Monday Press Conference – Cajun Invasion Edition
Head coach Joey Jones observes the Jaguars scrimmage on Saturday, August 15 2014 at St. Paul’s Episcopal School.
South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones met with the media on Monday along with defensive back E.J. May and running back Xavier Johnson to reflect on the Jaguars 27-13 win over Troy and to preview their upcoming trip to face Louisiana-Lafayette. Below are highlights from the press conference.
Coach Jones’ opening statement: “That was a big win on Friday night for us, I thought our guys played really well. Obviously there are some things we could have done better, but overall our players fought and got after it. We’re looking forward to this week, Louisiana-Lafayette was the unanimous choice to be No. 1 in the league — rightfully so — because they have really good players and a great coaching staff. [ULL head coach] Mark [Hudspeth] has done a tremendous job with that program.”
Jones spoke about the offensive effort by the Jaguars against Troy. “I thought the offensive line played great, they had a look in their eyes that they wanted to play some physical football; that was real good to see. Our running backs played lights out, Kendall had the best game of his career and Xavier came in as a freshman and ran the ball really well. That was a plus on that side of the ball to have those guys play like that.”
He then turned his attention to ULL by talking about the Cajun offense. “Elijah McGuire, in my opinion, is the best player in this league. Then you look at all the other talent they have around him, it’s not like you can just focus on him. Terrance Broadway is a great player, a three-year starter who understands their offense and has played in a lot of big game, and they have big linemen; they probably average 320 [pounds] up front. Our defense is looking forward to the challenge.”
Jones on ULL’s defense. “They are very good and very big on the defensive front, they are probably the biggest defensive front we will face. I haven’t looked at South Carolina yet, but I know the size of these guys is bigger than anybody in the Sun Belt. They’re well-coached and run to the football, they play with a lot of passion as you would imagine. They are a very good defense.
“When you have a team with a good offense that’s all people want to talk about, but their defense plays very well.”
Speaking about the challenge this game will present, Jones had this to say. “This is why you play football. As we were going through our conference schedule a couple of weeks ago I told them the next game is the most important one, I know it’s cliché but it’s the truth. I believe if Louisiana-Lafayette doesn’t have the best environment in the Sun Belt then it is top two, they have great crowd support. Last time we went over there it didn’t go very well, so we’d like to go over there and play better this time.”
Jones was asked what he attributes his team’s success on the road this season to. “That was a point of emphasis for me, I stressed it to the players during the offseason, I’m not taking credit for it, I’m just saying it started there. We took two trips during the summer to different high schools to get ready for a game, so to speak, and I think that helped us. And there is a mental toughness aspect to it, our strength staff did a great job with those guys in the offseason; no matter what happens, our guys are going to come out ready to compete.”
Jones talked about his team being one game away from bowl eligibility. “It enters your mind, but the truth is we have to focus on what we have to do to win this ballgame or any ballgame. That’s one of our goals and something we certainly want to get done, but what we are focusing on is practice every day so we can achieve those goals.”
Defensive back E.J. May talked about the team’s confidence. “The difference I see is that we’re playing more as a team, everyone is playing for something. We’re just more of a family, and that has helped build some of our confidence coming into this week’s game.”
“I have so much confidence in our front seven; I feel like we have one of the best defensive fronts in the country. That’s what it’s going to come down to, but the defensive backs are going to have to hold it down in the back too.”
May continued by talking about the team’s success on the road. “That was kind of our weak point last year, but we made a commitment as a team to win on the road. We just have to prepare like we have every other week. We’re playing great football right now.”
He then talked about ULL. “We just have to prepare for them like we do every other opponent. They have a one-two punch at running back, and the quarterback is very good too. But we just have to watch film and do the same thing we’ve been doing to prepare.”
On being just one win away from eligibility, he said “It’s just a boost to know that we’re that close, right there on the edge. We just need to keep working hard. It’s going to play out.”
Redshirt freshman running back Xavier Johnson, who wore #8 in honor of Jay Jones who suffered a season ending knee injury against Georgia State, began by talking about the win over Troy. “We blocked well Friday night. Coach (Jones) told us at halftime to just keep grinding, and we came out in the second half and executed offensively.”
Johnson addressed the team’s confidence by saying, “We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. We are playing with a chip on our shoulder, and each week we’re playing for (injured running back) Jay Jones. We just need to come out with good intensity and a good attitude this week at practice.”
Johnson talked about the offensive units improvement throughout the season up to now. “We’ve made a big improvement from game one. We weren’t playing selfish in game one, but we weren’t playing like brothers. We realized as the season progressed that if we play together then we can have more success.”
South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette are scheduled to kickoff at 4pm on Saturday from Cajun field. Pregame and play-by-play can be heard locally on Lite Mix 99.9FM or iHeartRadio. The game will be televised on ESPN3.com.
Jaguars and Houston Run Over Troy For 27-13 Rivalry Game Win
The South Alabama offensive opened huge holes for Jaguar running backs in the second half against Troy en route to a 27-13 win.
South Alabama used 241 rushing yards in the second half to pull away from conference and in-state rival Troy, 27-13. The win extends the Jaguars winning streak to four games.
The win improves the Jaguars to 5-2 overall, 4-1 in conference play. Troy falls to 1-7 overall, 1-3 in conference play and 1-2 in the ‘Larry Blakeney farwell tour’.
The Jaguars opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal by Aleem Sunanon on their first drive. They added to their lead late in the first quarter when Brandon Bridge scrambled around and found Shavarez Smith for a 45-yard touchdown pass.
The second quarter was mostly a stalemate until Troy’s Ryan Kay connected on a 43-yard field goal with 5:48 left until halftime. The Trojan defense forced a three-and-out and Brandon McKee’s punt was downed at the Troy 8 with 4:41 left. Troy would then put together a drive that would move them down to the Jaguar 37 with :22 left until halftime.
After a time out, Trojan quarterback Brandon Silvers pass intended for Bryan Holmes fell incomplete in the end zone, but a roughing the passer call on Davin Hawkins would give them a new set of downs at the Jaguar 22 yard line. After another incomplete pass, Theo Rich would flush Silvers out of the pocket and he would run be tackled in the field of play allowing time to expire on the first half and avoiding the scoring threat.
In the second half the Jaguar offensive line and running backs took over the game. Kendall Houston and Xavier Johnson would gash the Trojan defense for big gains.
Troy added another field goal after blocking a punt by McKee and getting the ball on the Jaguar 23, but unable to even get into the red zone.
On the ensuing possession, the Jags showed their ground superiority with Houston running for back-to-back first downs of 14 and 13 yards. Then Johnson came in for a six yard run, then two plays later he would go mostly untouched for the 14 yard touchdown.
After the South Alabama defense forced another Trojan three-and-out, the running game gash the Trojan with big run after big run. Houston would put the dagger into the Trojans when he broke tackle after tackle to score on a 41 yard run.
Houston, getting the start after Jay Jones’ season ending knee injury last week, put up a career-high 178 yards, including the 41 yard touchdown. It was his first 100-yard game since September 17, 2011 against NC State and his seventh 100-yard game of his career. Xavier Johnson added 107 yards and his first touchdown as a Jaguar.
“Losing Jay Jones is a kick in the gut, but sometimes life is tough and he has to move on and so do we,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I thought our guys really picked it up. Kendall Houston is about as dependable of a guy as I have ever coached, when you put him in the game he’s going to get the job done. We put Xavier in there and he did a heck of a job, he made some great runs and made people miss. And our offensive line really took over, they knew we had to run it, and I thought the offensive line did one heck of a job in the second half.”
“I knew I had to play a big role when Jay Jones went down, all the running backs had to do it for him,” Houston said after the game. “We wanted to dedicate this game to him. We just stayed patient and kept running the ball hard, and we were able to bust loose for some big plays later in the game.”
It was the first time two Jaguars rushed for over 100 yard since Houston and Brandon Ross combined to do it on September 18, 2010 against Nicholls State.
Brandon Bridge went 9-of-11 for 106 yards and a touchdown in a game where he did not look spectacular, but didn’t need to be. He had several overthrows in the game. He went down late in first half and looked to be in lots of pain and even went into the locker room with the training staff. But he would return to start the second half with no problem.
Shavarez Smith led the receiving corps with two catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. Wes Saxton also had two catches for 14 yards, but he would be held out of the second half as a precaution due to an ankle injury he suffered late in the first half.
For the second consecutive game Jereme Jones went without a catch. Last week’s game ended his 49 game streak with a catch, a school record.
Antonio Carter led the Jaguar defense with 14 stops, tied for the season high. Theo Rich added a sack for his team-leading seventh of the season.
Trojan running backs Jordan Chunn and Brandon Burks rushed for 53 and 50 respectively as the Trojans rushed for 164 yards total. Trojan quarterbacks combined to go 13-of-24 for 145 yards. Silvers started for the Trojans and went 9-of-18 for 62 yards. Dontreal Pruitt came in late and went 4-of-6 for 83 yards and the only Trojan touchdown. Teddy Ruben led a trio of Trojans who all caught three passes each with 65 yards.
“They were hurting us with that speed sweep and some different things outside — we made some adjustments at halftime, and we did a great job of boxing it in,” observed Jones. “That was big. They didn’t throw the ball on us as much tonight, our guys did a great job in coverage as we usually do. It was just a great overall job defensively.”
Interesting notes:
- Since coach Jones started growing out his goatee, the Jags are 4-0. His team may need that extra help in November as the Jaguars schedule is: @ Lafayette, @ Arkansas State, Texas State, @ South Carolina, and Navy.
- Xavier Johnson wore number 8 in honor of Jay Jones, who’s season and Jaguar career ended last week with an ACL tear.
USA v Troy Tonight and Other Jaguar Action This Weekend
Shavarez Smith holds up the SISU War Hammer at midfield prior to their homecoming game against Georgia State.
Football
This evening the Jaguars will host Sun Belt and in-state rival Troy for a 6:30pm kickoff at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The Jags 4-2 (3-1 SBC) look to keep extend their three game winning streak with a win over the Trojans 1-6 (1-2 SBC).
Last week the Jaguars defeated Georgia State 30-27 on a late touchdown drive. Troy was completely dismantled at home by conference newcomer Appalachian State 53-14 which gave the Mountaineers their first FBS and Sun Belt Conference win.
South Alabama will be without senior running back Jay Jones as an MRI confirmed that he suffered a torn ACL against Georgia State. Being a senior, that will end his college career. Kendall Houston, Xavier Johnson, Terrance Timmons and T.J. Glover will move up to help fill his cleats in the backfield.
Another player that may miss the game on Saturday is cornerback Quadarius Ford. Ford, a 5’9″ 170-pound senior, suffered a concussion against Georgia State and at last word, has not been cleared by the medical staff for tonight’s game. Ford is tied for seventh in total tackles with Theo Rich and Jerome McClain.
If you go by the Sagarin rankings as published by Jeff Sagarin, the Jags are currently the fourth best team in the Sun Belt and the 107th best in his rankings of all 252 FBS and FCS teams. Arkansas State (57), Georgia Southern (102), and Louisiana-Lafayette (102) are ranked ahead of the Jaguars (107).
The rest of the conference is ranked: ULM (136), Texas State (145), Appalachian State (150), Idaho (176), Troy (189), Georgia State (191), New Mexico State (195).
Meanwhile USA’s non-conference opponents are ranked: AP and Coaches Poll #1 Mississippi State is 4th, South Carolina (33), Navy (93), and Kent State (173). It’s also worth noting some of the other teams in the state: Alabama (2), Auburn (3), Jacksonville State (78), UAB (106), Samford (151), Alabama State (206) and Alabama A&M (238).
South Alabama and Troy start at 6:30pm, Jaguar Prowl will be at 4:10pm. Pregame and live Play-by-Play can be heard on LiteMix 99.9FM locally and on iHeartRadio on your smart devices. It will also be televised on ESPNU nationally.
Soccer
Monday Press Conference – Rivalry Week
Head coach Joey Jones, offensive lineman Melvin Meggs and linebacker Davin Hawkins met with the media on Monday to recap the Jaguars 30-27 win over Georgia State and the preview their game against Troy on Friday.
“I was really pleased last week with the win, when you can finish a ballgame like we did — the defense stops them, we drive down and score, we stop them again and we kill the clock — it makes you feel good,” said Jones in his opening statement. “The guys kept their poise and composure late in the game, those last four possessions were in our favor. We took over the latter part of the fourth quarter, I was real proud of that.”
Jones talked about what he has been the most pleased about over the last three or four games. “We’ve played extremely well on the road, I thought that was a big step forward for our program. Maturity is probably the biggest thing, we are maturing. Even though we have a lot of starters back from last year, there are still a lot of new players who are coming along really well. Those guys have grown up and are playing good football right now.”
Jones also spoke about the competition in the Sun Belt and ignoring Troys 1-6 overall record this week. “This conference [the Sun Belt Conference] is very tough from top to bottom, you look at Georgia State and what they’ve done last year compared to this year and they are a much-improved team. I know our record, but we don’t keep up with things like everyone else’s. I look at film and watch athletes, how they play and how they are coached because we have to have a good plan to be able to defeat somebody. That’s our plan, I could care less about what record they have.
“We just know we’re playing a good football team this week with a lot of tradition. They know how to win. That is all we are focusing on.”
He then spoke about his concerns about Troy. “Kenny Edenfield is their offensive coordinator, he has done a tremendous job over the years, traditionally they are one of the top offenses in the league. He understands how to distribute the ball around the field and comes up with different kinds of what I call ‘trick’ plays during every game that are new. He just does a great job of play calling.
“Defensively, they are big and physical up front and really run to the football. They are very sound in the way they line up.”
Jones also mentioned the importance of the game for the program. “It’s obvious this is a big game, it’s an in-state game, but Louisiana-Lafayette has become a rival as well. But Troy is there because of the tradition and success they’ve had, it is certainly a big game for us.”
Offensive lineman Melvin Meggs reflected on the Jags win over the Panthers. “We had some things we wanted to accomplish coming off of a bye week, things like improving fundamentals and becoming stronger in our technique. It was a tough win Saturday, but we battled back in the fourth quarter and got the job done. This Friday’s game is big just because it is the next game. We’ve made the corrections from Saturday’s game, and we are preparing to limit those weaknesses and become stronger in our technique for the game Friday.”
He also spoke about getting the team’s first home win of the season. “We owe it to our fans, because they come out and support us regardless of the situation. We have some faithful fans, and to be able to finally get a win at home and give them something to look forward to Friday means a lot.”
Meggs then spoke about the offense’s consistency in the last few games. “I think it all started at practice with some of the seniors who spoke up when things weren’t going right – not in a way to down a teammate but to encourage them. And it spread quickly. Everyone just started trying to pick each other up, and it’s been rolling.”
Finally Meggs spoke about the Trojans defense that he and his teammates will face on Friday. “Their defensive line moves pretty well. They are quick off the ball. The linebackers flow hard – they’re a pretty good football team. We just have to play our technique and play as hard as we can.”
Linebacker Davin Hawkins reflected on the team’s win over Georgia State. “Defensively, we were just trying to get back to the little things like tackling, getting your head across and taking good angles – just the fundamentals. It was a tough win Saturday, but it was a good win. Any win in the Sun Belt (Conference) is a good win. We’re happy for that.”
Hawkins, who was injured earlier in the season, spoke about getting back on the field after missing some games. “It felt amazing. I don’t know what I would do without football. Being at home while everyone was in North Carolina playing was not a feeling I enjoyed at all. It was just great to be on the field. I thought it would be a little worse. I thought I’d be a little timid going back out there but it was just like I never left. I thank God for blessing me to be back on the field. It is a blessing.”
He talked about the team earning their first home win of the season as well. “It was big. I felt like we owed it to our fans. We performed on the road, but we weren’t performing for them when we came home. So I felt like it was great to give them a win, and also for ourselves to know that we are able to win at home.”
Similar to Meggs, Hawkins spoke about the defense’s consistency this season. “(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Travis) Pearson preaches consistency in performance. We felt like we weren’t doing that at times earlier this season, but we just want to be consistent in our performance.”
South Alabama will host in-state rival Troy for a nationally televised game on Friday on ESPNU. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Bridge Earns SBC Offensive Player of the Week
Brandon Bridge earns his first SBC Offensive Player of the Week Award for his play against Georgia State on Saturday. | Photo: Brad Puckett usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Brandon Bridge was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his play against Georgia State on Saturday.
Bridge had part in all three of the Jaguars touchdowns against the Panthers as he ran for two and threw another as he accounted for 263 yards of total offense, 137 of them came on the ground and 65 of them on the game winning drive with five minutes left in the game. His rushing yardage set a new single game record for the Jags. It was also the third most rushing yards against a Division I opponent behind Kendall Houston’s school-record 175 yards also against Georgia State in their first-ever meeting.
In the Jaguars final scoring drive, Bridge ran for 65 yards to the Panther 20 yard line, then two plays later threw an 18 yard touchdown to Danny Woodson II to secure the 30-27 victory.
This is Bridge’s first SBC Player of the Week honor and the first for a Jaguar since Jay Jones received the award on December 9, 2013 and the first quarterback to receive the award since Ross Metheny on September 9, 2013.
Through six games Bridge is 94-of-183 for 1,174 yards and eight touchdowns through the air. He also has 294 yards rushing on 68 attempts. Under his guidance the Jaguar offense is averaging over 400 yards per game of total offense.
Senior RB Jay Jones May Miss Remainder Of Season
Running back Jay Jones diving in for a Jaguar touchdown against Kent State in 2013.
The news coming from the Jaguars on Sunday concerning Jay Jones was good. According to one of the assistant athletic trainers, Jones will have an MRI on Monday but it is likely his season has come to an end.
Jones, a 5’9″ 195-pound running back from Horn Lake, Ms. who came to South Alabama after two seasons at Northeast Mississippi Community College was injured on the game-winning drive against Georgia State on Saturday night.
Jones’ injury came on the second play of the three play 85 yard drive for the go-ahead score. On the first play Brandon Bridge tucked the ball and ran 65 yards to the Panther 20 yard line. Jones then took the handoff off up the right side of the line into a mass of Panthers and Jaguars for a two yard gain. It was unclear what exactly happened in the scrum, but towards the end of the play he appeared to fumble the ball. The nearest referee called him down and a review did not have enough evidence to overturn the call on the field. He was helped off the field and did not put any weight on his left leg.
On the next play, Bridge connected with Danny Woodson II for an 18 yard touchdown to take the lead.
Jones is the leading rusher for the Jaguars this season with 393 yards on 83 carries for three touchdowns as well as seven catches for 49 yards. He was also the leading rusher a year ago with 737 yards on 143 carries with five touchdowns. For his Jaguar career, he has 226 carries for 1,130 yards and eight touchdowns.
Stepping up to replace him will be senior Kendall Houston and redshirt freshman Xavier Johnson along with Terrance Timmons and T.J. Glover. Houston has 209 yards on 48 carries this season while Johnson has 188 yards on 34 carries, most of it coming over the last couple of weeks. Timmons has nine carries for 81 yards so far this season.
“You hate it for a guy who’s such a great leader and such a great player; you hate it for him first and you hate it for us as a team second to lose a really good football player and leader,” South Alabama head coach Joey Jones was quoted by AL.com after the conclusion of the Jaguar’s practice Sunday night. “We don’t know the final verdict yet, but it doesn’t look good right now.
“We’ve got Xavier (Johnson), we’ve got Kendall (Houston) and we’ve got Terrance (Timmons) and T.J. Glover is actually in the mix. We’re pretty deep at running back for this year so I think those guys will step up.”
After the win on Saturday, several of Jones’ teammates went on social media sending prayers and asking for the fans to pray for him as well.
This will be a short week for the Jaguars as they are scheduled to play Troy on Friday night at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for a nationally televised showdown against in-state rival Troy. Because of the short week, the players will not have Monday off, which they normally do. Instead they will come in Monday morning and have their normal Tuesday type practice and move their schedule up a day.
Late Touchdown Drive By Bridge Leads Jaguars Past Panthers 30-27
Shavarez Smith holds up the SISU War Hammer at midfield prior to their homecoming game against Georgia State.
Brandon Bridge led a late fourth quarter drive to defeat Georgia State at Ladd-Peebles Stadium to 30-27 in a game that had five lead changes in the second half. It was also their first time since their double-overtime win over Florida Atlantic, that the Jags have won a game when trailing after three quarters.
The Jaguars stopped the Panthers, who were driving into Jaguar territory, and forced them to punt. Bridge took over at his own 15 yard line with just over five minutes remaining in the game. Bridge would then take the first snap and scamper 65 yards to the Panther 20 yard line setting up his 18 yard touchdown pass to Danny Woodson II two plays later to put the Jags up for good.
