Both The Jags And Wolfpack Coming Off Defensive Games
Myles Gibbon takes in Carter-Finley Stadium before the team takes the field for warm-ups.
The Jags and the Wolfpack both come off of defensive games where special teams play were key to their victories.
South Alabama’s Michel Chapuseaux accounted for a career high three field goals to score all of the Jaguars points. He is 4-of-5 on the season thus far and leads the team with 16 points. Punter Scott Garber averaged 43.6 yards per punt with two kicks downed inside the opponents 20 yard line. He also boomed a 69 yard punt in the contest to help flip field position into the Jags favor.
NC State’s Wil Baumann punted nine times against UConn with three downed inside the opponents 20 yard line. He averaged almost 39 yards per kick. Placekicker Niklas Slade gave the Wolfpack their final margin of victory by connecting on a 40 yard field goal that were the only points scored before halftime.
“I think they [N.C. State] are better defensively this year,” Jones said. “Their defensive front seems more active. They lost a couple of NFL guys at linebacker, but they replaced them with a couple of good ones. They are very well-coached and do a good job with their schemes.”
Mike Glennon, who went 17-of-20 for 274 yards and four touchdowns against the Jags last season, is 42-of-76 (55.3%) this season for 492 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target so far is Tobias Palmer who has nine receptions so far this season. QUintin Payton has a team-best 177 yards receiving. While on the ground, Mustafa Greene leads a trio of running backs with 101 yards but Tony Creecy and James Washington have split the two rushing touchdowns by the Wolfpack.
“Offensively, it starts with their quarterback,” Jones said. “He’s very efficient, and they do a good job moving the ball down the field and are patient with their play calls. Our defense is looking forward to the challenge of playing them. They do a good job with run-pass balance. They can throw the ball underneath and downfield, and they can run the football. They put some pressure on you defensively to make sure you cover all parts of the field.”
Coach Jones believes their trip to Raleigh last season will be very beneficial to the Jags in preparing for Saturday’s game and handling game day emotions.
“I think it will help, the fact that we did play there last year,” he said. “But I always say that it doesn’t matter where you play, you play between the lines. Our kids will be ready to play no matter what, and that’s one thing we pride ourselves on. One thing we can control is ourselves, how hard and how well we play. I thought we walked out last year as confident as a team could be. It wasn’t a deal where we were star struck by the lights or the fact that it was our first FBS opponent. Our kids came to play. that’s what I like about our team, and I expect them to play well this year.”
Go Jags!
Jags Workout In Shells On Tuesday
Wide Receiver Bryant Lavender waits on the ball during Jaguars preseason camp.
South Alabama practiced in shells on Tuesday as they continued to prepare for the Jags road trip to NC State on Saturday. This will be the Jags second trip to Raleigh where they lost last season 35-13. It was the Jags first-ever game against a FBS team and will be their first FBS opponent this season.
Head coach Joey Jones was pleased with what he saw at practice and what they accomplished. “I thought it was really, really good today,” he said. “The kids are preparing the way they are supposed to. There was a little more pep in their step. We had a good physical day and the tempo was really good, I thought. The kids almost went 100 percent without knocking each other to the ground and that’s the perfect type tempo we need.”
NC State returns several starters from last season and coach Jones said that his team must stay focused and work on the details if they exepct to play well on Saturday. “N.C. State is fast and on offense and defense they can do really well and execute very well offensively,” Jones commented. “We’ve got to be sharp this week. I challenged our scout team. They’ve got to do a great job of giving us a look this week because N.C. State, they do things really well, so if the scout team gives us a good luck, we’ve got a good shot on Saturday.”
A year ago NC State quarterback Mike Glennon went 17-of-20 for 274 yards and four touchdowns against the Jaguars defense. The secondary will be tested again this season and they understand that they must be prepared for what the Wolfpack will throw their way. But the defensive front will need to put pressure on Glennon as well.
