Jags Travel Back To Georgia Southern AKA The Scene Of The Crime
South Alabama (1-4, 1-1 SBC) hits the road for the final leg of their three game road swing to take on a resurgent Georgia Southern (3-1, 1-0 SBC) team in Statesboro, Georgia. This is also back-to-back seasons traveling to Statesboro, which is due to the Sun Belt Conference aligning into two divisions and hosting a Conference Championship Game beginning this season.
To give a little history, last season the Eagles were starting season two of Tyson Summers tenure as head coach. He had taken over for very successful Willie Fritz who left to take the head coaching position at Tulane (the Eagles won the GoDaddy Bowl to finish 9-4). Summers won the first three games of 2017 before losing 7 of the final 9 games of the season to finish a disappointing 5-7.
The 2017 season started out with a 41-7 loss to then #12 Auburn, followed by a 22-12 loss to FCS New Hampshire in Birmingham. They were 0-6 when it was decided that the six-time FCS national champions would fire Summers and name Chad Lunsford as the interim head coach.
Lunsford then lost the next three games to Troy, Georgia State and Appalachian State before having a long week to prepare for South Alabama. The Jags had started the season with two power 5 teams in Ole Miss and Oklahoma State before welcoming FCS Alabama A&M. They opened Sun Belt play against Idaho in a disaster of a game that lasted some 8 hours or so with multiple lightning delays and horrendous officiating that eventually saw the Vandals (steal a) win in overtime.
The Jags limped into Troy, who themselves were coming off of an upset win over LSU, for a Wednesday night game against their in-state rivals. The Jags turned up the defense and upset the Trojans 19-8 in front of a nationally televised audience.
The up-and-down Jags then defeated Louisiana-Monroe and lost to Georgia State and Louisiana-Lafayette before hosting the defending SBC champs, and the favorite to win the conference title again, Arkansas State Red Wolves. The Jags showed up and earned their first win against ASU. It looked like head coach Joey Jones may have saved his job, especially if they could win out and get bowl eligible again.
But the 0-9 Eagles had a different idea.
The Jags went into Statesboro and the game was a complete nightmare. Lunsford had rallied his team and they shellacked the Jags 52-0, which sealed Jones’ fate with his announced resignation effective at the end of the season two days later. It was the first time the Jags were held scoreless in program history.
Now back to current day.
The Jags have a new head coach in Steve Campbell but, as his post game comments said last Saturday, they are not as far along as he thought. The Jags were completely demolished by Appalachian State in Boone, NC 52-7. Now they hope to get some revenge from last year, notch their second win of the season, and keep their lead in their conference division.
The Eagles enter the game after a big win over one of the conference’s best teams year-in and year-out in Arkansas State.
The Eagles sealed the game with a reverse option pitch that went 47 yards for the game-deciding touchdown with :19 left in the game. The Eagles completed just one pass in the game, though they only attempted three passes, but the lone completion went 61 yards for a touchdown, however the Eagles rushed for 348 yards in the game.
South Alabama has already shown on the season that they are very susceptible to the run and big plays. The defense ranks 117th nationally in total defense (501.8 yards per game), 120th in rush defense (234.4 yards per game) and 126th in scoring defense (44 points per game). Add in the fact that the Jags have not found a way to stop the triple option attack, one could even say it has been their kryptonite over the last several years.
But the Jags offense showed some triple option itself early in the season, but has shied away from it the last few games. Coach Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield and defensive coordinator Greg Stewart all have experience with the option somewhat. But will that translate onto the field?
Just a few weeks ago the Jags were riding high after getting their first win under Coach Campbell and playing well on the road against Memphis before last weeks debacle, where the Jags were outscored 45-0 after tying the game at 7 in the first quarter.
The most prominent affliction that can be seen each and every game has been penalties. USA is next-to-last nationally with 51 penalties, only three behind Kent State, and 130th which is dead last with 96.8 penalty yards per game.
The Jags are only averaging about 20 more yards rushing than they do in penalties. The teams leading rusher only has 164 yards through 5 games, or 32.8 yards per game.
