Preview: South Alabama Travels To Ohio University For First Road Test Of Season
Kickoff: Saturday, September 7th, 6:00pm
Venue: Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium, Athens, OH
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
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#5 Jersey: Not announced yet (Last week Christopher Wallace Jr.)
South Alabama (0-1) came up on the short side of the scoreboard against North Texas. The 52-38 decision spoiled head coach Major Applewhite’s debut as the top Jaguar and their home opener. The Jags held a 19-14 lead at halftime but allowed four touchdowns in the third quarter as the Mean Green seized control of the game behind an up-tempo, big-play offense. They were also aided by a mishap in special teams that led to one of the scores.
Let’s start with the good things we saw.
Gio Lopez had a record-setting performance further showing why he was so hyped inside the program all last season. Lopez and his skill guys pretty much picked up right where they left off from the 68 Ventures Bowl. Jamaal Pritchett has elevated his game and has become the next playmaking wide receiver for the Jaguar offense. Devin Voisin was second on the team receiving and in targets in his first game back after missing almost all of 2023 with a knee injury. Braylon McReynolds, Kentrel Bullock and Fluff Bothwell are going to be a fun running back trio.
This could be the most productive offense in South Alabama history. They may need it with the way the defense played though.
Speaking of defense, the line played pretty well. They kept the UNT running game bottled up and only allowed them 104 yards and an average of 3.1 yards per attempt.
What we didn’t like.
The offensive line played better than expected but they still have a lot of work to put in. This week of practice will show us a lot about what this group can do.
While the defensive line was great against the run, they couldn’t generate any pressure on the quarterback. That allowed North Texas to pick apart the secondary for 446 yards and three touchdowns.
Going into the season, the linebackers were an area of concern.
They played decently considering the concerns but they, too, have a lot of work to put in and this week of practice will give us some insight at their ability to improve this season. Blayne Myrick had his name called a few times from his linebacker position. Most notably when the Jags turned away the Mean Green on a goal line stand.
Similar to last season’s opening game, the secondary had trouble in coverage. Hopefully the similarities to last season doesn’t stop there. Last season the secondary made a big adjustment after the first game and played much better.
It’s a cat fight!
We’ll see which cat comes out on top in a match between Jaguars and Bobcats.
The Bobcats (0-1) enter the game coming off of a season-opening loss of their own. They also had an early lead in the game but was unable to keep up with Syracuse, falling 38-22 on the road.
Ohio head coach Tim Albin is in his fourth season at the helm in Athens, OH. He was promoted to the position on July 15, 2021 after joining the program as the offensive coordinator in 2005 with former head coach Frank Solich. Previously Albin and Solich coached together at Nebraska.
The Bobcats defeated Georgia Southern in the Myrtle Beach Bowl to earn their second consecutive 10-win season, a first for the program. The bowl win was also the fifth-consecutive for the program.
Ohio University
Offense
| Stat | Stat total |
| Passing Completions – Attempts – Interceptions | 18-30-1 |
| Points | 22 |
| Total Offensive Yards | 436 |
| Passing Yards | 181 |
| Rushing Yards | 255 |
| Time of Possession | 31:28 |
| Penalties – Yards | 1 – 5 |
| 3rd Downs | 2 of 11 |
| 4th Downs | 1 of 2 |
| Red Zone Scores – Chances | 4 – 5 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 1 – 0 |
Quarterback Parker Navarro was 18-of-30 for 181 yards, one interception and sacked four times.
Coleman Owen led the receivers with 10 catches for 137 yards. Chase Hendricks had 3 for 27 yards. Four other receivers caught passes in the game with minimal yards.
Anthony Tyus III led the team with 203 yards rushing on 16 attempts with two touchdowns. Navarro added 33 yards on 16 carries of his own.
