Jags Send Senior Out On Top With 31-28 Win Over Coastal Carolina
Head coach Steve Campbell talking with the Jaguar offensive line between possessions early in the game against Coastal Carolina.
South Alabama took advantage of their final game of the season and a beat-up and bruised Coastal Carolina team to send 19 seniors out with one final 31-28 win.
Coastal Carolina (5-7, 2-6) came into the game looking for a win to get bowl eligible in their second season playing a Sun Belt schedule. Meanwhile the Jags (3-9, 2-6 SBC) only had pride and the program’s seniors to play for in their final game of the season.
The Chanticleers entered on a three game skid and plagued by injuries which only got worse during the game with more injuries occurring during the course of play.
The Jags jumped out early with a 32-yard field goal on their opening drive. Then a 45-yard touchdown pass from Cole Garvin to Jamarius Way on the first play after recovering a Coastal Carolina fumble to take a 10-0 lead.
The Jags kept it up in the second quarter with a one-play 73-yard drive when Evan Orth came in and lofted a throw over the Coastal defender to let Jamarius Way to out run the defense to the end zone for a 17-0 lead.
Coastal Carolina finally got on the board on their next possession, capped off by a 31-yard touchdown when Bryce Carpenter came in for an injured Kilton Anderson and found Isaiah Likely for the touchdown.
The Jags answered right back with a 13-play, 75 yard drive capped off by Kawaan Baker’s 6 yard touchdown run. Which let the Jags take a 24-7 lead to the locker room at halftime.
The second half was a different story, the Chanticleers opened the second half throwing the ball and systematically driving down the field for a touchdown.
USA got their only points of the second half two possessions later when they drove 51 yards in 10 plays and 4:22. Garvin connected with Way for a 7 yard touchdown making the score 31-14.
Coastal wasn’t ready to give up though and proceeded to drive 65 yards to get within 10 points again at 31-21.
The Jags offense went cold midway through the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-and-outs but the Jags defense held their own and forcing an incomplete pass on a 4th down conversion attempt with 3:17 left in the game.
The Jags then went into their ground control offense to bleed the clock. After Tra Minter broke the single-game rushing record, he then broke free for a 20 yard gain but the Chanticleers forced a fumble and recovered it at their own 20.
Coastal proceeded to pass the ball down the field aided by a illegal use of hands penalty before Anderson found Malcolm Williams for a 16 yard touchdown cutting the Jags lead to only three points 31-28 with only 34 seconds left in the game.
Coastal Carolina attempted an onside kick, but it never took the high bounce as wanted and Jahmmir Taylor was able to cover it up preserving the Jags win.
The Jaguar offense rolled up an impressive 533 yards of total offense and 331 yards on the ground. Tra Minter ran 24 times for 203 yards, breaking Kendall Houston’s record of 173 rushing yards against Troy.
Deonta Moore ran nine times for 72 yards. Baker rushed seven times for 16 yards and a touchdown.
Cole Garvin went 7-of-9 for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Evan Orth went 3-of-4 for 91 yards and a touchdown.
Jamarius Way caught six passes for 141 and all three receiving touchdowns. Minter caught two passes for 49 yards and Jordan McCray added 12 yards on two receptions.
The Jaguar defense allowed 385 yards, holding the Chanticleers to only 92 rushing yards. They commited their first penalty in two games against USA and ended the game with four for 40 yards.
Anderson went 20-for-32 for 262 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Williams caught seven passes for 109 yards and a touchdown to lead the Coastal receivers.
CJ Marable ran 10 times for 40 yards while Alex James rushed for 32 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns. Anderson had 11 carries for 20 yards after sack yardage.
“I was glad our seniors could go out with a win in their last game at Ladd[-Peebles Stadium],” head coach Steve Campbell said. “Those guys really stepped up and played big in a big way.”
“After the Louisiana-Monroe game, we looked and saw that we really didn’t have a personality offensively,” Campbell continued. “We were running a little of this and a little of that; we really hadn’t established a personality. Before last week, we said we were going to run the football, be a play-action team and try to create some explosive plays with some man-to-man coverages. We were able to do that.”
