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+.
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