Claws Out: South Alabama Travels To Georgia State For Final Road Game Of Season
The South Alabama Jaguar football team (1-9, 0-6 SBC) plays in their final road game of the 2019 season on Saturday when they take on the Georgia State Panthers (6-4, 3-3 SBC) in Atlanta.
Of the two remaining games of the season, this game may be the more likely of the two for the Jags to not only get their first FBS win of the season, but also break a 14-game road losing streak dating back to the 2017 season.
Over the last two games the Jaguar offense has shown signs of life behind the direction of redshirt freshman Desmond Trotter. The team missed a go-ahead field goal against Texas State in the final two minutes of the game. Then against Louisiana-Lafayette, who had the top scoring defense in the conference, the Jags rolled up 351 yards rushing and 27 points.
Tra Minter has been a workhorse all season long but with the emergence of Carlos Davis, the Jags rushing attack has found someone to compliment Tra and to build around going forward.
With Georgia State’s defense allowing over 200 yards rushing per game, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield will look for a repeat performance in rushing production from the ULL game.
But the Jaguar offense cannot be one-dimentional.
Trotter will eventually need to throw the ball effectively. Though he’s only made two starts in his career in college, he has yet to pass for 200 yards or more. Last weekend against ULL, he only attempted 15 passes and only had 2 passing yards at halftime.
While the offense has started finding it’s way, the defense has regressed. They allowed 373 yards passing to Texas State two weeks ago and then 255 yards rushing to ULL last weekend. But all season the defense has struggled getting off the field on 3rd down but have allowed a number of 3rd and longs to be converted lately.
The Jaguar defense will face a quarterback who was committed to head coach Steve Campbell’s staff at Central Arkansas, he didn’t follow him along to Mobile when Campbell was hired. Instead he chose to go with the Panthers.
Dan Ellington has completed 64% of his passes for 1,901 yards, 19 touchdowns and six interceptions on the year.
But that’s not the most remarkable note about Ellington. Despite suffering a torn ACL, he started against Appalachian State and is listed as probable against the Jaguars. Though the Panthers lost 56-27, they held a 21-7 lead early in the game.
Part of Ellington’s danger is his ability to run, which has been neutralized by his injury. How much mobility he has will be see on Saturday.
Expect the Jaguar defense to turn up the pressure if he mobility is limited. Last week against App. State, Ellington threw two interceptions and eventually gave way to redshirt freshman Cornelious Brown in the second half when App State started taking control of the game.
The Jags will be without defensive lineman Tyree Turner and tight end Khameron Taylor. Offensive lineman Joshua McCulloch is questionable to play. Defensive lineman Jordon Beaton is listed as probable.
If the Jags are going to get an FBS win this season, this may be their best opportunity of the two remaining games. Between an injured starting quarterback and an inexperienced backup, coupled with a defense that allows over 200 yards per game rushing, the numbers game sure looks good for USA.
The Panthers are favored by 10 points. Not only do I think the Jags will cover, but I think they will win outright.
The Jags and the Panthers are scheduled to kickoff at 1pm in Atlanta at Georgia State Stadium. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ and radio coverage will begin at 11am on 99.5 FM The Jag and 96.1 FM in Mobile and worldwide on the iHeartMedia app.
Go Jags!
Jags Fall At #24 Nebraska 35-21
South Alabama traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska with upset on their mind and they put a decent scare into the #24 ranked Cornhuskers and Coach Scott Frost.
The Jags took the Cornhuskers to halftime trailing by one score at 14-7 after Jalen Thompson was able to partially block a late field goal attempt by Nebraska. But the Jags focus on the “middle eight” didn’t go exactly as they wanted. On a 3rd and 8 play, starting quarterback Cephus Johnson was locked into his receiver allowing Eric Lee Jr. to jump the route for a 58 yard pick six at the 13:11 mark.
The Jags would get the ball right back but would go three-and-out. The Jack Brooks punt would sail 49 yards to JD Spielman, who elluded the first tackler and then ran it back 76 yards for the second score in under two minutes.
USA attempted didn’t give up, they would answer with two touchdowns in third quarter themselves. The first was set up by a JD Speilman muffed punt where the Jags covered it at the Husker 13 yard line. Four plays later Johnson would find Davyn Flenord on a tunnel screen for a 9 yard touchdown.
The second score was set up by an interception by AJ DeShazor at the Jag 24 yard line. USA got into the red zone thanks to a nice wheel route by Tra Minter down the left sideline then drive was capped off by a 13 yard touchdown reception by Khameron Taylor.
The scoring was capped off on the first play of the fourth quarter where Cephus would be hit from his backside and having the ball jarred loose where Alex Davis would cover it up in the end zone with 14:53 left in the game.
From there, the Jags had a great opportunity to cut the lead back to one score after Dedrick Mills fumbled the ball which Devin Rockette recovered at the Nebraska 49 yard line.
After driving down to the 12 yard line, Johnson was looking for Kawaan baker around the two yard line, but ball was delivered behind him, Baker got his had on the ball tipping it up where Cam Taylor could pick it off and returned it 48 yards to the mid field stripe.
The Jags won the battle on the statistics sheet if you ignore the score. They had more total yards (314 – 276), passing yards (231 – 178), first downs (19 – 15), total plays (79 – 66), time of possession (34:13 – 25:47) while Nebraska out-gained the Jags on the ground (98 – 83).
Cephus Johnson went 19-of-34 for 231 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and he was sacked four times. Tylan Morton came in for play and threw an interception when Cephus had to come out due to losing his helmet on a play.
Receiving Kawaan Baker led the way with 59 yards on four catches, Cade Sutherland gained 53 on four catches and Tra Minter gained 47 on five catches.
On the ground, Minter led the way with 37 yards on 10 carries. Baker added 27 yards on five carries and Cephus had a net of 9 yards on 18 carries with the lone rushing touchdown.
The Jags defense held Adrian Martinez to 13-for-22 passing for 178 yards and two touchdowns and one interception.
Rushing Dedrick Mills led the way with 45 yards on 15 carries. Washington added 39 yards on 6 carries after sitting out the first half. Martinez was held to 6 yards on 13 carries, with a big loss on a snap over his head though.
Receiving the Huskers Jack Stoll had three catches for 66 yards, Robinson added 33 yards on three catches and JD Spielman added 36 yards on two catches.
The Jags will open their home schedule with Jackson State on Saturday, September 7 with kickoff scheduled for 6pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.