Jags Take Another Thumping, Fall to UAB 35-3
South Alabama travelled to Birmingham for their final non-conference game of the 2019 season against the UAB Blazers and came home with a 35-3 loss.
Tyler Johnston III threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns on 22-of-27 passing while also running for 26 yards against the Jaguar defense. In all, the Jags defense gave up 514 yards of total offense.
In a game with few highlights for the Red, White, and Blue, Tra Minter led the Jags with 43 yards rushing and added three catches for 34 yards.
Nick Mobley, sophomore linebacker, led the defense with 10 stops. Keith Gallmon and DJ Daniels each had nine and eight stops respectively in the secondary.
The few highlights for the Jags this week is that they won’t make Sportscenter, C’mon Man, or You Had One Job segments this week with a botched point-after attempt that turns into two-points for the opposite team. They avoided a shut out by notching a field goal in the first quarter. Though they were shut out of the end zone. They did not turn the ball over and were only called for just four penalties.
Cephus Johnson had to leave the game early due to being diagnosed with a concussion, though he was visibly not happy about it on the sideline. He finished the game 3-of-5 passing for 7 yards and 41 yards rushing on six carries.
Tylan Morton came in and went 5-of-10 for 76 yards. Desmond Trotter saw some action late and his only pass attempt was incomplete.
Jalen Tolbert and Kawaan Baker both caught two passes for 23 and 22 yards respectively.
Blazer Spencer Brown carried the ball 18 times for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
With the non-conference slate finished, the Jags will need to regroup for the meat of your schedule.
“We start conference play next week and that gives everybody a chance to start over,” South Alabama coach Steve Campbell said. “Everybody is 0-0 and it starts a new season. We’ll learn from this one.”
“I thought we played better [defensively] in the second half” Campbell said. “Offensively, we didn’t put enough together to generate any touchdowns. This is now two weeks in a row that we haven’t played well offensively, so we have to go back and look at what we’re doing, and whether or not we have the right people at the right spots. We need to find a way to move the ball and score some points.”
Campbell spoke about how to turn things around going into conference play with eight games remaining. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to score some points offensively. Defensively, we did a good job of getting off the field in the second half. They [UAB] went on one [scoring] drive in the second half and that was a nine minute drive where they converted five or six third downs and we just couldn’t get off the field. We made them earn it in the second half and didn’t give them anything cheap. There’s some stuff for us to build off from this game. Our special teams played better.”
South Alabama will travel to Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks took Florida State to overtime before falling to the Seminoles. The Jags will have a week figure things out and do some soul searching as they still control their season.
The Jags and the Warhawks are schedule to kick off at 6pm in Monroe, LA. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with a subscription.
Jags Dominated By Memphis 42-6
The cat fight turned out to be a one-sided event as the Memphis Tigers (3-0) dominated all phases of the game against South Alabama (1-2) at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday.
USA looked to have made big strides leading into this season as they pressed Nebraska hard in a 35-21 loss in Lincoln to open the season, then a program record 413 yards rushing last week against Jackson State. But Memphis, from the American Athletic Conference, showed the Jags that they had not progressed as much as they may have thought, at least on September 14th.
The Jags were staring squarely at being shut out at home for the first time in program history, but a big play touchdown near midway through the fourth quarter saved the team from that fate. But they did suffer their worst home loss in program history to a non-Power 5 conference team.
Both teams opened the game with three-and-outs on offense, but Memphis eventually got their offense going as Kenneth Gainwell scored on a 5-yard run with 7:21 left in the first quarter. Kylan Watkins dove for an 18-yard touchdown pass from Brady White to make it 14-0 at the 14:18 mark in the second quarter.
Later in the second quarter after a big run by Watkins, the Tigers scored on a 4th and goal when White found Kedarian Jones for a 2-yard touchdown pass taking a 20-0 lead after the 2pt attempt on the swinging gate formation.
The Tigers added a 36-yard field goal with :39 left in the second quarter to close out the first half leading 23-0.
Of the eight first-half possessions by the Jaguars offense, six of them ended with punts. One ended by a fumble by Cephus Johnson and halftime ended the other.
The Tigers out gained the Jags in the first half 327 – 93. They out rushed the Jags 245 – 55.
