South Alabama Win Homecoming Match Up Against Louisiana-Monroe
Offensive line and tight ends coach Chase Smith talks with the Jaguar offensive line with the rest of the offense seated along with them during the Jags 33-23 win over Louisiana-Monroe.
South Alabama (3-4, 2-1 SBC) defeats Louisiana-Monroe (3-4, 3-2 SBC) 33-23 in a game that saw a number career highs being broken, a career record being tied, and another career record being broken.
It all began with Xavier Johnson breaking the career rushing record on his second carry of the game, when he broke a 33 yard run on the opening drive of the game. Johnson would end the game with 99 yards on 11 carries.
Sam Harris had career high with eight catches and 141 yards. Dallas Davis threw for a career-high 3 touchdowns in the game and for 317 yards, the most by a Jaguar quarterback this season.
Jeremy Reaves moved into a tie for interceptions in a career with Tyrell Pearson, with his sixth.
The South Alabama offense, led by Dallas Davis, rolled up 549 total yards, 317 through the air and 232 on the ground. Most of the rushing yardage came in the second half as the Warhawk defense held the Jags to 97 yards in the first half.
The Jag defense had problems stopping the Warhawks in the first half. They allowed 312 total yards in the first half, including 239 on the ground. But defensive coordinator Kane Wommack made some great halftime adjustments and held Louisiana-Monroe to only 68 yards rushing and 106 yards passing in the second half.
The Jags only trailed once in the game after Marcus Green took a reverse 74 yards to the Jaguar 1 yard line, followed by a touchdown run by Ben Luckett put ULM ahead 20-17 at the 6:00 mark of the second quarter.
The Jags were driving but Davis threw into triple coverage, the ball was tipped and then intercepted. The Jaguar defense forced a three-and-out to give the ball back to the offense with 1:33 left in the half.
Davis drove the Jags 80 yards to regain the lead behind his arm and the Jaguar receiving corps. The drive culminated with a beautiful catch in the end zone by Sam Harris on 3rd and goal at the 5 yard line.
“Our kids came out and played well tonight, we really grew up as a football team,” said head coach Joey Jones in his post game press conference. “Our offense was able to put up over 500 yards and was 7-of-12 on third downs, so there were a lot of improvements. Our kids played their guts out, I’m excited about the way they played. I’ve known we had a good football team this whole time. We’re looking forward to our next ball game.
“We played a tough schedule early and I knew we had a good football team. We’ve won the last two and our guys want to win a conference championship, and the only way you can do that is win them one game at a time. We can’t look ahead. We’re not a dominant type of team where we are going to beat everyone 55-0, but we are going to have to play good, solid football and win the fourth quarter; that’s what we’ve got done the last couple of weeks.”
Jones commented on Harris’ play in the game, “I don’t believe anyone offered him a scholarship out of high school. He’s probably the most competitive young man I’ve ever coached. He doesn’t say a lot but when the lights are on, he’s going to play and compete. That’s why he’s a great player.”
South Alabama will travel to Atlanta for a Thursday night game against Georgia State that’ll be aired by ESPNU starting at 6:30pm and radio pregame will start at 4:3pm locally on 99.5FM The Jag and 96.1 FM. Both teams will have a short week going into the game
Jags Host Warhawks In Homecoming Match Up
South Alabama had their 24 hours to enjoy the win over Troy, but they quickly got back to work. They are set to host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, October 21 for homecoming.
In the second half of the Jaguars game in Troy, the offense converted over 50% of their 3rd down attempts, a drastic improvement over the first half when they converted zero of their seven 3rd down attempts.
The Jags offense ranks 120th in total offense with 311.5 yards per game and 109th in yards per play at just under five yards per play. Pair that with the Warhawks defense that ranks 125th out of 129 FBS teams in total defense by allowing an average of 495.5 yards per game and 6.6 yards per play.
Add to it that the Jaguars lost a heart breaker of a game in Monroe last season in overtime 42-35. ULM also leads the all-time series 2-1 over the Jags. USA gained 516 yards of offense, but were flagged 12 times for 83 yards in penalties.
The Jaguar defense also has a chip on their shoulder from last season. They allowed the Warhawks to go 4-of-4 on fourth down attempts.
Head coach Joey Jones and offensive coordinator Richard Owens has a decision to make. Cole Garvin started the season as the starting quarterback, but was injured in the first series against Oklahoma State in the second game of the season. From there, Dallas Davis took over the starting job until he, too, was recovering from an injury suffered in the Jags game against Idaho. Garvin started under center against Louisiana Tech and again against Troy. But he was replaced late in the first half against the Trojans in favor of Davis to give the offense a spark.
The offensive output in the second half happened despite losing Xavier Johnson in the first half with what was reported as a sprained ankle. It concerned fans seeing him taken to the locker room on a cart without his shoe. But it seems like the extra rest between games may allow him to suit up for the game.
During the Monday press conference, Zach Beford said “Every one [game] is a big one. We want to win every single one for the rest of the year. The fact that it’s homecoming, hopefully we just get some more support from our fans and around the city. But it should be a fun environment with homecoming and hopefully we can get a W.”
USA had a great group of fans travel to Troy who were very loud and provided lots of excitement for the team. The team gave a big thanks to the Jaguar fans who made the environment electric for the team.