Defense
| Stat | Stat total |
| Passing Completions – Attempts – Interceptions | 27-40-1 |
| Points | 38 |
| Total Offensive Yards | 480 |
| Passing Yards | 354 |
| Rushing Yards | 126 |
| Time of Possession | 28:32 |
| Penalties – Yards | 6 – 47 |
| 3rd Downs | 9 of 15 |
| 4th Downs | 1 of 1 |
| Red Zone Scores – Chances | 5 – 5 |
| Fumbles – Recovered | 0 – 0 |
Austin Brawley led the team with 12 total stops, 9 solo, from the safety position. Blake Leake was next with seven total stops, three of them solo. Two players have one tackle for loss each, Bradley Weaver’s TFL was the teams only sack.
Pearson Tank is the only Bobcat on the season with an interception through the first game.
Special Teams
Punter Jack Wilson logged three kicks with an average of 45.3 yards per kick, a long of 50, and one downed inside the 20. Gianni Spetic went 3-for-3 on field goal attempt in the opening game with a long of 43, and made the one point after attempt.
South Alabama
Offense
| Stat | Stat total |
| Passing Completions – Attempts – Interceptions | 26-49-0 |
| Points | 38 |
| Total Offensive Yards | 582 |
| Passing Yards | 432 |
| Rushing Yards | 150 |
| Time of Possession | 30:28 |
| Penalties – Yards | 9-80 |
| 3rd Downs | 6 of 14 |
| 4th Downs | 2 of -3 |
| Red Zone Scores – Chances | 5 of 5 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 0 – 0 |
Gio Lopez was 26-of-49 for 432 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener. His longest pass completion was for 52 yards but he was sacked twice. He added 62 yards on the ground, leading the Jaguar rushing attack. His 494 all-purpose yards put him in the national lead. It should have propelled him to the Offensive Player of the Week honors for the Sun Belt, however that honor went to another player in an odd choice.
Jamaal Pritchett caught 10 of his 15 targets for 197 yards and a touchdown. Devin Voisin added 5 catches on 8 targets for 60 yards. Shamar Sandgren caught 3 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Eager had one catch for a 23-yard touchdown.
Fluff Bothwell was the leading rusher from the running back position with 30 yards on 6 carries with a touchdown.
Defense
| Stat | Stat total |
| Passing Completions – Attempts – Interceptions | 33-42-0 |
| Points | 52 |
| Total Offensive Yards | 550 |
| Passing Yards | 446 |
| Rushing Yards | 104 |
| Time of Possession | 29:32 |
| Penalties – Yards | 6-50 |
| 3rd Downs | 8-of-12 |
| 4th Downs | 0-of-1 |
| Red Zone Scores – Chances | 5-of-6 |
| Fumbles – Recovered | 0 – 0 |
Blayne Myrick led the team with 12 total stops, 3 solo. Jordan Scruggs was next with nine total stops, three solo as well, with a pass breakup. Maurice Strong Jr and Carlos Johnson Jr both had ½ tackle for loss in the game.
Special Teams
Jack Martin had two recorded punts in the game with an average of 44 yards per kick. However, he did have a bad snap that he dropped, then when he tried to pick it up and kick it, the ball ricocheted off of one of his blockers that led to a defensive touchdown.
Laith Marjan made both of this field goal attempts, the longest was from 39 yards out, as well as both of his point after attempts.
Keys to the Game
Defense
The defense, as a whole, needs to make a big improvement going into game two.
Point: While the rush defense looked good on paper against North Texas, how much of that was due UNT’s success through the air and not needing to run the ball?
Counter Point: The Mean Green had 34 rushing attempts for only 104 yards, an average of 3.1 yards per attempt, and the longest run was 13 yards. Did the Jags just take away the run and force a passing team to throw the ball more?
I would like to see them get more pressure on the quarterback. They need to play better in coverage (seriously, how many times have we been burned by inside slants over the last several seasons?!). I hope the linebackers get coached up some more because they have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders.
Offensive Line
I feel the offensive line played decently well overall, but they played at their best in the first half. Gio’s speed and escapability allows him to get out of the pocket and extend plays. What would have been sacks with Carter Bradley at quarterback are now running throws or scrambles for yardage.