“First of all, I think we’re better in the secondary this year,” he said. “Our kids are really understanding the concepts back there now and we’ve got some better cover people there, so we feel good about that. As always, you’ve got to be able to play physical up front and that’s what we have challenged our kids to do. I think they understand that and that’s one thing we’re working on this week.”
The Jags played a tough game and kept it close until mistakes allowed NC State to pull away late. “We went up there and played a really good football game,” Jones said. “I thought we went out there and went toe-to-toe with them. Our kids are very competitive and want to be in these type of situations. You want to get into an atmosphere like you see in Raleigh. I’ll never forget walking out onto the field last year and how exciting it was to be in that atmosphere. Our kids are looking forward to it.”
Through two games this season, the Jags defense stacks up pretty well in the Sun Belt. They are tied for first place in red zone defense, kickoff returns, opponents’ third-down conversion rate and fourth-down conversions. They are either solely in second place or tied for second in total defense, sacks, passing defense efficiency and interceptions. But don’t get too excited about those stats just yet. It’s only two games into the season and the offense is not ranking that well.
In the 10 team Sun Belt Conference, the Jags are 9th in scoring offense, 10th in total offense, 10th in rushing offense, 9th in passing offense. But if you contrast that with the defense in similar categories and you see the disparity between the two. The Jags scoring defense is 3rd in the league, 2nd in total defense, 3rd in rushing defense and 3rd in passing defense.
Offensive coordinator Robert Matthews mentioned before the Jaguars game against Nicholls State, that they need to improve their third down efficiency. Heading into their game against NC State the offense has converted 12-of-32 third downs. That’s a mere 38%, which includes a 7-of-19 mark against Nicholls State last Saturday.
However, the defense is holding their opponents to a 4-of-24 third down success rate, which is a mere 17%. Both opponents were 2-of-12 in their games.
Jags Monday Press Conference
On Monday, South Alabama sat down with the press to recap Saturday’s win over Nicholls State and preview their upcoming game at N.C. State on Saturday. Here is some highlights from the press conference.
“We’re glad for the win this past weekend,” said Jaguar head coach Joey Jones in his opening statement. “I thought we played extremely well on defense, and kind of played conservative offensively. But a win is a win, it’s a team win whether offense, defense or special teams does well. I think our kids were glad to get it, and we were excited to get the win.”
Coach Jones then turned his focus towards NC State. “We look forward to ballgames like this. Last year, N.C. State was our first [Football Bowl Subdivision] game. We went up there and played a really good football game. They are very good opponent, obviously well-coached and have good players. I thought we went out there and went toe-to-toe with them. Our kids are very competitive and want to be in these type of situations. You want to get into an atmosphere like you see in Raleigh [N.C.]. I’ll never forget walking out onto the field last year and how exciting it was to be in that atmosphere. Our kids are looking forward to it.”
“I think they are better defensively this year,” Coach Jones continued. “Their defensive front seems more active. They lost a couple of NFL guys at linebacker, but they replaced them with a couple of good ones. They are very well-coached and do a good job with their schemes. Offensively, it starts with their quarterback Mike Glennon. He’s 6-foot-6 and will probably be in the NFL next year. He’s a very efficient quarterback, and they do a good job moving the ball down the field and are patient with their play calls. Our defense is looking forward to the challenge of playing them. They do a good job with the run-pass balance. They can throw the ball underneath and downfield, and they can run the football. They put some pressure on you defensively to make sure you cover all parts of the field.”
Coach Jones then spoke about how it helps to have experienced the atmosphere last season in Raleigh. “I think it will help, the fact that we did play there last year. But I always say that it doesn’t matter where you play, you play between the lines. Our kids will be ready to play no matter what, and that’s one thing we pride ourselves on. One thing we can control is ourselves, how hard and how well we play. I thought we walked out last year as confident as a team could be. It wasn’t a deal where we were star struck by the lights or the fact that it was our first FBS opponent. Our kids came to play, that’s what I like about our team, and I expect them to play well this year.”