The Warhawks come off a 47-37 loss to Georgia State at home. Since 2014, they are 4-10 in conference games away from home, but are 2-0 this season.
South Alabama’s kickoff coverage was much better against Troy. They’ll need to keep it up though, ULM’s Marcus Green had a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter against Georgia State. Later Green scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.
What do the Jags need to do to win:
The offense can’t play down to their competition. They need to continue to improve. In the second half, the Jags converted 3rd downs which helped them keep possession of the ball and give the defense some rest. The ULM defense has not performed well all season, but they’ll look to play better coming off of their first conference loss of the season.
Special teams forced a fumble and recovered a muffed punt. They also covered kickoffs the best they have all season. Corliss Waitman can boom the ball a mile and has been a great weapon to help flip the field and give the defense a big advantage. Finally, Gavin Patterson nailed a career-long of 47-yards.
The defense played lights-out in Troy, except for the one scoring series for Troy. The secondary played strong and will need to keep improving with players like Marcus Green lining up looking to take advantage of the more inexperienced players on the field because of injuries.
The messageboard fans would like to see Coach Jones show more emotion on the sidelines. Some of them will not be happy no matter what, but winning will make fans out of just about anyone.
Kickoff is set for 4pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The game can be seen on online on ESPN3 and heard on 99.5 The Jag FM and 96.1 FM in the Mobile area in addition to streamed online by iHeartRadio via 99.5 The Jag.
Jaguars Travel To Troy And Stun The Trojans 19-8
Head coach Joey Jones lifts the ‘Battle for the Belt’ championship belt for the third time in the last four years. | Photo Credit: Brad Puckett usajaguars.com
South Alabama went to Troy Wednesday night on a mission, and they accomplished their mission in commanding fashion with a 19-8 win to return the rivalry belt to Mobile.
The Jaguars went into the game a 16.5 point underdog with only the die hard of Jaguar fan base thinking they even had a shot to win the game. If you listened to online message boards, it was going to be a blowout and the head coach would need to be fired on the sidelines after the game and should pull a Southern Cal by letting the coach find his own way home.
But none of that came to pass, instead the defense and set the tone for the game. Six pass breakups, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three turnovers on downs, three fumble recoveries and an interception.
That’s textbook definition of what defensive coordinator Kane Wommack calls ‘Swarm D’.
Head coach Joey Jones and his staff put together a great game plan and the players executed well. The offense struggled some in the first half outside of their one touchdown drive.
The offense came out in the second half with a commanding drive to extend their lead while converting over half of the third-downs they faced in the second half.
The entire team was spurred on by a large contingent of South Alabama fans who made the trip for the game. They were loud, proud, and full of energy. They were another textbook example of what the Jaguars need at home week-in and week-out.
The Jags first score was set up by a 57 yard punt by Corliss Waitman when Carlos Robinson forced Marcus Jones to cough up the ball which Collier Smith recovered at the Troy 46. Starting quarterback Cole Garvin connected with Tra Minter on a screen pass for 37 yards to set eventually set up Xavier Johnson to cap off the drive with a one yard leap into the end zone, giving USA a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Waitman would again be huge for the Jags. He booted away a 54 yard punt to the Troy 4 yard line, but a block in the back would put the line of scrimmage at the 2 yard line. On 2nd and 11, Troy’s star running back Jordan Chunn could be bottled up and taken down for a safety extending the Jaguars lead to 9-0. Which would be the score at halftime.
The Jaguars offense came out early in the second half, led by Dallas Davis off the bench, with intentions of making a statement. They were 0-for-7 on 3rd down conversions in the first half, but converted all three of their first possession of the second half. Two of them were pass completions to Sam Harris and the other was a touchdown pass over the middle to Malik Stanley to cap off an 11 play, 64 yard drive to go up 16-0.
“Cole struggled a little bit and I felt like I needed to get Dallas in the game,” Jaguar head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “He directed us down the field for a score. He played a good half.”
Gavin Patterson would add a career long 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to give South Alabama a 19-0 lead and sent the Trojan faithful to the exits.
After forcing a three and out, the Jaguars started at their own 43. On 2nd and 6, Davis connected with Minter for a 49 yard gain on another screen pass. Facing 4th and goal at the 4, the Jaguar coaching staff pulled out a trick play attempting to put another dagger in the Trojans, but the defense snuffed it and sacked Davis for a 15 yard loss on an intentional grounding call when he tried the fling the ball away.
This breathed some life back into the Trojans, who promptly put together their best drive of the game going 81 yards in 9 plays for their only score of the game to make it 19-8 after they converted the two-point conversion.
Troy attempted an on-sides kick, which hit and bounced off of a Jaguar but was recovered by David Gardner at the Troy 48. But three plays late, on 4th and 1, Denzel Foster was dropped for a loss of two yards giving Troy great field position with 4:30 left in the game.
The Jaguar defense bent but did not break. The secondary, which has been ravaged by injuries, helped force three-consecutive incomplete passes from the Jaguar 13 yard line. Needing two scores, Trojan head coach Neal Brown opted to attempt a 30 yard field goal by Evan Legassey, which he missed wide left, just like he did a 27-yard attempt in the first half.
From there, the Jags kept the ball on the ground and ran the clock out for the win.
The USA offense ended the game with 224 yards of total offense, only 48 of them on the ground with the other 176 yards coming through the air. Troy gained 299 yards, only 30 of them through the air.
Cole Garvin started the game for USA and went 4-of-10 for 56 yards and an interception. Dallas Davis came in late in the first half and went 7-of-10 for 120 yards and a touchdown.
Malik Stanley led the Jaguar receivers with four catches for 53 yards an the lone touchdown. Tra Minter caught three passes for 83 yards setting up both touchdowns. Sam Harris had two catches for 25 yards, both were to convert 3rd downs. Foster and Jahmmir Taylor both caught a pass also.
Denzel Foster was the Jaguars leading rusher with 30 yards on nine carries. Minter added 21 yards on 12 carries. Deonta Moore had 10 yards on six carries. Xavier Johnson, who left the game in the first half with a sprained ankle, had 4 yards on seven carries with the Jaguars lone rushing touchdown.
Troy’s star running back Jordan Chunn left the game early with an injury finished with 28 yards on 10 carries. Josh Anderson added 10 yards on three carries and Henderson had 9 yards on two carries.
Brandon Silvers went 24-of-46 for 263 yards and an interception. Kaleb Barker completed his only pass attempt for 6 yards. Emanual Thompson led the Trojans with six catches for 67 yards. Eight other receivers caught passes as well.
“I know we’ve got a good football team,” head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “I never doubted them, I love them. We know we have a bunch of conference games coming up and we are going to get after our preparation for the game next week with ULM, but right now we are going to enjoy this one. I’s a huge win for our program and puts us with one more win in the conference. That’s our goal to win the [Sun Belt] Conference championship and it’s still out there for us.
“It’s a huge, huge win for our program. That’s three out of the last four we’ve beaten these guys, and two out of three with the Belt. I’m so proud of the way our guys played. They fought their guts out tonight. It was a joy to watch.”
“They outcoached us,” Troy head coach Neal Brown said in his postgame press conference. “Our guys were not ready to play and that’s on me; that’s disappointing. We didn’t take advantage of a great opportunity. It’s an extremely disappointing evening.”
“The challenge of this defense has been, can we finish a game?,” USA defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. “I think when you play the way that we did in the second half, to take the momentum from the get-go, that was the difference.”
“This win is huge for us,” said quarterback Dallas Davis. “We came in 1-4, which I don’t even like saying that record, and Troy is a good team; they beat LSU. We practiced hard all week and it’s a big rivalry game for us, so we knew we had to bring it, and we did both offensively and defensively.”
“I just wanted to make sure that I did my job and make sure there wasn’t a drop from his type of performance to mine,” said defensive back Khalil McDonald, who started in place of Malcolm Buggs when he was unable to play. “I did my job and played my heart out and wanted to do it for the team.”
“We had been talking about this game all week,” said Jeremy Reaves when talking about what this win means to the seniors on the team. “This win wasn’t only for us, but also for recruiting and the years to come for our program. Getting this win benefits me a lot [personally] because I get to say that I was able to get another win at Troy; I’m 2-0 here. We’ve been through so much adversity and we dedicated this season to turning the program around. To be able to come out on top in this big game is huge.”
South Alabama will have another long week to prepare for their next game. The Jags will return home to host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, October 21 for their annual homecoming game. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Jags Travel To Troy In Annual Battle of the Belt
The Jags (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt Conference) travel a couple hours up the road to Troy (4-1, 1-0 SBC) for a midweek match up against the Trojans in the annual ‘Battle for the Belt’ as a 17-point underdog.
After USA replaced Bryant Vincent at offensive coordinator, the Jags took Louisiana Tech to the fourth quarter trailing by a single point, but offensively they stumbled and the Tech offense took advantage of a tired and banged up defense to score a couple times in the final quarter to pull away for a 34-16 win.
But the Jags have had a long week to continue to gel and game plan with coach Owens as the offensive coordinator. Against La. Tech, the Jags 3rd down conversion rate was 5 of 15, which was better but still needs to be improved upon.
South Alabama’s defense will come up against one of the best quarterback-running back pairs in the conference. Brandon Silvers is patient and makes good decisions with the ball. Jordan Chunn scored twice in the fourth quarter last season in Mobile in the Trojan’s come-from-behind win. Both were long, 80-yard drives too.
The Trojan offense isn’t a big play offense. They just move the ball methodically and stay on schedule keeping their playbook wide open.
Chunn is averaging 5.4 yards per attempt and 98 yards per game and had six touchdowns on the season. He is clearly the the workhorse with over double the rushing yards of the next closest back, Jamarius Henderson, and over three times as many rushing attempts (91 to 26) as Henderson. Actually Chunn’s attempts are over half of the teams rushing attempts on the season.
Troy only has two passing touchdowns on the season, but they have 13 rushing touchdowns to make up for it. Silvers is completing 64.8% of his attempts for 1,241 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Defensively the Trojans are tough against the run only allowing 108.8 yards per game, 3.5 yards per rush and only two rushing touchdowns all season. They allow 231 yards per game through the air, 10.8 yards per catch and 8 touchdowns. But they have intercepted opposing quarterbacks five times this season. Including two interceptions over their last two games against Akron and LSU.
