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:
Jags Win Big Over Alabama State 45-7
Offensive line coach Mike Bangtson works with the offensive line between drives early in the first quarter in South Alabama’s 45-7 win over Alabama State on Saturday, October 13, 2018.
After a tough three-game road swing which they lost all three by a combined score of 152-55, the Jags returned home for their final non-conference tilt of the season against FCS Alabama State.
The Jaguar offense started out pretty shaky on their first two drives before putting together an 8 play, 82 yard touchdown drive capped off by an 8-yard touchdown run by Tra Minter with 4:03 left in the first quarter.
Once the Jags opened the scoring, they then put touchdowns on the board on their next three possessions. The second touchdown came by way of a jet sweep by Kawaan Baker where he outran the Hornet defense to the corner of the end zone.
Alabama State got their only points of the game on one play. Kha’Dar Davis threw it up down the far sideline, the Jaguar defender went up for it but missed, then Tyrek Allen came away with it and made for the end zone with the help of his teammates making some good blocks for a 75 yard touchdown pass.
USA answered right back with a six play, 49 yard drive capped off by Evan Orth running it in from 19 yards out. The next possession, Orth rolled to his right and found McCray open for a 9 yard touchdown pass to take a 28-7 lead into halftime.
The Jaguar defense opened the second half with a 3 and out. The ensuing punt was fielded by Tra Minter at his own 25 and he didn’t stop until he found the end zone 75 yards later to make it a 35-7 game.
On the next possession, the Jags drive stalled at the Hornet 33 yard line, but Gavin Patterson put three points on the board with a career long 50 yard field goal.
South Alabama took out Evan Orth at the beginning of the fourth quarter in favor of redshirt-freshman Cephus Johnson. On his third play directing the offense, the found Jahmmir running open on a seam route and he floated in perfectly for a 56 yard touchdown for his first career touchdown throw and the final score of 45-7.
The Jags rolled up 396 yards of total offense, 185 of it on the ground. USA held Alabama State to 219 total yards of offense and only 85 on the ground. The 75 yard touchdown pass was 34% of their entire offensive output in the game.
USA still committed seven penalties for 75 yards, which is an improvement in both categories. While the Hornets committed 13 for 83 yards.
Deonta Moore led the Jags with 65 yards rushing with Tra Minter added 61 on a team high 12 attempts with a touchdown.
Orth went 12-of-15 for 155 yards and a touchdown. Johnson went 1-of-2 for 56 yards and a touchdown.
Taylor led the way with 56 yards receiving on the touchdown reception. Kawaan Baker caught two for 52 yards. Jamarius Way caught a team-high three passes for 35 yards. Jordan McCray had the other receiving touchdown with on two catches for 12 yards.
Coach Steve Campbell spoke of how well the team played against Alabama State. “It was a really good win, I’m really proud of the way the guys responded. Tonight was a total team victory. Offensively, I thought we did a lot of good things and we protected the football. We were able to sustain drives with one of them being a 13-play drive. Defensively, we played really, really well. We gave up one play, but other than that our defense played lights out. We did a lot of good things in special teams. We returned a punt for a touchdown, we forced a couple of errant punts, we hit a 50-yard field goal and we covered kicks well, so there were a lot of good things special teams wise. All three phases contributed and I can see a lot of progress. It was good to be back in Mobile.”
With the win the Jags improve to 2-5 on the season and remains 1-2 in the conference and tied for second in the Sun Belt Conference Western Division.
South Alabama will host Troy for a Tuesday Night game on October 23 on ESPN2 the the “Battle for the Belt.”
Inside the Numbers:
Jags Travel Back To Georgia Southern AKA The Scene Of The Crime
South Alabama (1-4, 1-1 SBC) hits the road for the final leg of their three game road swing to take on a resurgent Georgia Southern (3-1, 1-0 SBC) team in Statesboro, Georgia. This is also back-to-back seasons traveling to Statesboro, which is due to the Sun Belt Conference aligning into two divisions and hosting a Conference Championship Game beginning this season.
