Jags Fall To Rebels 47-27
Cole Garvin leads the Jaguar offense against Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi September 2, 2017.
After a delay getting back from Oxford, I have finally had an opportunity to cover the Ole Miss game.
This game was a tale of two halves.
The first half was a plucky Jaguar team that bent but wouldn’t break. Though Ole Miss dominated the first quarter by gaining 136 yards and scoring on both of their first two drives. Shea Patterson finished off their first drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to DaMarkus Lodge at the 11-minute mark of the first quarter. A 19-yard field goal extended the Rebel lead to 10-0 with 6:37 left in the opening quarter.
South Alabama’s Xavier Johnson stepped out of bounds at the 2-yard line on the ensuing kickoff, which led the Jaguars to march 95-yards over the course of 19 plays to get on the board. Though the Jags were unable to put the ball in the endzone, Gavin Patterson put 3 points on the board.
On the next possession, the Jags forced a fumble with Zach Befort recovering it at the Rebel 40 yard line. Three plays later, Cole Garvin found Jamirus Way for a 30-yard touchdown to tie the game with 5:09 left in the half.
The Rebels drove into the zed zone just before halftime, but Tobias Moss broke up the third-down pass which led Ole Miss to settle for a 29-yard field goal to take a 13-10 lead into the locker room.
Then the third quarter happened.
Ole Miss opened the second half with possession of the ball. One play after opening kickoff, Shea Patterson connected with A.J. Brown on a post pattern near midfield for a 71-yard touchdown. Safety Nigel Lawrence had an opportunity to tackle him but was unable to bring him down. After a missed extra point, the Rebel lead was 19-10 at the 14:27 mark of the 3rd quarter.
The Jags offense was only able to gain 6-yards on their ensuing possession. Then Patterson and Brown teamed up again. Patterson was pressured and forced to roll to his right towards the sideline, then threw up a throw that was part desperation, part hopeful pass toward Brown, who was able to break in front of Jaguar defenders and pluck the ball out of the air. Brown was then able to break some tackles and sprint down the right sideline for a 76-yard touchdown to make it a 26-10 Rebel lead.
Jaguar defensive coordinator mentioned the two touchdown passes in his post-game remarks. “If you look at the game, probably those two big plays in the passing game were the difference in the game. We took away some of their early reads, but when he scrambled, we didn’t do a good enough job of getting off the field. That’s really what the game came down to.”
Some big runs by Johnson and Tra Minter highlighted the Jags drive down to the Ole Miss 4-yard line. Unable to punch the ball in the end zone, the Jags settled for a 20 yard field goal to trim the lead to 26-13.
But that margin was short lived.
Corliss Waitman’s kickoff sailed short of the end zone and Jaylon Jones fielded the ball and returned it 97 yards for the Rebels third score of the quarter to make it 33-13.
The next Ole Miss drive would see Patterson find Lodge for gains of 12, 7 and 14 yards with the last yielding a touchdown to put the Rebels ahead 40-13.
Ole Miss would score their final points early in the fourth quarter powered by more Patterson throws to make it 47-13.
The Jags would add two touchdowns mostly led by the Jaguars running game behind Deonta Moore, Tra Minter and Denzel Foster to make the final score a bit more respectable 47-27.
Ole Miss out-gained the Jags 531 to 374 yards of total offense. The Rebels Shea Patterson went 28-of-35 for 429 yards and four touchdowns. Cole Patterson went 19-of-31 for 204 yards and a touchdown. USA outgained the Rebels on the ground 170 to 102 yards while averaging 4.6 yards per rush while the Rebels averaged 3.5 yards per rush.
The lone turnover of the game went the Jaguars way in the first half.
What did we learn from the game?
Ole Miss is every bit an SEC team. The offensive line protected their quarterback well on passing plays and allowed Patterson to pick apart the Jags secondary. The Rebel receiver corps speed proved too much for the Jags as well. A.J. Brown set a new single-game record with 233 yards receiving.
USA answered some questions at skill positions. Johnson, Minter, Foster, and Moore all had success on the ground against the Ole Miss defense. Garvin spread the ball around to 10 different Jaguars players.
The Jaguar secondary has some work to do. With more pass-heavy opponents on the schedule all season long, they will continue to test the secondary all season long. Probably no one as adept at slinging the ball around is coming to Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Friday in Oklahoma State, which gives the coaches and players a short week to make adjustments.
South Alabama will host the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Friday, September 8 with kickoff scheduled for 7pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.