Though the Trojans allowed 428 yards to LSU and only gained 363, but they gained 206 yards and all three touchdowns on the ground. Silvers was 16 of 28 for 157 yards, his longest completion was only 20 yards.
The quarterback position has had problems staying healthy early on this season. Cole Garvin started the first game before injuring his ankle on the first possession against Oklahoma State in their second game of the season. Dallas Davis took over and started the next two games before Davis re-aggravated a shoulder injury that he had off-season surgery on.
On Monday, head coach Joey Jones announced that Garvin will start again but also said that Davis’ arm strength was back too. Garvin, through three games, is 41-of-77 for 447 yards with two touchdowns through the air and on the ground but also two interceptions.
Injuries in the secondary have really hurt the Jaguar defense, but they have played their hearts out. Jeremy Reaves has stepped up his game even further to lead the defense each game.
Jones also announced on Monday that left guard Tyler Grimsley suffered a knee injury against Louisiana Tech and will miss the remainder of the season.
What must the Jaguar do to win:
Offensively, the Jags MUST extend drives by converting on third down. The Jag defense has played so well all season, but if the offense can extend their drives and give them some extra rest then maybe they can avoid late game fatigue.
The offense cannot afford mistakes. They can’t accumulate lots of offensive penalties and put themselves behind the down and distance. Nor can they give up negative plays on offense either.
Defensively, the Jags can’t give up big plays trying to get the Trojans behind the down and distance schedule. They have shown that they can play well against great quarterbacks like Shea Patterson and Mason Rudolph.
Get Garvin comfortable early with short, high-percentage completions for positive gains. If they can get use the short to intermediate routes to open up their rushing game then Xavier and company can get going as well.
The last point is the Jags can’t play against the same officiating crew that called the Idaho game. While the office of officiating were forthcoming enough to say that some calls were blown in the Idaho game, but realizing that two or three days after the game is much too late and is an injustice to the student-athletes playing the game.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Alabama. It will be televised nationally on ESPN2 and can also be heard on 99.5 The Jags FM and 96.1 FM in the Mobile area and online world-wide through the iHeartRadio platform.
Jags Fall To Louisiana Tech On The Road 34-16
The Jaguars (1-4) entered the fourth quarter trailing by one point, but the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (3-2) pulled away for a 34-16 win.
The Jaguars had a whirlwind start to the week when, on Monday morning, Head coach Joey Jones announced that he had relieved offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent of his duties. Later in the day on Monday, Coach Jones announced that Richard Owens would take on offensive coordinator duties as well as coaching quarterbacks and that Chase Smith would coach the offensive linemen as well as tight ends.
The Jaguar defense kept up their high level of play on the first series on the field by forcing a fumble and recovering it at the Jaguar 16 yard line. It only took the Jaguar offense three plays to put it in the end zone, two runs by Xavier Johnson for 8 and 47 yards respectively, then Cole Garvin connected with Jamarius Way for a 29 yard touchdown to take an early 7-0 lead.
Tech would answer with a score, the final 40 yards were on a J’Mar Smith pass to Teddy Veal to tie the game. After a Jaguar three-and-out, Tech mounted another drive to take a 14-7 lead with 4:18 left in the opening quarter.
The second quarter opened with a Bulldog field goal of 31 yards to extend their lead to 17-7.
The jags drove to the Bulldog 10 yard line before Garvin threw an interception in the end zone and returned out to the 1 yard line. The defense would hold them on 3rd and 15 forcing a punt and the Jags would drive down to the Bulldog 9 yard line before having to settle for a field goal cutting the lead to 17-10 with 4:48 left in the half.
The Jags would get the ball back with 2:47 left in the opening half at their own 45 yard line after a 25 yard punt. USA would drive down to the Tech 24 yard line with :02 left on the clock. Gavin Patterson would nail another field goal putting the Jags behind 17-13 going into the halftime locker room.
Tech would drive to the Jaguar 26 on their opening possession of the second half but would miss the field goal wide right.
The Jags got in gear again behind Garvin’s arm. The drive would stall at the Bulldog 29 yard line again and Patterson would connect on a career-long 46 yard field goal cutting the lead to just one point 17-16 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
After a Corliss Waitman punt to start the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs started on their own 10 yard line and would drive down the field in 7 plays with the final 30 coming on a J’Mar Smith pass to Adrian Hardy for a touchdown, extending their lead to 24-16 with 12:17 left in the game.
Another three-and-out by the offense and a nicely placed punt by Waitman had the Bulldogs starting at their own 11 yard line. But Smith’s throws and a facemask penalty on Taji Stewart aided them in driving down the field. The Jag defense held them to a field goal to make it 27-16 with 4:18 left.
On the next Jaguar possession, facing 4th and 3 at their own 27, Jones and Owens decided to go for it but Garvin’s pass to Johnson would be dropped turning the ball over on downs. Then the Bulldogs only needed one play with Boston Scott scampering 27 yards for the game-sealing touchdown.
One more Jaguar possession saw Garvin complete his first pass to Sa’Mory Collier for three yards then the next two passes fall incomplete before punting away. Tech would run out the clock for the win.
The Jaguar offense gained 333 yards total, but only 98 on the ground. Cole Garvin would go 21-of-45 for a touchdown but with two interceptions in his first start in three weeks after being injured on the first possession against Oklahoma State on September 8. Louisiana Tech gained 479 yards overall, 317 of them through the air on 24-of-38 passing.
Xavier fell short of breaking the school record for career rushing yards with only 89 for the game on 12 carries. Minter added 17. Jamarius Way led the Jagaur receivers with 67 yards on 5 catches and the only touchdown. Sam Harris had 59 on 5 catches with four other Jags catching passes.
Boston Scott led the Bulldog rushing attack with 76 yards on 6 carries and a touchdown. J’Mar Smith threw three touchdowns with no interceptions. He completed passes to eight different receivers with Teddy Veal leading all receivers with 88 yards on 5 catches with a touchdown.
USA managed three sacks on Smith, all in the third quarter. Jimmie Gipson and Chris Henderson both had one and Tyree Turner and Finesse Middleton both grabbing a half sack each. Nigel Lawrence forced the lone fumble.
Though the offense seemed to fizzle out late in the game, it did show progress from previous games. I think with about 10 days to prepare for Troy and allow Owens to settle into his new role, the Jags will be ready for the next seven conference games.
Jags Fall At Home To Idaho 29-23 In 2OT
Head coach Joey Jones talks with Xavier Johnson during warm ups after the first lightning delay. Johnson would gain 155 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns.
Everything that could go wrong in South Alabama’s conference opener, seemingly did in their 29-23 2OT loss to Idaho. Two lightning delays totaling over three hours of delay, causing a game that kicked off at 1pm to not finish until almost 8pm. Two badly called penalties took two pick-sixes off the scoreboard. A couple of late penalties and negative plays really hurt the Jags in their 29-23 loss to the Vandals.
Terrible officiating the players, coaches and fans equally. Two touchdowns called back on bad penalties. Yes, I see things through red, white, and blue tinted glasses but I will quickly agree when my first instincts about a call proves to be wrong. Unfortunately penalties cannot be challenged or reviewed in game except for targeting. Each team is allowed to send a preset number of plays to the Sun Belt office for review. I hope Coach Jones pretty much sends every single penalty and no-call to the conference office for review. Heck, I’ll volunteer to drive it over and hand deliver it to Karl Benson myself.
There were a number of time where linebacker Riley Cole had an offensive player pulling his jersey off of him with no call.
I don’t share the approach that a number of, mainly online posters, that Coach Jones should be fired. But I do believe that a change needs to occur at Offensive Coordinator. The offensive play calling has been questionable at time to say the least. Quarterback play hasn’t been the best and both of those fall on the same coach: Bryant Vincent. I hope that Jones’ loyalty to his assistant coaches is not his undoing.
Jones has architected a great program from day one on the job. He looked at a number of other programs who had started football and studied what they did well and what to try to avoid. Two programs that garnered lots of study were South Florida and Florida Atlantic.
Aside from questionable offensive play calling, the biggest factor in Jaguar struggles over the last couple of years has been injuries. Last season the entire starting defensive starting linemen were lost for the season before the season even started. Then others when the season started. That precipitated Jones bring in a different strength and conditioning coach. This season the team has looked better, but injuries in the secondary has caused a position with little depth to get even thinner. Last week a freshman cornerback returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown, then injured his knee on an interception.
Now off of my soap box. Here’s the remainder of the game review.
Jeremy Reaves led a Jaguar defense who played one hell of a game, but faltered towards the end of a game that lasted over seven hours due to lightning delays and double-overtime. Reaves had 12 tackles, 3 pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. But by the time regulation was winding down, the defense started to faulter due to time and effort expended physically and emotionally.
Reaves and the defense got started early with a forced fumble on the second offensive snap of the game. The offense capitalized on the good field position and converted the turnover into a touchdown.
The Vandals drove down to the Jaguar 11 before Linehan connected with Onunwor, but Reaves forced his second fumble of the game and recovered it at the 2 yard line. A few plays later the Jags gave it back to Idaho when Dallas Davis didn’t see the lineback dropping back in coverage and threw it where he could intercept it. After offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties, Idaho would punch the ball in to tie the game with 9:02 left until halftime.
USA would go three and out on their opening possession of the second half. After a 40-yard punt and a 10 yard return, Idaho started at their own 36. A personal foul on Reaves coupled with a 9 yard completion, put the ball at the Jags 36.
Then the first of the terrible officiating calls occurred. Finesse Middleton pressured Linehan into throwing the ball which Malcolm Buggs would pick off and return for a touchdown, but on several replays the penalty was obviously to most, not roughing the passer. But take a touchdown off the board anyway. The defense regrouped and held on 4th & 1 at the Jaguar 2 yard line forcing the turnover on downs.
Another of the blatantly terrible calls occurred on the first play of the last Idaho drive of the third quarter, Linehan’s pass would be tipped allowing Darrell Songy to intercept it and return it for a touchdown. But, again, a flag would take points off the board for defensive holding. Again the defense would regroup and hold on 4th & 1 at the USA 30 by forcing an incomplete pass.
Idaho started their game-tying drive with two big plays, a 20 yard run by Linehan and a 36 yard pass completion to Onunwor, to quickly get into Jag territory. But the Jag defense stiffed yet again and held them to a field goal to tie the game at 13-13.