“It makes it that much more special, to end with a win on this field” said senior linebacker Bull Barge after the game. “That’s what you work hard for, to go out on top at your own place. It just feels good knowing you’re going out on top after a long season.”
“It definitely gave us a spark,” said junior Tra Minter on a win to end the season. “All we wanted to do was send these seniors out with a bang and give them something to look back on. For next year, it just gave us a spark and some confidence for next season.”
The coaches will now put all their focus on recruiting with an early signing period on December 19-21 and the regular signing day on February 6, 2019.
Inside the Numbers:
Louisiana-Monroe Spoils South Alabama’s Homecoming 38-10
Louisiana-Monroe breaks the Jags homecoming win streak at 9 after defeating USA 38-10 on Saturday, November 10, 2018.
South Alabama’s unbeaten streak in homecoming games came to an end at 9 as Louisiana-Monroe defeated the Jags 38-10.
The Jags (2-8, 1-5 SBC) started the game well, but could not muster much after the first quarter as Louisiana-Monroe (6-4, 4-2 SBC) scored 28 unanswered points after the Jags had tied the game.
ULM rolled up 551 yards of total offense, 376 of them through the air. The Jags could only muster 218 yards of total offense, with 129 of them coming through the air and a mere 89 yards rushing.
ULM’s Caleb Evans was 27-of-32 for 367 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target was D’Marius Gillespie who caught all 7 passes thrown his way for 159 yards and a touchdown. Markis McCray had 5 catches for 41 yards. In total, 11 receivers caught passes with Jonathan Hodoh the other receiver catching a touchdown on his only catch.
Marcus Green led the Warhawks with 68 rushing yards on only two carries with a touchdown. Evans had 12 carries for 54 yards and two touchdowns.
Cephus Johnson started the game and finished 1-for-4 for 34 yards and a touchdown. Cole Garvin played the second and third quarters and went 13-for-19 for 95 yards.
Three Jags caught three passes each with Jordan McCray leading the trio with 45 yards and a touchdown.
Tra Minter led the rushing attach with 12 attempts for 61 yards. Johnson was next in line with 9 carries for 23 yards.
ULM was penalized only once for 15 yards while the Jags were flagged 5 times for 36 yards.
After being forced to punt on their opening possession, the Jags got the ball right back when Marcus Green muffed the punt and DJ Daniels recovered at the ULM 34 yard line. On the very next play Johnson threw a 34 yard touchdown pass to McCray lifting the Jags to a 7-0 lead. ULM would score the next 10 points to take a 10-7 lead into the second quarter.
USA couldn’t put the ball in the end zone early in the second quarter and settled for a 31 yard field goal by Gavin Patterson to tie the game.
The Warhawks took control of the game when they scored 14 points in the final 6:24 of the half. The Jags lined up for a 38 yard field goal attempt with 2:01 left in the first half, but the Warhawks blocked the attempt and would score with just :22 left.
ULM put a bow on it after they forced a three-and-out on the Jags first possession of the second half. Then the Warhawks only needed three plays to put another touchdown on the board with 12:34 left in the third quarter.
ULM would score on their next possession as well to get the final score of 38-10.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome of the game,” head coach Steve Campbell said after the game. “I thought the kids fought hard and that we did some good things in the first half. We had talked about starting faster and I thought we did. I hated that we gave up the touchdown right before the half with 22 seconds left, which really hurt.”
“We didn’t start the third quarter the way we wanted to, we got the ball and wanted to take it down the field and make it a seven-point game; Obviously we didn’t do that,” Campbell continued. “I was proud of our guys for fighting back and keeping them off the scoreboard for most of the fourth quarter.”
When asked about his biggest coaching concern with the way the season’s gone and only two game remaining, Campbell said: “The things that you would be concerned about have already happened. Getting beat by ULM by 28 on Homecoming is what I would be concerned about, but that has passed. What you have to do now is make sure you prepare hard and put together a good plan. We have to be able to go out and execute it against Louisiana-Lafayette and then finish strong against Coastal Carolina.”
