Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark Interested In Jacksonville State Opening
Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach Bill Clark works with the linebacker corps during pregame warmups prior to the Jags 9-3 win over Nicholls State.
South Alabama assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bill Clark has expressed interest in the head coach opening at Jacksonville State University.
Coach Clark is an Anniston native and an 1990 graduate of Jacksonville State has not interviewed for the job. Yet.
But he has informed head coach Joey Jones about his interest in the position and well as informed the JSU officials of his interest in the position.
“I was called about the job on Friday when it first was announced that coach Crowe had been let go and I had an interest in looking at it,” Clark said Monday night to AL.com. “Obviously I’m very happy here and I have a great job. I talked to Joey about after the game on Saturday and he knows I’m going to look into it and see what it entails.”
Jacksonville State ended the season with a 6-5 record with losses to Arkansas to start the season and to Florida to end the season. Crowe posted an 87-57 record in his 13 seasons as the Gamecocks head coach. JSU athletics director Warren Koegel dismissed Crowe, the second-winningest coach in school hisotry, with two years on his contract.
Crowe led the Gamecocks to the Ohio Valley Conference titles in 2003, 2004 and 2011. He also led them to three NCAA FCS playoff appearances but failed to win a playoff game.
Coach Clark received his bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville State in 1990 in physical education. His first coaching job was an assistant at nearby Piedmont High School. He later served as an assistant at Tuscaloosa County High, Coffee County GA. High and Dothan High schools before being named head coach at Prattville.
He was the head coach at Prattville from 1999 – 2007 where he won two Class 6A state championships and his final two teams won 30 consecutive games. His 2007 Prattville team was ranked #2 in the country by USA Today.
Clark racked up a 107-11 record at Prattville with a 90.7% winning percentage. The last regular-season loss by one of his Prattville teams was in 2002. He was named the Alabama High School Athletic Association Coach of the Year following his final season with the Lions.
He left Prattville to join Coach Jones’ staff at South Alabama. He was one of the first hires by Coach Jones.
South Alabama’s defense have done a great job over the last four seasons. This year the defense still dug in even though they lost a number of players to season ending injuries. Quadarius Ford injured his knee in preseason camp. They then lost senior defensive linemen Anthony Taylor to a broken leg at Mississippi State before losing Randon Carnathan to a torn ACL at Louisiana-Monroe.
There were many times this season the defense was beat by big plays, particularly in the secondary. However the Jaguar defense would dig in their heels and all but shut down their opponents in the second half of many games.
A Sun Belt Record Four Teams Selected For Bowls
The Sun Belt conference made history on Sunday as four teams were selected to represent the conference in bowl games.
Sun Belt champion Arkansas State will return to Mobile to play #25 ranked Kent State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette was selected by the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to play East Carolina. Louisiana-Monroe was selected to play in the Advocare V100 Independence Bowl against Ohio University. Western Kentucky was selected to play Central Michigan in the Little Ceasers Pizza Bowl.
Overall, five Sun Belt schools were bowl eligible. Middle Tennessee State, who played Arkansas State on Saturday in a defacto championship game in Jonesboro, AK., was the only bowl eligible Sun Belt team to not receive a bowl berth.
MTSU finshed the season with an 8-4 record overall, which tied with ULL and ULM with second-best in the conference. Arkansas State finished with a 9-3 record and each of the second place schools finished with a 6-2 conference record. Western Kentucky finished with a 7-5 record and 4-4 in the Sun Belt and lost to Middle Tennessee during the regular season.
However the Pizza Bowl was more interested in Western Kentucky since it will be the schools first-ever bowl game instead of Middle Tennessee. Earlier this week, Middle Tennessee announced it was leaving the Sun Belt Conference for Conference USA.
Arkansas State’s head coach Gus Malzahn is being mentioned for several coaching vacancies including Arkansas and Auburn. Senior quarterback Ryan Aplin will lead the Red Wolf offense into Ladd-Peebles stadium for the second season in a row. The GoDaddy.com bowl will kickoff on Sunday, January 6 at 8pm and is the only bowl game on that day, the day before the BCS national championship game.