Finally, he spoke about the Jaguars offensive production in the red zone. “We have to do a better job, and I do as well, of adjusting at halftime to something new. They [Nicholls State] ran a new defensive front that we weren’t expecting, and we did a good job and played hard. We got a little conservative in the second half. The defense was playing so well that we didn’t want to make a mistake, but we have to punch it in down in the red zone. That’s one thing we talked about as a staff.”
Running back Demetre Baker then spoke with the media beginning with his performance so far and his expectations for the NC State game. “At this point in the season, I have done OK. I’m not where I want to be. There are things that I can work on. There’s more time I can put in the fieldhouse watching more film. Our first two opponents were tough teams, they weren’t pushovers. They came out and were ready to play. I look forward to doing more studying and practicing harder this week and can give it all I can for N.C. State.”
Baker then spoke about playing a team from the ACC and how that environment increases the excitement level. “It is, one reason is because of the crowd, being in that atmosphere when it’s loud with 40,000-plus people. I’m wishing and hoping we can get that here one day, so we can get used to it. I don’t think it’ll be a problem for us, it motivates us and gets us really pumped up for the game.”
Finally, Baker spoke about the offensive performance against Nicholls State and bouncing back from the opening game loss to UTSA. “I’m not disappointed at all. I think we just have to put everything together. We have what it takes, we have the offense and we certainly have the plays to do what it takes to get in the red zone. We just have to finish up, do a little more polishing and practice harder and put one in. When we score that touchdown it will be exciting for us because we know we did everything we could to get in the red zone and score.”
Defensive back Tyrell Pearson then spoke with the media. He spoke about his performance so far this season and his expectations for the NC State game. “I feel that on the defensive side of the ball, as a unit we’re tough. The first game we didn’t come out fast in the first half, but in the second half we came out with fire and intensity. That carried over to the second game against Nicholls State. As you can see, we did very well with that. I’m not sure what we held them to in total yardage, but we did pretty well. Going in to North Carolina State, I feel like we’re going to do the same. I feel we’ll step up to the challenge on defense, especially in the secondary.”
He also spoke about facing NC State quarterback Mike Glennon. “Darrius Morrow and I have been talking about this the whole week. It’s going to be a big game for both of us. Playing at junior college, we expect to be playing against big competition and big-time quarterbacks. Our slogan is ‘Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games.’”
Coach Jones Sets Record Straight On Birmingham News Article
A Birmingham News reporter apparently took Coach Joey Jones quote out of context on Sunday. The Press-Register posted an article Monday evening concerning the misunderstanding.
The article had the quote, “We try to keep (the opponents’ score) in the 40s,” Jones said. “You’re going to get beat bad, but if you can keep them in the 40s it’s OK.”
However, as always, context is what matters. Coach Jones told the Tommy Hicks of the Press-Register, “There was a question from the audience about Savannah State getting beat 77-0 and so I made a joke and said, ‘Yeah, we try to keep ours (games against bigger schools) in the 40s and not the 70s.’ I was just making a joke obviously and everyone in the room laughed,” Jones said.
In 2011, the Jags played two FBS teams in NC State and Kent State. The Jags played the NC State Wolfpack closely before turnovers and mistakes let them finish with a 35-13 win over the Jags. Then the Jags traveled to Kent State and allowed them to take a big first half lead, but the Jags roared back in the second half by scoring 25 unanswered points and had the ball with a chance to drive the field for a chance to tie the game with a potential 2-point conversion.
In both of those games the Jags kept the score under 40 and were very competitive in both, nothing like the article suggested with the out of context quotation.
Coach Jones Speaks At Over The Mountain Touchdown Club In Birmingham
On Sunday, Coach Joey Jones had a speaking event in Birmingham for the Over the Mountain Touchdown Club. When speaking about the Jags two game road trip to NC State and Mississippi State, the Jaguars will be collecting “blood money.”