Quarterback Shai Werts leads the Eagles with 369 yards and six touchdowns rushing on the season with Wesley Fields with 298 yards and one touchdown on the season. Werts has only thrown 27 passes on the season and has completed 14 of them for 264 yards and three touchdowns. So they don’t throw much, but when they do they are averaging almost 20 yards per reception.
On the flip side, the Jags Jamarius Way has emerged as the top receiver on the team with 500 receiving yards on 35 catches for two touchdowns. The next closest receiver is running back Kawaan Baker who has 16 receptions for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively the Jags safety, Nigel Lawrence leads the team with 48 total tackles, which indicates how much success offenses have had against this defense. The next closest defender, Nick Mobley, has 26 stops on the season.
But Nigel was helped off the field last week with a knee injury, it’s uncertain the extent of the injury but at a minimum he will miss a couple weeks if it is not a season ending injury. Add in linebacker Riley Cole’s knee injury keeping him sidelined and you start to see the Jags injury bug showing itself once again.
The line opened with GSU as a 13 point favorite in the game. It may be a conservative line with the Jags history against the triple option and porous run defense.
I really hope to that I am proven wrong but from what I have seen this season, I cannot confidently go with the Jags to cover much less win outright in this game. Again, I would love to be shown wrong, but key injuries along with the scheme and the love affair with the yellow hankies all add up to a recipe that just doesn’t taste well for a Jaguar fan.
The game can be seen on ESPN3 with kickoff scheduled for 2:30pm in Statesboro, Georgia.
Go Jags!
Inside the Numbers:
Jags Dominated in 52-7 Loss To Appalachian State
South Alabama had a disappointing trip to Boone, NC on Saturday when they ran into a buzz saw of a team in the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
App State got started with a 54 yard touchdown scramble by quarterback Zac Thomas to cap off a six play, 69 yard drive in the first 1:49 of the game.
After that the Jags defense seemingly settled in with a stop on their next series. Then we seemingly had a game when the Jags offense got in gear behind a 41 yard pass completion from Evan Orth to Kawaan Baker got the Jags in scoring position. three plays later Bakers took the handoff in for this eighth touchdown of the season to tie the game at 7-all.
But that was the end of the highlight reel for the Jags. It was all downhill from there, allowing 35 straight points in the first half for a 42-7 halftime deficit. Then another 10 points in the second half for the final score of 52-7.
The game shifted firmly into the Mountaineers favor after the Jags touchdown when Coach Campbell called for an on-sides kick trying to catch App State on their heels. But not only was the ball recovered with very good field position, but an Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty made it 15 yard better to the Jaguars 38 yard line. Two plays later the Mountaineers were back in the end zone with the lead.
Orth was 20-of-33 for 225 yards an an interception. Tra Minter was the leading rusher with 44 yards on nine carries. The recently hot Jamarius Way was cooled off with seven catches for 63 yards. Baker led the Jags receivers with 89 yards on four catches.
App State’s Zac Thomas was 8-of-18 for 146 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Peyton Derrick was 2-for-2 for 23 yards and a touchdown as he came in to lead a 95-yard touchdown drive to close out the scoring.
Jalin Moore ran for 123 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Thomas added 77 yards on the ground with two touchdowns of his own.
Hennigan led the Mountaineers with 65 yards receiving on four catches. Corey Sutton had two catches for 46 yards and a touchdown while Marc Williams caught one pass for a 27 yard touchdown pass.
App State rolled up 517 yards against the Jaguar defense, 350 of them on the ground with an average of 7.6 yards per rush. Though they only gained 169 yards through the air, the Mountaineers averaged 16.9 yards per completion.
The Jags gained 308 yards of total offense, a mere 83 on the ground with an average of 2.4 yards per rush. But the Jags committed 9 penalties for 91 yards in the game.
At halftime and after the game Coach Steve Campbell had the same thing to say, “We didn’t play well…” In his post game statement he said, “We didn’t play well in any phase of the game and had too many penalties; our discipline is bad.”
Campbell on the on-sides kick said, “…from that point on things went bad. I thought we were going to be able to execute the on-side kick, get it and that would give us some momentum. They are a good football team though. They took Penn State to overtime and could have won the game, so I knew that we needed to do something. If I could take it back, I would.”
