ATLANTA – For the second straight road game, the University of South Alabama football team rallied after the intermission to force overtime. The final result would not be the same, however.
Donald Russell carried three straight plays, scoring from eight yards out on the last, to help lead Georgia State to a 27-20 double-overtime victory over the Jaguars Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
The Panthers — who snapped a five-game losing streak to improve to 2-5 — clinched the win when Mark Hogan intercepted a pass at the GSU-1 on second-and-goal.
“They played really tough on the goal line in our wishbone stuff,” Jaguar quarterback C.J. Bennett said of the final play. “We tried to give them play-action and I felt pressure. I had a guy open, but I guess they hit my arm — I just couldn’t get it off. It was a tipped ball and they got it. That was unfortunate.
“I’m not sure where the pressure came from, but they played well on the goal line. I have to give it to them.”
USA (4-3) forced a second overtime after Clifton Crews blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt, which came after the Panther defense held the Jaguars scoreless on their possession.
“Alex Page and Randon Carnathan got a good jump and blew the guard off the ball, and I just jumped as high as I could,” Crews stated. “I can’t take all the credit for it, they got a good push for me.”
“My congratulations to their team; I thought they came out and played hard. They were hungry for another win, and they played with a lot of effort,” Jag head coach Joey Jones stated afterwards. “It came down to the end and one or two plays, and they won it — they made a play at the end and we didn’t.
“But I am so proud of our guys for fighting back. That was an unbelievable drive at the end of regulation to even get a chance to go into overtime. That’s admirable — great heart. We have a lot of fight and heart, but any time you look over a game like this there are some mistakes that happen.
“But my hat’s off to them, they played a real good game and they deserved to win.”
The Jaguars, who never held a lead, marched 54 yards in 14 plays the final four-and-a-half minutes of regulation to force the extra session, tying the contest 20-20 with four seconds left on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Bennett to Corey Waldon on fourth-and-goal. The Panthers appeared to intercept a pass at the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the GSU-4, but the Jags were called for a false start to nullify the play.
“On the touchdown, the play wasn’t designed for me,” explained Waldon. “But C.J. looked at me really fast and I just ran up the seam, got in a hole and he threw it to me. It was just perfect timing. We showed confidence on that drive and had confidence in what we were doing.”
Facing second-and-17 early in the possession following a hold, Bennett gained nine yards on a rush before finding Jeremé Jones for a 16-yard pick up and a first down. He converted again on fourth-and-nine with a 14-yard pass to Corey Besteda, then hit Waldon for 13 yards and Jones for four more to set up first-and-goal at the eight-yard line.
“C.J. made some great throws during that drive — some fourth-down throws on the money,” observed Jones. “We kept our poise during that time and didn’t lose our cool. I was real proud of that.”
USA had four turnovers in the contest, all committed inside the GSU-31. In addition to Hogan’s interception to seal the win, Evan Bostic picked off a pass at the Panther 24-yard line after the Jaguars had moved 53 yards early in the fourth quarter while both Jamal Ransby and Brent McClendon intercepted first half passes with the Jags within site of the goal line. Christo Bilukidi forced a fumble inside the GSU-10 as well early in the second quarter, which was recovered by Brandon Jones.
“We got down inside the 10-yard line three times and came away with nothing,” commented Jones. “Obviously we let our chances to score early go. I thought that was a big factor in the game.”
Jones led the Panthers, who limited USA to 323 yards on 80 plays, with nine total stops; he also broke up a pass. Demazio Skelton and Michael Hall were credited with eight tackles apiece, and McClendon posted seven.
The GSU offense was keyed by the combination of Kelton Hill and Albert Wilson. The former, making his first career start, threw two long touchdown passes to the latter in the opening half — the first covered 78 yards down the right sideline with just over five minutes left in the opening quarter to open the scoring, the second 64 to provide the Panthers with a 14-7 lead with just over two minutes to go before the intermission. Hill was 12-of-15 passing for 209 yards on the day, adding 45 yards on 14 rushes, while Wilson finished with 175 yards on five receptions.
Russell posted 136 yards on 20 carries as the Panthers totalled 429 yards of offense.
The Jags’ first two possessions started on the Panther half of the field, though they were unable to come away with any points. B.J. Scott ran back the opening kickoff 71 yards — the second-longest kick return in school history — but after picking up a couple of first downs USA was stopped four times on runs from the GSU one- and two-yard lines. Charles Harris forced a fumble that Enrique Williams picked up and returned six yards to the Panther 30, but on the Jaguars’ third play of the ensuing drive Ransby intercepted a pass at the 19-yard line.
The Jaguars would use a forced fumble and a short field to even the contest 7-7. Harris forced Hill to fumble on a keeper, with Logan Bennett recovering at the Panther 26-yard line. After J.J. Keels rushed twice to move the chains, Bennett connected with Paul Bennett for a 15-yard touchdown with five minutes and 20 seconds to go in the opening half.
USA cut into its deficit early in the third quarter. Alex Page stripped Hill at the GSU-35 on the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half, which Will Thompson recovered and ran back six yards to set up a 46-yard Jordan Means field goal. Christian Benvenuto answered for GSU nearly five minutes later with a 46-yard field goal to push its advantage back to a touchdown with six-and-a-half minutes left in the third period, while Means converted again — this time from 38 yards out — to pull the Jags within four once more with one-and-a-half minutes left on the clock in the third period.
Benvenuto extended the GSU advantage back to a touchdown with a 45-yard field goal with four-and-a-half minutes remaining in regulation.
Harris recorded a career-best 14 total tackles to go along with the two forced fumbles to pace USA. Crews was credited with seven stops, Ken Barefield six and Williams five.
Kendall Houston rushed for 83 yards and Demetre Baker 74, but the Jaguars were held without a rushing touchdown for the first time since a 26-0 victory at Lamar on Oct. 16 last fall. Bennett completed 14-of-29 attempts for 145 yards, with Kevin Helms, Jones and Waldon each making three catches. Paul Bennet finished with two receptions for 22 yards as well, his first of the season.
Scott, who set up the Jags’ game-tying drive at the end of the fourth quarter with a 45 yards kick return, set a school game record after running back five kickoffs for 180 yards; he also was credited with four solo tackles on defense.
In USA’s previous overtime contest, which came at Texas-San Antonio on Oct. 8, the Jags scored touchdowns in both extra periods to come away with a 30-27 win. The result also allowed the Panthers to avenge a 39-34 loss to the Jaguars in Mobile Oct. 29 last season. The Jags will open a three-game season-ending homestand Saturday with another rematch — this time against Henderson (Ark.) State — with kickoff set for 4 p.m.
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).
—USA—
USA-Georgia State game stats
USA-Georgia State photo gallery