Speaking about major Division I schools giving smaller teams large paychecks to play at their home stadium. “I read an article recently called ‘Blood Money,’ and that’s a good analogy,” Jones said to the Birmingham News. “You have to take a beating in those games.”
But coach Jones added that it’s the price a young program has to pay in order to build their programs. He told the attendees that the Jags will get $980,000 for their trip to Tennessee next season. He also mentioned that it helps when they are recruiting prospects when you tell them they will be traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina, Starkville Mississippi and Hawaii.
Coach Jones likes the progress the Jaguars have made. “For four years we’ve been building a program, but now we’ve got to start building a team,” Jones said. “The players we were getting at first weren’t Division I players … but now it’s completely different. The athletes we got this year and will get moving forward are D-I players. We’re a better team this year. We’re competitive and on track where we need to go.”
While the Jaguars are not eligible to win the conference championship, they will be playing a full eight game Sun Belt schedule. NC State begins a tough four game stretch over five weeks. The Jags travel to NC State then Mississippi State before returning home for their first-ever Sun Belt game when they host Troy in Mobile Alabama. Then, after an off-week, they will then travel to Arkansas State, the defending Sun Belt champions coached by former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzhan.
The Jags will be underdogs in those game, but it’s all part of the programs progress.
Jags Look To Further Improve This Week Before Travelling To NC State
The Jaguar cheerleaders leading the team onto the field while Coach Jones greets his team on the sidelines prior to the Jags game against Nicholls State.
Coach Joey Jones and his staff reviewed the video from the Jaguars 9-3 win over Nicholls State on Sunday morning and took part in meetings throughout the day. But, because of a speaking event, Coach Jones was not able to attend the teams practice on Sunday night.
The goals for Saturday’s game was to improve with more consistency, less turnovers and a better punch in the red zone as they head into the tough two game road swing to NC State and Mississippi State.
“Bottom line was the defense played really well,” Coach Jones said to the Press-Register. “I think they came out and played as we thought they would. Offensively, we got in the red zone five times and didn’t turn it into any touchdowns and I think if we had scored a couple of touchdowns there we’re in the mid 20s and we have a good game. But we didn’t execute very well down there.”
“The defense bowed up when they had to and their backs were up against the wall a couple or three times and they really responded. Like I told them today, they made plays when they had to. Any of those passes in the end zone (in the waning moments), if we don’t knock them down they score and probably win the game on any one of those plays. They made plays when they had to. This team is doing that. I think we had a lot of that in the first game but mistakes (turnovers) in the first game hurt us.”
According to Jones, the offense experienced trouble against the Colonel defense due to the lack of video of them from this season prior to their game in Mobile. While coach Jones does not like making excuses, he did point to the postponedment of the Colonels opening game at Oregon State, while they had film of the Jags game against Texas-San Antonio to prepare. “Not having any film to watch on those games made it pretty difficult on us,” he said. “We were just having to kind of shoot in the dark with them. But the bottom line is, once we got the ball into the red zone, we just didn’t punch the ball into the end zone.”
This week the Jags will try to improve further as they face NC State for the second season in a row. If they play like they have the previous two games the Jags may find themselves in trouble against the Wolfpack, who defeated the Jags 35-13 in Raleigh last season in a game much closer than the score appears. It was also the Jags first game against an FBS opponent.
“One thing, you look at them on defense and they are much better up front,” Jones said. “They’ve got some good lineman on defense and they are very athletic. That’s the thing that jumps off the tape at you defensively. Offensively, their quarterback Glennon does a great job throwing the football. He’s 6-6 and has a great arm and will be playing in the NFL one day. He’s a very efficient passer.”
The Wolfpack also has a 1-1 record like the Jags as they lost their season opener in Atlanta to Tennessee 35-21 and won their second game at Connecticut 10-7.