ULL finished the season strong with three consecutive victories once it’s offense solidified. The Ragin’ Cajuns’ are coached by second-year head coach Mark Hudspeth who has also been mentioned for a few coaching positions. The New Orleans Bowl will kick off in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 11am on December 22.
ULM is led by quarterback Kolton Browning who helped them upset Arkansas in overtime in the season-opening game in Arkansas. Head coach Todd Berry lead the team to Auburn and a near-win in overtime. They also played tough at Baylor but lost by five points. The Independence Bowl will kick off in Shreveport, LA at 1pm on December 28.
Western Kentucky is coached by third-year head coach Willie Taggart. His first season the Hilltoppers finished 2-10 but now has back-to-back bowl eligible seasons of 7-5, but will go to only their first bowl game this year. WKU is led by running back Antoine Andrews who is the conference’s leading rusher averaging 134.1 yards per game. The Hilltoppers started the season with a pair of wins over Austin Peay and Kentucky with a loss at Alabama between them. They ended a three game losing streak with a win over North Texas in the season finale. The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl will kick off at Ford Field in Detroit, MI at 6:30pm on December 26.
USA Falls In Hawaii 23-7 In Season Finale
The University of South Alabama dropped their season ending game in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday night 23-7. The Warriors gained a season-best 410 yards in the win in Aloha Stadium.
South Alabama would take the opening kickoff and drive down into the Warrior red zone however an interception in the endzone would end the Jaguar scoring threat. However, Hawaii would then drive 80 yards for a touchdown to begin the scoring.
The Jaguar defense would bend but not break the rest of the first half by holding the Warriors to three field goals for a 16-0 lead heading into the locker room for halftime. The South Alabama offense could not put together another good drive in the first half. On their subsequent five possessions of the first half, the Jags would punt each of those five possessions.
At halftime, the Jaguars would only have 55 yards of total offense with only six of those yards coming on the ground from the rushing attack.
The Jags would avoid their first-ever shutout with an 80 yard, 11 play drive that would span over five minutes. C.J. Bennett would come in and see playing time for the first time since the Jaguars game against Troy on September 29 to lead the Jaguar offense on the scoring drive. Bennett would find Bryant Lavender for a 25 yard completion to get the drive going. Julien Valentin would keep the drive alive with an eight yard rush for a first down. Bennett would keep the ball to pick up a first down on fourth and one at the Hawaii 4 yard line. Bennett would then cap off the drive with a three yard touchdown toss to Wes Saxton.
The touchdown drive would account for nearly half of the Jaguars totoal offensive output for the game. USA would end the game with 166 yards of total offense, 148 yards passing and a program-low of 34 yards rushing on 18 carries. However the Jags would gain 17 first downs, which was close to Hawaii’s 20 for the game.
Hawaii would end the game with 410 yards of total offense, 229 yards rushing matched the most ever given up by the Jaguars defense. The Warriors threw for 181 yards as well.
Senior Center Trey Clark, who started every game in his career at South Alabama and every game in South Alabama history spoke after the game. “They were tough. They were a physical group. They had some movement going on, and came with a few blitzes that gave us some problems. I think we did alright for the most part, but those sacks and fumbles hurt us.”
“The biggest thing was that we weren’t going to lay down — we weren’t going to quit. We just had that mindset that we were going to fight to the last whistle. I’m just proud of the seniors, my teammates and the coaches.”
“We came out and put together a good drive but threw an interception, and end up down 16-0 at halftime,” head coach Joey Jones explained. “We didn’t do much offensively in the second quarter, and they made some big plays. We gave up a long play on the first drive, but in the second half the defense came out and played better. They just controlled the game.”
T.J. Glover would end the game with 34 yards rushing on nine carries. Julien Valentin would add 20 yards on nine carries. Kendall Houston, who saw some action early, gained 10 yards on three carries. Ross Metheny would lose 43 yards combined in all of his sacks.