Tra Minter left the game late in the first quarter after a vicious hit on an 8-yard jet sweep left him laying motionless for a couple minutes before he was helped off the field by the athletic trainers and visibly woozy. He will be in the concussion protocol this week and will have to clear that before he can be cleared to play again for the Jags.
Memphis opened the second half with a quick score that was sparked by a big play when safety DJ Daniels tipped a pass that fell right into tight end Joey Magnifico’s hands that went for 58 yards to the 4 yard line. White then connected with Antonio Gibson for the touchdown to take a 30-0 lead.
Memphis added a field goal early in the fourth quarter to take a 33-0 lead with 13:10 left in the game.
On the ensuing drive Tylan Morton ran for a 7-yard gain, but fumbled the ball and Austin Hall picked it up and returned it 48 yards for another Memphis touchdown making it 40-0 with 11:18 left in the game.
The Jags got the ball back and on the second play Morton connected with Kawaan Baker on an inside slant play which turned into a 74 yard touchdown. However on the PAT snap was bobbled and in an attempt to make a play, the ball was fumbled and Jacobi Francis took it the distance for 2-points for Memphis closing out the scoring at 42-6.
The Jags were held to 248 total yards of offense while Memphis rolled up 530 total yards. The Jags rushed for only 101 yards in the game compared to 312 for the Tigers and the Jags only managed 147 yards passing to 218 by the Tigers.
USA only converted 5 of 15 3rd down attempted, but Memphis only converted 7 of 15 attempts.
I guess the positive point in the game was the Jags were only flagged three times for 30 yards. Memphis was flagged 10 times for 100 yards.
Cephus Johnson was a mere 5-for-14 for 42 yards before he was pulled midway through the third quarter. Tylan Morton was 4-for-12 for 105 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Johnson led the Jags with 37 rushing yards on 14 carries, followed by Jared Wilson who had 28 yards on 10 carries.
Jalen Tolbert caught four passes for 37 yards. Kawaan Baker caught two passes for 84 yards and the lone Jaguar touchdown.
Brady White went 12-for-20 for 209 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Connor Adair completed both of the throwing attempted for 9 yards.
The Tigers had a pair of runners go over the century mark with Kenneth Gainwell rushing for 145 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. Kylan Watkins added 113 yards on 11 carries.
Damonte Coxie caught three passes for 81 yards to lead the Tigers receiving corps.
The Jags visibly struggled at the line of scrimmage, which Jaguar head football coach Steve Campbell noted in his post game comments. “We had a hard time running the ball and we had a hard time stopping the run,” Campbell said. “If you aren’t able to run the ball, you become one dimensional on offense. We had a chance to hit a play or two early and we didn’t, so all they did was tighten up defensively, and we struggled to run the ball. Memphis rushed the ball for 312 yards and we were only able to rush it for 101 yards and most of that I believe came in the fourth quarter. We got beat on the line of scrimmage.”
Campbell also noted the loss of Minter in the game. “It hurt because we are a young football team,” he said. “Tra is someone we look to for a lot of leadership on offense. Jared {Wilson] stepped up for us a little bit, but it hurt to lose Tra because he does a lot for us.”
South Alabama will travel to Birmingham for the first game of a home-and-home series between the two programs and the Jags final non-conference game of the season. UAB is coached former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark. He is joined by former Jaguar offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent as well as former assistant coach Richard Owens.
The Jags and the Blazers are set for a 2:30pm kickoff at Legion Field. The game will be televised on the NFL Network. Radio coverage can be heard on 99.5 The Jag locally in Mobile and on the iHeartMedia app.
Jags Set School Record Rushing In 37-14 Win Over Jackson State
As many strides the South Alabama football team and coaches made last week in their narrow defeat in Lincoln, Nebraska to the Cornhusker, they stepped backwards almost as much.
Plagued by mistakes in all phases of the game, the Jags (1-1) did figure out that they could lean on the running game after they wore down FCS Jackson State (0-2) defense.
