Pair Of Jaguars Earn Weekly Player Of The Week Honors After Regular Season Finale
South Alabama claimed both the Sun Belt Conference Offensive and Defensive players of the week in the final week of the 2013 regular season. On Monday, the conference office announced that Jay Jones was selected as the Offensive player of the week and Pat Moore was selected the defensive player of the week.
The Jaguars defeated Sun Belt Conference Co-Champion Louisiana-Lafayette 30-8 with Jay Jones rushed for a career best 105 yards on 19 carries. Pat Moore recorded a career-high seven tackles in the win.
South Alabama concluded its first season competing as a full member of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision with an overall record of 6-6 and a 4-3 record in conference games. Their conference record was good enough to tie for third place in the conference. While the overall record was good enough to qualify for postseason play, they along with several other Conference teams were not selected for bowl games.
Jones, a 5’9″ 190-pound junior from Horn Lake, MS. rushed for over 100-yards for the second consecutive game It was the fifth time this season that he led the team in rushing yards. He has also rushed for 737 yards on the season and ranks second in the school’s season record list. He ranks sixth in the league in rushing with an average of 61.4 yards per game.
With his effort, the Jags gained 363 yards of toal offense and controlled the ball for almost 36 minutes of the game. As the Jaguars built a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, he gained 53 yards including rushes for 27 and 28 yards on their first touchdown drive.
Moore, a 6’3″ 260-pound Southaven, MS native, recorded seven tackles included a pair of tackles for loss as the defense held Lafayette to a season-low 212 yards of total offense which was also the fewest allowed by USA this year. He totalled five tackles in the first three quarters while helping the Jaguars defense hold ULL to only 95 total yards.
This is the second time Moore has been honored with a weekly honor as he was selected as Special Teams Player of the Week on October 22, 2012. He finished the regular season tied for third in the conference with 13.5 tackles for loss and tied for fith with 5.5 sacks.
Statement from Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson
The 2013 regular season was the most competitive in the 13-year history of the Sun Belt – we had seven teams with records strong enough to qualify for bowls, the best ever non-conference win record, and a 6-1 record against our peer conferences – Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference and the Mountain West Conference.
When it was all over, UL-Lafayette and Arkansas State emerged as the league’s co-champions with the Cajuns accepting a bid to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and Arkansas State being selected by the Sun Belt’s second primary bowl, the GoDaddy Bowl.
The seven Sun Belt bowl eligible teams breaks the league’s previous record of five teams set last year and of all the other nine FBS conferences, the Sun Belt had the highest percentage of teams reach the bowl eligible mark – a tremendous achievement for the conference.
With seven bowl eligible teams from the Sun Belt along with a number of teams from other conferences in the at-large pool, we have known for several weeks that it was going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to place all of the bowl eligible teams from the Sun Belt into bowls that had open spots.
And during the past several weeks, I have been in discussions and negotiations with all the bowls that might be open. Specifically, the Sun Belt targeted the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl and Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl and was in negotiations with both up until final decisions were made.
The Sun Belt Conference Presidents and Chancellors authorized me two weeks ago to use Sun Belt funds at my discretion to entice both bowls to take a Sun Belt team. As a result, the Sun Belt made very significant financial offers to both bowls that clearly exceeded anything the Sun Belt has done in previous years.
I am extremely disappointed, that while our efforts were very aggressive, we ended up not being able to place more than two of our bowl eligible teams – especially Western Kentucky University with an 8-4 record. While the current bowl system is beneficial, the system is flawed when in the last two years three teams with eight or more wins – WKU, Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech – are denied post season opportunities when 12 teams last season with 6-6 records and seven teams this season are allowed to play in bowl games. This comes in addition to 6-7 teams being allowed to play in bowl games in 2012 and 2011.
With all of this being said, it is important to reiterate several important facts.
First, the champion of the Sun Belt Conference does not automatically go to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Second, while the Sun Belt has suggested guidelines on how we would like teams to be selected for bowls, both the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and GoDaddy Bowl ultimately have the freedom to choose the team that they feel is best for their game.
Lastly, once our two current bowl slots are filled there becomes a great deal of competition for open bowl slots. The discussions that we had with these open bowls involved significant financial contributions that put our teams in a position where they could be at or near the top of each bowl’s list of potential invitees.
We salute and congratulate the two bowl representatives from the Sun Belt. This is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of Sun Belt teams this season – and not focus on the negative. The Sun Belt continues to evolve, grow, and mature as one of ten FBS conferences. Beginning next season the Sun Belt will have a third primary bowl partner with the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama and other guaranteed spots in the Bahamas Bowl and the Miami Beach Bowl, along with other potential new bowls that we are trying to develop. And of course, a major goal of ours will be to have a team in the newly formed College Football Playoff.