Metheny would go 11-of-24 for 111 yards and two touchdowns but also took five sacks. C.J. Bennett would come in and go 3-of-7 for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Corey Besteda would catch three passes for 42 yards, Gabe Loper would catch four passes for 32 yards, Saxton would catch three for 27 yards. T.J. Glover would add 12 yards on two receptions and Bryant Lavender would add 25 yards on one catch. Jereme Jones would keep his consecutive game with a catch streak alive with one catch for 10 yards.
Glover would have a season-high of 169 all-purpose yards as he accounted for 115 yards in kick returns, 34 yards rushing, 12 yards receiving and an eight yard punt return.
This game was the final game of 2012 season for South Alabama and the last in their two-year transition into the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Next season the Jags will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference title and for a bowl game.
The Jags will lose a long list of senior talent this season. Many of these guys committed to South Alabama before the school had anything to show. They bought into a vision and they helped to make that vision a reality. They created the foundation that all future success will be built upon.
B.J. Scott, Jonathan Cameron, Brandon Ross, Gabe Loper, Cori Barnett, Charles Harris, Chris Rivers, Michel Chapuseaux, Jake Johnson, Anthony Taylor, Tremain Smith, Phillip Press, Trey Clark, Kennedy Helms, Ryne Baxter and Andy Dalgleish all will not put on the Jaguar uniform again. But they will not be forgotten.
Thank you guys. Thank you for coming to South Alabama, working hard and helping to build this program. I hope to see you around the program in the future. I also wish you the best in all of your future endevours.
“It was a great experience, and we were able to play another non-conference game,” B.J. Scott said after the game. “We got a chance to experience a bowl-like atmosphere, and we have a lot to look forward to next year. We were just a few plays away in every game we lost this year. For the young guys, I just want them to stay focused and continue to work hard. I feel like we can easily flip this season around with just a little more attention to detail and focus.”
“I think we will have a great team next year,” Scott said.
Know Your Stadiums: Hawaii’s Aloha Stadium
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
The University of Hawaii play their home games at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The stadium also hosts the Hawaii Bowl and has been home to the NFL’s Pro Bowl game since 1980 (except 2010) and the NCAA’s Hula Bowl from 1975 through 1997 and again in 2006.
Aloha Stadium also hosts numerous high school football games during the season and is a venue for large concerts and events. One of which is a swap meet in the parking lot every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday which draws large crowds.
The stadium is located west of downtown Honolulu and two miles north of Honolulu International Airport. It was built in 1975 at a cost of $37 million as a replacement for the aging Honolulu Stadium that was demolished in 1976.
The first football game held at the stadium was between the University of Hawaii and Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) on September 13, 1975 in front of a crowd of 32,247.
Aloha Stadium can be reconfigured into a number of different configurations for different sporting events and other purposes. It was actually the first stadium in the United States that featured this capability.
There are four movable sections, each weighing 3.5 million pounds and with the capacity of 7,000, can be moved via air casters into a diamond configuration for baseball (and also used for soccer), an oval for football, or a triangle for concerts.
In 2003 the stadium surface was changed from the original AstroTurf that had been in place since the stadium opened to FieldTurf.
Then in July 2011 the field was upgraded to UBU Sports Speed S5-M synthetic turf system that features removable Active Panels as part of a multimillion dollar renovation to the stadium. This synthetic turf covers 110,000 square feet and has 22 removable Active Panels located in seven locations. The Removable Active Panels have inlaid logos for the University of Hawaii, Aloha Bowl and blank panels in order to accommodate the NFL Pro Bowl and NCAA Bowl Games so they can be custom pained for each event.
A 2005 study by a Honolulu engineering firm determined that the stadium required $99 million to be completely restored and would require an additional $115 million for ongoing maintenance and refurbishment over the next 20 years to extend its useful lifespan.
In January 2007 the stadium was permanently locked into its football configuration because of cost and maintenance issues. An engineer from Rolair Systems, the NASA spin-off company that engineering the system, claimed that the problem was caused by a concrete contractor that ignored specifications for the concrete pads under the stadium.
The State of Hawaii lawmakers have had numerous discussions concerning the physical condition of the stadium. There are several issues regarding rusting of the facility, hence the nickname “The Rust Bucket”, several hundred seats that need to be replaced and restroom facilities that need to be expanded to accommodate more patrons.
Then in early 2007 the state legislature proposed to spend $300 million to build a new facility as opposed to spending an estimated $216 million to extend the life of Aloha Stadium for another 20-30 years. This new stadium would be used to lure a NFL Super Bowl in the near future, possibly targeting 2016.
One council member said that if immediate repairs are not made within the next seven years, the stadium will probably need to be demolished due to safety concerns. Thus in May of 2007, the state alloted $12.4 million to be used towards removing corrosion and rust from the structure.
In 2008, the state of Hawaii approved the bill of $185 million to refurbish the aging stadium. In 2010, they completely retrofitted its scoreboard and video screen to be more up to date with high definition capability. The Aloha Stadium Authority plans to add more luxury suites, replacing all seats, rusting treatments, parking lots, more restrooms, pedestrian bridge supports, enclosed lounge and more. There is also a proposal to close the four open corners of the stadium to add more seats.
The stadium has been home to a number of events during it’s existence. The Police performed their final US tour on their Synchronicity Tour on February 25, 1984. Michael Jackson’s HIStory World Tour landed there on January 3-4, 1997 for his only US shows that decade and was the first person to sell out the stadium. Among other big concerts.
Aerial view of Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Aloha Stadium on a University of Hawaii football gameday.
Jags Fit In Work And Fun While In Hawaii
The South Alabama football team had a very productive first full day in Hawaii.
On their first night there they went to a Luau. But the next morning, their first full day there, they worked out for over an hour in helmets and shorts at Aloha Stadium, the site for Saturday’s game against the Warriors. During the workout the Jags went through position drills and formations. They also spent time working on offensive and defensive plays.
After lunch at the stadium the team took a trip to Pearl Harbor, the site of the December 7, 1941 bombing that drew the country into World War II. players, coaches and support staff were all able to view various monuments and displays. They even got to talk to survivors of the attack. The culmination of their trip was a 75 minute tour of the USS Arizona Memorial.
The team returned back to the hotel for team meetings and will meet again on Friday before an afternoon walkthrough.
The Jags and Warrior will kickoff at 6pm local time on Saturday, which translates to 10pm Central time in Alabama.
There are several options for viewing the game. Montego’s Cafe and Bar at 6601 Airport Boulevard had become a big go-to destination for Jaguar fans. Baumhower’s Restaurant announced that they will be staying open late and showing the game with the cheerleaders and SouthPaw in attendance.
The game can be seen on DirecTV channel 691 at 10pm or channel 683 at 11pm. It can also be streamed online for a fee through the Hawaii sports website.
Happy viewing Jaguar Nation and GO JAGS!
MTSU And FAU To Hold News Conferences Today
With Middle Tennessee and FAU scheduled to have press conferences today where they are speculated to announce their acceptance of invitations to join Conference USA.
The dominos began with Maryland and Rutgers announcing that they were going to move to the Big10 from the Big East. Then more dominos fell when the Big East extended invitations that were accepted by Louisville and Tulane to join the conference.
It seems that the dominos continue to fall with Conference USA extending invitations to Middle Tennessee and FAU to join to replace the exiting schools.
This leaves the Sun Belt on the brink of falling below the eight school minimum for a football conference. Rumors are circulating that Western Kentucky may be shopping around but would be held back by the TV market.
Schools are out there ready for invitations to the conference. Some make sense but others don’t. Georgia Southern, New Mexico State and Appalachain State are out there with some eager to move to FBS while New Mexico State is being left out in the cold as the Mountain West dissolves. Lamar, Jacksonville State and Liberty may be schools ready and waiting for an invitations as well.
Don’t think Conference USA is content, they want to jump ahead and try to be a 16 team super-conference and they will almost certainly look to the Sun Belt for two more schools. Schools that are on their radar include Western Kentucky and UL-Lafayette.
The Sun Belt made big strides this season in outclassing Conference USA on the field, but C-USA has the better TV contract. I would like to see the Sun Belt get out in front and make pro-active moves instead of sitting back and waiting for the dominos to fall and then pick up the pieces afterwards.
Commissioner Benson has said throughout the season that the SBC wants to be a regional conference. They need to talk with some schools to gauge interest in moving to the Sun Belt. Southern Miss and UAB could be prime schools that are uninterested in continuing their relationship with CUSA.
Another topic that needs to be addressed is that the Sun Belt does not have an exit fee for members. This asks them to explore the grass on the other side of the fence.
What do you think? What should the Sun Belt do? Who should they consider adding? What should South Alabama do?
Tuesday’s Practice Interrupted By Rain But Good
Defensive coordinator Bill Clark working with Jake Johnson and the linebackers during individual drills on Saturday morning.
On Tuesday morning the Jags hit the practice field until rainy weather interrupted their workout. They reconvened in the school’s recreation center to finish the workout on their last day on campus before traveling to Hawaii.
“You just have to adapt,” said defensive coordinator and assistant head coach Bill Clark after tuesday’s practice. “We’ve been blessed by not having to move inside a lot (this season) with the rain. It was a little tough at first but we came in and got a lot of good mental work and I think this time of year that’s more important than the physical, making your calls and checks. We wound up having a good day.”
Coach Clark said that the team will be tested like it has never been tested before as they make the long and much anticipated trip to Hawaii for the season finale. “I think it’s tough,” Clark said. “You could sugar-coat it and say it’s not, but it is. They know where they’re going, they know we’re at the end of the year and so the mental part, which we discussed (Monday), is going to be key.”
“How do we handle this transition? Can we put ourselves back in game mode on Thursday when everything gets started again? I think we will because we’ve got an older group of guys and I think they want to finish on a good note. That’s what out plan is.”
The South Alabama Jaguars began what some might consider a logistical nightmare of a trip on Tuesday.
The team will actually have to depart from three seperate locations in order to get to Hawaii for their game against the Warriors on Saturday. One group will fly out of Pensacola’s (FL) airport, another group will depart from Mobile’s Airport while a third group will fly out of New Orleans (LA) airport.
All three groups will reunite in Houston where they will continue their journey to Honolulu.
Head coach Joey Jones was part of a group that made the trip ahead of the team on Tuesday.
Following the game, most of the South Alabama group will begin their journey home following Saturdays’ game, which kicks off at 6pm local Hawaii time (10pm Central time). A few more will begin their journey home on Sunday morning while a few, including Coach Jones, will remain a couple extra days.
Chapuseaux Honored As Special Teams Player Of The Week For Second Time This Season
Senior placekicker Michel Chapuseaux lines up for a field goal against Texas-San Antonio in the Jaguars opening game of the 2012 season.
Michel Chapuseaux has done it again. In October he became the first player in South Alabama history to earn a weekly award from the Sun Belt Conference. On Monday the senior became the first Jaguar to be honored twice.
Chapuseaux, from Fruitland Park, FL was noted Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season after matching his career high with three field goals in a game and finishing with 12 points in the game against Louisiana-Lafayette. He also set a new school record by scoring 83 points on the season and took over the Sun Belt lead with 20 field goals this season.
The mark of 20 field goals this season is two shy of matching the Sun Belt record. He will have a chance to add to his record 83 points scored this season and to tie or break the Sun Belt single-season field goal mark when the Jags kickoff against Hawaii at 10pm Central time on Saturday in Hawaii.
Monday Press Conference
Romelle Jones and Alex Page give chase to the FAU quarterback during the Jaguars win in 2012.
The University of South Alabama held their weekly press conference on Monday. As the Jags are very busy preparing for their trip to Hawaii, the offensive and defensive coordinators filled in for head coach Joey Jones. The coordinators were joined by quarterback Ross Metheny and defensive lineman Romelle Jones. Below are highlights from the press conference.
Defensive Coordinator Bill Clark began with an opening statement. “We’re going to lose a day in travel, so we have had to kind of tighten our belts coming straight off the last game and get the game plan in even earlier than we normally would. It’s a different feeling this week, you’re at the end of a long season; as a player, you just have to fight through that. From a preparation standpoint, it’s a time crunch trying to get ready, I think we have done a good job the last couple of days.”
Clark then spoke about going up against a program that is run by Norm Chow, a well known coach. “It’s like the trip, it’s a great experience. Of course, these are the things that keep coaches up at night, going against a guy who has been at Southern Cal and with the Titans. And that’s who they are; it’s a pro-style offense. That has been a point of interest for our players given his history and how well he has done as a coordinator.”
“They came into their own last week and scored a lot of points,” he continued. “They have played against a lot of great opponents their first year he has been running the program, so I hope they are not hitting their stride right now.”
Clark then spoke about what he has seen from his players the last few weeks. “The thing that we have talked about is fighting, and before last week I felt really good. You can sit here and talk about us being banged up, injuries and playing 13 games, but we can’t do that. I will promise you one thing, I know our guys are going to fight. We’re going over there to get a ‘W.’ We really want to see these guys finish strong, and finish on a good note for the seniors and next year’s team.”
“Our guys came out last night to practice just like it was week six or seven, and they did the same thing today. I think as a fan you have to like what you see on both sides of the ball and the kicking game, the effort that they have put in this year. Hopefully that can translate to a win.”
Finally Clark spoke about how important it is to finish the season strong in Hawaii. “We’re going to see their maturity level. Can you go do these things, have some down time and still be about your business? We have a lot of guys who have been through the wars, but they haven’t been through this though. It will be interesting to see how handle the long travel, the different time zone and one of the most beautiful places on earth.”
First year offensive coordinator Robert Matthews began with his opening statement before the press. “I think one of the things we have to make sure we are good at this week is monitoring the maturity level of the team with the travel, the long trip, the changing of the schedule and being in a place like Waikiki Beach. Certainly it’s a place where most of the guys on our team have not been before so they are going to see some sights and it will be a life-changing experience for them. While they are excited about being able to go and see a place like Hawai’i, they need to understand that we are going to play a football game. That’s our ultimate job, to go there, play the game and get a victory. Making sure our team is mature and that they handle it the right way, which I’m sure they will, is real important for us.”
Matthews then spoke about what Hawaii does defensively to create problems for opponents offenses. “They are a pressure defense, they try to create pressure situations on the quarterback and try to pressure your run game. It’s based out of a 3-5 [formation], and they are using multiple fronts and multiple coverages. They really just try to create confusion up front, give your quarterback different looks and wreck your run game with movement and blitzes.”
He then spoke about what he wants to see from the offense in the last game of the season. “I want them to finish strong. We have done some good things at times, and certainly there are things we would like to take back and work to correct. I want them to play with great energy, and I want them to enjoy playing the game of football. These guys don’t realize how lucky they are to be playing Division I football and to have the experiences they are having. I want them to embrace this opportunity, this is our final game of the 2012 season, and play with the passion that got them started in the game.”
“Obviously we want to execute, score points and move the football, but if they play with a high energy level and with that true passion that got them playing the game in the first place, then I think we will be successful.”
Quarterback Ross Metheny spoke about what he hopes to accomplish in the final game of the season for the Jags. “It’s a big trip, and we’re excited about it. We’re excited about playing a new opponent, but we have to keep in mind that it is a business trip and we are going there to win a football game and take care of business. We’re going to have fun with it, but again it is a business trip and we’re looking to play our best football.”
“It would be big for us to get a win going in to the offseason, just to have some momentum,” he continued. “The coaches and players always preach finishing strong, and I think a win at Hawaii would definitely be a good finish especially for our seniors who have put in so much hard work in building this program and getting this thing going. Finishing [the season] with a win would be great for them.”
Metheny then spoke about the importance of getting a win moving forward. “It just leaves a positive taste in your mouth going into all of the offseason work. This season has been up and down with a lot of close losses, and to be able to look back and say we finished strong with a win would be positive for our guys and a good motivator going forward.”
He also spoke about the Jaguars close losses this season. “Eventually, being so close isn’t enough. That’s kind of what has happened all season. We have been close in so many games, and haven’t been able to put a whole game together. Enough of that. We want to put one together, finish strong and take that into the offseason knowing that is what South Alabama football is going to be.”
Metheny then addressed where he thinks the program fits into the Sun Belt Conference. “If you look at the games we have played this year, we have been close in so many. It has kind of been a learning experience with everyone involved with this program. But one thing to take away from it is our competitiveness and our competitive spirit of this team and coaching staff. We have never quit in any game, and my hat’s off to my teammates and our coaching staff. You don’t want to take moral victories, but I think we have established ourselves and we can say that we can be competitive in this league especially going forward. There is a lot of respect for the teams in the Sun Belt, but we’re excited about the future going forward.”
Finally he spoke about going to Hawaii. “A lot of guys wouldn’t have this opportunity if they didn’t play Division-I football. It’s a neat experience. For me personally, I get to see my sister who lives out there. I’m excited about that. It’s going to be fun. It will be a new environment, but we will absorb it all then get down to business and go win a football game. We’re excited about it as a team. This is what Division-I football is – making big trips, travelling and going and playing football.”
Defensive lineman Romelle Jones began by talking about what he hopes to accomplish in the Jaguars final game of the 2012 season. “Our number-one goal is to definitely get a win. That is always the most important thing. It is a business trip. It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. A lot of guys probably would have never had this opportunity without being a part of this great thing we have going at South Alabama.”
He continued by talking about the importance of getting a win for the program moving forward. “College football is built on momentum, and that would be great momentum going into the offseason. It would give guys something to look forward to. To have a win to finish the season and leave us with a great taste in our mouths going into the offseason would be great.”
Jones also spoke about the Jaguars close losses this season. “It’s not enough coming close every game. I feel like we shouldn’t look back at the past as much, but just look forward and use it as a building block as something great that we can build on this offseason. We can definitely have something to look forward to and build off of.”
He then spoke about where he feels the South Alabama program fits in the Sun Belt conference. “This season was a great building block. It wasn’t a great season, but I know it was a confidence-builder for a lot of guys. That let us know that we can compete with guys on any level and can pretty much go toe-to-toe with anybody in the Sun Belt.”
Finally, Jones also spoke about going to Hawaii. “It’s something that growing up I never thought I would be able to experience at such a young age. It just really warms my heart. It’s a great thing, but at the end of the day we still have to focus and realize that it is a business trip and we need to take care of our business and finish this season off in the proper way.”
South Alabama and Hawaii will kickoff at 10pm Central time.
Jags Head Into Final Game Of Season
The Jaguars will have to put their loss to Louisiana-Lafayette behind them quickly because this week will a flurry of activity.
They will have to get some practice in before they begin their travel to Hawaii early this week in order to acclimate themselves to the time change and the weather on the Pacific island.
But this may be a great time for the Jags to visit Hawaii as they are struggling this season. The Warriors only have two wins this season as they are coming off of a win against UNLV 48-10 on Saturday. UNLV only has two wins themselves.
After such a long and tough season, maybe a more relaxed atmosphere is just what they need. A win in their final game would snap a five game losing streak and would help the coaches and players take some momentum into the offseason.
Next season the Jags will be eligible for the Sun Belt Conference crown and for a bowl game.
The Jaguar offense, lead by Ross Metheny, set school records against ULL with completions (27) and passing yards (360). This was without two of the Jaguars top three running backs as well.
In addition, placekicker Michel Chapuseaux set a school record for points scored in a season by scoring 12 of the Jaguars 30 points to increase his season total to 83 points. He also took the lead in the Sun Belt Conference with 20 field goals for the season. He made kicks of 45, 33 and 50 yards against the Ragin’ Cajuns’.
Kickoff for the Jaguars and Warriors is set for 10pm Central time. The game can be heard on 105.5 FM WNSP and streamed from their website http://www.wnsp.com/. It will be available to view on Oceanic Pay-Per-View for $12.56 and can be streamed over the internet. But Baumhower’s Restaurant has announced that they will stay open late for Jaguar fans and will be showing the game.
Go Jags!