The Jags put up a school-record 413 yard rushing on 60 carries as they ground out a 37-14 win over the Jackson State Tigers. Tra Minter led the attack with 189 yards and two touchdowns on just 16 carries, though one of them was a 49 yard touchdown on a backwards pass that counted as a rushing attempt. Freshman Jared Wilson carried 12 times for 95 yards showing his raw power on a number of attempts.
The Jags mistakes started early when on back-to-back plays the Jags lost Riley Cole and Rocelle McWilliams on targeting penalties. Luckily they occurred in the first half thus they will be able to play against Memphis next week. The loss of those two next week would have been devastating. But then they lost a third player to targeting in the second half and will miss playing time against Memphis.
The offense had three turnovers, two of them were red zone interceptions and the other was a fumble at the 1 yard line.
After playing very disciplined against the Cornhuskers, the Jags were penalized 11 times for 101 yards. A flashback to last season.
The Tigers looked to score on the games first possession, but their special teams woes continued as their field goal attempt sailed wide right.
The Jags made it 7-0 when Cephus Johnson carried it two yards into the end zone with 8:31 left in the first quarter.
The Tigers tied the game with 3:26 left in the opening quarter when Derrik Ponder connected with Warren Newman.
Just two plays later Johnson found Minter on a behind-the-line swing pass which he took 49 yards. However a high snap fouled up the extra point attempt leaving the Jags lead at 13-7.
It was starting to look like Jackson State was going to be able to make it to halftime only down by six points, but Jags drove 90 yards in 8 plays in only 1:48 highlighted by a 36 yard run by Minter and capped off by a 3 yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Kawaan Baker. Head coach Steve Campbell called for a two-point attempt but Johnson’s pass fell incomplete leaving the Jags lead at 19-7 at halftime.
USA came out in the second half with a focus on running the ball and stopping the Tigers running attack.
And they did, holding JSU to only 40 yards after halftime: 20 yards rushing and 20 yards passing.
With all the problems passing, the Jags ran the ball 60 times of their 79 offensive snaps.
Keshawn Harper ran 10 time for JSU gaining 75 yards on the ground. With Tyson Alexander added 44 yards on four carries and Jordan Johnson added another 39 yards on nine carries as the JSU Tigers rushed for 142 yards on the Jags.
Derrick Ponder went 15-of-26 for 123 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Nine Jags carried the ball to combine for 413 yards rushing and four touchdowns, including Tylan Morton’s first touchdown as a Jag.
Johnson went 11-of-18 for 120 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown. Tylan Morton completed his only passing attempt for 5 yards.
Seven Jaguars caught passes with Minter leading the way with 33 yards on four catches. Kawaan Baker added 41 yards on two catches and the only receiving touchdown of the game.
As mentioned, the Jags rushed for 413 yards as they rolled up 538 yards of total offense against Jackson State with 29 first downs and going 10-of-15 on 3rd downs.
The Jaguar defense tightened up eventually and only allowed 265 total yards to the Tigers, 142 of them on the ground. They also held the Tigers to a mere 1-of-9 on 3rd down.
After the game, coach Campbell was proud for getting a win but noted they made “some youthful and immature mistakes” that need correcting. He also mentioned that they worked hard on penalties and targeting fouls. He mentioned they did well last week but they regressed this week.
Typically you’d like to make your biggest improvement between week 1 and week 2,” Coach Campbell said. “But honestly I can’t say that we did that.”
Campbell noted that the Jags hurt themselves with turnovers against Nebraska. “We would have won the game if we hadn’t turned the ball over, so this week after turning it over twice in the air we didn’t want to do it again this week.”
Jalen Thompson’s interception broke the school career record. “It was one of the goals I set coming out of high school,” Thompson said. “It’s been a journey, a roller coaster so that interception was for my mom and my family because they sacrificed a lot. Over the last four years, it’s been a journey and getting that interception meant the world to me.”
Jackson State head coach John Hendrick noted that they did not play with with a few of their key starters so as not to expose them to injury against the Jags. But he saw that his team has a good offense that can move the ball and a defense that can stop people.
While the Jags are now 1-1 on the season, they have a lot of work to put in this week in preparation for Memphis, who upset Ole Miss in the first week of the season 15-10.
The Jags will host Memphis on Saturday, September 14 with kickoff scheduled for 2:30 pm and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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.