“Together we Rise” is the theme of the Sun Belt Conference because we stand firmly committed to our membership and our communities and we embrace the growth and evolution of the Sun Belt.
No Bowl For The Jaguars
The Senior class posing together at mid field prior to defeating Louisiana-Lafayette 30-8 to get bowl eligible.
Unfortunately the South Alabama Jaguars football team were not extended an invitation to a bowl game their first season eligible. Though it was a long shot, many took to social media to plead USA case to a couple bowl committees. Their hard work and determination was fruitless this season, though it may not be forgotten in the future. A fan base as passionate as South Alabama’s are hard to silence.
The entire team including the group of 15 seniors who represent the first freshman recruiting class in South Alabama history, did their part. They rebounded after the season opening loss to Southern Utah. They went to Tennessee and were one play away from a tie or 2-point conversion attempt to defeat the Volunteers.
Again they rebounded after three consecutive losses and sitting at 3-6, they fought and dominated the remaining games, including the statistical top team in the conference, to get bowl eligible. Unfortunately beyond that, the bowl selections were out of their hands.
Had the bowl scenario had been similar to last season’s or next season, then the Jaguars may have fared better. Last season it went down to the final games of the season before enough teams were bowl eligible to fill all of the bowl slots before relying using newly passed rules to determine which teams could fill bowl slots who were not normally bowl eligible.
Also, beginning next season, there will be a couple new bowl games with tie-ins from the Sun Belt Conference. The Miami Beach Bowl will feature the American Athletic Conference facing a team from a six-year rolling rotation with Conference USA, Mid-American Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. There will also be a Bahamas Bowl where the Sun Belt will be in rotation with up to five conferences including the Mountain West, Mid-American, American Athletic conference and Conference USA. Finally the new Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL will feature the Sun Belt and the Mid-American Conference.
Though, the new bowls are not a comfort for the sting of being passed over by the bowl committees this season, it does lend hope for next season. Though the team will be aiming at winning the conference title next season and not just getting bowl eligible and hoping one of the bowls extend an invitation.
Most of all, I am saddened that the inaugural recruiting class do not get to go to a bowl game and suit up one final time in the Red, White and Blue of South Alabama.
I think those of us that watch as many bowl games as they can will watch a game and think, ‘South Alabama could have done better than that.’ Unfortunately we will not know that.
To the Seniors, thank you. You chose a school that was short on facilities but long on dreams. You believed in the vision that Coach Jones, his staff, the administration and the students had. But it was you who made that vision possible. Anyone can build a building, but it takes a team to go out every day, working together, to the accomplish what has been accomplished over the past five seasons.
There will never be another inaugural class of recruits to the South Alabama football program. And there will not be another class of recruits that will accomplish what you have. Everything from here on out will be building on the foundation laid back in 2009 through 2013.
Again, thank you and we hope to not only see you but to see all of the graduates back in some form or fashion in the future. Because Jag Nation is a family and we always welcome family back.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Vs Lousiana-Lafayette: By The Numbers
Let’s break down South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette by the numbers so far this season.
Last season the Jags fell to ULL 52-30 in Lafayette and remain as the most points ever scored against the Jaguars in program history. Season-long starting quarterback Terrance Broadway will miss the game with a broken arm. This will put more pressure on running back Alonzo Harris who has rushed for 808 yards and 13 touchdowns this season with an average of 4.7 yards per carry this season.
Lafayette has already secured at least a share of the Sun Belt Conference title, but with a win could claim it outright. The Jaguars are looking for their sixth win of the season to become bowl eligible in their first season as a full FBS member and only the fifth season of football.
ULL has already accepted an invitation to play Tulane in the New Orleans Bowl in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Saturday, December 21. Arkansas State, who with a loss by ULL could claim a share of the SBC title, will play in the GoDaddy Bowl in Mobile, AL.
South Alabama, after a season of close games, where four of their losses has been by two points or less, has finally won back-to-back games with relative ease the last two weeks as their offense and defense has found their groove. The Jaguar set a program-record with nine sacks against Louisiana-Monroe two weeks ago. Also Ross Metheny recorded a game with 100+ yards passing and rushing against ULM with a highlight reel 63-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cap off a great performance.
Shavarez Smith set a school record and recorded the best performance by a wide receiver by a SBC player this season with 10 receptions for 194 yards and a touchdown last week against Georgia State. Meanwhile the Jaguar defense held the GSU running attack to 24 yards on 25 carries.
Jereme Jones has caught passes in 38 consecutive games for the Jaguars.
South Alabama is 5-6 overall, 3-3 Sun Belt.
Louisiana-Lafayette is 8-3 overall 5-1 Sun Belt.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as well as radio play by play by Lee Shirvanian and Rick Cleveland on WNSP.com and 105.5FM WNSP.
