more, but the coaches made good play calls,” senior running back Tra Minter responded when asked about being unable to capitalize on short-yardage plays near the goal line. “We just need to execute them as players.”
The Trojans held advantages in all of the stat columns, except turnovers. Total yards the Trojans led 432 to 271. Passing yards they led 212 to 183. Rushing yards they led 220 to 91. First downs they had 28 to USA’s 20, which was a huge improvement over their 4 (though two were touchdowns) against Georgia Southern. Third down conversions the Trojans were 10 of 17 while the Jags were only 3 of 12. Troy converted the only 4th down attempt they tried while the Jags converted 1 of 3 attempts. Troy held an 81 to 72 play advantage and a time of possession advantage of 34:57 to 25:03.
Offensively it was the Tra Minter show for the Jags as he put up 200 all-purpose yards in the game. He had 78 yard on kick off returns, 86 rushing yards on 17 carries, and 36 yards receiving on 6 receptions leading the team in rushing yardage and passes caught.
Kawaan Baker added 15 yard rushing on four carries and the lone Jaguar touchdown. He also caught five passes for 42 yards. Davyn Flenord caught four passes for 33 yards and Jalen Tolbert caught two passes for 48 along with the teams longest offensive play of 34 yards.
Cephus Johnson went 20-for-38 for 183 yards and was sacked twice. Though at times he was inaccurate throwing the ball, he did have several passes hit players in the hands with opportunities make the catch.
Jack Brooks punted twice for an average of 27 yards per punt, hurt by the 24 yarder off the side of his foot in his first kick. But the second was nicely placed inside the opponents 15 yard line.
South Alabama will have a couple extra days to recover and game plan before hosting conference-leading Appalachian State on October 26 for the Jaguars homecoming game. The Mountaineers are an undefeated 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the conference with noteworthy wins over North Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette.
ASU will be in action this Saturday as they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 3:30pm kickoff at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, NC for their annual homecoming game.
The Jags and the Mountaineer will kick off at 11am on ESPNU on Oct 26 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Radio coverage can be heard on 99.5 FM The Jag and 96.1 FM locally in the Mobile area or on iHeartRadio app world wide.
In the meantime, the Jags have to go back to the drawing board once again to figure out a way to get their first FBS win of the season.
Go Jags
Jags Vs Trojans: The 2019 ‘Battle for the Belt’
South Alabama and Troy started playing each other annually as the Jags were a transitional member of FBS. In 2015, in order to give the game the significance people thought it deserved, the two schools embraced the title “Battle for the Belt” and adopted a wrestling style championship belt as the trophy to be exchanged between the two schools.
Since introducing the Belt trophy, neither school has successfully defended the title and the road team has been the winner.
In 2017 South Alabama traveled to Troy with a 1-4 record and displayed grit and determination on national TV to bring home the belt. They did it with a stifling defense, solid special teams play, and enough offense to get the job done against an eager Trojan defense. That was also a Trojan team that defeated LSU and won 11 games.
Last year the Trojans came to Mobile with a big crowd and took a two-score lead early in the second quarter before cruising to a 38-17 win.
The Jags enter the game with a 1-5 record overall and 0-2 in conference play on the season and desperately seeking a win against an FBS opponent. They also enter the game after a tough double-overtime loss to Georgia Southern last time out on the field.
The team is talented and has shown flashes of that talent, but have been unable to put it together from the opening kick all the way until the scoreboard shows :00 at the end of the game.
Head coach Steve Campbell, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart and offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield all have very strong ties to Troy. All three were teammates on the 1987 NCAA Division II national championship team. Stewart was also on the 1984 national championship team. Edenfield has the most experience in this rivalry as he’s been an assistant coach at Troy for 10 years prior to joining Campbell at USA in 2018.
Troy enters the game with a 2-3 record under new head coach Chip Lindsey. They too enter the game after a tough loss, a 42-10 whipping at Missouri. Also adding insult to injury, they may be without quarterback Kaleb Barker due to an injury against Missouri. With that, they hope to have a strong showing by their defense, who has already allowed over half the points in five games as they allowed in 13 games last season.
But the Jags coaching staff aren’t quite buying it. They think Barker will actually play in the game and his questionable status is just something to force the Jags to prepare for both contingencies.
