Jags Finish Final Practice Of The Week On Wednesday
Offensive lineman running position drills in preseason camp.
The Jaguars practiced again on Wednesday, their last practice of the week before returning for regular game-week preparation.
The two hour practice was very similar to day before with work on fundamentals, game-planning for Arkansas State and getting younger players in for some reps. An off-week is a great time to get younger players reps on the practice field, especially when the team is as banged up as they are right now.
Four defensive linemen are out after the game against Troy. Romelle Jones is healing from an injury suffered early against NC State. Montavious Williams suffered an ankle injury against Troy. Anthony Taylor suffered a season ending broken leg against Mississippi State.
“We just tried to install parts of the gameplan and had some good fundamental work today,” head coach Joey Jones told the Press-Register. “We had a little scrimmage with the young guys again today so I think that this break is coming at a real good time. I think if we had to play this weekend we’d be in bad shape. We’ve got about four defensive linemen out. They’ll be back, but they would be in some pretty significant pain if they had to play this weekend so it came at a pretty good time.”
The Jags will have Thursday, Friday and Saturday off before returning for meetings and gameplan study. Then they will return to the practice fields on Monday afternoon to continue implementing their game plan for their trip to Jonesboro, Arkansas to face Arkansas State.
Nick Saban Isn’t A Fan Of The No-Huddle
The Jaguar offense looks to the sideline for play adjustments against UTSA.
Press-Register beat writer covering the University of Alabama posted an article on Wednesday about Nick Saban’s thoughts on the no-huddle offense.
Alabama defeated Ole Miss 33-14 on Saturday. Ole Miss has a new coach this season in Hugh Freeze who brought the no-huddle spread offense from Arkansas State for the Rebels. Ole Nick Saban isn’t too fond of this style of offense that is spreading around the nation.
“I think that the way people are going no-huddle right now, that at some point in time, we should look at how fast we allow the game to go in terms of player safety. The team gets in the same formation group, you can’t substitute defensive players, you go on a 14-, 16-, 18-play drive and they’re snapping the ball as fast as you can go and you look out there and all your players are walking around and can’t even get lined up. That’s when guys have a much greater chance of getting hurt when they’re not ready to play.
I think that’s something that can be looked at. It’s obviously created a tremendous advantage for the offense when teams are scoring 70 points and we’re averaging 49.5 points a game. With people that do those kinds of things. More and more people are going to do it.
I just think there’s got to be some sense of fairness in terms of asking is this what we want football to be?”
You just try to get your players ready to do it the best way that you can,” Saban said. “I don’t think anybody really ever thought we’d go no-huddle and the coach could control the game from the sidelines and call the plays based on how the defense was lined up. That’s a real advantage for the offense.
You have to adapt on defense, your players have to adapt and it can be stressful in terms of communication and keeping their focus and energy level where it needs to be to play at that pace. It is what it is, so we try to get our players ready to do that.
I think there’s always been good offensive teams in our league. I think people that have really good quarterbacks and skill players and can make plays in the passing game. When they get hot, they certainly can score quickly and make a lot of big plays.
There’s always been teams in our league that can play very well on defense, but some days even good defenses get exposed a little bit, especially when they play a really good offensive team. I’m not surprised by it.
Granted, some people may not like the no-huddle spread offense but it’s an equalizer of sorts for the smaller teams over the bigger teams. Either way, teams get film and have a chance to formulate a game plan to prepare for such teams.
I dislike using the terms upper-level and lower-level teams. But if you look at it, teams like Alabama and others in the “big six” conferences are typically considered upper-level schools. They tend to be able to recruit big linemen and, as coach Jones has pointed out many times, there’s only so many of those big linemen to go around.
I believe one of the reasons that Coach Jones made the move to a no-huddle spread offense was partly because of that. It’s the offense’s potential to run plays back-to-back-to-back that allows the “lower-level” team a way to equalize the playing field somewhat.
Does Nick Saban want to push the Senior Bowl rules into College Football as a whole? Where there’s no blitzing? I think the defense has to cover 2 even.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Do you?
UPDATE: Andrew Gribble posted a follow-up article this morning that had reactions from all over including Hugh Freeze and Urban Meyer. You can read it here.
Troy Receiver Added To Biletnikoff Award Watch List
Fresh off Troy’s win over the Jaguars, Troy wide receiver Chip Reeves has been added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation. Reeves was one of 11 players to be added to the award watch list, which is awarded to the nation’s top wide receiver.
Reeves leads the Sun Belt and ranks 35th nationally with an average of 85.6 receiving yards per game. Reeves has 29 catches for 428 yards through five games this season and averages 14.8 yards per reception.
Reeves is a fifth-year senior for the Trojans.
Ross Metheny Named Starter At Quarterback
Quarterback Ross Metheny reads the NC State defense pre-snap in Raleigh, NC.
Head coach Joey Jones announced today that Ross Metheny will be the starting quarterback for the Jaguars. This was first reported on AL.com and reiterated while filming the Joey Jones Show that airs each Saturday on UTV44 in Mobile, Alabama.
In an interview with the Press-Register, Coach Jones said that Metheny would be the starter for the Jaguars “right now.” Jones indicated that the position would be evaluated on a week-to-week basis, which leaves the door open in the future for C.J. Bennett to work his way back into the spot. However doing so will take much more effort and focus since Metheny will begin getting most of the first-team snaps when the Jaguars resume practice next week.
Bennett started 16 consecutive games for the Jags. The first two of 2012, all 10 games in 2011 and the last four of the 2010 season.
Coach Jones has reiterated a number of times that Metheny and Bennett were very close to each other. Both could stand to improve but they both also played well. Jones decided to go with one quarterback so they would get a majority of the reps in practice and see if that helps the offense to improve over their performance so far this season.
Hopefully this will take the pressure off of the quarterbacks and they are able to play to their best potential. But most of all, that it will give the Jags opportunities to win.
Metheny has gone 34-of-59 for 354 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions so far this season completing 57.6 percent of his passes. He has also ran 25 times for 7 yards. Bennett has gone 52-of-95 for 543 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. Which comes out to a 54.7 percent completion average. Bennett has also rushed 28 times for 134 yards, one of those rushes went for 50 yards last Saturday against Troy to set up the Jags only touchdown of the game.
Coach Jones hopes this gives the offense the spark they need to improve as a team on offense.
Jags Hit Practice Field On Tuesday
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
South Alabama returned to the practice field on Tuesday for a two hour practice that focused on fundamentals along with special teams. Also notably many players on the depth chart that do not normally see many reps got opportunities to take some snaps.
The Jags will practice once more on Wednesday before taking three days off on Thursday through Saturday. They will then get back into game-week preparation for Arkansas State on Sunday with practices beginning on Monday.
“We had a good practice today,” Coach Jones was quoted saying. “We just worked on fundamentals and special teams games, and we worked on running the ball offensively and the same thing on defense. I thought we had a good day.”
“Then we put our young guys in and had a scrimmage at the end,” Jones continued. “I thought that was good to get them about 20 or 24 plays. An off week is the time to do that because you don’t have as much time during a game week. So we got them out there, let them get some reps and got them on film (for evaluation).”
“We want to have another physical practice (Wednesday) and them come back next week and get into game week,” Jones further explained. “We’ve installed some of the gameplan and we’re finishing that (for the Arkansas State) but we want to have just good, fundamental work. Anytime you’re successful, you get better fundamentally and that’s what we want to continue to work on.”
South Alabama is 1-4 on the season with three consecutive losses for the first time in the program. This is also the first time the Jaguars faced a full Division I schedule with 11 of the 13 opponents on the schedule being full FBS members with one being an FBS transitional team.
Jags Looking To Build Consistency In Off-Week
C.J. Bennett reads the defense while head coach Joey Jones looks on from the sidelines in Starkville Mississippi.
There has been a lot of debate by fans over the Jaguars two-quarterback system that they have used so far this season. The coaches are also debating that question.
Coach Jones was quoted saying, “We’re going to make that decision – actually we’re formulating that decision as we speak – and I think by Wednesday we’ll definitely have an answer. I think by the Wednesday practice we’ll make an announcement as to how we’re going to do it.”
C.J. Bennett is 59-of-95 for 543 yards, four interceptions and three touchdowns on the season. Virginia transfer Ross Metheny is 34-of-59 for 354 yards, three interceptions and one touchdown on the season himself.
But Bennett is ranked second among rushers with 28 carries for 134 yards with no touchdowns yet. Metheny has ran 25 times for 7 yards and no touchdowns either.
While Trey Fetner came in for two plays against Troy, he will not be thrown in the mix for the starting position. However, he could be used in certain situations. Trey ran in from three yards out for the Jags only touchdown against Troy on Saturday. His other play in the game, he ran on 4th and 1 to pick up the first down. “We’ll use him in the wildcat (offensive set),” Jones explained. “He’s a good runner. He offers that and it would be good to expand on that package too.”
The week off comes at a great time for the Jaguar defense. Safety B.J. Scott missed the second half of the game against Troy due to a “mild concussion”. He is expected to be available to play when the Jags travel to Arkansas State on October 13. Scott make six tackles in the game, five in the first quarter as well as an interception on the first play from scrimmage by Troy. He also had a pass breakup, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries.
Defensive lineman Romelle Jones returned to the lineup against Troy after missing Mississippi State and most of the NC State game due to injury. Montavious Williams is dealing with an ankle injury but should be fine by Arkansas State. “Romelle Jones played (against Troy) but not at 100 percent,” Jones explained. “Hopefully this will give him time to get his knee back 100 percent because he missed the Mississippi State game. Montavious Williams turned his ankle. He played about 10 plays and that was it. Hopefully another two weeks and he’ll be ready to go and hopefully we’ll be back to 100 percent on defense.”
But while they are trying to decide between quarterbacks and healing their bumps and bruises, they are also working hard to gain some consistency.
The offense is looking to find a way to put more points on the scoreboard and to consistently move the ball. While the defense is trying to prevent more big plays. The coaching staff is staying late at night to watch game film to devise game plans and schemes to help achieve these goals.
In the Monday press conference coach Jones said, “I didn’t sleep Saturday night. I’m hard on myself and I expect to win. You hurt for about a day or two, but then you get back to work and realize you have a chance to get better. You can take adversity any way you want, you can pout about it or you can learn from it and get better. If we take the approach of learning from it, then we have a chance to get better. We’re going to keep fighting.”
“We need it,” Jones said about their off date this weekend. “our guys are beat up. We’ve been through four-and-a-half weeks of camp and five weeks of games, you’re talking about nine weeks without a break. It’s coming at a good time.”
The team will practice through Wednesday then the players and coaches will have three days off before getting back to work on game-week preparations for Arkansas State.
Monday Press Conference
South Alabama head football coach Joey Jones was joined by Senior defensive lineman Andy Dalgleish and offensive lineman Melvin Meggs for their Monday press conference. Below is some highlights from each participant.
Head coach Joey Jones opening statement on their game against Troy. “Looking back at the game, it was 24-10 at halftime and I told the kids that if we could come out and drive down the field and score that I really felt like we had a chance to win the ballgame. I had a great feeling about it. But needless to say, we didn’t drive down and score in the second half like I wanted us to. It’s two-sided. You’re frustrated because you always want to win, you prepare to win and work your tail off 16 hours a day to get your kids ready to play. But the positive side of it is when you look at how far away we are from being there, and I think we’re close. We’re not at all where we want to be yet, but you’re talking about playing a team that is as good as anybody in the conference. We’re going to get there. Everyone knew it was going to be a tough year playing these teams, but we have to keep positive and keep our kids encouraged in what we’re doing and believing in what we do. There is going to be a good time coming. It’s going to come so we have to keep our eyes set on that.”
Coach Jones then spoke about the offense. “We played well in the first half. We ran the football better, but didn’t play well the second half. We have to find ways to get better. We’re trying to find our identity on offense, and we haven’t really found that. We have to put the running and passing game together and be consistent. Our defense is playing hard. They have things they have to get better at, but they are keeping us in games. We just have to get it going offensively.”
He then spoke about having an off week this weekend. “We need it. Our guys are beat up. We’ve been through four-and-a-half weeks of camp and five weeks of games, you’re talking about nine weeks without a break. It’s coming at a good time.”
Coach Jones then spoke about how they are dealing with three consecutive losses. “I didn’t sleep Saturday night. I’m hard on myself and I expect to win. You hurt for about a day or two, but then you get back to work and realize you have a chance to get better. You can take adversity any way you want, you can pout about it or you can learn from it and get better. If we take the approach of learning from it, then we have a chance to get better. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Jones then spoke about their first five weeks of the season. “We have good competition. This is the highest level of college football, Division I football, and we’re just stepping into it. We’ve learned about how many athletes there are on these teams. They are well-rounded teams. So we have learned that we have to bring a team to the field that doesn’t have any weaknesses, and that’s what we are striving to get. Will that take some time? Probably, but the bottom line is that’s where we want to be. It really makes you put everything on the board and see what we really need to work on.”
Senior defensive lineman Andy Dalgleish spoke about the game against Troy and being off this weekend. “Obviously it was a heart-breaking loss and the start of a new rivalry. (Defensive coordinator) Coach (Bill) Clark told us that anytime you put as much emotion and effort into a game like we did against Troy, it’s going to hurt. What we have to do now during this open week is get a lot of guys healthy again, I know we are hurting on the defensive line, in particular. We also have to get that (loss) out of our mind and really focus on Arkansas State, which is another Sun Belt game. We have to try and put it in the past, it’s going to be tough to do, but put it in the past and try to look to the future. We can’t play that game again so we just focus on the next one.”
Andy then spoke about what they have learned from the game against Troy. “Obviously coming off these past three losses, it’s been tough. Playing against the teams we’ve been playing against – Troy, Mississippi State and N.C. State — we definitely know the level of competition we have ahead of us and know where we should step our level up to in order to compete with these teams. We just have to do a better job of playing more disciplined, fundamentally-sound football. We gave up the ball a lot and gave up too many big plays on defense. We have to be way more disciplined on that. I think we’ll be alright. We just have to put that in the past and focus on these upcoming games.”
Melvin Meggs also spoke about the game against Troy and being off this weekend. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks so far, but we’ve been doing a lot of things well. We just have to go to the film room and make corrections, eliminate the mistakes we’ve been making and keep playing hard.”
Meggs also spoke about what they have learned from their game against Troy and the other previous opponents. “We have to play more disciplined football. It all starts with us. The level of competition we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks compared to the last couple of seasons has increased. So we just have to step up and rise to the occasion.”
Jaguar Volleyball Downs FIU In Straight Sets
The South Alabama Jaguar Volleyball team are 3-1 in the Sun Belt after back-to-back straight set wins over Florida Atlantic and Florida International. This is the best start by the Jags since 2010.
Sophomore outside hitter Melissa Waelter recorded her third double-double of the season with 15 kills and 13 digs against Florida International on Sunday.
The Jags next travel to Arkansas for matches against Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State. UALR is the Western Division leader as they are 4-0 in conference play.
Savannah Stewart also recorded her 10th double-figure kill match with 11. Lindsay Schwartz added 8 kills while Olivia Mohler and Torlandria Jones both had five kills each. Mohler also added four block assists.
True freshman Emily Hundt had 11 digs and career high four service aces.
Jags Enter Much Needed Off Week
The Jaguar offense looks to the sideline for play adjustments against UTSA.
The South Alabama Jaguars has an off week at just the right time. After starting the season 1-4, dropping their last three decisions in a row, they Jags know what they need to improve. Plus it gives the players a chance to rest and heal those bumps and bruises they have accumulated over the first five games.
They are expected to practice through Wednesday before taking a few days off before returning to the normal game-week practice routine to prepare for their trip to Arkansas State on October 13. Arkansas State, last seasons Sun Belt champion, is 2-3 on the season and 0-1 in the conference. Their head coach was hired to fill the same position at Ole Miss and was replaced by former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
Arkansas State is the second game of an eight game stretch of Sun Belt opponents they will face this season. It is also the last game of a four game stretch that, coming into this season, was considered the roughest four-game stretch for the Jags.
South Alabama had problems moving the ball through the air against Troy, only throwing for 59 yards in the whole game. Overall, the offense has had problems sustaining drives. The Jags were 0-for-11 in third down conversions against NC State and 20-for-72 for the season, which is a dismal 28 percent.
However the defense has been quite formidable. Opponents have been held to 23-of-69 or 33 percent in third down conversions. But the defense’s most glaring problem is allowing big plays, especially in the passing game.
But what was exposed in the Troy game was an uncharacteristic flurry of penalties. The Jags were flagged 11 times in the first half for 102 yards and they would end the game with 15 for 142 yards. Was it frustration or was it hype by the media during the week leading up to the game? Maybe it was a bit of both.
“We’ve got to evaluate where we are and be true about what we’re doing wrong and what we’re doing right,” Head coach Joey Jones told the Press-Register. “We’ve got to just give ourselves the best chance to win that we can. Right now we’re cutting a fine line. We kind of have to do everything perfect to win. (Opposing) teams have more players than us right now, more depth. We’ve got some good players, they’ve just got more of them. They’ve been recruiting a lot longer. We’ve got to be razor sharp to be able to play with these teams and how we do that is something that we’ve got decide in the next week or two.”
Do the Jaguars continue rotating quarterbacks or do they decide on one quarterback and stick with him for an entire game? C.J. Bennett started the first three games, but Ross Metheny has started the last two games. Both have played in all five games, but only Bennett seemed to have sparked the offense against the second-team defense in Starkville. But will that, combined with his efforts in the previous games this season, be enought to seperate himself from Metheny?
When asked on Saturday if the Jags would continue to stick with the two-quarterback system, coach Jones answered “That’s a good question. I don’t know if we’re hurting ourselves by doing it. The bottom line is I haven’t thought at this time that anybody had really separated himself, that’s why we kept doing it. It’s something we’ve really got to look at the next two weeks. We have an off week next week and we’ve just got to make some decisions. We’ll do that here in the next few days.”
The Jags are a good team, but depth and consistency have been their achilles heel.
But this team has something most teams do not. They have a fight that may be unmatched by many. But that fight needs to find a way to put points on the board in order to give them a better chance at coming out on top.
Jags Lose Tough Conference Opener To Troy
Game Captains for South Alabama Romelle Jones, B.J. Scott, Greg Hollinger and Alex Page meet the Troy captains at mid-field for the coin toss in the two teams first meeting and the Jaguars first Sun Belt Conference game.
The South Alabama Jaguars lost their Sun Belt conference opener to Troy 31-10 in a penalty-filled, wet mess. Coming into this game, the Jags knew where they had been and knew where they wanted to be, but after this game they know where they are, at least for the time being.
The Jaguars had four turnovers in the game and could only muster 59 yards passing in the game. Troy’s Corey Robinson threw for 223 yards and ran for a touchdown in the win. But the game had 25 penalties, 15 on the Jaguars for 142 yards.
South Alabama forced five Troy turnovers, a number of them in very key situations where Troy was driving for scores. But the Jaguar offense only managed 51 yards of total offense and two first downs in the second half after they were able to gain 201 yards in the first half.
“Troy played a great game. They were probably a little better than us, and we made a few mistakes. You’re not going to play it close when you do that,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones explained. “We had some first-half chances and I really thought after halftime that if we came out and scored it would be a different ballgame, but we didn’t do that. We’re a young program. We’re trying to get this thing going and sometimes this is part of it. We kind of know where we are now. Troy is a dominant team in the league, they’ve been there, done that.”
“Their defense made adjustments in the second half, and really shut us down,” Jones said. “I thought we moved the ball pretty good in the first half, but we didn’t in the second half and that was due to them making adjustments and playing well.”
“Offensively, they’re real explosive. They can move the ball at the drop of a hat,” Jones said. “I thought we played pretty good defensively at times, but they are very good offensively.”
Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said after the game, “We made the same basic game-plan calls in the second half that we made in the first. We probably ran them a little bit better. After you play a team for a half, you sort of scout them as you go as coach Dye used to say. You get better playing the things that they are doing. I think that was part of it. I thought we had a good plan against (South Alabama). They did some things a little different in some of the things they had done, but nothing majorly different. We sort of got in tune with them in the second half and played pretty hard and played better. Made some tackles and got a couple of tackles for loss, interceptions and turnovers.”
The game started well with B.J. Scott intercepting Corey Robinson on the Trojan’s first play from scrimmage, but the Jags were unable to convert the early turnover into points as they went three-and-out and forced to punt at the Troy 47 yard line.
After a rush for 11 yards and a first down, the Troy offense would be forced to punt, but T.J. Glover would fumble the punt at his own 29 yard line and it would be recovered by the Trojans.
The first and ten play would go for 24 yards to the Jaguar five yard line, but the Jaguar defense punt the clamps on again and forced Troy to settle for a 21 yard field goal.
Again the Jags would go three and out and the Scott Garber punt would be downed at the Troy 43 yard line. Corey Robinson would complete back-to-back passes for 16 and 38 yards to set up at the Jaguar one yard line. They would punch it in on the next play to take a 10-0 lead on the Jags with 8:05 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, T.J. Glover would return the kickoff from the one yard line 21 yards but a holding penalty would put the Jags at their own 12 yard line. Demetre Baker would rush for 7 and 9 yards and a Jaguar first down. But Ross Metheny would run on the quarterback keeper and fumble the ball away to Troy at the Jaguar 30 yard line.
Troy would get flagged for a hold on their first down play and get backed up to the 38 yard line with a first and 18. A screen pass to Shawn Southward would be go for a loss of five as Jake Johnson and Romelle Jones combined for the stop. On second and 23, Southward would take the handoff 31 yards before Darrius Morrow would force a fumble that Terrel Brigham would recover at the Jaguar 6 yard line.
The Jags would finally get a good drive put together starting at the Jaguar 6 yard line. Baker would rush for 2 yards then lose a yard on the second run. Then C.J. Bennett, who rotated in for Ross Metheny, would scramble for 10 yards and a first down at the 17 yard line. Baker would rush again for 3 more yards then the Jags would take a time out with 3:29 left in the first quarter.
On 2nd and 7, Glover would come in as a running back and rush for nine yards and a first down. Bennett’s pass attempt to Wes Saxton would fall incomplete, then Glover would rush for 6 more yards to set up a 3rd and 4 at the Jaguar 35 yard line. Demetre Baker would come in for Glover and run for 10 yards and another Jaguar first down. After an incomplete pass to Cameron Broadnax, Bennett would opt to keep the ball and find a seam for a 50 yard run down to the Troy five yard line. Another run around the right side for Bennett would net two yards.
Trey Fetner would come into the game and run left for the three yard touchdown to get the Jags on the board 10-7 with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.
Troy would answer the Jags touchdown with one of their own. An 8 play, 70 yard drive spanning 4 minutes on the clock would put the Trojans up 17-7 with 11:46 left in the second quarter.
On the kickoff, Glover would get a 22 yard return out to the Jaguar 24 yard line, but a personal fould on Terrel Brigham would place the ball at their own 12 yard line. The Jags would go three and out and after a four yard return, would be set up near midfield at the Troy 48 yard line.
After a holding penalty on Troy, they faced a 2nd and 13 at the Jaguar 39 and Gabe Loper would intercept the Robinson pass at the 28 yard line and return it 19 yards out to the Jaguar 47 yare line. with 8:17 left in the half.
Baker would open the series with a 15 yard rush down to the Troy 48 yard line. Bennett would then run the ball for another 9 yards. On back to back rushes by Baker, he would rush for 4 and 1 yards, but on the second rush Troy’s Zach Miller would be flagged for a personal foul to place the ball at the Troy 12 yard line with a first down. After a Kendall Houston rush for three yards, Bennett would throw an incomplete pass intended for Lavender. Then on third and 7 at the Troy 9 yard line, Bennett’s pass intended for Jereme Jones in the end zone would be picked off and returned 10 yards.
The Jags defense would force a three and out and get the ball at their own 49 yard line with 4:18 left in the game. Metheny would return to the game and hand off to Demetre Baker on the first two plays for 6 and 3 yards. Then the Metheny pass intended for Greg Hollinger would fall incompleted forcing Garber to punt again.
Starting on their own 20 yard line, Robinson’s pass to Chip Reeves would go for 19 yards then the Jaguar sidelines would be penalized 5 yards for a delay of game as well as Tyrell Pearson being flagged for a personal foul for another 15 yards, putting the ball at the Jaguar 41 yard line. After an incomplete pass, Robinson would find Reeves again for another 39 yards to the Jaguar 2 yard line. Robinson would run the ball in on the next play to put the Trojans up 24-7 with 2:13 left in the half.
The Jags would put together another good drive on the ensuing possession. A short kickoff would be fielded by Randon Carnathan and returned 12 yards to the 35 yard line. Baker would rush for one yard on the first down play. Then Metheny would find Corey Besteda for a 19 yard gain to the Troy 45 yard line. Then Metheny would run for five yard and get out of bounds to stop the clock. Baker would run for another three yards followed by Metheny gaining a yard then the Jags would call a time out with 38 seconds left in the half to set up their 4th and 1 play.
After coming out with Fetner at quarterback and Metheny at receiver, Troy would burn a timeout to adjust. Then the Jags would come out with Metheny back at quarterback to which Larry Blakeney would be forced to burn another time out to adjust to. Then, with Troy out of time outs Fetner would return to the game and run for the needed yard and a first down at the Troy 35.
Metheny would throw a pass to Baker in the flat, but he would cut it back inside for no gain and forced the coaching staff to call a time out to stop the clock with 20 seconds left. Metheny would hit Jereme Jones for 11 yards and a first down at the Troy 24 yard line. The field goal unit would run on the first and the 41 yard attempt would be blocked but recovered by Demetre Baker at the Troy 31 yard line with 4 seconds left in the half. The Jags would be penalized for delay of game. With one second left in the half, the Jags would get one last shot and Chapuseaux would connect on the 53 yard field goal for a halftime score of 24-10 in favor of Troy.
The Jags would go three and out on their first series of the second half. Troy would drive down to the Jaguar 7 yard line befroe facing a 3rd and 6 at the 7 yard line, Alex Page would sack Robinson for a 13 yard loss and forcing Troy to attempt a field goal. The attempt would be blocked and recovered by Gabe Loper.
The next Jaguar possession, they would go three and out. Garber’s punt would be fair caught at the 26, but an illegal block would back them up to the 16 yard line. Troy would drive down to the Jaguar 7 yard line facing first and goal, Justin Albert would get caught for a loss then Jesse Kelley would force a fumble that would be recovered by Enrique Williams at the Jaguar 16 yard line and avoiding a Trojan score.
Yet again, the Jaguar offense would go three and out and forced to punt. Back to back competions for Troy would go for 17 and 19 yards down to the Jaguar 27 yard line to end the third quarter. Two plays later, Robinson would be picked off in the end zone by Charles Watson for a touchback.
Baker would rush for a yard, Bennett’s first pass would fall incomplete intended for Hollinger, then on third and 9, Bennett would hit Jereme Jones for 19 yards to the Jaguar 40 yard line. Bennett would keep the ball for an 8 yard gain then Baker is caught for a two yard loss to set up third down and 4. Tremain Smith would be flagged for a false start then the 3rd and 9 pass would fall incomplete forcing the Jags to punt again.
On the punt, Troy would be flagged for holding to put the ball back at the Troy 14 yard line. Deon Anthony’s pass would be thrown up in the sky and completed to Chris Williams for a 44 yard gain. Again the Jaguar bench would be flagged for a 5 yard delay of game penalty as well. Troy would get a touchdown a few plays later for the final score of the game to make it 31-10.
The Jags would get the ball two more times. Metheny would be intercepted on his first pass attempt on a deep throw at the Troy 17. On their second, The Jags managed one first down before being forced to punt with 34 seconds left in the game.
“It’s our first Sun Belt Conference game, and I have to keep things in perspective as do our kids,” Coach Jones observed. “We’re all competitors and want to win. For us to play and beat a team like Troy in our first conference game would be a miracle. But as a coach, I look at it and think there were things we could have done to have been in the ballgame. We’re going to get there, we’re not quite there yet, but we’re going to get there. We’re just going through a growing time right now.”
Sometimes those growing pains hurt the worst when you had a chance in the game. But some penalties were so bizarre, that it was unbelievable.
For instance in the waning moments of the first half the Jags elect to kick a field goal with 14 seconds remaining on first down. The Chapuseaux kick was blocked and recovered by the Jags so the Troy field goal unit went to the sidelines to celebrate what they thought was a block and turnover. The South Alabama coaches found the nearest officials and told them that the ball should still be possessed by the Jags since an attempt was made and the ball was blocked and therefore never went past the line of scrimmage.
Meanwhile, the Jaguar kicking unit stayed on the field and the Troy coaches, special teams unit and offense were all grouped together near the sidelines conferring with the officials. Once the referee made the call, the Jaguar special teams unit was standing at the line of scrimmage waiting to snap the ball as the official stood over the ball. Once the whistle was blown, the Jags snapped the ball but it was immediately whistled dead. The penalty? Delay of game on the offense.
After marking off a five yard penalty, Michel Chapuseaux drilled a 53 yard field goal, the longest in his career and set a new Jaguar record for longest field goal.
That was such as the game went. Numerous obvious fouls occurred in front of officials that were perputrated by Troy that were never called. Junior defensive back Zach Miller, after a long incompletion by the Jags, was walking back to the line of scrimmage and as Corey Besteda jogged past him, shoved him in the back. It wasn’t a “genty nudge” or anything like that. It was a full on shove that was meant to try to make him lose balance. But it was not called, nor did the referee in the area caution him about the incident.
I think that sequence to end the first half really let the air out of the team in many ways. But they did not give up. They fought very hard in the second half and turned away a couple of scores, the offense could not get going with the hole they faced.