Campbell also noted, “Defensively, we need to work on our tackling. We’re still ducking our heads on some things.”
USA will travel to Georgia Southern on Saturday for the third-consecutive road game. Kickoff in Statesboro, Georgia is set for 2:30 CDT and will be aired on ESPN+.
Inside the Number:
Jags Face Tough Test Against Appalachian State In Boone
South Alabama (1-3, 1-0 SBC) travels to Boone, North Carolina to take on Appalachian State (2-1, 0-0 SBC). The Mountaineers destroyed Garner Webb and the students will be out in force for homecoming.
The Jags tried to upset Memphis on the road last week but had problems stopping their high-powered offense down the stretch and couldn’t keep up with them on the scoreboard, 52-35.
The one and only time the Jags played in Boone, USA brought home a big win 47-21 win. The next season the Mountaineers got some revenge with a 34-27 win in Mobile to make the all-time series tied at one win each.
Fast forward a couple of seasons and the Jags have a new coach and App State has been a steady winner since that loss in Boone. After starting that season 1-4 and 0-2 in conference play, they have compiled a 38-11 record overall, 27-3 conference record and three consecutive bowl wins.
South Alabama, one way or another, has finally found someone to go with at quarterback in the senior Evan Orth. He’s been very efficient too going 66-of-96 for 789 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception. Kawaan Baker emerged early as a great outlet but he’s been complimented, if not overshadowed, by the play of Jamarius Way lately. After back-to-back 170-yard plus games, Way is 7th nationally in receiving yards per game.
Mountaineers quarterback Zac Thomas has also been efficient for the Mountaineers going 50-of-67 for 750 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
South Alabama has struggled running the ball. From the 2017 season to the 2018 season, under the new coaching staff, the playcalling has flipped the run/pass ratio from being pass heavy to being more run heavy, but have not been as successful as they have hoped.
Baker, the slot receiver, is the teams leading rusher with 134 yards on the season with a 6.4 yard per rush average with four touchdowns. Tra Minter is right behind him with 120 yards rushing on the season and three touchdowns. The only other runner in triple digits rushing is Evan Orth with 113 yards.
While Way is putting up big numbers receiving, Way has three receiving touchdowns on only 12 receptions. He’s scored over 1/3 of Jags total points this season!
Orth has had success in the quick-release passing offense. It keeps the offense simple for him, takes pressure off of the offensive line who has had a hard time protecting him this season (nine sacks, seven hurries).
After being quite futile on third down for the season, the Jags were 8-of-15 last week against Memphis. Each and every week third-down conversions are a telling fact because they extend drives and rests your defense. If the Jags reverts back and has problems sustaining drives then it will be a disadvantage for the Jags defense.
While the Jags have focused on and have been successful lately in getting some big-plays on offense, the Mountaineers are 2nd in the FBS with four offensive plays of over 60 yards and is the only team with multiple plays of 80+ yards. But defensively the Jags have allowed 15 plays of 30+ yards which is 125th nationally and allows an average of 6.2 yards per play, which is 104th nationally.
The Jags defensive scheme is to create negative plays to put the offense behind the chains by bringing a heavy rush with frequent man-to-man coverage in the secondary. While it has worked often against opponents with allowing less than a 30% conversion rate on third-down (19th nationally), they have also allowed lots of big plays and scoring with the previously noted 6.2 yards per play and almost 14 yards per completion.
App State’s defense prides itself on its run defense on making opponents one-dimensional. The Jags have been pretty one-dimensional all season and they have have played pretty well the last couple of weeks. The Mountaineers will lean on that then disguise their coverages against an inexperienced quarterback.
With a 25.5 point spread, I think the Jags will cover but I’m not sure they can start off 2-0 in the conference. But historically the Jags, when a heavy underdog in the points spread, they have risen to the occasion. I’d love nothing else than getting started 2-0 in conference but the Mountaineers are really good. Hopefully homecoming week festivities has been distracting as the Jags can sneak a win.
Go Jags!
Inside the Numbers:
Memphis’ Offense Too Much For Jags, Fall 52-35
Darrell Henderson rolled up 188 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Memphis Tigers over the Jags 52-35.