Troy will definitely scheme to stop Tra Minter and the Jags running game. He is obviously the center piece to the Jags offense. He is quite clearly the primary running back, often the leading receiver, and returns kicks and punts.
The next player the Trojan defense will look to neutralize is Kawaan Baker. Behind Minter, Baker is the next most consistent playmaker in the offense through jet sweeps and pass catching.
The third and one that touches the ball the most, Cephus Johnson, has been quite efficient running the ball in recent games. Johnson also showed off his arm against Georgia Southern with two big touchdown passes of 75 and 60 yards to Baker and Jalen Tolbert.
This may give have given Troy something else to prepare for as Troy’s secondary has been struggling so far this season. Couple that with the possibilty of a second-string quarterback stepping in and getting stops and limiting scoring opportunities by the Trojan defense will be a premium.
The Jags defense has played strong this season with standout performances against Nebraska and Georgia Southern. Through most of the game the Jags played strong but when the defense is on the field for over 40 minutes, its no wonder the Eagles were able to drive down the field to tie the game and send it to overtime.
The major difference the Jags will see when they face the Trojans is the offense. Under Lindsey. the Trojans are spreading the field and throwing the ball more when, under Neal Brown, they ran more Run-Pass Option (RPO).
Defensively the Trojans are pretty similar to last year.
The Trojans are a 15 point favorite in the game. Both teams have had extra time to prepare and scheme ahead of a nationally broadcast game.
Can this be the week the Jags turn the corner on the 2019 season?
I think the Jags will play inspired and energized game in this rivalry game. They will have a chance to win. So I think the Jags will cover the spread but they have to prove themselves before I can pick them to win outright. I definitely don’t want the Trojans to be the first to defend the belt since it’s introduction. I hope the trend keeps up and the road team wins the game.
Go Jags
Troy Wins The Battle of the Belt 38-14
A big first half by Troy was all that was needed by the Trojans to defeat South Alabama at home on a Tuesday night nationally televised game, 38-17.
The Jags lost the penalty battle, the two teams had the same number of penalties, seven, but the Jags were penalized for 91 yards while the Trojans had 67 yards in penalties.
Jaguar head coach Steve Campbell was glad to get the teams leading tackler, Nigel Lawrence, back for the game after missing the last two with a knee injury. However his time was short lived. On the third play from scrimmage he was flagged for targeting and disqualified for the game.
Later in the first half, on a play where the ball bounced off of Bull Barge and was intercepted by Sterrling Fisher, the replay booth called down for a review and eventually ejected Jeffery Whatley for targeting while throwing a block for his teammate.
These two targeting ejections makes five of them in the last four games.
South Alabama also lost the turnover battle. After being quite efficient in the passing game, Evan Orth threw three interceptions in the game, doubling his number for the season.
Meanwhile the Jags were able to pick off one of Sawyer Smith’s passes and was able to cover a muffed punt late in the first half.
USA had trouble weathering the early onslaught by the Trojans, allowing scores on each of Troy’s first five possessions. In most of the Jags games this season, the defense has dug deep holes and put the offense down by double-digits.
Risk taking, while it can turn the momentum in your favor if it works out, it can also backfire. That’s what happened at the end of the first half. After the Jags were stopped and Troy took a time out to force USA to punt, the punt bounced and hit a Troy returner and was recovered at the 27 yard line with three seconds left. But instead of kicking the gift field goal, Campbell and Edenfield decided to run a hail-mary style play against Troy’s prevent defense which nearly turned into pick six if it wasn’t for Tra Minter forcing the returner out of bounds at the USA 35 it would have been a touchdown.
After finding success with an onsides kick in the season opener against Louisiana Tech, the Jags have tried to catch their opponents by surprise a few times since then. Each time they were prepared for it or the bounce did not go the Jags way, but each time it gave the momenum back to the opponent. After the interception and return, the Trojan players rushed to the South endzone where a mass of Troy students were ready to receive them after an opening half score of 31-17 and a big play to lead them to the halftime break.
The second half was very different. The Jags defense tightened up and so did the Troy offense. While the Jags offense could move the ball, they couldn’t get into scoring position and when they did they threw interceptions and missed a field goal.