Jags Defeat Nicholls State 9-3
Left guard Drew Dearman (72) looks to pick up the rusher getting by Ucambre Williams (76) as CJ Bennett (15) loads up to throw downfield.
South Alabama gets it’s first win of the season in a defensive struggle against Nicholls State. Three-and-outs and forced turnovers were the story of the game. The Jaguar defense held Nicholls State to a mere 118 yards while forcing three turnovers and only allowing three points to the Colonels.
“Putting pressure on the quarterback really helped us tonight,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I thought we played with a lot more energy on defense, it looked like the defense that I’m used to seeing.”
The first quarter saw several three-and-outs in the first quarter as Nicholls only managed 23 total yards and the Jags only 19 total yards. Each team faced four third downs and only the Jags converted one in the entire first quarter. On top of that, the first two Jaguar drives started at their 2- and 1-yard lines respectively.
Finally on Scott Garbers third punt, the Jags were able to flip field position. Facing 4th and 20 from their own 22 yard line Garber punted, with the aid of the wind, a 69 yard punt to the Colonel 9 yard line. The Jags forced them to punt and had great field position at the Colonel 46 yard line with 1:51 left in the quarter. The offense drives down to the 35 yard line, but on the final play of the quarter, Ross Metheny takes a three yard sack.
After switching sides of the field, the Jags faced a 3rd and 13 going into the wind. An incomplete pass forces the Jags to punt, but Garber cannot keep it out of the end zone.
The Colonels are able to drive, on the ensuing possession, to the Jaguar 20 yard line, but are backed up by a 10 yard loss on a fumbled snap by the quarterback on first down. After back to back incomplete passes, Nicholls State finally break 0-0 tie with a 48 yard field goal, aided by the wind, to take a 3-0 lead on the Jags.
But the Jags answer right back with a drive of their own. Starting at their own 25 yard line after a touchback on the kickoff. T.J. Glover rushes for no gain on first down, then Bennett completes back to back passes to Terrance Timmons and Glover for a first down. Then they rush the ball five consecutive times, three by Baker for 6, 15 and 8 yards respectively. Then Kendall Houston rushes for 6 then loses 3 back to the Nicholls State 30 yard line. Bennett then finds Wes Saxton for 11 yards to make it 3rd and 2 at the Colonels 19 yard line. Timmons rushes for no gain, but a personal foul gives the Jags half the distance to the goal and an automatic first down.
After a penalty and facing 3rd down, Bennett hits Jereme Jones at the goal line but is marked down at the one yard line. Facing third and goal, the hand-off to Kendall Houston loses a yard. After looking like the Jags were going to go for the touchdown, Coach Jones sends on the kicking team but calls a time out when the play clock starts to wind down. Michel Chapuseaux converts the 19 yard field goal to tie the game.
In the second quarter, the Jags defense held Nicholls to -13 yards rushing.
After punts by both teams to start the second half, the Jags put together another drive starting at their own 48 yard line until they reached the Colonel 17 yard line and stalled out. Chapuseaux’s kick into the wind misses wide left.
On the second play of the Colonel’s ensuing possession, Bryson James would pick off the Landry Klann pass at their 33 yard line. On first down, Bennett would find Houston open on the screen pass and with a big block by Drew Dearman, he would scamper for 14 yards to the Colonel 19. But a roughing the passer penalty would put them at the 9 yard line with 1st and goal. A four yard run by Houston would be followed up by two incomplete passes to Lavender and Besteda before settling for a 21 yard field goal with 5:17 left in the third quarter.
The Colonels would go three and out on their next possession and their punt would be fair caught at the Jaguar 22 yard line. Later on in the drive, on third and 6 at the Jaguar 38 Ross Metheny would be flushed out of the pocket and find daylight on the left side. As he was approaching the sideline, the Nicholls State defender was playing the angle to get him but would be completely leveled by T.J. Glover. The game would have to stop and trainers went to assist the injured player.
The player would eventually put on a backboard and have his neck immobilized before put on a stretcher and carted off the field. He was moving his arms and legs and even game the crowd a thumbs-up as he was loaded onto the cart. He was taken to a local hospital for observation as a precaution.
However, on the next play after the stoppage, Terrance Timmons would fumble the ball away to Nicholls State at the 50 yard line with three seconds left in the third quarter.
The Colonels would drive down to the Jaguar 17 yard line, but on 2nd down and 12 yards, Montavious Williams would recover a fumble at the Jaguar 19 yard line ending the scoring threat again.
The Jaguar offense, led by Ross Metheny again, would begin the drive with
three consecutive completions to Saxton for two yards, Hollinger for nine yards and T.J. Glover for 29 yards to put the Jags in Colonel territory at the 41 yard line. The Jags would eventually get down to the Colonel 17 yard line where they would have to settle for another field goal by Chapuseaux to put the Jags up 9-3 with 9:01 left in the game.
After a touchback on the kickoff, the first play by the Colonels would be intercepted by Terrel Brigham at the Colonel 38 yard line. After driving down to the Nicholls State 19 yard line, Baker and Bennett would fumble the handoff exchange and it would be recovered by the Colonels.
With a chance to run out the clock after a couple first downs, the Jags would go three and out starting at their own nine yard line. The Scott Garber punt from the Jaguar 16 would go 48 yards and only returned 6 to the Nicholls State 42 yard line with 2:38 left in the game.
Klann’s first down pass would fall incomplete, but the second would be caught for four yards before getting out of bounds. Then Klann would find tight end Nich Scelfo open for 9 yards and into Jaguar territory. Then a 16 yard pass completion and run down the right sideline would put them at the Jaguar 29 yard line. B.J. Scott would be flagged for pass interference on the subsequent play, putting the Colonels at the Jaguar 14 yard line needing a touchdown.
The first down play would go for a loss of one yard. Followed by an incompletion then a Pat Moore sack of Klann would back them up to the Jaguar 18 yard line facing 4th and 14. Nicholls would call a time out with 38 seconds remaining in the game to scheme a play. After allowing the defense to line up, they could call their final time out. Then the fourth down pass would be broken up by Darrius Morrow to save the game. After a knee, the Jags would watch the time run off the clock for the 9-3 win.
South Alabama led with 279 total yards, 169 passing and 110 rushing while Nicholls State ended the game with 118 total yards, 96 passing and a mere 22 rushing. The Jags held the time of possession lead with 34:52 to 25:08 while they also ran 75 plays to the Colonels 52 plays.
Demetre Baker lead all players with 75 yards rushing while Metheny had 14 , Bennett had 13 and Houston only 10.
T.J. Glover lead the receiver corps with 43 yards on three catches. Hollinger and Lavender both had three for 36 yards and 20 yards respectively. Jereme Jones caught two for 22 and Wes Saxton also caught two for 13. Also Corey Waldon returned from his knee surgery in preseason camp to catch his first pass of the season for seven yards.
Bennett would go 11-of-20 for 111 yards and no interceptions. Metheny would go 6-of-10 for 58 yards and would be sacked three times.
Chapuseaux would go 3-of-4, hitting field goals from 19, 21 and 34 yards but missing a 35 yarder.
“South Alabama is good up front, they rotated eight guys in there,” Nicholls Statate head coach Charlie Stubbs said. “We are kind of young up front in a couple of positions and we weren’t able to substitute as freely as they did. I feel like they kind of wore us down in that area. We weren’t able to really establish much of a running game, except what I could muster with LaQuinton Caston as a Wildcat quarterback, so that goes hand-in-hand. South Alabama made us one-dimensional, and we’re not good enough right now in the passing game to try and win just by dropping back and throwing the ball. Against a defense like that, we have to play really well, execute and stay out of long-yardage situations.”
“It was big for us to win this game. We lose that game and we’re reeling,” Coach Jones said. “I told the kids, ‘A win is a win.’ Ten years from now we’ll look back and remember we won the football game, but we also have to be honest with ourselves and what we have to work on. We were just a little out of sync on offense, and a lot of that had to do — and I’m not making excuses — with not having film on them. When you go into a game and you haven’t watched any film on them, you’re not able to watch their schemes. They changed some schemes up from two years ago. The first few times we had the ball, it was on the one or two- yard line, and we kind of got started on a bad note. I don’t think we adjusted very well, and that’s something we have to look at next week.”
The Jaguar defense played lights-out defense for the game. The Colonel defense schemed well to get enough pressure on the quarterback to cause problems and did well at times at containing the running game.
The Jaguar offense did well when they sped up the tempo can caught the defense in mismatches. But when they got something going, something would cause them to stall out. This will have to be worked on in the next week before the Jags travel to North Carolina State.
However, NC State lost to Tennessee to begin the season then squeaked out a win over FBS-transitional UConn on Saturday. We’ll have to wait and see what the Jags will do against the Wolfpack next saturday when they travel to Raleigh for their first road game of the season.
The Jags and Wolfpack will kickoff at 5pm CDT at Carter-Finley Stadium. The game will be streamed online by ESPN3.
Two Unknowns In One Week For The Jags
As the Jags prepare for a bit of an unknown opponent, they are venturing into another unknown as well. This is the first time in their short four year existence that the Jags have to find a way to rebound from a season opening loss. But they will have an opportunity to do so when they host the Nicholls State Colonels on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
The loss came in heartbreaking fashion as the Jags had retak a 31-30 lead with a 34 yard touchdown pass from C.J. Bennett to Jereme Jones with less than three minutes left in the game. After a 15 yard penalty on the kickoff gave UTSA great field position, they drove into field goal range where Sean Ianno kicked the 51 yard game-winning score with 16 seconds left in the game to avenge last season’s loss in San Antonio.
“If their kicker doesn’t make the last field goal then everybody is happy, but we’re still dealing with the same issues,” head coach Joey Jones observed. “My challenge to the team is three, four or five games from now, let’s look back and see how we improved. Let’s see if we’ve stopped turning the ball over and if we’ve stopped committing dumb penalties. If we can do that we will have a shot. We need to be a team that can get better as the season goes along.”
South Alabama defeated the Colonels in 2010 39-21 on Kendall Houston’s first career 100-yard game with two touchdowns on 12 rushes.
Also in that game two years ago, the Jags found themselves trailing in a game for the first time ever when the Colonels took leads of 7-0 and 14-7 early in the game. Those scores were made by Jesse Turner, who is listed as second string running back for Nicholls State, on a 33-yard run and a 95 yard reception in the first quarter.
However in the second quarter, South Alabama responded with 20 unanswered points and didn’t look back. The Jags would rack up 490 yards of total offense with 288 of them on the ground. Brandon Ross joined Houston by also rushing for over 100 yards and a touchdown.
Nicholls State quarterback LaQuintin Caston led the team against the Jags by going 13-of-23 passing for 273 yards and two touchdowns. In 2011 Caston threw for 870 yards and rushed for another 707 yards. However in the offseason he has made the move from quarterback to wide receiver. In a radio interview this morning, Nicholls State head coach Charlie Stubbs said that he had problems in several games and they did not want to have one of their best players on the sidelines when they put another quarterback into the game.
Landry Klann is the projected starter at quarterback. He went 36-of-57 last season for 377 yards and two touchdowns.
The Colonel defense allowed less than 360 yards per game in 2011. They return seven starters from last season including their leading tackler Jordan Piper with 81 tackles and Siegan Vergenal who had 65 tackles.
However they will be without their top two returners from last season.
Coach Jones does not think reviewing the 2010 footage will be much of a benefit to the team. “This is a completely different ballgame,” he stated. “You can look at some things offensively because coach [Charlie] Stubbs has been calling the plays the whole time [he has been running the program], but they have changed on defense. We won’t really look back at that film.”