To give a little history, last season the Eagles were starting season two of Tyson Summers tenure as head coach. He had taken over for very successful Willie Fritz who left to take the head coaching position at Tulane (the Eagles won the GoDaddy Bowl to finish 9-4). Summers won the first three games of 2017 before losing 7 of the final 9 games of the season to finish a disappointing 5-7.
The 2017 season started out with a 41-7 loss to then #12 Auburn, followed by a 22-12 loss to FCS New Hampshire in Birmingham. They were 0-6 when it was decided that the six-time FCS national champions would fire Summers and name Chad Lunsford as the interim head coach.
Lunsford then lost the next three games to Troy, Georgia State and Appalachian State before having a long week to prepare for South Alabama. The Jags had started the season with two power 5 teams in Ole Miss and Oklahoma State before welcoming FCS Alabama A&M. They opened Sun Belt play against Idaho in a disaster of a game that lasted some 8 hours or so with multiple lightning delays and horrendous officiating that eventually saw the Vandals (steal a) win in overtime.
The Jags limped into Troy, who themselves were coming off of an upset win over LSU, for a Wednesday night game against their in-state rivals. The Jags turned up the defense and upset the Trojans 19-8 in front of a nationally televised audience.
The up-and-down Jags then defeated Louisiana-Monroe and lost to Georgia State and Louisiana-Lafayette before hosting the defending SBC champs, and the favorite to win the conference title again, Arkansas State Red Wolves. The Jags showed up and earned their first win against ASU. It looked like head coach Joey Jones may have saved his job, especially if they could win out and get bowl eligible again.
But the 0-9 Eagles had a different idea.
The Jags went into Statesboro and the game was a complete nightmare. Lunsford had rallied his team and they shellacked the Jags 52-0, which sealed Jones’ fate with his announced resignation effective at the end of the season two days later. It was the first time the Jags were held scoreless in program history.
Now back to current day.
The Jags have a new head coach in Steve Campbell but, as his post game comments said last Saturday, they are not as far along as he thought. The Jags were completely demolished by Appalachian State in Boone, NC 52-7. Now they hope to get some revenge from last year, notch their second win of the season, and keep their lead in their conference division.
The Eagles enter the game after a big win over one of the conference’s best teams year-in and year-out in Arkansas State.
The Eagles sealed the game with a reverse option pitch that went 47 yards for the game-deciding touchdown with :19 left in the game. The Eagles completed just one pass in the game, though they only attempted three passes, but the lone completion went 61 yards for a touchdown, however the Eagles rushed for 348 yards in the game.
South Alabama has already shown on the season that they are very susceptible to the run and big plays. The defense ranks 117th nationally in total defense (501.8 yards per game), 120th in rush defense (234.4 yards per game) and 126th in scoring defense (44 points per game). Add in the fact that the Jags have not found a way to stop the triple option attack, one could even say it has been their kryptonite over the last several years.
But the Jags offense showed some triple option itself early in the season, but has shied away from it the last few games. Coach Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield and defensive coordinator Greg Stewart all have experience with the option somewhat. But will that translate onto the field?
Just a few weeks ago the Jags were riding high after getting their first win under Coach Campbell and playing well on the road against Memphis before last weeks debacle, where the Jags were outscored 45-0 after tying the game at 7 in the first quarter.
The most prominent affliction that can be seen each and every game has been penalties. USA is next-to-last nationally with 51 penalties, only three behind Kent State, and 130th which is dead last with 96.8 penalty yards per game.
The Jags are only averaging about 20 more yards rushing than they do in penalties. The teams leading rusher only has 164 yards through 5 games, or 32.8 yards per game.
