Jags Improvement Evident On Saturday
Head Coach Joey Jones speaks to his team after the conclusion of the Jaguars first practice of preseason camp.
South Alabama made big strides on Saturday against Arkansas State. It may have ended with a fourth consecutive loss on the season, but for a program who is making the transition into FBS and only in their fourth season of play, that’s not too bad.
Would they prefer to win. Absolutely. Does coach Jones like losing? Absolutely not. Do the players enjoy losing? Absolutely not, that is a stupid question if that even crossed your mind. They don’t dedicate numerous hours to practice, review film and prepare for each game because they enjoy losing. They do it to get better and to win.
Many people only see the scoreboard as the measure of results. That is not an entirely accurate metric for a new program making the transition to FBS. While the score may not have shown it until Arkansas State, but they have gotten better as a team.
“You can see that the team is growing,” head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “I saw some great things out there tonight.”
“I think if we had come in here and had a tough game, I don’t know how our kids would have reacted and I don’t know how our coaches would have reacted,” Jones said. “I know how they’ve reacted all year long and they’ve fought every day at practice. They keep getting better and better, though I know nobody sees that.”
“Nobody sees the hard work these young men and staff are putting into it. That’s the reason we played good. A lot of teams quit in this situation. We’re not going to do that so we’re getting better. It was awfully encouraging. But I still hate to lose.”
The offense appears to have gained some momentum by going with a single quarterback over the two-quarterback system they had employed in the first five games of the season. Ross Metheny, the starting quarterback, threw for 241 yards, three touchdowns and only one interception in his first game as the lone quarterback for the Jaguars. In the previous five games combined the Jags had only four touchdown passes.
Next up for the Jaguars is Florida Atlantic, another team in the Sun Belt that is struggling. FAU is at the bottom or near the bottom in most of the core statistical groups with the exception of passing defense where it ranks in the middle of the pack.
Jags Fall To Arkansas State 36-29
South Alabama’s offense finally found a way to move the ball but cannot overcome a turnover and penalties in a 36-29 loss in Jonesboro, Arkansas to Arkansas State. The Jags would fall to 1-5 (0-2 SBC) for the season while Arkansas State would improve to 4-3 (2-1 SBC) for the season.
The Jaguar offense came to play against the Red Wolves on Saturday at Liberty Bank Stadium. The Jags took the opening possession on a 9 play 75 yard drive to open the scoring in the game. Then the defense would help them out by recovering a fumble on the Red Wolves first offensive play.
The Jags would move 16 yards in 7 plays before settling for a Michel Chapuseaux field goal to extend their lead to 10-0 with 7:52 left in the first quarter.
Chapuseaux would miss a field goal attempt, then convert another attempt as the Jags trail 14-13 at halftime. The Jags would not give up in the second half as they would score a touchdown with 17 seconds left in the game to cut the Arkansas State lead to 36-29. The Jags would not be able to recover the on-sides kick and fall on the road.
The Jags led in several statistical categories for the game. They led in first downs 24-23, rushing yards 132 – 113, passing yards 241 – 203, total offense 373 – 316, offensive plays 88 – 59 and time-of-possession 35:39 – 24:21.
Terrance Timmons was the leading rusher for the Jags with 43 yards on 13 carries, it would have been 56 yards except for a 13 yard loss late in the game. Kendall Houston added 36 yards on 18 carries, Metheny had 22 yards on 9 carries and Trey Fetner added 17 key yards on 3 carries.
With the new single-quarterback system, Ross Metheny went 24-of-38 for 241 yards, three touchdowns, an interception and a sack. T.J. Glover led the Jaguar receivers with 47 yards on 3 receptions, Corey Besteda led in receptions with 5 for 45 yards, Greg Hollinger added 30 yards on 5 catches, Jereme Jones had 44 yards on 3 catches as well. Bryant Lavender added 31 yards on three receptions, Timmons also had 3 catches for 29 yards.