The South Alabama offense tried to keep up with Memphis, but Darrell Henderson’s 188 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns helped the Tigers outpace the Jags 52-35.
The Jaguars offense, led by Evan Orth, kept the Jags in the game well into the fourth quarter. Orth’s favorite target, Jamarius Way, had another huge night for with 10 receptions for 185 yards and a touchdown.
Kawaan Baker continues to contribute with 82 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. He had 33 yards on the ground on five touches with a touchdown then caught four passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Tra Minter led the Jags rushing with 35 yards.
Patrick Taylor added 75 yards rushing on 17 carries with two touchdowns for the Tigers. Tony Pollard carried three times for 30 yards and a rushing touchdown too.
Damonte Coxie led the Tigers with 113 yards receiving on eight catches with a touchdown. John Williams added 65 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
Nigel Lawrence led the Jags with 11 tackles. Sterling Fisher was the only Jag to record a sack.
The Jags came out strong driving down and scoring on the opening possession of the game when Baker ran in from 13 yards out.
But the Tigers answered right back on their first possession with a eight of their nine offensive plays being runs capped off by Henderson’s first touchdown. Memphis would score 21 unanswered points to take a 21-7 lead with 10:21 left in the second quarter.
The Jags would finally answer sparked by a 62 yard reception by Jahmmir Taylor and capped off by a two yard run by Tra Minter to make it 21-14.
The Jags would tie the game with 53 seconds left in the first half when Orth found Zac Crosby in the end one for his first career touchdown.
Memphis opened the second half with a touchdown drive with another run-heavy drive that covered 61 yards to make it 28-21.
After Memphis added a field goal, the Jags drove down for a touchdown after Jamarius Way’s big 29 yard catch highlighted the drive. But after a false start on the line backed up the Jags PAT attempt by five yards, the Tigers broke through the middle of the line and blocked the attempt to keep a 31-27 lead.
Down by four, the Jags decoded to go for it on 4th and 2 at the Tiger 8 yard line, but Minter was stopped for no gain turning the ball over on downs.
Memphis seized the opportunity and drove 92 yards on seven plays to take an 11 point advantage over the Jags 38-27 with 13:32 left to play. Just a few minutes later the Tigers would add to it on a three play, all Darrell Henderson drive where he ran for all 64 yards, 54 of them on the touchdown run to open up a 45-27 lead.
USA was in business deep in Tiger territory after Zac Crosby blocked a punt. Orth then went to work throwing the ball to Kawaan Baker, Jordan McCray and the final three to Jamarius Way including a four yard touchdown and a two-point conversion to him as well making it 45-35 with 7:30 left.
Memphis answered right back with another run-heavy drive with six of the eight plays being runs, but a pass interference call on Jalen Thompson on 3rd and 7 extended the drive and on the next play Patrick Taylor takes it in from 11 yards out for the final score of the game 52-35.
South Alabama had their best offensive performance of the season with 467 total yards, 360 of it through the air. Memphis rolled up 563 yards of total offense with 271 yards on the ground and 292 through the air.
Coach Campbell spoke after the game praising the receivers and acknowledging mistakes, “We made a couple of mistakes that I can point the finger directly at myself for that could have made the game even more interesting. Our guys though fought hard and gave a great effort. We created some mismatch opportunities on offense. They [Memphis] had a hard time covering Jamarius and our other receivers. They were out there making plays.”
South Alabama (1-3, 1-0 SBC) will play their second of three-consecutive road games when they travel to Boone, North Carolina to face Appalachian State (2-1, 0-0 SBC) in the Jags second Sun Belt Conference game and the Mountaineers first conference game of the season.
The Tale Of The Numbers:
Jags Hit The Road To Face Memphis In First Of Three Consecutive Road Games
South Alabama travels to Memphis for a 7pm kickoff against the Tigers.
Offensively the Tigers have a strong offensive line and backfield. They returned four of their five starting offensive linemen and a junior running back in Darrell Henderson that is averaging an absurd 14.5 yards per rush and 173.7 yards per game. He has 526 yards this season on 36 carries with six touchdowns.
South Alabama’s defense is allowing an average of 184 yards per game on the ground. The Jags defense will want to stop the run, as they have tried to do in their previous games, and make Memphis one dimensional and forced to throw the ball.