Quarterback Shai Werts leads the Eagles with 369 yards and six touchdowns rushing on the season with Wesley Fields with 298 yards and one touchdown on the season. Werts has only thrown 27 passes on the season and has completed 14 of them for 264 yards and three touchdowns. So they don’t throw much, but when they do they are averaging almost 20 yards per reception.
On the flip side, the Jags Jamarius Way has emerged as the top receiver on the team with 500 receiving yards on 35 catches for two touchdowns. The next closest receiver is running back Kawaan Baker who has 16 receptions for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively the Jags safety, Nigel Lawrence leads the team with 48 total tackles, which indicates how much success offenses have had against this defense. The next closest defender, Nick Mobley, has 26 stops on the season.
But Nigel was helped off the field last week with a knee injury, it’s uncertain the extent of the injury but at a minimum he will miss a couple weeks if it is not a season ending injury. Add in linebacker Riley Cole’s knee injury keeping him sidelined and you start to see the Jags injury bug showing itself once again.
The line opened with GSU as a 13 point favorite in the game. It may be a conservative line with the Jags history against the triple option and porous run defense.
I really hope to that I am proven wrong but from what I have seen this season, I cannot confidently go with the Jags to cover much less win outright in this game. Again, I would love to be shown wrong, but key injuries along with the scheme and the love affair with the yellow hankies all add up to a recipe that just doesn’t taste well for a Jaguar fan.
The game can be seen on ESPN3 with kickoff scheduled for 2:30pm in Statesboro, Georgia.
Go Jags!
Inside the Numbers:
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+.
Inside the Number:
Jags Face Tough Test Against Appalachian State In Boone
South Alabama (1-3, 1-0 SBC) travels to Boone, North Carolina to take on Appalachian State (2-1, 0-0 SBC). The Mountaineers destroyed Garner Webb and the students will be out in force for homecoming.
The Jags tried to upset Memphis on the road last week but had problems stopping their high-powered offense down the stretch and couldn’t keep up with them on the scoreboard, 52-35.
The one and only time the Jags played in Boone, USA brought home a big win 47-21 win. The next season the Mountaineers got some revenge with a 34-27 win in Mobile to make the all-time series tied at one win each.
Fast forward a couple of seasons and the Jags have a new coach and App State has been a steady winner since that loss in Boone. After starting that season 1-4 and 0-2 in conference play, they have compiled a 38-11 record overall, 27-3 conference record and three consecutive bowl wins.
South Alabama, one way or another, has finally found someone to go with at quarterback in the senior Evan Orth. He’s been very efficient too going 66-of-96 for 789 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception. Kawaan Baker emerged early as a great outlet but he’s been complimented, if not overshadowed, by the play of Jamarius Way lately. After back-to-back 170-yard plus games, Way is 7th nationally in receiving yards per game.
Mountaineers quarterback Zac Thomas has also been efficient for the Mountaineers going 50-of-67 for 750 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
South Alabama has struggled running the ball. From the 2017 season to the 2018 season, under the new coaching staff, the playcalling has flipped the run/pass ratio from being pass heavy to being more run heavy, but have not been as successful as they have hoped.
Baker, the slot receiver, is the teams leading rusher with 134 yards on the season with a 6.4 yard per rush average with four touchdowns. Tra Minter is right behind him with 120 yards rushing on the season and three touchdowns. The only other runner in triple digits rushing is Evan Orth with 113 yards.
While Way is putting up big numbers receiving, Way has three receiving touchdowns on only 12 receptions. He’s scored over 1/3 of Jags total points this season!
Orth has had success in the quick-release passing offense. It keeps the offense simple for him, takes pressure off of the offensive line who has had a hard time protecting him this season (nine sacks, seven hurries).
After being quite futile on third down for the season, the Jags were 8-of-15 last week against Memphis. Each and every week third-down conversions are a telling fact because they extend drives and rests your defense. If the Jags reverts back and has problems sustaining drives then it will be a disadvantage for the Jags defense.