The Jaguar defense held David Oku to 84 yards on 22 attempts. Ryan Aplin was 17-of-22 for 203 yards, three touchdowns and two sacks. McKissic caught seven of his passes for 41 yards and a touchdown. Another key receiver, Josh Jarboe was held in check as well with only 3 catches for 34 yards and a touchdown.
“You can see that this team is growing,” head coach Joey Jones said after the game. “I saw some great things out there tonight. We’re playing the Sun Belt champion from last year, they have a very good football team. We took them down to the wire and got to within six points in the fourth quarter, we were right where we wanted to be.”
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of these kids,” Jones continued. Despite what’s going on with a young team, they keep fighting and we’re getting better on the field. Offensively, we took care of the football and had 24 first downs, those were big positives. There were a lot of improvements, the kids fought and were having fun. It still hurts, but it was a darn good game.”
However the penalties were a bit too much to overcome. The Jags gave Arkansas State three attempts to convert a two-point conversion to go up 14 points in the fourth quarter. On the third attempt they converted.
But this was the spark that the offense needed. They got a solid, consistent performance at quarterback since the rotation is a thing of the past.
The offense came out and scored quickly and consistently moved the ball well throughout the game. The players should be encouraged at their progress this week.
The Jags will host Florida Atlantic on Saturday, October 20th for homecoming. FAU is also 1-5 (0-3 SBC) on the season. Kickoff time for the game should be announced early this week.
Keys For The Jags This Evening
South Alabama, the newcomers, visit Jonesboro to face the defending Sun Belt Champion Arkansas State. But this Jaguar team is not your normal run of the mill new football team.
In only the fourth season of football, the Jags defense is ranked second in the Sun Belt and 38th nationally. But they are among the nations worst in offense right now.
Arkansas State offensive line coach J.B. Grimes told the Arkansas State University newspaper, “They’re really, really far along as a defensive football team (and) as a football team overall. They’re much further along than I think what a lot of people in this league anticipated. I’ve been very impressed watching these guys on tape.”
Grimes also said that the Jaguar defensive line is “Very, very well coached” and “very sound”.
Arkansas State’s first-year head coach Gus Malzahn was also quoted talking about the Jaguars offense, “They have a new coordinator, and you can see they are getting better with what they are doing. Their quarterbacks stand out to me, they look very solid to me. Their offensive line is a very solid line, and they have a big athletic running back.”
Arkansas State’s rushing defense is ranked 113th nationally and have been working this week to adjust to the mulitple formations that the Jaguars run. Sophomore linebacker Qushaun Lee returned last week after being suspended for the Western Kentucky game. In his return against FIU, he tallied 12 tackles, an interception and a pass breakup while earning the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honors.
The Jaguar defense will have to play smart and disciplined against the Malzahn offense. They are third in the conference in total offense/game with 470.8 yards per game and leads the conference in rushing offense per game with 232.2 yards per game. But the Arkansas passing offense is third in the conference with 238.7 yards per game.
But most of all, the Jaguar offense must get in gear without Demetre Baker. Baker will miss the game due to suspension.
Baker Suspended For Arkansas State
Coach Tommy Perry coaching the running backs during halftime of the Red & Blue Spring Football Game on March 24, 2012.
South Alabama will be without running back Demetre Baker for their game at Arkansas State today.
The University athletics department released a press release saying that Baker, the leading rusher and second place in All-Purpose yards, had been suspended for the Jags game versus Arkansas State for a violation of team rules.
Baker, a 6’1″ 230-pound sophomore running back has 67 rushing attempts for 294 yards and a touchdown on the season. He has also caught six passes for 55 yards. Baker’s 349 All-Purpose yards is second to T.J. Glover who has 375 All-Purpose yards.
South Alabama head coach was unavailable for comment on the situation yesterday according to the Press-Register.
Kickoff Against FAU To Be Announced Next Week
The kickoff time for the Jaguars homecoming game against Florida Atlantic will be announced early next week, Dr. Joel Erdmann announced on Thursday.
The time will be determined by national and regional television outlets, which have not yet made a decision.
More New Firsts In Jaguar Program History Against ASU
The Jaguars will have yet another new first in the program’s history on Saturday. When the Red Wolves and the Jaguars kick off at 6pm on Saturday in Jonesboro, it will be South Alabama’s first conference game on the road.
But the Jaguars will be looking for another first too. They will be trying to pick up their first Sun Belt Conference victory while trying to avoid another first, the first time the program has lost four-consecutive games. The three game losing streak is already a first for the program.
Arkansas State (3-3, 1-1 SBC) will be a tough test for the Jags (1-4, 0-1 SBC) who is 0-2 on the road so far this season. The Red Wolves run a quick-paced, no-huddle spread offense that first year head coach Gus Malzahn has lots of input into.
“Obviously, they’re very difficult to prepare for on both sides of the ball,” head coach Joey Jones said. “Offensively, they do a thousand different things and do a great job with their scheme and make you defend everything on the field. Thank goodness we’ve had a few extra days to prepare for that. Defensively, they’re a very sound football team. They’re very athletic with a lot of juniors and seniors on both sides of the football. They’re a very good football team.”
“I think that if you look at them they’ve got a great leader in their quarterback (Ryan Aplin),” Jones continued. “He was the player of the year in the conference last year and deservedly so. He runs the team. You can tell he’s a great leader. They have several seniors but he’s the guy where it all starts.”
“They’re very good defensively. They did a very good job against FIU the other night and they’ve got good people on defense. John Thompson is the defensive coordinator and he does a great job. We faced him when he was at Georgia State and he’s been at a lot of places, a very experienced coordinator. He understands how to run a defense so you can tell they’re very well-coached. They are very good on defense. They don’t get the publicity that they do on offense, but the bottom line is they’re very good.”
ASU’s quarterback Ryan Aplin has thrown for 1,388 yards and eight touchdowns so far on the season with only two interceptions. Their offense is ranked 3rd in total offense, first in rushing offense, 4th in scoring offense and 8th in passing offense. But they are tops in the conference in passing efficiency.
The Jaguar defense has played extremely well this season, but the same cannot be said for the offense. They hope sidelining the two-quarterback system they employed in the first five games of the season will give them the spark they need to get going. Last week Coach Jones announced that Ross Metheny would be the starter for the game and would take the majority of the snaps in practice leading up to the game.
Third down conversions and red zone play have been two sore subjects for the offensive unit. They are only converting 28 percent of their third-down attempts (20-of-72) and have only scored on 10-of-15 trips into the red zone, six of those 10 being touchdowns.
“We have not put a complete game together,” Jones said. “We’ve had too many three-and-outs, and that’s not really any one person’s fault. We have a young offense. We started the season with two freshmen and five sophomores on the offensive unit. We have to get better, but it isn’t easy to get better when you’re playing the teams we are playing.”
“We’re a better team than we were last year, but we’re playing much better competition right now and it just isn’t showing. We have to be able to stick the ball into the end zone. Defense and special teams are playing good enough to win, so if we can get that part going on offense then we’re going to get this thing rolling. But we have to get out there and get it done.”
The players are working hard and have showed signs of improvement, but that needs to translate into play on the field on gameday. They have to play smart football, protect the ball and start moving the ball more consistently and converting third downs.
It’s not “If” they can do it, but when they start doing it, that they will have chances to win games. Experience does not come lightly and this is still a very young team in terms of Division I play.
Know Your Stadiums: Liberty Bank Stadium
Liberty Bank Stadium from the air.
The Arkansas State University Red Wolves host their home football games at Liberty Bank Stadium, formerly known as ASU Stadium and Indian Stadium) located on the campus of Arkansas State University. Up to 2007 the stadium was named after the old nickname of the school, the Indians. The capacity is 30,964.
Originally, the stadium could hold 16,343 fans when it originally opened in 1974 when they began playing football. The stadium cost $2.5 million to build, $1.4 of that was raised by alumni and friends of the University. The first game in the stadium was on September 28, 1974 against Louisiana Tech which ASU lost 21-7. The stadium was dedicated on November 2, 1974 when they hosted Northeast Louisiana University, which ASU won 17-14.
In 1980 it was upgraded to hold 18,709. When ASU made the move to Division I in 1991, it was expanded to 30,708 in order to meet the capacity requirements. An upper deck was added to the grandstands and it included a four level press area that included the press box, two donor levels: Happy Hunting Grounds and Chiefs Council. It also included a photo deck with an area for filming, visiting team AD suite, and coaches boothes for both teams.
In 2001 a video scoreboard was built in the South end zone.
In 2002 luxury suites were added to increase the capacity to today’s number of 30,964. The players and coaches also moved into a new complex with office space, dressing rooms, meeting rooms and player lounges. Some areas become suites used during football games, academic study areas, conference rooms, alumni function areas, booster meetings and recruiting areas.
Prior to the 2006 season the University replaced the Bermuda grass field with Pro Green synthetic grass.
The largest crowd at the stadium was when ASU hosted the 25th ranked University of Memphis in 2004. The crowd numbered 30,427 and was designated a sellout. However ASU lost the game 47-35.
The best average attendance for a season is 17,488 in the 2003 season.
View of the Grandstands and Press box at Liberty Bank Stadium from the north end zone.
View of the ASU Football Complex and Video scoreboard in the south end zone of Liberty Bank Stadium.
Sun Belt Showdown Set For Tonight On ESPNU
A nationally broadcast Sun Belt Conference contest will be on television tonight. Western Kentucky (4-1, 1-0 SBC) will visit Troy (3-2, 2-1 SBC) tonight and it will be broadcast on ESPNU nationally.
Troy will be sporting pink gloves to support breast cancer awareness for the game.
Both teams are coming off of a bye week.
Jags Continue Preparation For Arkansas State
Receiver Jereme Jones looks in the pass from CJ Bennett in the first half of the 33-31 loss to Texas-San Antonio.
The Jaguar football team continues to prepare for their game against Arkansas State on Saturday. A number of issues are being addressed including mistakes and penalties that have hampered the team most of the season.
The offense went against the scout team defense with the defense doing the same thing against the scout team offense. Both squads continue to try to prepare for what they will see in Jonesboro.
“It was pretty good,” head coach Joey Jones said. “I thought we were a little bit tired this morning. We fought through it and I thought had a good practice, but we’ve got to sharpen up the things that are going to happen in the game and sharpen up the gameplan. We’ve got another day to work on it and hopefully we can get that done.”
The Jags will return to the practice field on Thursday morning for their final practice before the game.
Several Red Wolf players will take the field in Jonesboro to face off with their home-town team. Three players from Mobile are on the team with 14 in all from the state of Alabama.
Additionally Kendall Houston participated in spring practice with Arkansas State before transferring to South Alabama.
To speak of the difficulty of South Alabama’s schedule this season, two of South Alabama’s previous opponents are still unbeaten, Texas-San Antonio and Mississippi State are both 5-0. NC State is 4-2 and coming off an upset of Florida State, who many thought would contend for a spot in the national championship game.
Jags Look To End Three Game Skid Against Defending SBC Champ
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson zeroes in on a NC State runner for one of his 14 tackles in Raleigh, NC.
South Alabama’s off week came at a much needed time. As the Jags look to break their three-game skid they had a chance to heal up some nagging injuries and rest up for their eight game run to end the season.
Next up on the Jags (1-4, 0-1 SBC) schedule is a trip to defending Sun Belt champion Arkansas State (3-3, 1-1 SBC) who is coming off a Thursday night victory over Sun Belt preseason favorite FIU.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time. We were beat up,” South Alabama head coach Joey Jones said. “Being nine-and-a-half weeks into it, counting fall camp, it came at a great time for our players and coaches after an emotional three games of playing N.C. State, Mississippi State and Troy.”
“Arkansas State is a very good football team,” Jones continued. “I watched them play last Thursday at FIU, they went down there on the road and beat a very good team. Their losses have come to the likes of Oregon and Nebraska, so they are a very good football team. They’re very good on offense, and have a lot of juniors and seniors starting in their offensive and defensive lineups. They are a veteran team, and we expect them to be a great football team when we walk into the stadium.”
Arkansas State was trailing FIU 10-7 with about four-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half and would go on and score 27 of the next 30 points to take control of the game. Running back David Oku ran for three touchdowns while quarterback Ryan Aplin accounted for another. The ASU Red Wolves gained 421 yards of total offense and averaged seven yards per snap.
Aplin was the preseason offensive player of the year for the Sun Belt Conference. On the season he has completed 119-of-194 passing attempts for 1,388 yards and eight touchdowns. He has also rushed for 243 yards and two touchdowns while ranking third in the confernece in both passing and total offense.
Oku is fourth in the conference with almost 77 yards per game rushing.
Wide receiver J.D. McKissic leads the Red Wolves with 39 receptions for 452 yards while fellow receiver Josh Jarboe has caught 28 passes for 287 yards. Both have two touchdowns on the season.
The Arkansas State offense is very balanced as they lead the league with an average of 232.2 yards rushing per game. They also average 238.7 yards per game passing and stand third in the conference in total offense. They score an average of 30.5 points per game.
Defensively Nathan Herrold leads the way with 52 tackles, including four for a loss. Tim Starson leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss. Their defense allows an average of 158.2 yards per game passing but are last against the run by giving up an average of 218.7 yards per game.
The Jaguar offense is coming off a season best 193 yards rushing in their Sun Belt Conference debut against Troy. Demetre Baker rushed for 62 yards on 16 carries. While the Jags have five receivers who have caught at least 10 passes each. Bryant Lavender leads the way with 13 catches for 122 yards while Jereme Jones leads the team with 160 yards on 12 receptions. Corey Besteda has 10 catches for 144 yards and Greg Hollinger also has 10 catches for 135 yards.
Junior transfer Ross Metheny, who was named the starter last week by Coach Jones and his staff, has completed 34-of-59 passes this season for 354 yards and one touchdown.
“We just felt like it was a move we needed to make for the offense,” Jones said. “We’re trying to find that identity in where we are, so I think that will help us with him getting more reps in practice. We think it’s going to help us [to name a starter]. We tried to let it pan out over the last five games, but I think it will help us just from the standpoint that they [offense] know that he [Metheny] is going to be the guy right now.”
“We have not put a complete game together,” Jones continued. “We have a young offense. We started the season with two freshmen and five sophomores on the offensive unit. We have to get better, but it isn’t easy to get better when you’re playing the teams we are playing. We’re a better team than we were last year, but we’re playing much better competition right now and it just isn’t showing.”
“We have to be able to stick the ball into the end zone. Defense and special teams are playing good enough to win, so if we can get that part going on offense then we’re going to get this thing rolling. But we have to get out there and get it done.”
Senior linebacker Jake Johnson is leading the Sun Belt by averaging over 10 tackles per game. Enrique Williams, along with Johnson, leads the defense unit from their linebaker positions.
The Jaguar defense is second in the Sun Belt by only allowing an average of 350.2 yares per game and is fourth in the conference by allowing an average of 25.6 points per game.
“I would hate to have known that we would have to have gotten ready in one week for what they’re doing,” Jones observed. “[Head coach] Gus [Malzahn] does a great job of changing things up and scouting himself. You can tell that he scouts himself well with their personnel groupings. They give you fits all over the field, both horizontally and vertically. They really make you play the whole field on defense, that’s probably the most difficult thing.”
The Jags and Red Wolves kick off in Jonesboro at 6pm and the game can be heard on 105.5 WNSP.