I think they’ll improve. They’ll need to as the schedule gets increasingly difficult. With only two returning starters in the group, including a new center, it was a given that the offensive line may need some time to settle in.
Speaking of center, I lost count how many times I saw high snaps that Gio had to really reach to catch. I hope that’s just some first-game jitters
Health
I think the team came out pretty healthy from the game. The only player that appeared to get banged up was Gio Lopez. There were several runs and scrambles where he took the hit instead of sliding.
At one point he had a visible limp after some tackles. Afterwards he had some deep throws that came up a little short. He may have just put too much air underneath his throws, but you can’t help to wonder if he was having problems setting and throwing off of his plant foot.
Lopez also took a hit to the ribs and stayed down for a moment in the second half of the game.
Gio is definitely one of the linchpins in the Jaguars offense, he needs to stay healthy because there’s a lot of football left to be played this season.
Prediction
South Alabama will be tested in their first road game of the season in Ohio. While the sample size is only one game for each program, it looks like the offensive and defensive strengths for the Jags match up well against Ohio University.
The Bobcats is a predominately running team, they had 255 yards on the ground against Syracuse on the road. The Jags defense only allowed 104 yards to UNT. I don’t expect that kind of performance against Ohio, I think the Bobcats are going to get theirs. But can the defense get some stops? Can they get some pressure in the backfield? Can they cause more chaos?
The Jags roll into Ohio a 2.5-point favorite over the Bobcats.
I think this is a chance for coach Applewhite and gang to show that they’ve corrected some of the issues from the first game. But they also aren’t facing such a high-powered, fast-tempo offense this week.
I think the Jags win and cover.
Go Jags!
Jags Falter In Second Half Losing 52-38 In Applewhite’s First Game
Head coach Major Applewhite’s first game was a tale of two halves. The first half saw the Jags (0-1) start off a little rocky but fought back and then held strong on a 4th and goal with seconds to go until halftime. They took a 19-14 lead into the locker-room but the second half would be all Mean Green (1-0) unfortunately leading to a 52-38 loss.
The Jags rolled up 582 yards of total offense in the game. But the defense allowed 550, a stark difference for the most part from the Kane Wommack/Corey Batoon Swarm D performances over the previous three seasons. Chandler Morris accounted for five total scores, three passing and two more rushing.
Gio Lopez accounted for four scores himself, three passing and one rushing. He threw for 432 yards and rushed for 62 yards, setting single-game records for passing yards and total offense.
North Texas took the opening drive 79 yards in 15 plays for a game-opening touchdown drive. The Jags defense only allowed one score over the next three possessions, including a goal-line stand near the end of the half.
The second half was much different.
The Mean Green scored touchdown on four straight possessions in the second half. After the Jaguar offense went three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, UNT only needed three plays to drive 66 yards and retaking the lead.
After another three-and-out and an 18 yard punt return, the Mean Green scored again on a 5 play, 50 yard drive.
South Alabama tried to get back into the game after Gio Lopez connected with Jamaal Pritchett for a 26 yard touchdown to make it a 28-26 game. However, once again UNT strikes quickly with a 4 play, 69 yard drive to make it 35-26.
Then disaster struck on special teams.
After a third, 3-and-out Jack Martin dropped the snap. He picked it up and attempted to kick it, but the ball hit off his own player and bounced into the end zone to be recovered for a touchdown.
The Jags mounted a responding drive capped off by a 21 yard touchdown pass by Gio Lopez to Shamar Sandgren However the 2-point conversion failed and the Jags were down 42-32 with 13:31 left in the game.
Coach Windham’s defense just couldn’t muster a stop on the next drive and North Texas scored their final touchdown on a 10-play drive spanning 76 yards and eating 4:57 off the clock.