While the Jags have focused on and have been successful lately in getting some big-plays on offense, the Mountaineers are 2nd in the FBS with four offensive plays of over 60 yards and is the only team with multiple plays of 80+ yards. But defensively the Jags have allowed 15 plays of 30+ yards which is 125th nationally and allows an average of 6.2 yards per play, which is 104th nationally.
The Jags defensive scheme is to create negative plays to put the offense behind the chains by bringing a heavy rush with frequent man-to-man coverage in the secondary. While it has worked often against opponents with allowing less than a 30% conversion rate on third-down (19th nationally), they have also allowed lots of big plays and scoring with the previously noted 6.2 yards per play and almost 14 yards per completion.
App State’s defense prides itself on its run defense on making opponents one-dimensional. The Jags have been pretty one-dimensional all season and they have have played pretty well the last couple of weeks. The Mountaineers will lean on that then disguise their coverages against an inexperienced quarterback.
With a 25.5 point spread, I think the Jags will cover but I’m not sure they can start off 2-0 in the conference. But historically the Jags, when a heavy underdog in the points spread, they have risen to the occasion. I’d love nothing else than getting started 2-0 in conference but the Mountaineers are really good. Hopefully homecoming week festivities has been distracting as the Jags can sneak a win.
Go Jags!
Inside 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 Hit The Road To Face Memphis In First Of Three Consecutive Road Games
South Alabama travels to Memphis for a 7pm kickoff against the Tigers.
Offensively the Tigers have a strong offensive line and backfield. They returned four of their five starting offensive linemen and a junior running back in Darrell Henderson that is averaging an absurd 14.5 yards per rush and 173.7 yards per game. He has 526 yards this season on 36 carries with six touchdowns.
South Alabama’s defense is allowing an average of 184 yards per game on the ground. The Jags defense will want to stop the run, as they have tried to do in their previous games, and make Memphis one dimensional and forced to throw the ball.
However USA will have a huge task ahead of them with Henderson. No one has stopped him yet this season but the Jags have made star running backs look bad before (See San Diego State two years ago).
Defensively the Tigers return some talented linebackers behind a defensive line that is lacking in depth but has played well so far this season.
The Jags defense sparked the Jags to their big win last Saturday behind Jalen Thompson’s two interceptions and a touchdown. He has three interceptions on the season. Safety Nigel Lawrence leads the team in tackles, but that also points out that the opposing offense is having success getting to the second and third levels of the defense if your safety is leading the team in tackles.
Despite the high points of the defensive secondary, the Jags are allowing almost 300 yards per game. The Tigers quarterback Brady White has thrown 10 touchdowns on the season with no interceptions. While he has yet to face the meat of their schedule, he has not made any mistakes yet.
So far this season the Jags have made most of their yardage on the ground with read options and some triple option. Quarterback Evan Orth, at least for the time being, looks to be the guy at quarterback as senior Cole Garvin remains suspended indefinitely from the team and redshirt-freshman Cephus Johnson just has not seen much playing time.
In addition to throwing for 429 yards, three touchdowns and only one interception, Orth is also the teams leading rusher with 104 yards. The Memphis front seven will key off of him.
Jamarius Way came up big time against Texas State by setting a new school record with 11 catches in the game and almost set another one with 173 yards in the game. Up until that game, Kawaan Baker has been the workhorse in the passing game but the Bobcats did a good job of keeping him in check during the game.
The Tigers were successful in shutting down Georgia State’s Penny Hart last week so they’ll want to do that again this week. Additionally the Tigers have a similar player in a similar role as Baker so it seems they may have some experience with the way the Jags use Baker.
The spread for the game is 30.5 in favor of Memphis. It looks like Memphis, behind their very high tempo offense, could score at will on the Jags if USA struggles with penalties and getting off the field on third down. But 30.5 is quite large. I think the Jags will cover but its hard for me to see a way the Jags win the game without LOTS of help from Memphis and breaking up with penalties, cold-turkey.