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday for a 4pm kickoff against the Ragin’ Cajuns who are 5-5 and looking to get bowl eligible themselves.
Inside the Numbers:
Troy Wins The Battle of the Belt 38-14
A big first half by Troy was all that was needed by the Trojans to defeat South Alabama at home on a Tuesday night nationally televised game, 38-17.
The Jags lost the penalty battle, the two teams had the same number of penalties, seven, but the Jags were penalized for 91 yards while the Trojans had 67 yards in penalties.
Jaguar head coach Steve Campbell was glad to get the teams leading tackler, Nigel Lawrence, back for the game after missing the last two with a knee injury. However his time was short lived. On the third play from scrimmage he was flagged for targeting and disqualified for the game.
Later in the first half, on a play where the ball bounced off of Bull Barge and was intercepted by Sterrling Fisher, the replay booth called down for a review and eventually ejected Jeffery Whatley for targeting while throwing a block for his teammate.
These two targeting ejections makes five of them in the last four games.
South Alabama also lost the turnover battle. After being quite efficient in the passing game, Evan Orth threw three interceptions in the game, doubling his number for the season.
Meanwhile the Jags were able to pick off one of Sawyer Smith’s passes and was able to cover a muffed punt late in the first half.
USA had trouble weathering the early onslaught by the Trojans, allowing scores on each of Troy’s first five possessions. In most of the Jags games this season, the defense has dug deep holes and put the offense down by double-digits.
Risk taking, while it can turn the momentum in your favor if it works out, it can also backfire. That’s what happened at the end of the first half. After the Jags were stopped and Troy took a time out to force USA to punt, the punt bounced and hit a Troy returner and was recovered at the 27 yard line with three seconds left. But instead of kicking the gift field goal, Campbell and Edenfield decided to run a hail-mary style play against Troy’s prevent defense which nearly turned into pick six if it wasn’t for Tra Minter forcing the returner out of bounds at the USA 35 it would have been a touchdown.
After finding success with an onsides kick in the season opener against Louisiana Tech, the Jags have tried to catch their opponents by surprise a few times since then. Each time they were prepared for it or the bounce did not go the Jags way, but each time it gave the momenum back to the opponent. After the interception and return, the Trojan players rushed to the South endzone where a mass of Troy students were ready to receive them after an opening half score of 31-17 and a big play to lead them to the halftime break.
The second half was very different. The Jags defense tightened up and so did the Troy offense. While the Jags offense could move the ball, they couldn’t get into scoring position and when they did they threw interceptions and missed a field goal.
The only score of the second half came with 4:39 left in the game after Evan Orth threw the ball into the end zone but had it intercepted and ran back for an apparent touchdown only to have it called back to the 11 yard line due to a holding call. Two plays later the Trojans put the dagger into the heart of the Jags putting them up 38-17.
USA finished the game with 385 yards of total offense, 275 of them coming through the air. Troy gained 410 total yards, 261 through the air and 252 on the ground. But the Jaguar defense only allowed 71 total yards in the second half.
Tra Minter rushed 23 times for 99 yards to lead the Jaguar rushing attack and added 49 yards receiving on two catches. Jamarius Way caught six passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. Jordan McCray added three for 60 yards and the other touchdown.
Troy’s BJ Smith rushed 22 times for 170 yards and a touchdown. Damion Willis caught five passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite being only 2-6 on the season and 1-3 in conference play, the Jags still control their destiny in the Sun Belt Conference Western division. They need to win out to get bowl eligible and three of those four are western division rivals each with two conference losses.
It’s not going to be an easy road with perennial contender Arkansas State coming up first followed by Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana-Lafayette and Coastal Carolina. But if they can continue to correct things each week, then it’s not outside the realm of possibility. A 5-3 conference record with wins over all of the western conference members would hold all of the tie breakers.
Meanwhile Troy (6-2, 4-0 SBC) keeps pace with Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, both 3-0 and on a collision course on Thursday night, October 25th in a battle of conference unbeatens and a rivalry known as ‘Deeper than Hate.’