Bridge would lead the team rushing for the first time with a career-best 137 yards on 15 attempts. It was also the most by a Jaguar quarterback. He was also 11-of-32 for 126 yards through the air.
Georgia State continued to move the ball well through the air, as they have all season, as quarterback Nick Arbuckle was 23-of-40 for 311 yards and three touchdowns. Donovan Hardin led all receivers with 10 catches for 132 yards. Robert Davis had 108 yards on only four catches. Joel Ruiz added 75 yards on seven catches.
Theo Rich set a game-record with 3.5 sacks and a career high eight stops total. Terrell Brigham led the Jaguars defense with 10 stops with Roman Buchanan adding nine stops and a pass break up.
Jay Jones, who left late with an injury, finished the game with 71 yards on 16 carries. Xavier Johnson added 58 yards and Houston had a season-high 55 yards to help lead the Jaguar rushing attack which outgained the Panthers 321-90 on the ground and also outgained them 447-401 in total yards.
“I told the team after the game that I’m not real pleased with some of the things we did tonight, but there are some things I am pleased with. It wasn’t a complete game for us, but it’s a win,” South Alabama head coach Joey Jones said. “You can’t always play great. I didn’t think we played great tonight and we still won. I thought that was a big deal. The last three series were in our favor — we scored, stopped them and then ate the clock up. I thought that was a great way to win.”
“We knew going in, other than last week, that Georgia State is playing unbelievable this year. They are the most improved team in the Sun Belt,” Coach Jones explained. “They’re very good on offense, but our guys really played well inside the red zone. [Defensive coordinator] Coach [Travis] Pearson really stresses that — it’s a big deal. They’re not in there until they’re in there and our guys fought and kept them out of there. Some of the biggest plays of the game were on the goal line.”
Georgia State falls to 1-6 on the season and 0-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. Head coach Trent Miles is 1-18 after taking over the reigns from Bill Curry last season. “We had opportunities to win the game, but give South Alabama credit, they stepped in and did it at the end when they had to,” Miles stated. “Joey is doing a great job with them, he’s done a great job building the program the right way. We’re trying to build our program, and our kids are battling their tails off. I’m proud of them. We’re going to start winning football games, I don’t know when it’s going to happen but it will.”
South Alabama improves to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, just two wins away from bowl eligibility. They will host in-state and conference rival Troy on Friday for a nationally televised game on ESPNU. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Friday Homecoming Schedule
The schedule of today’s homecoming events:
- 12pm – Lunch with Coach Joey Jones at the Football Fieldhouse, Reservations requied.
- 4-6pm – College Reunion Party at Alumni Hall Lawn.
- 6pm – Homecoming Parade along South Drive
- 6:45pm – Homecoming Pep Rally at Mitchell Center North Plaza
- 7pm – USA Women’s Soccer match against Georgia Southern at The Cage. Free Admission
- 8pm – “Battle of the Greeks” NPHC Ste Show in the Mitchell Center.
South Alabama vs Georgia State – A Clash of Claws
South Alabama lines up inside the one yard line. Ross Metheny would dive over the top to score the Jaguars third touchdown of the game on this play in the Georgia Dome against Georgia State on November 30, 2013.
South Alabama heads into their homecoming game against Georgia State on Saturday after their second and final open date of the regular season. After starting the season 1-2 in their first three games, they have put together back-to-back wins in impressive fashion.
They opened with a strong showing in the first half against Kent State, but then struggled until a late touchdown sealed the game. Then at home against Mississippi State and Georgia Southern the Jaguar offense struggled with dropped passes and penalties.
Road wins over Idaho and Appalachian State have put the Jaguars back above .500 and producing offensively again. But both of those teams have been struggling themselves. But a win on the road, especially when you have to travel thousands of miles, is always a good thing.
South Alabama will finish out the season with seven consecutive games, the first five are conference games, to close out the regular season. Their first two opponents, Georiga State (this weekend) and Troy (Friday, October 24), have a combined record of 2-10 this season as each have only one win so far.
Georgia State opened the season with a last-second victory over FCS Abilene Christian then has suffered five consecutive losses since. Troy on the other hand opened the season with five consecutive losses, including one to the same Abilene Christian that the Panthers defeated. But the Trojans finally put on in the win column last weekend against New Mexico State after longtime Trojan head coach Larry Blakeney announced his retirement after the season.