Inside 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:
Jags Open Season With 30-26 Loss To Louisiana Tech
First year South Alabama head football coach Steve Campbell works with the offensive line between series in the Jags 30-26 home loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday, September 1, 2018.
Tra Minter opened the game with a big 48 yard kickoff return to just inside Louisiana Tech territory, however the offense went three-and-out. four-and-out after going for it on 4th down giving the ball to Tech near midfield.
The Jags didn’t get on the board until 7:54 left in the second quarter after they were set up by a shanked punt by Louisiana Tech. On 3rd and 8, Garvin handed the ball to Kawaan Baker and he scampered in from 28 yards out to cut the Bulldog lead to 13-7.
USA came right back and recovered an onside kick at the Bulldog 46 and looked to have shifted the momentum to their side, but two plays later Sam Harris gained 29 yards on a speed sweep to the Bulldog 10 yard line, but was stripped of the ball which was recovered by Louisiana Tech. There was some confusion over the turnover, most thought Harris was down before the ball came out but despite every effort there was no review. At one point the Jaguar offense was lining up against the Bulldog offense before coach Campbell called a time out as the Jag defense tried to run on and get set.
Louisiana Tech extended their lead to 20-7 with :34 left in first half when J’Mar Smith found Bobby Holly out in the flat for a 1 yard touchdown pass.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a field goal to extend their lead to 23-7.
The Jags answered with a 15 play, 67 yard drive with heavy doses of Baker and Minter on the ground and finishing off with a 3 yard slant pass to Baker for the Jags to cut the lead back to ten points 23-13 with 6:59 left in third quarter after a failed 2-point conversion.
Late in the third quarter and into the early part of the fourth quarter, neither team wanted to maintain possession as both teams traded turnovers. It started with Cole Garvin having the ball punched out, then a Jay Woods interception of J’Mar Smith, followed immediately by Garvin tossing an interception on a flea flicker play, and finally an interception by Jalen Thompson of another J’Mar’s pass at the Jag 34.
Evan Orth then saw some playing time late in the game and made the best of it by leading the Jags on a 66 yard, 10 play drive ending with a Maurice Mayo 5 yard touchdown run and pulling the Jags within three points of the Bulldogs with 8:18 left in the game.
Tech answered back with their own 12 play, 74 yard drive eating nearly six minutes off the clock to regain a ten point advantage.
But the Jags were not ready to roll over.
Behind Orth’s 59 yard run to the Bulldog 4 yard line, Baker added another touchdown. After a delay of game on the PAT, Gavin Patterson’s point-after attempt was blocked leaving the Jags trailing 30-26 with 1:11 left and only one time out after burning two time outs early in the third quarter.
The only hope for the Jags was to convert another onside kick. Jamarius Way got his hands on it but could not come down with it. After kneeling on the ball a couple times, the Bulldogs ran the remaining time off the clock.
Tech’s Jaqwis Dancy lead all with 144 yard rushing with two touchdowns. Israel Tucker added 82 yards for the Bulldogs. Evan Orth led the Jags with 74 yards rushing, Baker added 51, Harris had 40 and Minter had 23 yards on 16 carries.
J’Mar Smith was 19-of-29 for 209 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. The Jags three quarterbacks with the starter Cole Garvin going 7-of-16 for 47 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Orth went 4-of-6 for 44 yards. Cephus Johnson came in for only one series in the first half and his only passing attempt was incomplete.
Adrian Hardy caught three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown for the Bulldogs. Two other Bulldogs had 53 and 52 yards receiving.
Jamarius Way had 31 yards receiving on two catches, the most for a Jaguar receiver. Minter added 28 on three catches.
At halftime, the Jags offense had only 98 total yards and three first downs. But by the end of the game they had 308 total yards of offense but only 91 yards passing.