Offense:
Scoring Offense
ULL 37.0 points per game
USA 29.4 points per game
Read more
Arkansas State To Play In GoDaddy Bowl In Mobile
The GoDaddy Bowl is traditionally one of the last bowl games of the season. It typically matches up the #2 Sun Belt team vs the #1 MAC team. Arkansas State will represent the Sun Belt for the third-consecutive season. | twitter.com/godaddybowl
Arkansas State will be coming back to Mobile for their third consecutive GoDaddy Bowl as announced on Monday as they accepted an invitation to play in the game on January 5 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Arkansas State finished the season with a 7-5 record and will finish no worse than second in the Sun Belt Conference. They could gain a share of SBC title with a Louisiana-Lafayette loss to South Alabama on Saturday night though.
As this is the third consecutive year ASU has been in the GoDaddy Bowl, it’s also their third different head coach. Hugh Freeze guided the Red Wolves to the first appearance before leaving for his current head coaching position at Ole Miss. Gus Malzahn led the team last year to their second appearance before leaving for his current head coaching position at Auburn University. Current head coach Bryan Harsin was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas prior to accepting the head position at ASU.
ASU fell to Western Kentucky last weekend to end a four-game winning streak.
In 2011, the Red Wolves lost to Northern Illinois 38-20, in 2012 they defeated Kent State 17-13 in postseason play. Again, they will face a Mid-American Conference opponent in the bowl game, but the team has not been announced yet.
This will be Arkansas State’s second trip to Mobile this year as they held on to defeat South Alabama 17-16 on November 2 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Shavarez Smith Selected As SBC Offensive Player Of The Week
Shavarez Smith was honored as the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. He caught 10 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown against Georgia State. | Photo usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Shavarez Smith was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week by the league office on Monday.
Smith, a 6’1″ 200-pound junior receiver from McDonough, Georiga, caught 10 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown. He is the second Jaguar to earn the honor this season as Ross Metheny earned the award after the Jaguars win over Tulane on September 7.
Smith’s performance not only set a school record, but was the most receiving yards by any Sun Belt player this season.
As he enters the final game of the regular season, Smith has set school records for a single season with 47 receptions for 900 yards. But he not only stands third in the conference in yards per game, but he is also 12th in the nation with an average of 19.1 yards per reception.
South Alabama will host conference leader Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. It will also be Senior Day with the ceremony starting at 6:30pm prior to the 7pm kickoff. The Jaguars need to win this final game of the season to get to an even record for the season and get bowl eligible for the first time in program history.
Kickoff Time Announced For South Alabama Vs Louisiana-Lafayette
University of South Alabama Director of Athletics Dr. Joel Erdmann announced the kickoff time of the regular season finale on December 7 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium against Sun Belt Conference leader Louisiana-Lafayette. The Jags and the Ragin’ Cajuns will kickoff at 7pm CST on Saturday, December 7th in a game that will be featured on ESPN3.
Lafayette has an opportunity to clinch the SBC Title on Saturday when they play in-state rival Louisiana-Monroe. ULL are 8-2 overall and 5-0 in SBC play.
Meanwhile, South Alabama will travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State in the Georgia Dome in a 1pm CST kickoff. The Jags are fighting for bowl eligibility and needing to win both of their remaining games to be bowl eligible in their first season as a full FBS member. The Jaguars enter the game with an overall record of 4-6 and 2-3 against Sun Belt foes.
Georgia State looks to win their final game of the season in order to avoid a winless season. The Panthers want to win the game on Saturday to avoid a winless season as they are 0-11 on the season. Though they are playing their best football of the season right now as they narrowly fell to Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Saturday 35-33.
USA Volleyball’s Season Ends In Quarterfinals Of SBC Tournament
The Jaguar volleyball team saw it’s season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Championships on Thursday. Texas-Arlington defeated the Jags 3-0 (18-25, 23-25, 21-25) to advance to the semifinal round.
The Jaguars finish the season with a 14-15 record, the most wins since 1995, and making it to the conference tournament after beginning the season with an 0-5 conference record and a 1-7 record through their first eight conference games. They fought hard down the stretch to earn a #5 seed to the conference tournament.
UT-Arlington improves to 18-14 on the season and will face #8 seeded Troy who upset #1 seeded Western Kentucky 3-0.
Mechell Daniel ends her freshman season with 423 kills, the most by a Jaguar freshman and sixth most in single season history. Fellow freshman phenom Jessica Lewis fell short of her third double-double of the season as they ended the match with 13 kills and nine digs.
Another freshman, Abby Baker, finished with 14 digs for the Jags as well.
Jenna Hassell is the only listed senior on the team. She missed the season with a knee injury. She ranks fourth in USA’s career digs list with 1,242 and leads the program in career digs average with 3.76.
JagNation is proud of what the Volleyball team has accomplished this season. They turned around a tough season that was hampered by injuries and made it to the conference tournament. Thank you ladies for your hard work this season and we look forward to next season.
Go Jags!
USA Volleyball Freshmen Daniel and Lewis Earn Postseason Honors
Freshman Mechell Daniel was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and named to the First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference team on Wednesday. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
Jessica Lewis earned a place on the Second-Team All-Sun Belt Team on Wednesday. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
As the Jaguar women’s volleyball team prepares for their quarterfinal match against Texas-Arlington in the Sun Belt Championships being held in Troy, Alabama the Jags had a pair of freshmen honored.
Freshman opposite side/outside hitter Mechell Daniel was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Freshman of the Year while also picking up first-team All-Conference honors. Fellow freshman outside hitter Jessica Lewis earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors.
The selection were announced Wednesday evening at the Conference’s pre-tournament banquet. The 16-member teams were selected by the 10 conference coaches. Daniel was the first first-team All-SBC team since 1995. This is also the first time since 2000 that the Jags have placed two student-athletes on all-conference teams.
Daniel, a 6’2″ freshman from Chelmsford, England, is only the second player to be named as an individual award winner. The previous was Marei Lirette who named the conference’s Player of the Year. Daniel’s 411 kills are the most ever by a freshman at South Alabama and also ranks as seventh-most in a single season as they head into the conference tournament. She also led the Jags and ranked third in the Sun Belt in both kills (3.83), and points (4.33) per set. Against conference foes she averaged 4.03 kills per set.
Daniel earned 14 double-doubles on the year with 13 of them came against conference foes and posted double figures in kills in 23 of her matches including a career-high 28 against Troy last month. That was her fourth 20-plus match of the season.
Daniel was selected as the Sun Belt’s Freshman of the Week on a conference-best four occasions this season and became the first conferecne player to ever be named both the top freshman and offensive player of the week.
Lewis, a Huntsville, Alabama native, came in and ranked fifth in the conference in kills (3.38) and points (3.78). She was also named the SBC Freshman of the week three times, second most to Daniel in the conference. She also earned the honor in back-to-back weeks.
Even though she missed four weeks of the season and 10 matches due to a foot injury but she still managed to record 247 kills. She earned two double-doubles during the season including a career-best 20-kill, 10-dig match in a near upset of regular season champion Western Kentucky. She led the Jags 10-times and posted double figured in 16 of her 18 matches played. She also had eight matches of 15 or more kills.
The fifth-seeded Jaguars will face the fourth-seeded Mavericks of Texas-Arlington at 5pm.
USA Volleyball Opens SBC Tournament On Thursday
The fifth seeded Jaguar women’s volleyball team will open postseason play on Thursday in Troy, Alabama when they take on the fourth seeded Texas-Arlington Mavericks in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Championships at 5pm on Thursday.
This is the first appearance by the Jags in the last three season and only one player of the roster has experience in playing in a conference championship event.
The Jags (14-14, 9-9 SBC) finished the season with a 7-2 record over their final nine conference matches and was second only to top seeded Western Kentucky during that span. After opening the conference schedule by going 0-5, they won 9 of their next 13 matches.
Mechell Daniel and Jessica Lewis have combined to earn eight SBC Freshmen of the Week honors this season with Daniel being named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week on November 11.
With 411 kills on the season, Daniel has set the record for most ever by a freshman at USA and ranks seventh all-time for a single season. Of her 14 double-doubles this season, 13 of them have come against Conference foes.
UT-Arlington holds a 2-1 advantage in the series. UTA won in Arlington earlier this season 3-0 but the Jags won their second meeting 3-1 in Mobile. They ended a five-match losing streak last weekend with a 3-1 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday and a 3-2 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday. During their losing streak they lost matches to Troy, USA, WKU, Georgia State and Texas State.
“I think it’s very good for our team to get the experience of playing in the Sun Belt tournament and I’m excited for our players,” Jaguar head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. “It’s a special occasion and not everyone gets to go to the conference tournament. On the other hand, I feel we have a group of young ladies that have all been competing for championships before at other levels, so I don’t think that’s anything out of the ordinary for them. This is something that they are familiar with. We’re just going to try to focus on it like any other match.”
“We had a tough test at the net against Georgia State (on Sunday),” Hendrichovsky continued. “Like UTA, they have a very physical presence at the net. I think we have to keep the same type of mentality and approach that we have against any other team. Our game can’t change because of who’s on the other side of the net. We have to control our side. A lot of it will be on our first contact and how we handle that. I want our attackers to keep the same mentality that they’ve had. We’ve played many teams that have a physical presence on the other side of the net. We compete against ourselves every day in practice and we’re third in the conference (in league play) in blocking. So it’s not something we haven’t seen throughout the year.”
Live stats of the matches can be found on the Sun Belt Conference website by going here.
Go Jags