However USA will have a huge task ahead of them with Henderson. No one has stopped him yet this season but the Jags have made star running backs look bad before (See San Diego State two years ago).
Defensively the Tigers return some talented linebackers behind a defensive line that is lacking in depth but has played well so far this season.
The Jags defense sparked the Jags to their big win last Saturday behind Jalen Thompson’s two interceptions and a touchdown. He has three interceptions on the season. Safety Nigel Lawrence leads the team in tackles, but that also points out that the opposing offense is having success getting to the second and third levels of the defense if your safety is leading the team in tackles.
Despite the high points of the defensive secondary, the Jags are allowing almost 300 yards per game. The Tigers quarterback Brady White has thrown 10 touchdowns on the season with no interceptions. While he has yet to face the meat of their schedule, he has not made any mistakes yet.
So far this season the Jags have made most of their yardage on the ground with read options and some triple option. Quarterback Evan Orth, at least for the time being, looks to be the guy at quarterback as senior Cole Garvin remains suspended indefinitely from the team and redshirt-freshman Cephus Johnson just has not seen much playing time.
In addition to throwing for 429 yards, three touchdowns and only one interception, Orth is also the teams leading rusher with 104 yards. The Memphis front seven will key off of him.
Jamarius Way came up big time against Texas State by setting a new school record with 11 catches in the game and almost set another one with 173 yards in the game. Up until that game, Kawaan Baker has been the workhorse in the passing game but the Bobcats did a good job of keeping him in check during the game.
The Tigers were successful in shutting down Georgia State’s Penny Hart last week so they’ll want to do that again this week. Additionally the Tigers have a similar player in a similar role as Baker so it seems they may have some experience with the way the Jags use Baker.
The spread for the game is 30.5 in favor of Memphis. It looks like Memphis, behind their very high tempo offense, could score at will on the Jags if USA struggles with penalties and getting off the field on third down. But 30.5 is quite large. I think the Jags will cover but its hard for me to see a way the Jags win the game without LOTS of help from Memphis and breaking up with penalties, cold-turkey.
Inside the numbers:
Jags Score 25 Unanswered Points To Defeat Texas State 41-31
Head coach Steve Campbell huddles his team on the field before going to the locker room for halftime trailing Texas State 24-16. South Alabama would go on to win 41-31.
Through three quarters, the Jaguars looked pretty terrible and played pretty terrible. Most of the students left early and quite a number of home-stands patrons had funneled out by the time the fourth quarter had started.
While the Jags rushed for 116 yards in the game, they had 15 penalties for 143 yards. That’s more than half the Jags passing yardage total of 266 for the game.
The spark came in the third quarter when Jalen Thompson’s 55-yard interception return for a touchdown cut the deficit to 31-23 with about six minutes left in the third quarter.
The Jags drew within five points when Gavin Patterson tied a career-long with a 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
With 2:02 left in the game, Orth found Jordan McCray for a 23 yard touchdown. Then a two-point conversion was converted with Orth throwing to Deonta Moore slipping out of the backfield to the right and was wide open to take the first lead of the season 34-31.
Willie Jones III had his ups and downs in the game for the Bobcats. He had a 50 yard touchdown run right through the middle of the Jaguar defense. He missed some game time with some injuries and had been sacked a few times in the game. But after two incomplete passes he threw a pass to the left side which Thompson broke on again and very nearly had a second pick-six of the game, but he was ruled out at the 4 yard line.
The Jaguar offense just could not punch the ball in on the ground. On 4th and goal from the 3, a touchdown pass to Collier Smith was negated by offensive pass interference. Then on 4th and 18 with :39 seconds on the clock, Orth tossed the ball up to the left boundy and Jamarius Way fought and came down with it for the touchdown making South Alabama’s lead 41-31.
Orth, who got the start after Cole Garvin was indefinitely suspended from the team after being arrested for public intoxication, went 24-of-33 for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
Way caught 11 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown. Jordan McCray caught 4 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown.
Tra Minter rushed nine times for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Orth was the next closest rusher with 21 yards on three attempts.
Willie Jones III went 16-of-30 for 205 yards, two touchdowns and an interceptions. Tyler Vitt went 1-of-2 for nine yards and an interception.