South Alabama will travel to Oklahoma State on Saturday with kickoff scheduled for 7pm on FSN.
Edit: Changed three-and-out to four-and-out because the Jags went for it on 4th down on the opening drive. Sorry, sometimes my hands go on auto-pilot typing and didn’t catch it.
Jags Fall In Season Finale On Last Minute Touchdown
Head coach Joey Jones leading the team in the Jaguar Prowl in 2010.
South Alabama was unable to send the 19 seniors and head coach Joey Jones out with a final win in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Jags finish the season 4-8 after the 22-17 defeat after the Aggies scored in the final minute of the game to regain the lead and ultimately the win.
The Jags took a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter then the Aggies scored 13 consecutive points to end the first half. The Jags had an opportunity to score a touchdown before the end of the first half after Garvin found Kawaan Baker for an 18 yard gain down to the two yard line, but a personal foul on Harrison Louden put the Jags back at the 17 yard line. Then the Jaguars went in reverse after Jordan McCray stepped out of bounds for a 9 yard loss on a reverse followed by an 11 yard sack and fumble that rolled out of bounds at the at the 40 yard line of the Aggies. A personal foul after the fumble gave the Jags 15 yards and an automatic first down at the Aggie 25. A pass to Reinkemeyer for a loss of a yard followed by Garvin being sacked for a loss of 3 set the Jags up for a 3rd & 14. Garvin’s pass, when it looked like he was just trying to throw it away, but he couldn’t get enough on it and it was intercepted on the sideline at the 24 ending the threat.
The Aggies opened the fourth quarter with a field goal to take a 16-7 lead before the Jags started began their comeback. With 11:49 left in the game, Cole Garvin found Jordan McCray for a 17 yard touchdown to cut the lead to two points.
The Aggies were facing a 4th & 4 at the Jaguar 17 and decided to go for it but the Jaguar defense forced an incomplete pass and took over the ball. Garvin complete four-consecutive passes for 10, 3, 19 and 42 yards with all but the third pass going to Jamarius Way, the third pass was to McCray. A few plays later, facing a 3rd and goal from the 10, Garvin targeted Malik Stanley but he couldn’t haul it in and Jones opted for a go-ahead field goal making it 17-16 with 3:13 left in the game.
The Aggies dinked and dunked their way down the field until Tyler Rogers connected with Grand Bay, Alabama native Conner Cramer in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score. Their 2-point conversion attempt was no good leaving the Aggies nursing a 22-17 lead with :32 left in the game.
NMSU had the kickoff go out of bounds which would have put the ball at the USA 35 yard line with :32 left, but Jones and his staff decided to make them rekick it from the 30 yard line. The Jags attempted to set up a throw-back across the field but the throw didn’t have enough power behind it and skipped back allowing the defenders to close in, all the while with the clock running. Finally the Jags took over at the 27 yard line with :24 left.
Garvin found David Garner along the left sideline for an 11 yard gain. Garvin then kept it up the middle but short of a first down forcing the Jags to call their final time out with :12 left. After another incomplete pass, Garvin threw what was close enough to a hail mary attempt with the pass tipped by the defender and the bounce went away from Jamarius Way, if it had tipped the other way, he could have been able to cruise into the end zone for the game winning touchdown.
However, that did not happen and the Jags fell to 4-8 on the season while New Mexico State looks to be going to their first bowl game since 1960.
And with that head coach Joey Jones’ tenure at South Alabama comes to and end. Jones finishes 52-50 in nine season as the architect of the Jaguar football program since his hiring in 2008 and their first play in 2009.
Senior Jeremy Reaves became only the second defensive back in Jaguar history to record 100 or more stops in a season.
Jones spoke after the game in his final post-game press conference:
On the game itself: “All I wanted for us to do coming into this game was to fight and I thought we did that. We came up a little short. [New Mexico State’s] quarterback is a great player and made some plays on their last drive. With about five minutes left, they had a third-and-10 and he hit it. On their touchdown play, he was able to scramble around and made a great throw. It really wasn’t anything that our guys did wrong, but rather what [NMSU] did right. I was proud of our guys fighting tonight.”
