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.