After a two-and-a-half hour lightning delay, the Vandals faced a 2nd & 20 but a holding call right out of the gates make it 2nd & 30. The Jags would hold and force a punt, which was shanked out of bounds at the Vandal 40 yard line. On the third play of the drive, Davis handed the ball off to Xavier who took it 34 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Jaguar defense bent some but held again on the next possession with a 6-yard sack on 3rd & 10. The Jags were set to try to keep possession and run out the clock with a big 13 yard run for a first down on 3rd & 2 was negated by an illegal formation penalty. Xavier could only manage 4 yard on the 3rd & 7 play forcing another punt.
Idaho took possession of the ball at their own 39 yard line with 1:30 left in the game. Linehan went 6-of-9 on the drive capped off with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Onunwar to tie the game up with just :13 left.
In overtime, the Jags held Idaho to a field goal. The Jags first possession started off with a bang when Johnson busted out a 14 yard run to the Vandal 11 only to have it called back when Jamarius Way was flagged for holding downfield on the run. On 1st & 6, Johnson ran for 5 yard before Tra Minter and Denzel Foster both lost yardage forcing the Jags into a field goal to tie and go to a second overtime period.
In the second possession, the Jags had a managable 3rd & 6 and still in Patterson’s career range, but a substitution infraction backed them up 5 yards. Patterson’s kick would have the distance but miss to the right.
Then another lightning delay occurred.
After resuming the game, Idaho kept the ball on the ground in Saunders hands. He started with a loss of two before gains of 3, 22 and then the 2-yard game-winning touchdown.
Johnson ended the game with 155 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns. Minter would add 59 yards on 15 carries. Evan Orth had one run for 41 yards. Davis went 11-of-25 for 106 yards with an interception.
Linehan was 23-of-38 for 273 yards and a touchdown. Onunwor caught 8 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, Jacob Sannon caught 10 passes for 103 yards. Saunders rushed 18 times for 63 yards and a touchdown. Duckworth carried the ball 9 times for 56 yards and a touchdown as well.
Jags Open 2017 Sun Belt Conference Schedule Against Idaho
South Alabama earned a much needed tune-up win last week against Alabama A&M. The team scored points in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.
Now that they finally put a notch in the win column after starting the season with two extremely difficult games against Power-5 schools, they can turn their attention to the first conference game of this young season. Last season the team had the highest of highs but also some quite low points. They started the season with the big win over Mississippi State, then a few weeks later they defeated their first ranked opponent in San Diego State. But in conference they only managed to go 2-6.
But this is a new season and their first conference game is right around the corner.
The Idaho Vandals will make their second-ever trip to Mobile, their previous trip started off great but became a bit of a nightmare after halftime. The Vandals scored the first 24 points of the game and had a 24-7 lead at halftime. But Xavier Johnson re-energized the Jags by returning the opening kick of the second half 100 yards. By the midway point of third quarter the Jags were ahead 45-31 and held on for a 52-45 win.
So far this season the Jags have faced two big-time quarterbacks in Shea Patterson and Mason Rudolph. Both likely heading to the NFL one day. Idaho has a quarterback who could easily join them on the next level. Matt Lineham is a fourth-year starter for the Vandals with over 9,000 career yards passing and completing over 65% of his passing attempts.
Lineham’s father, Scott Lineham, is now the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. So he knows what it takes to get to the next level.
After dropping their first two games against USA, Lineham and the Vandals finally earned a 38-31 win over the Jags. Their win last season was one win on the way to a 9-4 record, including a win in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
But the Vandals do not look like the same team as last year after losing four of their top five receivers and three starting offensive linemen to graduation. They opened the season with a 28-6 win over Sacramento State, they’ve dropped back-to-back games against UNLV (44-16) and Western Michigan (37-28).
Through the first three games the Jaguar defense has looked pretty good despite losing 47-27 to Ole Miss and 44-7 to Oklahoma State. But the secondary has taken some hits.
Neiko Robinson has been lost for the season due to a foot injury. Now sophomore Bobby Flott and freshman (and Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the week) Gus Nave are both out of the season with knee injuries.
Now it’s next man up. Sterrling Fisher has stepped up and former wide receiver Quinton Lane is adjusting well to his move to cornerback.
In the previous two games the Vandals have run for a total of seven touchdowns and have had a running back rush for at least 135 yards each of those games. This season running back Aaron Duckworth has the longest run (74 yards) and pass reception (60 yards) of the season for his team. Of the three runs of 40 yards or more last season, they all belonged to Duckworth.
Paul Petrino’s defense is stingy on third down. They rank 2nd in the Sun Belt and 41st nationally by allowing opponents to convert 31.8% of third down attempts.
Keys to a Jaguar win:
Third down conversions will be key. USA has only converted 17.9% of their third downs so far this season. They can’t get hung up on a statistic here but they need to play to win each snap and the key to that is to keep drives alive.
Stopping the run and putting pressure on Lineham will be big. As previously mentioned, the last two games have seen running backs rush for over 135 yard in each of them. Duckworth will look to make it three in a row and he has a history of breaking long plays.
In Lineham’s first three games against USA, he has five touchdown passes and six interceptions while completing just over 60% of this attempts. The defense can’t allow a runner to get free nor can they allow Lineham too much time to throw, even with all the new receivers this year.
