MOBILE, Ala. – What a difference a week — plus two days — made for the University of South Alabama football team.
After turning the ball over four times in a 10-point season-opening victory over West Alabama, the Jaguars played mistake-free ball on offense Saturday, getting two touchdown passes from C.J. Bennett as well as rushing scores from both Demetre Baker and Kendall Houston in a 30-8 win over Lamar at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Defensively, the trio of Charles Harris, Jake Johnson and Enrique Williams recorded five stops apiece for USA (2-0), which will play its first road game of the season — as well as for the first time against an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly NCAA I-A) member — when it visits North Carolina State for a 5 p.m. Central kickoff in Raleigh, N.C. The contest can be seen live on ESPN3.com.
Through the first three quarters, the Cardinals (1-1) were held to 169 yards of total offense with their only points coming via a safety.
“I thought it was a much better game this week; we played much more soundly and stayed away from the turnover game,” explained Jag head coach Joey Jones. “Offensively, we were much more efficient with the football and defensively we played well again. I felt like it was a good game. Lamar is really talented — they are going to win a lot of ballgames. We just played hard tonight and some good things happened by the way we approached the game. Our week of practice was much better, and our backs were against the wall a little. We knew this team could come in here and beat us, and we came out and played really well.”
“As a whole, the defense played an excellent game,” added Williams, who was credited with two stops for loss and recovered a fumble. “Everybody was swarming to the ball, and we perfected the plays that we’ve been working on in practice.”
For the game, the Jags held a 349-238 edge in total yards, rushing for over 200 yards for the second straight contest this fall while throwing for 21 more yards than LU. USA collected 21 first downs to the Cards’ nine, and held the ball for 32 minutes and 41 seconds.
Baker recorded 82 yards on 13 carries to lead all players, with 41 of those coming on USA’s first scoring drive. Houston also carried 13 times for 43 yards, while Myles Gibbon chipped in with 45 yards, Santuan McGee 22, Ellis Hill 20 and J.J. Keels 15 as the Jaguars finished with 205 total.
“We tweaked some run plays here and there based on the looks they were going to give us. We came out here and really pounded the rock,” stated Bennett, who finished 9-of-14 passing for 144 yards. “They were a little bigger than they were last year, so we really wanted to get in their face. We concentrated a lot on finishing in the red zone, since we didn’t against them last year.”
Bennett connected with Bryant Lavender on three occasions, and Kevin Helms and Corey Waldon twice each. Lamontis Gardner and Jeremé Jones also had one catch.
The teams played a scoreless first quarter, although the Jags held a 74-23 advantage in total offense over the first 15 minutes. USA was able to move the ball 21 yards and pick up a pair of first downs on the opening series of the contest, but was forced to punt and then could not take advantage of a short field after Lamar’s first punt travelled just 20 yards. Chad Allen and Adrian Guillory stopped Houston for no gain on fourth-and-one at the Cardinal-26 to turn the ball over on downs.
Instead, the Jaguars got the ball back with three minutes, 21 seconds remaining in the period and drove 96 yards in 13 plays for the first score of the game. On the second of two Houston three-yard carries, the Cards were called for a personal foul to move the ball out to the USA-25. Bennett completed consecutive passes to Helms and Lavender — the second for a gain of 18 yards — before Baker took over.
His first run of the series was good for 11 yards to move the Jags across midfield, and he gained seven more yards before the end of the quarter. After a 10-yard completion from Bennett to Gardner, Baker picked up two more first downs with runs of 11 and eight yards to set up a four-yard scoring run by Houston with just under 13 minutes left in the second quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out, USA doubled its advantage with just under nine minutes to go in the half after Bennett found Waldon for a 10-yard touchdown pass — the first of the season for the former, the first of his career for the latter — to conclude a four-play, 60-yard march that took less than two minutes. After opening the possession with an interference call on a pass deep down the middle intended for Corey Besteda, Bennett and Helms hooked up for a 34-yard gain to move the ball to the LU-11 and set up the score.
LU responded with a drive that reached the Jag 36-yard line, but faced with a fourth-and-one situation Williams and Alex Page combined to stop DePauldrick Garrett for no gain and get the ball back with 5:45 to go before the break. The Jaguars would need eight plays and less than four minutes to up their advantage to 20-0 after Baker scored his first career touchdown on an 11-yard run, following Melvin Meggs around the right into the end zone. After an eight-yard loss on second down, Waldon’s 37-yard reception put the ball at the LU-36. Two plays later, Bennett converted again on third down — this time with an 18-yard pass to Lavender to keep the possession alive. Houston rushed for five yards before Baker scored the touchdown.
The three first-half touchdowns were more than the team produced in last season’s 26-0 victory over the Cardinals in Beaumont, a game that saw the Jags score once on offense and once on defense in addition to kicking four field goals in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
“We moved the ball pretty well against Lamar last season, but we didn’t finish in the red zone,” said Bennett. “We came out with the same concept and same game plan. We started early with the run game. When we needed to pass, we had great protection and balance. We threw the ball when we needed to and got some first downs when our receivers made plays. The line did a heck of a job when we ran the ball, too.”
Lamar’s first points came via the defense, though it was an offensive drive that set up the play. Andre Bevil hit J.J. Hayes for a 45-yard gain to move the Cards to the USA-6 on the opening drive of the second half, but after a five-yard carry by Garrett Williams recovered a fumbled snap on the one-yard line. On the next play, however, Baker was tackled by Asim Hicks and Allen in the end zone to make it a 20-2 score with three-and-a-half minutes gone in the period.
Bennett added another touchdown with less than four minutes to go in the third, this time hitting Jones on third-and-three from the LU-10 to extend the Jaguar lead to 27-2. Jordan Means tacked on to the advantage with a 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, while Hayes provided the contest’s final points with a 26-yard touchdown reception from Jeremy Johnson in the last four minutes — the two-point conversion would fail.
“First thing is, hats off to Joey [Jones] and South Alabama. They were just a better football team than us today,” Card coach Ray Woodward commented. “Before I get into it, I don’t want to start making excuses to try to take anything away from South Alabama, because I thought they did a good job today. They outplayed us and deserved to win. In order for us to play with a team of this caliber and have a chance, we are going to have to play a lot better than we played today. We made way to many mental mistakes on both sides of the ball. Our kicking game was horrendous and we are not going to come close to beating a good team if we play the way we played today.”
Garrett — who ran for four scores in the Cardinals’ 58-0 win over Texas College to begin the season last week — was held to 56 yards on 18 attempts. Hayes finished with three catches for a game-best 79 yards, but Bevil and Johnson combined to go 7-of-20 passing for 123 yards.
Hicks’ nine stops, which included one behind the line of scrimmage, paced all players, while Allen and Jesse Dickson were credited with eight tackles each. John Prescott had seven tackles, with Jacody Coleman and Gullory supplying six apiece as well.
At halftime of the game, the members of the 2011 USA Athletic Hall of Fame class — Coleen Kenney, Jennifer Krupa, Gareth Maybin and Ryan Mulhern — were recognized after being inducted officially earlier in the day in a ceremony at the Mitchell Center.
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-Lamar box score
USA-Lamar photo gallery
2011 Hall of Fame induction ceremony photo gallery
2011 Hall of Fame induction acceptance speeches