Georgia State’s defense ranks dead last in the conference in most statistical categories including scoring defense and total yards allowed per game.
Offensively the Panthers fare better. They rank second in the conference in passing yards per game (301.8) but only manages 118.3 yards per game rushing which comes in 9th in the conference. Obviously it is hard to win games when your average score on the season is 27.0 to 41.7 and not in your favor.
South Alabama’s defense has played very well all season long. However over the last two weeks, aided by a more efficient offense, the defense has turned it up against opponents. The Jags rank in the top 3 in many key defensive categories including second in pass defense (190.8 yards per game), third in total defense (374.8 yards per game) and third in scoring defense (21.4 points per game).
Offensively the Jags struggled early but flipped the switch two games ago against Idaho. In their two losses, the Jags suffered from a rash of dropped passes and penalties which stalled drives. Many people feel that USA should have had an early 14-0 lead on Mississippi State. They only managed to put up nine points against MSU and Georgia Southern combined.
Even after the last two games the Jaguar offense still ranks in the bottom half of the conference in most statistical categories. Their best category is rushing offense where they rank 6th in the 11 team conference.
South Alabama and Georgia State had developed quite the rivalry early on. Georgia State started playing football a year after South Alabama began their program. The Panthers made ESPN headlines by hiring Bill Curry to build the program from scratch with their eyes set on the FCS ranks. South Alabama and the Panthers scheduled a home-and-home series, which they split. When the opportunity presented itself for Georgia State to receive an invitation to move up to the FBS ranks and join the Sun Belt, they accepted but they have struggled over the last two-and-a-half seasons.
In Curry’s final season in 2012, the Panthers finished 1-10 and they hired Trent Miles, the former Indiana State head coach, to replace the retiring Curry. Since 2012 the Panthers are 2-27.
Last season in Atlanta, Shavarez Smith broke out for 194 yards on 10 catches an a touchdown against the Panthers in a 38-17 win.
Look for the Jaguars to declaw the Panthers again this year. I think Xavier Johnson will get more playing time this week, especially if the Jaguars go up early on the Panthers. South Alabama will run their record to 3-1 against Georgia State with a predicted score of 34-17.
Online Publication Expects USA Football Attendance to “go down over the course of the season”
One online publication wrote that South Alabama’s attendance increase this season has been skewed by the “hordes of Mississippi State fans” who attended the Jaguars first home game this season for a sell-out record crowd of 38,129. They then pointed to the 11,348 for the following game against Georgia Southern and expects the USA’s attendance increase statistic to dwindle down the rest of the season.
Residents will tell you that Mobile has traditionally been a fairweather sports town. Unless your cry is “roll tide”, “war eagle” or involves high school football, Mobilians tend to only show up when you are winning and/or playing the “big dogs” as they would say. But South Alabama is working hard to build their fan base and change that mentality a little bit.
Many use the excuse that the location where Ladd-Peebles Stadium is located and the condition of the stadium as two major reasons why they do not attend games. Many hardcore fans realize that if it wasn’t for the city of Mobile having Ladd-Peebles Stadium it would have been exponentially more difficult to have started football a mere six years ago.
Having an underutilized 38,000 seat stadium in your back yard is an envious problem to have, many would say.
Many of those same fans who use the excuse of the stadium and location criticize the University for not building an on-campus stadium. But former Sun Belt Member Florida Atlantic, who started football in 2001, finally built an on-campus stadium that seats 29,419 in 2011 at the cost of $70 million. Director of Athletics Joel Erdmann is asked about an on-campus stadium on a regular basis and one of his standard answer is along the lines of “if you give us the money, we will build it.”
Is this how we want to be known?
Do we want to be known as the fairweather town where good things quickly blossom but fades due to neglect? (Not that I think South Alabama football will fade, it is college football deep in the heart of probably the nation’s most avid fanbase.)
Promised attendance will not get the stadium built any sooner. The only thing that will get a stadium built sooner rather than later will be strong attendance. And money, money will definitely get it built sooner.
If you have several million dollars laying around waiting to be put to good use, I can put you in touch with Dr. Erdmann in a heartbeat. He will probably put your name on the stadium too.