South Alabama and Idaho will kick off at 1pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday, September 23. They need fans in the stands and they need them to be loud.
Jags Down Alabama A&M 45-0
The South Alabama Jaguars huddle in the end zone after pregame warmups for their match up against Alabama A&M on September 16, 2017.
South Alabama handled scored offensively, defensively, and on special teams in their 45-0 shutout of Alabama A&M.
It was a game the Jags needed to back on track after opening the season with two big games against Ole Miss and Oklahoma State, which they both lost. This game started the second part of the season, a 10-game season that started with the Bulldogs.
The Jags started slow with a drive that fizzed out at the Bulldog 2 yard line and settling for a 19-yard Gavin Patterson field goal to put the first points on the board. But on A&M’s first possession, the Jaguar defense kept helping the A&M offense with penalties, but came up big when it counted. The Bulldogs got the the Jaguar 5 yard line and settled for a 22 yard field goal attempt which was blocked by Gus Nave, who scooped it up and returned it 83 yards for a touchdown.
After a three-and-out by the defense, it only took the Jaguar offense two plays to score. The big play was a 53 yard strike from Dallas Davis to Jamarius Way to the 2-yard line. Xavier Johnson capped it off with a two-yard scamper to make it 17-0.
The defense got in on the action after a holding penalty pinned the Bulldogs at their own 9, Nigel Lawrence forced a fumble that Rocel McWilliams covered in the endzone, making the Jaguar lead 24-0 with 3:21 left in the opening quarter.
USA and A&M traded possession through most of the second quarter until the 3:46 mark before halftime when a scrambling Dallas Davis moved to his right and directed Sa’Mory Collier open then dropped a great pass right into his awaiting arms then Collier took it the rest of the way for a 66-yard touchdown making it 31-0.
Xavier Johnson added 6-yard touchdown with 4:54 left in the 3rd quarter.
On the next possession by A&M, on 2nd & 5, Aqeel Glass threw deep down the left sideline which Nave, who blocked and returned a field goal attempt in the first quarter, picked off the pass but suffered an injury in the process.
The interception set up the final points of the game when David connected with Jahmmir Taylor for a 28 yard score making it 45-0.
South Alabama put up 413 total yards, 158 rushing and 255 passing. Alabama A&M gained 172 yards, 100 yards of them passing and 72 rushing.
Dallas Davis went 9-of-12 for 255 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers. Evan Orth did not complete his only pass attempt. Denzel Foster led all rushers with 44 yards on only four attempts. Tra Minter added 33 yards on 7 carries, Xavier had 32 yards on 9 carries.
Jamarius Way caught two passes for 85 yards, Collier had one catch for 66 yards and a touchdown. Sam Harris caught two for 38 yards, Taylor hauled in his only catch for 28 yards and a touchdown. Reinkemeyer caught two for 22 yards and Kawaan Baker caught one for 16 yards.
Jeremy Reaves had five tackles, one of them for a loss. Chason Milner had five tackles with a sack and Tobias Moss also had five tackles.
Unfortunately the injury to Gus Name does not sound good from initial reports. With Jalen Thompson being ruled academically ineligible prior to the season, Neiko Robinson’s season-ending foot injury and Bobby Flott’s knee bothering him and causing him miss the game, the Jaguar’s depth in the secondary is getting quite thin.
Center Dominic Esposito went down early when the play ran up on him near the end zone but he walked around on the sideline and rode the workout bike on the sideline for quite a while. Sam Harris and Jamarius Way both left the game with some type of injury, hopefully only keeping them out for precautionary reasons.
USA will open Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, September 23 against the Idaho Vandals with kickoff scheduled for 1pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Jags Fall To #10 Ranked Oklahoma State In Home Opener 44-7
Mason Rudolph and the Oklahoma State offense is set to snap the ball, but the official is making sure everything is set before backing off and allowing the snap.
South Alabama’s upset bid against the #10 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys never got off the ground at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Entering the game, most of the national spotlight was on OSU’s high powered offense, and for good reason with their Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback and likely a few All-American supporting cast.
The Jaguar defense struggled early getting used to the uptempo hurry-up, no-huddle offense, which was astonishing to see in person at times. The defensive line would just get down into their stance as Mason Rudolph was clapping his hands for the snap. A few times players were struggling to get to their position before the snap.
The first possessions by both teams were three-and-outs, first by the Cowboys then by the Jags. On the Jags final play of their opening series, starting quarterback Cole Garvin tucked the ball and ran losing a yard, receiving a sprained ankle in the process. Dallas Davis would come in and played the remainder of the game at quarterback.
On the second OSU drive the Jags defense bent but kept the Cowboys out of the endzone, allowing a 31 yard field goal. But another three-and-out by the Jags, with a pass or two off the mark by Davis, the Cowboys only needed two plays to score. A two yard rush followed by a nice pass from Rudolph to his All-American hopeful James washington on a slant route and he outraced the secondary to the endzone.
Davis started to settle in on the next series with a pair of completions but still a three-and-out. Then Rudolph sliced and diced the Jags for passes of 9, 13, and 14 yards to Tyron Johnson followed by a 30-yarder to Washington before capping off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Marcell Ateman on an inside slant to make it 17-0.