The only score of the second half came with 4:39 left in the game after Evan Orth threw the ball into the end zone but had it intercepted and ran back for an apparent touchdown only to have it called back to the 11 yard line due to a holding call. Two plays later the Trojans put the dagger into the heart of the Jags putting them up 38-17.
USA finished the game with 385 yards of total offense, 275 of them coming through the air. Troy gained 410 total yards, 261 through the air and 252 on the ground. But the Jaguar defense only allowed 71 total yards in the second half.
Tra Minter rushed 23 times for 99 yards to lead the Jaguar rushing attack and added 49 yards receiving on two catches. Jamarius Way caught six passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. Jordan McCray added three for 60 yards and the other touchdown.
Troy’s BJ Smith rushed 22 times for 170 yards and a touchdown. Damion Willis caught five passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite being only 2-6 on the season and 1-3 in conference play, the Jags still control their destiny in the Sun Belt Conference Western division. They need to win out to get bowl eligible and three of those four are western division rivals each with two conference losses.
It’s not going to be an easy road with perennial contender Arkansas State coming up first followed by Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Coastal Carolina. But if they can continue to correct things each week, then it’s not outside the realm of possibility. A 5-3 conference record with wins over all of the western conference members would hold all of the tie breakers.
Meanwhile Troy (6-2, 4-0 SBC) keeps pace with Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, both 3-0 and on a collision course on Thursday night, October 25th in a battle of conference unbeatens and a rivalry known as ‘Deeper than Hate.’
South Alabama will return to action on the road in Jonesboro, Arkansas against Arkansas State on Saturday, November 3. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
Inside the Numbers:
Battle For The Belt 2018
South Alabama and Troy will play for the “Battle for the Belt” trophy Tuesday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on ESPN2. | Photo credit: USA Vanguard.
Last year, the Jags traveled to Troy after the Trojans were coming off of a 24-21 over then #22 ranked LSU in Death Valley and came away with a 19-8 win in a dominating defensive performance. The Jags scored 12 points off of four Trojan turnovers and didn’t allow any points on the board until 6:16 left in the game.
This season is a bit different though. This time the Trojans (5-2, 3-0 SBC) will travel to Mobile to face South Alabama (2-5, 1-2 SBC) after an upset loss on the road at FBS transitional Liberty 22-16.
So to say that the Trojans have something to play for is an understatement. They want revenge for that Wednesday night domination at the hands of the Jaguars on national television, bring the rivalry belt back to Troy, and they also want to redeem themselves after the upset loss.
The Jags enter the game after a pleasing 45-7 get-right win over Alabama State, but only the second ‘W’ of the season for the Jags under first year head coach Steve Campbell, a Troy alum. Actually both of his coordinators, OC Kenny Edenfield and DC Greg Stewart, are also Troy alums too and they all have Division II national championship rings from their time there. Edenfield came to the Jags after a 10 year stint at Troy, the last eight as offensive coordinator.
With the win over the Hornets, the Jags hope to start a run in this second half of the season towards a berth in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference championship game. Currently, the Jags control their fate and could move into a tie for first place in the western division with a win over Troy. Meanwhile Troy looks to keep pace in the Eastern Division with conference unbeaten Appalachian State and Georgia Southern.
Quarterback Sawyer Smith will make only his second start after Kaleb Barker was lost for the season with a knee injury. The Jags defense has been susceptible to big plays and being gashed on the ground this season. By all indications the Jags will have Nigel Lawrence back, who was the teams’ leading tackler when he went down with an injury a couple games ago.
Oh and who can forget the penalties.
The Trojans are very balanced, numbers wise. They average 207.7 yards per game rushing and 205.9 yards per game passing so the Jags will have to play disciplined.
Meanwhile the Jags will look to establish the running game to take pressure off of quarterback Evan Orth and his receivers by making the Trojan defense play honest against the run. While Jamarius Way and Kawaan Baker have both had their standout moments on the season, the Jags have also developed Jordan McCray and Jahmmir Taylor into more options. Now with the return of Malik Stanley, that adds more tools for the passing game to utilize.
Tra Minter has been the workhorse in the backfield with 84 carries on the season for 263 yards and five touchdowns. Baker is the next closest rusher with 179 yards and six touchdowns.