On offensive adjustments in the second half: “We just executed better. In the first half, we dropped some passes. We also got down to the one and got a penalty, which brought the ball back and hurt us trying to score. Other than that, we played pretty well. I told the guys a halftime, that if we just keep running our offense, we’ll be ok.”
on his defenses play against running back Larry Rose III and forcing the Aggies to go to the air to win: “Our coaches did a great job calling plays defensively. Rose is a heck of a running back. We wanted to make NMSU throw the ball, but unfortunately Tyler Rogers is a very good quarterback. Our hats are off to New Mexico State.”
Jeremy Reaves spoke after the game as well:
On the game: “We fought and that’s all coach [Joey Jones] asked for. We fought for 60 minutes and the score didn’t reflect it, but I’m happy with the way our guys fought considering this was my last game here.”
On what the defense did to take New Mexico State’s running game away: “We knew that Rose was an electric player and that he was going to make plays. We also knew it was going to come down to us being physical. The defense was just able to stop them at the line of scrimmage and the point of attack.”
On the play of NMSU quarterback Tyler Rogers: “He’s a great player. We were talking throughout the game and he told me he was trying to throw away from me because I hit too hard. He’s a ball player though; he’s good with his legs and he’s good with his arm. He made plays when they needed him too. New Mexico State made the plays when they needed too and they showed up on third down. Credit to those guys and I congratulate them.”
Quarterback Cole Garvin, who started the game but rotated series with Dallas Davis through the first half spoke for the offense after the game:
On the way the offense played in the second half: “We made it a game [in the second half] and we really tried to get the win, but we couldn’t get it done on the last offensive drive.”
On what the offense did differently going into the fourth quarter: “We just kept calling the same plays that were working and minimized mistakes. Coach Owens called a really good game against the defense were in and we just kept hitting the holes.”
On the job the running backs and wide receivers did: “Those guys finding the holes is what made my job easy, along with what the offensive line did. It was a team effort.”
South Alabama finished with 353 yards of total offense, 331 yards through the air and only 22 yards rushing. Jaguar quarterbacks combined to go 26-of-46 for two interceptions and one touchdown.
Garvin went 22-of-37 for 268 yards with an interception and the only passing touchdown, but was sacked four times. Davis went 4-of-9 for 63 yards with one interception.
Jamarius Way led the Jags with 88 yards on seven receptions. McCray was next with 74 yards on four receptions and the lone touchdown. David Gardner, Malik Stanley, and Tra Minter all had three catches for 48, 47, and 42 yards receiving respectively. Four other Jaguars also caught passes in the game.
Davis was the Jags leading rusher with 15 yards on five carries. Jalen Wayne, and Minter both had eight yards rushing. Bull Barge, Darrell Songy and Wade Forde each had a sack in the game.
Defensively the Jags allowed 491 total yards, 451 yards through the air and only 40 yards rushing. Rogers went 40-of-61 with two touchdowns and an interception.
Jaleel Scott had 134 yards on nine receptions. Rose also had nine receptions adding 95 yards receiving. The Aggies had eight other receivers catching passes in the game.
Rose rushed for 52 yards and Jason Huntley added 10 yards rushing as well. Rogers netted a 20 yard loss in sacks and such.
With the Jaguars season over, the focus now turns to the coaching search, which should accelerate with the season’s end. Athletics director Joel Erdmann is expected to begin interviewing candidates this week since more candidate’s seasons are starting to end as well.
It’s expected that defensive coordinator Kane Wommack will serve as USA’s interim head football coach until a replacement is hired.
Thank you coach Jones, your work has built the South Alabama program from scratch to what it is today. Photo Credit: JagNationUSA Facebook Page