Early in the second quarter, the Jags defense started to find some ways to get pressure on Rudolph with qb hurry and a sack. The Cowboys didn’t help their cause late in the drive with a false start and a substitution infraction which led to a 42-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right.
USA finally put together a good drive of their own on the ensuing possession behind the arm of Dallas Davis. The offensive unit finally earned their first first-down of the game with a 17-yard completion from Davis to Jamarius Way on second down. Completions of 16 to Sam Harris, 12 to Jordan McCray and another 14 yards to Way highlighted the drive. But on 3rd and 5, Davis’ throw to Harris fell incomplete. Then Gavin Patterson’s 31-yard attempt missed wide left.
Starting at their own 20 with 1:17 left before halftime, OSU completed three consecutive passes for first downs to quickly march out to the Jaguar 36 before the defense started pressuring Rudolph and forcing three-consecutive incomplete passes. Matt Ammendola’s 53 yard attempt split the uprights with not much distance to spare giving the Cowboys a 20-0 advantage with only :11 seconds left. The Jags would kneel on it and go to halftime.
Again, the third quarter would be a bit of an undoing for South Alabama.
On the opening play of the second half, Davis connected with Tra Minter for a 4-yard gain but two flags would negate the play. The first was a holding call on USA and the second was a targeting call on Calvin Bundage. After a lengthy review, the call on the field was upheld and Bundage was disqualified. This led to yet another interesting series of events a couple of plays later. Davis threw a deep pass but the receiver was held and fell down. A defensive back was able to pick off the ball and return it to the 40 before Sam harris forced a fumble that OSU recovered. However, the holding call on the defender negated the play. Then on the very next play, Xavier Johnson fumbled and OSU came away with the ball again. It was the Jags first turnover of the season and an unusual turnover by Johnson.
A few plays later Rudolph added another touchdown pass to his stats with a 20-yarder to Ateman to make it 27-0. The drive was 4-plays, 43 yards and only took :58 seconds off the clock.
Another three-and-out by the Jags gave the Cowboys the ball at their own 37. A couple questionable lack of calls on the drive but the Cowboys methodically drove it down the field with Rudolph keeping the ball for the final 10 yards for the touchdown pushing the lead out to 34-0.
The final Cowboy touchdown came by way of their defense. On second-down at their 25-yard line, Davis’ pass was tipped by a defensive lineman and intercepted by Justin Phillips who was able to return it for a touchdown giving the Cowboys a 41-0 advantage.
Rudolph finally gave way to Keondre Wudtee who helped lead a short drive from the USA 44 to the 18 before a bad snap led to a 13 yard loss by Wudtee back to the 31 yard line. Back-to-back incompletions and OSU settled for a 48 yard field goal for their final points of the game.
Driven behind Davis’ arm, pass completions of 14, 10, and 14 before the he found Messiah Francis for a 17-yard touchdown. The 11-play, 83 yard drive prevented the Jags from being shut out for the first time in school history.
Mason Rudolph finished with 335 yards on 25-of-38 passing with three touchdowns. James Washington only caught two passes for 98 yards with a touchdown. But four other Cowboys had 40 or more yards receiving. Marcell Ateman led the team with five catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns.
J.D. King led the Cowboys rushing with 64 yards on eight carries. Justice Hill had 11 carries for only 27 yards.
Cole Garvin complete his one and only pass for eight yards. Dallas Davis was 13-of-23 for 126 yards a touchdown and an interception. Jamarius Way led the team with five catches for 66 yads.
Xavier Johnson carried the ball five times for 36 yards. Tra minter had 7 carries for 15 yards and Davis rushed eight 8 times for 13 yards.
Xavier Johnson had a huge kickoff return called back due to a hold otherwise his all-purpose yardage would have been been much more than his 96 yards for the game.
Corliss Waitman punted seven times with an average of 48.4 yards per kick and a long of 58.
Jeremy Reaves and Bull Barge led the team with eight tackles each. Tyree Turner collected the only sack of the game against Rudolph.
With the opening two games now complete, the Jags have completed their roughest two-game stretch of the season and probably of their history. Best of all, their injury report is quite short it seems. It seems that Neiko Robinson will probably miss the remainder of the season with a foot injury, but beyond that Garvin had a sprained ankle and Nelson Santiago had a surgical procedure on an injured ankle but should return in the next couple of weeks.
The Jaguar defensive front four were outsized by the four smallest OSU offensive linemen by an average of 3 1/2 inches of height and 45 pounds per man. That didn’t include their monsterous left tackle, who was 6’8″, 350-pounds. The difference between USA’s offensive line and the OSU defensive line was nowhere near the same as the opposite above, but their up-tempo offense did not allow USA to utilize their depth on the defensive line.
South Alabama will have an extra day of preparation before they host Alabama A&M on Saturday, September 16 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6pm with TV broadcast on ESPN3, Radio coverage on 96.1 FM The Rocket, 99.5 FM The Jag, and iHeartRadio app worldwide.
Jaguar Gameday Information: Tonight Friday September 8 @ Ladd-Peebles Stadium Jags vs OSU
Photo credit: The University of South Alabama Football. | https://www.instagram.com/usajags_football/
Fans: WEAR WHITE!!!
Kickoff: scheduled for 7pm.
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 96.1 FM The Rocket, 99.5 FM The Jag, various other stations throughout Alabama.