Once again the Jags offense drove down and scored thanks to a 23 yard touchdown pass from Lopez to Anthony Eager. Another failed 2-point conversion left the Jags trailing 49-38 with 4:39 left in the game.
With an opportunity to get the ball back, Jags defender Amarion Fortenberry sniffed out a perimeter pass to the far sideline and broke on the ball. Damon Ward Jr caught the pass and made a step before Fortenberry knocked the ball loose. The Jags recovered, but the officials reviewed and overturned the play that looked clearly like a catch and fumble. (But this seems to be very much the par for the course for the Jags at home)
North Texas added a 30 yard field goal to close out the scoring.
“I’m just disappointed in how we came out in the second half,” head coach Major Applewhite said. “We had two three-and-outs and it slowed us down. After that, we had a big drive to get a touchdown, but then we dropped a snap and gave them seven points on special teams. We also had some personal fouls that extended some drives. We just lost our bearings to start the third quarter and against a team that continues to put up points like that. When they’re hot, it’s difficult to recover from.”
“We left some plays on the field,” Lopez said after the game. “We had a lot of yards, but there’s more points out there we need to score.”
“We had bad eyes,” Jaden Voisin said. “We just did not execute at all. Tackling was a struggle; we’ve got to work on that. Getting to the quarterback; I mean, if the quarterback’s comfy back there, it’s not going to help anybody.”
“Any time our offense is at 38 points, we should win the game,” Voisin continued. “I’m not saying we (defense) lost the game, but we lost the game.”
Stats
| South Alabama | North Texas | |
| Total Yards | 582 | 550 |
| Passing Yards | 432 | 446 |
| Rushing Yards | 150 | 104 |
| 1st downs | 29 | 28 |
| 3rd downs | 6-of-14 | 8-of-12 |
| 4th downs | 0-of-1 | 2-of-3 |
| Time of Possession | 30:28 | 29:32 |
South Alabama
Gio Lopez finished 26-for-49 for 432 yards and three touchdowns. Lopez also led the rushing attack with 62 yards on 13 attempts with another touchdown.
True freshman Fluff Bothwell carried the ball six times for 30 yards and a touchdown. Kentrel Bullock had 28 yards on five carries. Braylon McReynolds added 27 yards on eight carries.
Jamall Pritchett led the Jags receivers with 197 yards on 10 catches with a touchdown. Devin Voisin added 5 catches for 60 yards. Jeremiah Webb caught three passes for 63 yards. Shamar Sandgren caught 3 for 37 yards with a touchdown.
Blayne Myrick led the defense with 12 stops, three solo. Jordan Scruggs has nine stops, also with three solo and a pass break-up. Wy’Kevious Thomas had 7 stops. Jaden Voisin has 6 total stops, five solo. Courtne McBride was the only Jag defender to get a quarterback hurry.
North Texas
Chandler Morris finished 32-for-41 for 415 yards and three touchdowns through the air and added 17 yards on 5 attempts with two touchdowns on the ground.
Ikaika Ragsdale led the Mean Green with 45 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown. Damashja Harris added 29 yards on six carries.
Damon Ward Jr led all receivers with 12 catches and 230 yards for two touchdowns. DT Sheffield added 7 catches for 74 yards. Jeremiah Aaron had 55 yards on three catches. In all ten receivers combined for the 33 pass receptions.
Jayden Hill led the Mean Green with nine stops, two solo. Roderick Brown collected a pair of sacks. Terrell Dawkins had a pair of quarterback hurries.
Next
South Alabama will travel to Ohio University to take on the Bobcats in Athens, Ohio. Ohio dropped their season opener 38-22 at Syracuse.
The Jags will have some work to do on defense over the upcoming week. While Chandler Morris is a really good quarterback, the Jags just couldn’t get any pressure on him though they were able to limit their ability to run the ball. Pressure on the quarterback and coverage in the secondary needs urgent attention.
The Jags and Bobcats kickoff at 5pm on Saturday, September 7 at Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium. The game can be viewed on ESPN+.