Troy’s leading rusher is BJ Smith, with 587 yards and eight touchdowns on the season on 94 carries. He averages 6.2 yards per carry.
The Trojans have a pair of receivers in Deondre Douglas and Damion Willis who each have five touchdowns. Douglas is the receptions leader with 34 for 348 yards. Willis is not far behind with 25 catches but for 373 yards. They also have three other receivers with over 100 yards receiving on the season and they have combined for five touchdowns between them.
The keys to a Jaguar win and keeping the Belt in Mobile are three fold.
First, limit the penalties committed by the Jags. Gifting Troy with first downs or short third downs will not help a struggling defense. Penalties of aggression or frustration simply have to be avoided. If they can play cool, calm and collected they will have a big advantage right off the bat.
Second, the Jags need to withstand the early Troy onslaught. In the first quarter, they are outscoring opponents 80-21 and in the first half they are outscoring opponents 154-87. In the second half they do not score nearly as much and are actually being outscored 85-82. In USA’s lone Sun Belt win, they were down going into the second half and scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to get the win.
Third, USA must protect the ball. The Jags have put the ball on the ground 14 times and lost possession nine times to go along with six interceptions on the season. Troy under coach Brown are 5-22 when they lose the turnover battle and they are 22-1 when they win that battle.
South Alabama enters as an 11 point underdog in the game. Call it being a homer or whatever you want, but I’m picking the Jags with that spread.
By the Numbers:
Jaguars Travel To Troy And Stun The Trojans 19-8
Head coach Joey Jones lifts the ‘Battle for the Belt’ championship belt for the third time in the last four years. | Photo Credit: Brad Puckett usajaguars.com
South Alabama went to Troy Wednesday night on a mission, and they accomplished their mission in commanding fashion with a 19-8 win to return the rivalry belt to Mobile.
The Jaguars went into the game a 16.5 point underdog with only the die hard of Jaguar fan base thinking they even had a shot to win the game. If you listened to online message boards, it was going to be a blowout and the head coach would need to be fired on the sidelines after the game and should pull a Southern Cal by letting the coach find his own way home.
But none of that came to pass, instead the defense and set the tone for the game. Six pass breakups, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three turnovers on downs, three fumble recoveries and an interception.
That’s textbook definition of what defensive coordinator Kane Wommack calls ‘Swarm D’.
Head coach Joey Jones and his staff put together a great game plan and the players executed well. The offense struggled some in the first half outside of their one touchdown drive.
The offense came out in the second half with a commanding drive to extend their lead while converting over half of the third-downs they faced in the second half.
The entire team was spurred on by a large contingent of South Alabama fans who made the trip for the game. They were loud, proud, and full of energy. They were another textbook example of what the Jaguars need at home week-in and week-out.
The Jags first score was set up by a 57 yard punt by Corliss Waitman when Carlos Robinson forced Marcus Jones to cough up the ball which Collier Smith recovered at the Troy 46. Starting quarterback Cole Garvin connected with Tra Minter on a screen pass for 37 yards to set eventually set up Xavier Johnson to cap off the drive with a one yard leap into the end zone, giving USA a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Waitman would again be huge for the Jags. He booted away a 54 yard punt to the Troy 4 yard line, but a block in the back would put the line of scrimmage at the 2 yard line. On 2nd and 11, Troy’s star running back Jordan Chunn could be bottled up and taken down for a safety extending the Jaguars lead to 9-0. Which would be the score at halftime.
The Jaguars offense came out early in the second half, led by Dallas Davis off the bench, with intentions of making a statement. They were 0-for-7 on 3rd down conversions in the first half, but converted all three of their first possession of the second half. Two of them were pass completions to Sam Harris and the other was a touchdown pass over the middle to Malik Stanley to cap off an 11 play, 64 yard drive to go up 16-0.
“Cole struggled a little bit and I felt like I needed to get Dallas in the game,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “He directed us down the field for a score. He played a good half.”
Gavin Patterson would add a career long 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to give South Alabama a 19-0 lead and sent the Trojan faithful to the exits.
After forcing a three and out, the Jaguars started at their own 43. On 2nd and 6, Davis connected with Minter for a 49 yard gain on another screen pass. Facing 4th and goal at the 4, the Jaguar coaching staff pulled out a trick play attempting to put another dagger in the Trojans, but the defense snuffed it and sacked Davis for a 15 yard loss on an intentional grounding call when he tried the fling the ball away.
