MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football team looked like it might be in for a Halloween scare after Georgia State drove for a touchdown on its opening possessionSaturday. Once again, though, the Jaguars used a dominant peformance in the second quarter to overcome a deficit.
USA put up 24 points in that period to take the lead, adding three second-half field goals in holding off Georgia State, 39-34, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
C.J. Bennett — making his first-ever collegiate start — threw for 181 yards and school-record-tying three touchdowns, while Kendall Houston posted 175 yards and a score on 31 carries to help the Jags (8-0) hand the Panthers (5-4) their second loss in a row.
“That’s one thing we always pride ourselves on, our depth,” stated Bennett. “I think we all knew that when Ken came up he could do the job. Like coach Jones said, he’s a quiet guy but he works hard. He’s always doing his job and he’s one of the toughest runners I’ve ever seen. He’s always running downhill
USA would finish with 293 yards on the ground and 474 total, both the most GSU has surrendered in its first season of competition.
“We got ahead at halftime by playing really well offensively in the first half, and the defense made adjustments and played well after the first drive,” Jag head coach Joey Jones commented. “We’ve been ahead a lot at halftime and the other team would fold, but this team didn’t fold. They came back out and got rolling on offense, and just played much better in the second half.
“My hat’s off to the Georgia State team for coming back and making a really good game out of it.”
Two-and-a-half minutes after the Panthers went ahead 14-6, USA drew back to within a point when Bennett found Bryant Lavender open for a 40-yard touchdown pass. Bennett also connected with Courtney Smith for 21 yards on the drive, which covered 74 yards in six plays.
It took even less time for the Jags to go ahead after Josh Chestang hit Drew Little’s intended receiver coming across the middle on GSU’s first play of the ensuing series, with Tim Harvey intercepting the deflected pass — Little’s first pick in 202 attempts — at the Panther 39-yard line. Bennett hit Ralph Turner for 24 yards, and three plays later fournd Kevin Helms for a nine-yard touchdown pass to give the Jagaurs their first lead of the day. After a punt, the Jaguars upped the lead to 27-14 as Bennett moved the offense 80 yards in 10 plays and four-and-a-half minutes before Jeremé Jones made a one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone 41 seconds before the intermission. T.J. Glover picked up one first down with a 14-yard rush and Bennett added another with a carry for 13 yards before hitting Lavender for 18 more to move USA across midfield. Houston’s 17-yard rush put the Jaguars in the red zone.
The Jags tacked on three more points before the break after Harvey returned his second interception 47 yards down the left sideline to set up a 35-yard Lawson McGlon field goal three seconds before the break.
USA collected 300 yards of total offense over the first 30 minutes. It was the fourth time in eight games that the Jaguars have scored 20 or more points in the second quarter.
For the contest, Lavender caught four passes for a team-leading 87 yards, while Courtney Smith added four for 52 as Bennett completed 12-of-24 attempts. Bennett would add 10 carries for 80 yards on the ground for a career-best 261 yards of total offense.
Ken Barefield paced USA, which gave up just 280 yards in the game, with seven stops including one behind the line of scrimmage. Charlie Higgenbotham and Jerron Mitchell supplied six each, while Jonathan Cameron and Romelle Jones were both credited with four tackles.
Each team had an average starting field position around its own 40-yard line, with Albert Wilson helping give the Panthers good field position by returning four kickoffs for 125 yards. Glover ran back four kicks for 92 yards for the Jags.
GSU recorded three first downs on the opening four plays of the contest to get to the USA-19, completing a 10-play, 60-yard possession with a two-yard touchdown pass from Little to Sidney Haynes on fourth down with nine-and-a-half minutes on the clock in the period. The Jaguar defense would allow only 69 yards the rest of the half, however, as USA would work its way back into the game.
“They had a lot of time to prepare. That’s something we knew was going to happen, that they were going to come out with something we didn’t recognize,” said Higgenbotham. “It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth from a defensive standpoint, but once we were able to make adjustments we pretty much shut that down.”
The Jags cut it to a one-point game less than five minutes later, as Bennett guided them 72 yards in nine plays before Houston scored on a run up the middle from nine yards out to make the score 7-6. A fumbled punt return early in the second quarter gave the Panthers a short field, as they took over on the USA-14 and made it a 14-6 game three plays later when Little sneaked in from the one-yard line with 11-and-a-half minutes left in the opening half.
GSU did most of its damage through the air, posting 234 passing yards and only 46 on the ground. Little was 20-of-34 for 214 yards and two scores, with Danny Williams grabbing a game-high five catches for 82 yards. Sidney Haynes collected four receptions, and both Jordan Giles and Wilson had three. Kelton Hill’s 25 yards on three carries paced the Panthers.
McGlon’s 28-yard field goal with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter made the score 33-14, but a 50-yard kick return from Wilson helped the Panthers answer three plays later after Little completed a 47-yard scoring pass to Williams down the right sideline.
McGlon kicked his third field goal of the contest with 13-and-a-half minutes to go to extend the advantage to 15 points, however GSU responded with another touchdown drive to cut its deficit to 36-27 with 11-and-a-half minutes remaining after Little capped a four-play, 64-yard march with a one-yard touchdown run. The Jags were able to take nearly four minutes off the clock before McGlon’s fourth field goal — this time from 31 yards out, tying his previous high from the win over Lamar Oct. 16 — midway through the final period, but USA would be required to make two first downs in the final four minutes to run out the clock after a five-yard touchdown run from Hill brought the Panthers to within five points.
USA which was successful on third down twice to seal the victory, went 8-of-14 on third-down conversions after going 4-of-32 the previous three weeks.
“Georgia State is a good football team,” Bennett observed. “We got what we wanted, but they’re a good defense — they made some stops too. Our defense held up for us and we got the win.”
“I have to give a lot of credit to our offense,” added Higgenbotham. “They really held us in there, and our coaches did a great job of adjusting.”
Evan Bostic led all players for GSU with 11 tackles, with Louie Muasau adding nine tackles and the Panthers getting eight apiece from Fred Barnes and Brent McClendon.
“I’m very much an admirer of coach Jones and the South Alabama program. I have been since the beginning,” explained Panther head coach Bill Curry. “The way they do things, their emphasis on academics, integrity, the way they win, the way they dominated the turnover margin in their games and the way they had dominated the fourth quarter coming into our game.
“We hope to become a more consistent team and do a better job, so we can match up with them the next time we play, and we will get that done.”
The Jaguars will play host to Henderson (Ark.) State Saturday as part of the school’s Homecoming weekend festivities. Kickoff against the Reddies is slated for 4 p.m. at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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USA-Georgia State box score
USA-Georgia State photo gallery