Javen Banks had two catches for 82 yards and a touchdown whiel Hutch White also added two catches for 46 yards and a touchdown. Six other receivers each had two catches each.
Jones III had 17 carries for 58 yards with the 50 yard touchdown run, he lost 37 yards mostly in sacks. Anthony Taylor carried 14 times for 44 yards.
Head coach Steve Campbell said after the game that “There were a lot of things that went against us tonight, a lot of them were from our own doing.”
Before going into the locker room for halftime, coach Campbell huddled the team on the field. This is what he had to say about that after the game: “We talked about that we had muffed punts, their coach had gone for it on fourth and one with us backed up and didn’t get it, we’d fumbled, given up deep balls, had an extra-point blocked; done just about anything bad that could have happened to us and it was still just an eight-point ball game. We needed to get focused and go win the game.”
South Alabama will travel to Memphis (3-0) to take on the Tigers who played Georgia State on Friday night to a 59-22 win. Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
The Numbers Game:
Garvin Indefinitely Suspended From Team After Arrest
Well, the South Alabama quarterback competition got a bit simpler for the time being as senior quarterback Cole Garvin has been suspended from the team until further notice for a “violation of team rules” according to USA’s Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann.
Garvin was arrested for public intoxication in the early hours of Friday morning and was released on bond.
Garvin started a number of games for the Jags, he led the team to the programs first win over a ranked opponent to visit Ladd-Peebles Stadium in San Diego State. He also started the first game of the season against Louisiana Tech and got some playing time last weekend against Oklahoma State after fellow senior Evan Orth got his first career start.
Expect Orth to get the start again today against Texas State as Cephus Johnson has not seen that much game time and has gone 0-for-5 passing in his two game appearances.
Jags Host Bobcats To Open Sun Belt Conference Play
Saturday evening the Jaguars will open Sun Belt Conference play when they host Texas State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium starting at 6pm.
The Steve Campbell led Jaguars come in 0-2 with a four-point loss to a talented Louisiana Tech team and a blow-out loss to the high-flying Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road.
One reason Campbell was to improve the Jags standing in conference play. That starts this weekend.
All indications points to yet another week of quarterback rotation with seniors Evan Orth and Cole Garvin and redshirt freshman Cephus Johnson. So far Garvin (La. Tech) and Orth (OSU) have started a game, but I wouldn’t make it three-for-three with Johnson starting, at least not yet.
Campbell stated in his weekly radio show that he and offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield is looking for one of the three to step forward and separate themselves from the other two quarterbacks and becomes “the guy.” So far the USA offense is averaging 113.5 passing yards per game. But the Bobcats has a reputation of allowing big plays in the secondary.
The Jags defense has allowed over a thousand yards of offense in their first two games. Their opponents average almost 200 yards per game rushing and over 300 yards per game passing. They give up a healthy 4.3 yards per rush and 14.7 yards per completion. But the numbers are a little misleading with the huge numbers put up by the Cowboys last weekend.
Offensively the Jags are averaging a decent 3.7 yards per rush and 8.1 yards per pass completion.
One of the concerns the Jags will have on Saturday is sophomore quarterback Willie Jones III. While it was against an FCS opponent, he completed 62% of his passes and rushed for 107 yards for his first win as a starter. But the Bobcat offense is still searching for consistency.
These two teams have not met since 2015 when the Jags fell in San Marcos 36-18 in a soggy Texas night when TSU scored 19 unanswered points in the second quarter to take command and cruise to victory.
Two key injuries from last weekend, both are likely gone for the season. Long snapper Andrew Zink tore his ACL and linebacker Roy Yancey suffered a broken leg.
Both teams come in struggling and both teams want to start off their conference schedule with a win. The old adage of ‘whoever wants it more will win’ comes to mind. USA made the Louisiana Tech game quite interesting late and beat the spread. Now the Jags are a 10.5 point favorite at home. I’d love for the Jags to cover but you never know what you’re going to get in a cat fight. I think the Jags will win, but the Bobcats will keep it a little closer than the spread.
Go Jags!
