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.
Jags Face Nebraska In 11am Kick
Here we are, ready for the 2019 season to finally begin. While Thunderjags has been quiet, we are still here. This year has been very busy with off the field family business. Without any further ado, let’s preview game number one.
The Jags coming off a 3-9 record for the 2018 campaign opens in Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the #24 Cornhuskers.
The Huskers enter the third season under head coach Scott Frost after back-to-back 4 win seasons. Despite that, they are getting lots of early hype being ranked #24 in the nation to start the season.
South Alabama lost a lot from last season, but not all of it from graduation. Several players transferred out to other programs. They lost Jordan McCray and Malik Stanley to the transfer portal. Kawaan Baker is by far the leading receiver returning with 33 catches and four touchdowns. While the four returning receivers combine for a total of 10 catches. They do return six squad members from last season, a mixture of redshirts and others who didn’t see any gametime then added seven true freshmen and a senior transfer.
The linebacking corps will look to fill Bull Barge’s big shoes as they return one letterwinner from last season with one sack. They also return three redshirt freshmen and two previous squad members.
The offensive line returns four starters from last year, three of them started all 12 games. But the squad had problems knocking people off the ball, but hopefully an offseason of study and strengthening will pay dividends.
Punter Corliss Waitman decided to transfer to Mississippi State to spend what looks like his final college football season reunited with former Jag head coach Joey Jones. Frankie Onate looks to step up and fill Gavin Patterson’s shoes as placekicker.
Always one of the most talked about positions is quarterback. Evan Orth and Cole Garvin graduated. Orth started eight games, Garvin started three, and 2019 starting signal caller Cephus Johnson started one. While Johnson only threw 19 passes last year, he completed seven of them for three touchdowns and only one interception.
Though head coach Steve Campbell brought in the top ranked JUCO dual-threat quarterback in Tylan Morton, Johnson beat him out for the starting job.
As mentioned before, Johnson will be breaking in a lot of new receivers with one veteran leading the way in Baker.
The tight end position should see more work in 2019. They only accounted for one touchdown last season against Memphis.
The running back position returns two letterwinners. Tra Minter leads the way as a 2nd team All-America all-purpose back by the Sporting News and preseason watch list for the Doak Walker and Paul Hornung Awards. Minter was the only returning back to have carried the ball 10 times or more in a game in 2018. Actually, Jalin Buie hasn’t carried the ball in a game since September 16, 2017.
Though the Jags return four redshirt freshmen and a JUCO transfer to help give depth. Tony Brown and John Tank Miller are two names to keep up with this season as they have been mentioned many times over the last year and in the offseason.
Nebraska’s defense is big up front. The Jags offensive line will have their hands full with the size and speed of the Cornhuskers. Coach Edenfield will look to find mismatches and try to exploit them with misdirection and try to use some of their speed against them.
Additionally the Husker corners are pretty good. Opponents struggled completing outside passes down the field.
Offensively Nebraska has a very good quarterback, possibly one of the best in the nation, in Taylor Martinez. He can throw well and he’s very good and running the ball. The Jags defense will have to play very disciplined football. Everyone is going to make mistakes, especially in the first game of the season. Season openers are won and lost by those mistakes. In order to have a chance to win, the Jags have to minimize their mistakes against what looks to be a very potent offensive attack for the Huskers this season.
The Jags have a win over a top 25 team, they’ve defeated a Power 5 SEC team. This is their second time facing Nebraska in Lincoln. The team is ready to start the 2019 season after the lackluster 2018 record. Maybe the chances of a Jaguar win is a little more favorable than the odds that Doctor Strange gave in Avengers: Infinity War. But it takes precision, focus, and near perfect play.
While I’d love to recreate the Mississippi State win, I’m not confident I’ll see it today. We have 11 games after this one and we need to stay healthy but also get some game experience for lots of new players.
USA is a 36 point underdog according to the Las Vegas oddsmakers. I think the Jags will keep it closer than that on the road but the outright win is slim but would be extremely exciting.
Big Ten Conference Considering Goal-Line Cameras
It was announced earlier this year that the Southeastern Conference will experiment with wireless communication for officiating some football games this season. This technology has been used by soccer referees for several years now.
The NCAA football rules committee approved a waiver for the SEC to test the system only in SEC games. They hope this will help officials communicate and to identify pre-snap reads. It could also help the efficiency in penalty enforcement by reducing the need for huddling. It could also help coaches get better explainations.
Yesterday it was released that the Big Ten Conference is strongly considering an experiment with goal-line cameras at some football stadiums. This is meant to help instant replay officials get better reviews for goal-line plays.
Goal line cameras were tested this spring at Michigan and Michigan State. If they are approved they may move around the Big Ten stadiums in 2012. If the Big Ten makes them perminent, they would be installed at all Big Ten stadiums.
Last season Michigan State defeated Wisconsin on a last-second Hail Mary where the ball was deflected and caught right at the goal line. Some of the replays came from angles that were not directly on the goal line, but one angle appeared to be very close to the goal line. After several minutes of review the officials determined that Michigan State did score a touchdown to win the game.
The Jags will play at Nebraska on September 12, 2015 and, if approved, goal-line cameras could be installed by then. Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011.
Nebraska Added to 2015, 2019 Football Schedules
South Alabama Coaches talking together before the NC State game.
South Alabama Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann officially announced a two-game contract between the Jags and the Nebraska Cornhuskers from the Big Ten conference.
The jags will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska twice. Their first game is scheduled on September 12, 2015 and the second game is set as the season opener on August 31, 2019.
In 2015, the Sun Belt will the first year conference schools will have a nine-game schedule. The Jags non-conference games that year already include hosting NC State in Mobile and a trip to Annapolis, Maryland.
As for the 2019 season, the Jags are schedule to also have the nine-game conference schedule with the only other non-conference game confirmed is a September 28th trip to New Orleans to play Tulane.
In the upcoming 2012 season the Jags have non-conference games again NC State, Mississippi State and Hawaii on the road plus University of Texas-San Antonio and Nicholls State both in Mobile. The 2012 season will feature 13 games for the Jags as a NCAA rule allows teams to schedule an additional game if they travel to Hawaii to play.
Other teams the Jags will face in the near future are LSU (2016), Tennessee (2013), Georgia (2014), Ole Miss (2017), Mississippi State (2012, 2014 in Mobile, 2016), Oklahoma State (2017 in Mobile, 2018, 2020), NC State (2011 loss in Raleigh, 2012, 2015 in Mobile), Southern Miss (2020, 2021 in Mobile), Navy (2013, 2014 in Mobile, 2015, 2016 in Mobile), Louisiana Tech (2017, 2018 in Mobile), Tulane (2013, 2019, 2020 in Mobile) and Kent State (2011 loss in Ohio, 2013 in Mobile, 2014).
Head football coach Joey Jones remarked about the addition of the Cornhuskers to the Jags future schedule. “We’ve got another team to add to the list of many that we’re playing, big-time schools. This excites our players and everyone else in the football program. We know that every year we are going to play two or three big-time teams around the country. That’s what we want to do, we are looking forward to it. I don’t think it’s so much the conference than just looking to play the top-20 type teams in the country. We’d love to play USC or Oregon one day too, we want to play those caliber of teams, to get to that level, we have to face them. That’s why we’re doing it.”
South Alabama completed their fourth practice of the spring this morning and will hold their first Saturday practice in two days with their spring football game scheduled for 2pm on Saturday March 24th.