Stubbs is a well known offensive playcaller and should have plenty of new wrinkles for the Jags when they play on Saturday. They will definitely try to get the ball into Caston’s hands as well as their other playmakers.
Jags Next Opponent Is A Bit Unknown
South Alabama will go into it’s second game of the season with some mystery around their opponent. While the Jags opened the season against UTSA, Nicholls State game at Oregon State was postponed due to weather issues caused by Hurricane Isaac.
Thus, little is known about their opponent this weekend. “From their standpoint, I would think it would be somewhat of a disadvantage, but from our standpoint, I’d rather have some film on them and kind of see who they are because they could obviously surprise us with some things that they didn’t show last year,” Head coach Joey Jones said on the Sun Belt Conference teleconference Monday. “So that’s a concern for us. I know from their side they would rather have played a game.”
Typically, the biggest improvement a team will see during the season is between the first and second game. The Jags hope this holds true for them considering the four turnovers the Jaguars committed in their season opening 33-31 loss to UTSA.
Coach Jones, when asked about his own team, said that with the changes on offense and defense that there were some highlights in the game, but they were overshadowed by the mistakes in the loss. “First of all as to the offense, we scored 31 points and could have easily scored 45,” he said. “We threw an interception at the goal line going in and had two long passes that were wide open that we didn’t hit, so we could have hit on all cylinders and scored in the mid-40s, but we didn’t. But I was real pleased overall offensively. I think we did some good things and I think we’ll get better this week.”
“Defensively, I thought we started a little slow. I think the speed of the game got us a little bit early. Sometimes in the first game that happens. We didn’t play as fast as they were playing probably. Maybe we were thinking a little too much. We made some adjustments on the sideline and once we did I thought we played much better in the second half.”
Michel Chapuseaux, who is taking over the day-to-day placekicking from Jordan Means and continued his kickoff duties. Chapuseaux went 1-for-1 against UTSA as he hit a career best 43 yard field goal in the third quarter. He averaged 60.8 yards per kickoff with three touchbacks.
Jags Return To Practice Field After Off Day On Monday
Head Coach Joey Jones talking with wide receiver Carr Tigner during preseason practice.
South Alabama had an off day on Monday for the Labor Day holiday and returned to the practice field on Tuesday morning to continue preparation for Nicholls State on Saturday. They continued to work on correcting mistakes that the team made in the 33-31 loss to UTSA.
The first thing the Jaguars have to do is to put the game behind them and move onto the next opponent. Head coach Joey Jones believes that they have done that and are focused on Nicholls State. South Alabama met the Colonels in 2010 but did not face them last season.
“I think we came out and practiced pretty well,” he said about Tuesday’s practice. “I think the approach we have to take is we’ve got to have a great week of practice. Nicholls State, in my opinion, is a much better team than they were two years ago. They’ve improved a lot in watching last year’s film. We’ve got to be locked in this week and I think the kids understand that, but we’ve got to prove it on the field. We challenged them to get ready this week.”
Coach Jones also mentioned that he believes that the lingering feelings from the loss are gone. “I think it’s gone. Sunday they came in a little down, obviously. Any time you lose you’re going to have some of that. But they came out in better spirits (Tuesday).”
Since the Jaguars do not have any game film of the Colonels from this season, the coaching staff has devised a game plan based on what they did last season. Nicholls State went 2-10 last season.
“All we can do is watch last year’s film and the guys they’ve got coming back,” Jones said. “That’s all we can do. They are going to have the advantage of watching our game (against UTSA) and we have the advantage of having already played a game. But you’d much rather have already studied your opponent and have a good gameplan. We have to base our gameplan off what we know from the past, so we’ll probably have to adjust some during the game.”
The Jags will host the Nicholls State Colonels on Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 4pm. The game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN3 again.