Big Stats:
Jags Fall To Cowboys 55-13; Prepares To Open Conference Schedule Against Texas State
South Alabama’s defense focused on stopping the Oklahoma State running game, and held them to 164 yards, but Taylor Cornelius in only his second start threw for 428 yards and a touchdown as the Jags fell 55-13 in Stillwater.
In his first career start, Evan Orth went 14-of-25 for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Kawaan Baker led the Jags with 40 yards rushing and a touchdown while adding three catches for 29 yards and another touchdown.
USA scored both of their touchdowns in the first half, the last being with 2:57 left in the half to cut the Cowboy lead to 24-13. But the Cowboys answered to go into the locker room with a 31-13 lead.
With the Cowboys gaining 730 yards of offense the previous week, 430 of it on the ground, the Jags focused on one dimension and had some pretty good success in the first half by allowing only 38 yards.
The Jag defense did pick off two passes, one in the end zone by Bull Barge and another by Tobias Moss that needed video review in order to confirm it. But they allowed Tylan Wallace to catch 10 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown as well as allowing Tyron Johnson to catch 5 passes for 137 yards.
In the end, the Jags defense allowed the Cowboys to gain 617 yards of offense. Only two of their nine scoring drive took more than two-and-a-half minutes off the clock.
The Cowboys clamped down on defense in the second half allowing the Jags only 65 yards after halftime.
Again, the Jags heavily penalized with 12 flags on the night.
Head coach Steve Campbell pointed out again that all the mistakes on the field were correctable. “…that starts out on the practice field,” Campbell said. “It starts with having a great day on Sunday and then a great day on Tuesday. You’re not going to waste a day because if you do, you’re going to play someone who isn’t wasting that day. We cannot have a wasted day. We’re looking forward to getting into Sun Belt play against Texas State. We know that they are going to be a really good football team. For me, [the season] kind of starts over and we are 0-0, and a week from now we need to be 1-0. We need to get ready and go win a football game, and that’s where our focus will be.”
Texas State brings an athletic quarterback and the team rushed for over 300 yards against Texas Southern. Their receivers have good speed and they have a sizable running back that runs with power.
Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield and coach Campbell both said it was too early to make a determination about the quarterback position, but they both mentioned they would like for one guy to step up to be “the guy.”
South Alabama returns home to host Texas State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium to open their Sun Belt Conference schedule with a 6pm kickoff on Saturday, September 15. The line opens with the Jags an 11-point favorite.
Jags Face Oklahoma State In Stillwater
South Alabama will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma State for their second ever match-up on Saturday, September 8.
But he said that all the mistakes that they made are correctable. Some of the mistakes were communication related and some were technique oriented in his opinion.
Offensively the Jags rushed for over 200 yards in the game, but only manage to throw for 91 yards. All three quarterbacks played in the game, though Cephus Johnson only played three downs and threw the ball once.
Defensively the Jags had problems with the Louisiana tech offensive line and their running game also allowing over 200 yards rushing.
On the other hand, Oklahoma State had a blow out win over Missouri State where they rolled up the third-highest yardage total in school history with 732 yards of total offense. But OSU coach Mike Gundy called it “average at best.”
Gundy, speaking about USA, said that the Jags are an “athletic group…has skilled kids and some good wideouts…their linebackers are active.”
Coach Campbell and his team and staff have their job cut out for them. Travel to Stillwater, try not to get too beat up, and play to win the game.
Last year the Jags hosted the Cowboys at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and fell 44-7. The OSU up-tempo offense was impressive to see in person, they negated the Jags depth on the defensive line by running their offense at a break-neck pace. The Jags defensive line was just get their hands down on the turf when Mason Rudolph clapped his hands for the snap.
It was this game that Cole Garvin suffered his sprained ankle that sidelined him for a number of games and thrust Dallas Davis back into the starting lineup a little earlier than the coaches may have wanted as he was still recovering from his off-season shoulder surgery.
The spread set for the game is from 31.5 to 32.5 points depending on where you look. This game could easily turn out like last year and get out of hand early. Add in playing in front of a home crowd and they may not pump the brakes as much as they did in Mobile.
South Alabama and Oklahoma State are scheduled to kickoff at 7pm. The game will be televised on FSN.