This breathed some life back into the Trojans, who promptly put together their best drive of the game going 81 yards in 9 plays for their only score of the game to make it 19-8 after they converted the two-point conversion.
Troy attempted an on-sides kick, which hit and bounced off of a Jaguar but was recovered by David Gardner at the Troy 48. But three plays late, on 4th and 1, Denzel Foster was dropped for a loss of two yards giving Troy great field position with 4:30 left in the game.
The Jaguar defense bent but did not break. The secondary, which has been ravaged by injuries, helped force three-consecutive incomplete passes from the Jaguar 13 yard line. Needing two scores, Trojan head coach Neal Brown opted to attempt a 30 yard field goal by Evan Legassey, which he missed wide left, just like he did a 27-yard attempt in the first half.
From there, the Jags kept the ball on the ground and ran the clock out for the win.
The USA offense ended the game with 224 yards of total offense, only 48 of them on the ground with the other 176 yards coming through the air. Troy gained 299 yards, only 30 of them through the air.
Cole Garvin started the game for USA and went 4-of-10 for 56 yards and an interception. Dallas Davis came in late in the first half and went 7-of-10 for 120 yards and a touchdown.
Malik Stanley led the Jaguar receivers with four catches for 53 yards an the lone touchdown. Tra Minter caught three passes for 83 yards setting up both touchdowns. Sam Harris had two catches for 25 yards, both were to convert 3rd downs. Foster and Jahmmir Taylor both caught a pass also.
Denzel Foster was the Jaguars leading rusher with 30 yards on nine carries. Minter added 21 yards on 12 carries. Deonta Moore had 10 yards on six carries. Xavier Johnson, who left the game in the first half with a sprained ankle, had 4 yards on seven carries with the Jaguars lone rushing touchdown.
Troy’s star running back Jordan Chunn left the game early with an injury finished with 28 yards on 10 carries. Josh Anderson added 10 yards on three carries and Henderson had 9 yards on two carries.
Brandon Silvers went 24-of-46 for 263 yards and an interception. Kaleb Barker completed his only pass attempt for 6 yards. Emanual Thompson led the Trojans with six catches for 67 yards. Eight other receivers caught passes as well.
“I know we’ve got a good football team,” head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “I never doubted them, I love them. We know we have a bunch of conference games coming up and we are going to get after our preparation for the game next week with ULM, but right now we are going to enjoy this one. I’s a huge win for our program and puts us with one more win in the conference. That’s our goal to win the [Sun Belt] Conference championship and it’s still out there for us.
“It’s a huge, huge win for our program. That’s three out of the last four we’ve beaten these guys, and two out of three with the Belt. I’m so proud of the way our guys played. They fought their guts out tonight. It was a joy to watch.”
“They outcoached us,” Troy head coach Neal Brown said in his postgame press conference. “Our guys were not ready to play and that’s on me; that’s disappointing. We didn’t take advantage of a great opportunity. It’s an extremely disappointing evening.”
“The challenge of this defense has been, can we finish a game?,” USA defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “I think when you play the way that we did in the second half, to take the momentum from the get-go, that was the difference.”
“This win is huge for us,” said quarterback Dallas Davis. “We came in 1-4, which I don’t even like saying that record, and Troy is a good team; they beat LSU. We practiced hard all week and it’s a big rivalry game for us, so we knew we had to bring it, and we did both offensively and defensively.”
“I just wanted to make sure that I did my job and make sure there wasn’t a drop from his type of performance to mine,” said defensive back Khalil McDonald, who started in place of Malcolm Buggs when he was unable to play. “I did my job and played my heart out and wanted to do it for the team.”
“We had been talking about this game all week,” said Jeremy Reaves when talking about what this win means to the seniors on the team. “This win wasn’t only for us, but also for recruiting and the years to come for our program. Getting this win benefits me a lot [personally] because I get to say that I was able to get another win at Troy; I’m 2-0 here. We’ve been through so much adversity and we dedicated this season to turning the program around. To be able to come out on top in this big game is huge.”
South Alabama will have another long week to prepare for their next game. The Jags will return home to host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, October 21 for their annual homecoming game. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.