South Alabama will return to action on the road in Jonesboro, Arkansas against Arkansas State on Saturday, November 3. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
Inside the Numbers:
Battle For The Belt 2018
South Alabama and Troy will play for the “Battle for the Belt” trophy Tuesday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on ESPN2. | Photo credit: USA Vanguard.
Last year, the Jags traveled to Troy after the Trojans were coming off of a 24-21 over then #22 ranked LSU in Death Valley and came away with a 19-8 win in a dominating defensive performance. The Jags scored 12 points off of four Trojan turnovers and didn’t allow any points on the board until 6:16 left in the game.
This season is a bit different though. This time the Trojans (5-2, 3-0 SBC) will travel to Mobile to face South Alabama (2-5, 1-2 SBC) after an upset loss on the road at FBS transitional Liberty 22-16.
So to say that the Trojans have something to play for is an understatement. They want revenge for that Wednesday night domination at the hands of the Jaguars on national television, bring the rivalry belt back to Troy, and they also want to redeem themselves after the upset loss.
The Jags enter the game after a pleasing 45-7 get-right win over Alabama State, but only the second ‘W’ of the season for the Jags under first year head coach Steve Campbell, a Troy alum. Actually both of his coordinators, OC Kenny Edenfield and DC Greg Stewart, are also Troy alums too and they all have Division II national championship rings from their time there. Edenfield came to the Jags after a 10 year stint at Troy, the last eight as offensive coordinator.
With the win over the Hornets, the Jags hope to start a run in this second half of the season towards a berth in the inaugural Sun Belt Conference championship game. Currently, the Jags control their fate and could move into a tie for first place in the western division with a win over Troy. Meanwhile Troy looks to keep pace in the Eastern Division with conference unbeaten Appalachian State and Georgia Southern.
Quarterback Sawyer Smith will make only his second start after Kaleb Barker was lost for the season with a knee injury. The Jags defense has been susceptible to big plays and being gashed on the ground this season. By all indications the Jags will have Nigel Lawrence back, who was the teams’ leading tackler when he went down with an injury a couple games ago.
Oh and who can forget the penalties.
The Trojans are very balanced, numbers wise. They average 207.7 yards per game rushing and 205.9 yards per game passing so the Jags will have to play disciplined.
Meanwhile the Jags will look to establish the running game to take pressure off of quarterback Evan Orth and his receivers by making the Trojan defense play honest against the run. While Jamarius Way and Kawaan Baker have both had their standout moments on the season, the Jags have also developed Jordan McCray and Jahmmir Taylor into more options. Now with the return of Malik Stanley, that adds more tools for the passing game to utilize.
Tra Minter has been the workhorse in the backfield with 84 carries on the season for 263 yards and five touchdowns. Baker is the next closest rusher with 179 yards and six touchdowns.
Troy’s leading rusher is BJ Smith, with 587 yards and eight touchdowns on the season on 94 carries. He averages 6.2 yards per carry.
The Trojans have a pair of receivers in Deondre Douglas and Damion Willis who each have five touchdowns. Douglas is the receptions leader with 34 for 348 yards. Willis is not far behind with 25 catches but for 373 yards. They also have three other receivers with over 100 yards receiving on the season and they have combined for five touchdowns between them.
The keys to a Jaguar win and keeping the Belt in Mobile are three fold.
First, limit the penalties committed by the Jags. Gifting Troy with first downs or short third downs will not help a struggling defense. Penalties of aggression or frustration simply have to be avoided. If they can play cool, calm and collected they will have a big advantage right off the bat.
Second, the Jags need to withstand the early Troy onslaught. In the first quarter, they are outscoring opponents 80-21 and in the first half they are outscoring opponents 154-87. In the second half they do not score nearly as much and are actually being outscored 85-82. In USA’s lone Sun Belt win, they were down going into the second half and scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to get the win.
Third, USA must protect the ball. The Jags have put the ball on the ground 14 times and lost possession nine times to go along with six interceptions on the season. Troy under coach Brown are 5-22 when they lose the turnover battle and they are 22-1 when they win that battle.
South Alabama enters as an 11 point underdog in the game. Call it being a homer or whatever you want, but I’m picking the Jags with that spread.
By 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 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: