MOBILE, Ala. – Andre Broadous accounted for 179 yards and two scores, and Mark Rodgers added 117 rushing yards and a touchdown as Cal Poly defeated the University of South Alabama 41-10 in a non-conference football game Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, handing the Jaguars their first loss in 20 all-time contests at home while spoiling Senior Day festivities.
The Mustangs end the season 6-5 overall, while the Jags conclude their third campaign 6-4.
“We knew going in that it would be a tough football game and we would have to play really good to beat them. I don’t think we played as good as we could have played — that was pretty obvious — but their team had a lot to do with it,” Jag head coach Joey Jones observed. “We didn’t play very well, and they made a lot of plays. They came here with a lot of confidence and exposed some things. We knew we had some weaknesses, and we’re going to have some weaknesses in this young program for a while.”
Broadous was 9-of-12 passing for 150 yards while picking up an additional 29 yards on 13 carries. Both scores he was involved in came in the third quarter; the first was an eight-yard pass to Willie Tucker that pushed the Mustang lead to 24-3, while the second came made it a 34-3 contest two seconds before the end of the period after he crossed the goal line from one-yard out to conclude a seven-play, 75-yard march.
Rodgers — who carried 14 times to lead all players on the ground — had a 34-yard rush to set up James Langford’s 28-yard field goal with 10-and-a-half minutes to go after Jordan Means had cut the Jaguars’ deficit to 7-3, and his one-yard score with six minutes left in the contest extended the CP advantage to 38 points. Jake Romanelli contributed 49 yards and Deonte Williams 28 on five attempts as the Mustangs collected 226 yards rushing and 376 overall.
They came into the game ranked seventh at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision with 257.7 yards per game on the ground.
Williams also scored twice in the opening half as the Mustangs took a 17-3 lead to the locker room. He took a pitch and went 16 yards for a touchdown with just over 11 minutes to go in the first quarter to put Poly on the board first, and also reached the end zone on a five-yard run with 5:46 left in the first half to wrap up a drive in which CP marched 76 yards in eight plays.
“They’re a good offense. When you play a team that runs the triple option it’s going to be tough no matter what,” said USA linebacker Jake Johnson. “You have to play assignment football every play. They’re a running team but when you over anticipate that, then you’re going to get beat on a deep ball.
“We played our hearts out, but we had five or six busts and those busts were big plays. Even though they were beating us and pounding on us, we never gave up. We played as hard as we could throughout the whole game.”
Nick Dzubnar had 10 tackles to lead the Mustang defense, also forcing a fumble that Sullivan Grosz recovered at the USA-31 on the Jags’ second play from scrimmage setting up Williams’ first score. Asa Jackson chipped in with seven tackles, and Bijon Samoodi and Kennith Jackson posted six stops each — Jackson’s interception, which he ran back 14 yards, led to Poly’s first points of the second half, and he also combined with Dzubnar and Greg Francis to stop Kendall Houston for no gain on third-and-inches from the USA-30 in the second quarter to give the Mustangs the ball back and set up Williams’ second touchdown.
Johnny Millard and Kyle Murphy were also credited with five tackles each as CP limited USA to 276 yards of total offense. That included giving up just 60 yards on the ground, which equalled the Jags’ previous low rushing output first set in a win over Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy on Oct. 31, 2009.
Langford added a second field goal — this one from 37 yards at the 4:58 mark of the third quarter — to extend the Poly lead to 27-3.
“I thought for the first time all season long both the offense and defense showed up and played well. And played well early, not just for one drive either,” commented CP head coach Tim Walsh. “I haven’t seen us play that fast all season. I told our defense that they would be the ones to step up this week, and they did in a big way.
“It was a good way to end this season because it’s been a pretty dramatic one.”
Charles Harris and Johnson each posted 14 total stops to share game-high honors, while Enrique Williams collected eight tackles and Montavious Williams a career-high-tying seven for USA. Ken Barefield, Randon Carnathan and Clifton Crews were each credited with six stops, and Logan Bennett, Desmond LaVelle and Gabe Loper all made five tackles.
Loper and LaVelle accounted for the unit’s two takeaways, with the former intercepting a pass in the second quarter and the latter recovering a fumble in the fourth.
In addition to Means’ 32-yard field goal, his 13th in 15 tries this fall, Corey Besteda caught a five-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Bennett in the final minute of play as the Jags were held to a season-low point total.
“They were getting a lot of pressure on us, their defensive line did a good job. We had some drives but we just couldn’t sustain them, and that was probably our biggest problem right there,” said Bennett. “It was a mixture of bad breaks and not playing as good as we could. We had opportunities but we had some turnovers.”
Bennett was 22-of-40 passing for 216 yards, setting career highs for completions and attempts. Lamontis Gardner led the Jaguars with seven receptions for 78 yards — both career-best figures — and Bryant Lavender supplied six catches for another 65 yards. J.J. Keels posted 33 yards on four carries, with Houston adding 22 on seven attempts.
Keels finished with a team-high 98 all-purpose yards after running back four kickoffs for 65 yards, the second straight game he has accomplished the feat.
“Any time you fail and don’t have success like we didn’t tonight, it makes you look at the offseason and find out what you really need to work on,” explained Jones. “Even before tonight, we talked about what we’re going to do in the offseason to really challenge our kids. Am I disappointed? Yes.”
Prior to the contest, USA recognized 13 seniors playing in their final game for the program.
USA will open the 2012 season — its final one before earning full-fledged NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision status — on Sept. 1 at home against Texas-San Antonio. The Jaguars will also face Nicholls State in Mobile and both North Carolina State and Mississippi State on the road in the opening month of the campaign, will have contests against eight Sun Belt Conference opponents and are slated to end the year with a trip to take on Hawaii.
“We’re going to be stepping into the FBS next year, and we have to evaluate ourselves in the offseason with recruiting and what we’re doing as a program — we have to get better players in here,” Jones stated. “We know we have some areas where we have to recruit some more size, we have to become dominant on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. We have to be able to control the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively no matter what kind of skill players we have.”
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-Cal Poly game stats
USA-Cal Poly photo gallery
2011 Senior Day photo gallery
