RALEIGH, N.C. – The streak is over for the University of South Alabama football team, but it didn’t end without a fight.
North Carolina State took advantage of a short field — two of its first three scoring drives covered less than 30 yards, the other 54 — then held off a third-quarter rally for a 35-13 victory Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, snapping the Jaguars’ win streak at 19 while handing them the program’s first-ever loss.
The Jags (2-1), who were facing the first NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in school history, outrushed NCSU 104-95 behind Kendall Houston’s first 100-yard effort of the season and held an advantage in total offense late in the third quarter. USA held the ball for 32 minutes and 45 seconds against the Pack, converting 7-of-15 third downs in the process.
The Wolfpack improved to 2-1 as Mike Glennon threw for 274 yards and a career-high four scores.
USA will face another FBS opponent next week when it travels to Kent State for a 2:30 p.m. Central time kickoff.
“I’m real proud of the kids for the way they played. You look at a program like North Carolina State who beat Florida State last year, went 9-4 and is well-coached – I thought we played well to be in just the 20th game in our program’s history,” USA head coach Joey Jones said afterwards. “Obviously, we didn’t make some plays; we made some mistakes. But probably five to seven plays in the game; if they go our way then we’re in it.”
The Wolfpack returned the opening kickoff 46 yards, then proceeded to march 54 more in nine plays before James Washington scored from one yard out. After converting on third down with a two-yard gain from Washington, Glennon connected with Curtis Underwood coming across the middle for a pickup of 30 yards to move NCSU down to the one-yard line; the Pack would score two plays later.
After forcing a punt, NCSU would pick up another big gain with a 40-yard completion from Glennon to T.J. Graham, but two plays later Ken Barefield forced a fumble that Jake Johnson recovered at the USA-28. Nine plays later, Jordan Means kicked a 46-yard field goal — the longest in school history — to make the score 7-3 with just over two minutes left in the opening period. Houston carried for a gain of 24 yards on the second snap of the series, while Jeremé Jones caught two passes on the drive — the second for seven yards on third-and-four to keep the possession alive — as he matched his career high with four receptions in the first 15 minutes.
Houston ended the night with 117 yards on 18 attempts, the sixth one-hundred yard game of his career but first of the season. Jones finished with five catches for 35 yards while Corey Waldon matched that total with a career-best five receptions for a team-leading 57 yards as the Jags totalled 286 yards on the night.
“I felt like I had to come out here and run the ball hard,” stated Houston. “There weren’t going to be any changes because I’m playing in front of this many folks. I was encouraged by what I did, but I wanted to get the victory. I think we can go to practice this week and work on the mistakes that we made and (hopefully) capitalize on that against Kent State next week.”
After a failed onside kick attempt, the Wolfpack again used a short field to punch in another one-yard touchdown — this time, Glennon found Taylor Gentry — in the flat with under 13 minutes to go in the opening half. USA looked as if it ended the drive — which originally began at the USA-44 — with another turnover when B.J. Scott forced a fumble by Underwood inside the five-yard line on a 12-yard gain, but NCSU offensive lineman Mikel Overgaard was able to for the Pack on the USA-1.
On the ensuing drive, the Jags moved 49 yards down the field as Houston carried five times for 22 and Bennett found Corey Besteda for a 25-yard completion on third-and-16 from the USA-15. But on third-and-one from the NCSU-30, David Amerson intercepted a pass intended for Kevin Helms at the seven-yard line to end the threat.
Another interception — this time by Brandon Bishop on the opening possession of the second half — set up the Pack at the Jaguar 29-yard line after a return of 36 yards. Gentry made it a 21-3 score five minutes into the quarter with his second touchdown catch of the contest, this time covering five yards. Glennon would end up 17-of-20 passing after he found Underwood for a 19-yard score with a minute to go in the third quarter and Graham for a 67-yard touchdown pass with four minutes remaining in the contest.
In fact, the Wolfpack collected 119 of their 392 total yards in the final quarter. Graham finished with five catches for 128 yards, while Washington collected 54 yards and the ground and Underwood chipped in with 50.
USA first touchdown came when the Jags answered N.C. State’s opening drive of the third quarter as Houston rushed for 21 yards and caught a 13-yard pass from Bennett to set up a Demetre Baker eight-yard run midway through the period, cutting the deficit to 11. And when Glennon fumbled the snap on NCSU’s first snap on the next possession, Will Thompson recovered at the Pack-39, but the Jaguars missed a chance to make it a one-score game when a 44-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left.
“It’s really disappointing – that stopped our winning streak. There were positives and negatives on both sides of the ball,” stated Bennett. “The defense had great intensity, and the offense had a couple of plays here and there. The offensive line and running backs looked great, and we threw the ball around a little bit. I felt great with my reads. Most of my mistakes were just basic throwing mistakes, which is really encouraging because that is something that I can fix easily. A couple of plays here or there make or break the ballgame, but we’ll bounce back and just see where we go.”
Instead, Glennon’s third touchdown pass of the game to Underwood, ended a nine-play, 73-yard possession that put the Wolfpack up 28-10 with little over a minute remaining in the quarter. Glennon also connected with Washington for 29 yards on the second play of the series, keeping the drive alive with a nine-yard completion to Tobais Palmer on fourth-and-five from the USA-38.
Means hit a 36-yard field goal with 6:48 to go in the final period for the Jaguars’ final points, making the score 28-13 at the time.
Johnson and Charles Harris recorded eight tackles apiece to pace the Jags, with Johnson posting two stops for loss including a sack. Scott recorded seven stops and Enrique Williams six, while Romelle Jones was credited with a career-high two sacks as the Jags got to Glennon on four occasions.
“We played our guts out the entire game,” Johnson explained. “We had our mistakes here and there on defense, myself included. We played a great game, but mistakes in big-time football kill you. I’m optimistic and proud of how we played. I think this was real eye-opening for some of the guys on the team to see what the speed is like. I’m proud of our guys. I’m disappointed we lost, but that’s football — you have your wins and losses.”
Bishops’s nine tackles paced the Pack defense, with Audie Cole, Dwayne Maddox and Earl Wolff all posting eight stops as well.
In addition to Means’ career-high two field goals, Scott Garber averaged a season-best 41.8 yards per punt with two of his four kicks ending inside the NCSU-20.
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-North Carolina State game stats
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