MOBILE, Ala. — The University of South Alabama football team finds itself in an unfamiliar situation entering Saturday’s game against Nicholls State — the Jaguars have never had to rebound from a loss to open the season.
But that will be the case when the Jags and Colonels meet at Ladd-Peebles Stadium at 4 p.m. after USA dropped a 33-31 decision in the final minute to Texas-San Antonio last weekend, falling to 0-1 for the first time in the program’s fourth season of competition.
The Jaguars held a 31-30 edge with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, but the Roadrunners’ Sean Ianno kicked a 51-yard field goal with 16 seconds to go to hand USA its second straight defeat dating back to last year.
“If their kicker doesn’t make the last field goal then everybody is happy, but we’re still dealing with the same issues,” Jag head coach Joey Jones observed. “My challenge to the team is three, four or five games from now, let’s look back and see how we improved. Let’s see if we’ve stopped turning the ball over and if we’ve stopped committing dumb penalties.
“If we can do that we will have a shot. We need to be a team that can get better as the season goes along.”
Demetre Baker scored the Jags’ first points of the season against UTSA with an 11-yard touchdown run to conclude USA’s opening possession, and he added a 28-yard carry later in the period en route to posting a team-best 63 yards to pace the rushing attack. Kendall Houston added 43 yards on 11 attempts, which included a one-yard scoring run just over two minutes into the fourth quarter that gave the Jaguars a 24-20 advantage.
In the first meeting between USA and Nicholls — a 39-21 win for the Jags on Sept. 18, 2010 — Houston posted his first career 100-yard game after running for 116 yards and two scores on just 12 attempts.
Jeremé Jones and Corey Besteda both had three receptions in the game with the Roadrunners, with the former catching a 34-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Bennett with 2:46 to go to give the Jaguars their final lead, 31-30. Besteda’s first catch of the contest covered 25 yards, leading to Baker’s score. Greg Hollinger made two catches for an additional 42 yards, and T.J. Glover posted a pair of receptions for 25 more as well.
Glover also impacted the UTSA game on special teams; he ran back two kicks for 95 yards and had a 37-yard punt return that led to Jones’ go-ahead touchdown two plays later, finishing with a game-best 145 all-purpose yards.
Michel Chapuseaux kicked a career-long 43-yard field goal in the first five minutes of the second half, went 4-of-4 on extra points and averaged nearly 61 yards on kickoffs — three of his six efforts resulted in touchbacks — while the Jaguars recorded a net of 38.5 yards on four punts.
Jake Johnson and Enrique Williams were credited with eight tackles each to lead the USA defense, which allowed 398 total yards overall but just 169 in the second half. Tyrell Pearson and Darrius Morrow both collected five stops in their Division I debut, with Pearson’s interception — which he ran back 28 yards, leading to Houston’s touchdown — the only takeaway recorded by the unit. Andy Dalgleish posted three tackles and Jesse Kelley two on the defensive line as well, with both making a solo stop for loss.
“If you look at the game, I think we had one of the best special teams games we have ever had; when you take out two penalties after specials teams plays were over, we pretty much achieved all our goals in that area,” commented Jones after reviewing video on Sunday. “Offensively we did pretty well — we put 31 points on the board — although we did make some mistakes that cost us a little bit. On the rest of the plays a lot of good things happened, so I challenged them to completely do away with the mistakes. I didn’t think we played great defensively the first half, but were a lot better in the second half when they were able to get the speed of the game down. I was proud of how they played better and adjusted.”
This will be the Colonels’ season opener, as they were scheduled to take on Oregon State on the road last weekend but were unable to travel due to Hurricane Isaac. Although NSU was 1-10 a year ago, it returns 51 letterwinners including 17 starters; three of the Colonel’s seven league losses were decided by a single-digit margin, and they also trailed Louisiana-Lafayette by just a touchdown entering the fourth quarter.
“I know they didn’t practice at all last week, they sent the kids home Tuesday and got them back Sunday,” Jones said of this now being NSU’s first game. “I don’t know the chemistry of their team and wouldn’t even guess at that. We have to concentrate on us since we don’t really have film on those guys. We just need to be ready to play.”
Two Mobile area players figure to factor into the NSU game plan — running back Marcus Washington (Lillian, Foley HS) rushed for 565 yards and four touchdowns last season, adding 23 catches for 170 more yards and two other scores, while Andrew Dolan (McGill-Toolen HS) paced the squad in scoring with 42 points after converting 6-of-9 field goals and all but one of his 25 extra-point attempts.
LaQuintin Caston threw for 870 yards and rushed for 707 in 2011, but has been moved to wide receiver entering the season. Landry Klann is the projected starter at quarterback for the Colonels after he completed 36-of-57 pass attempts for 377 yards and two touchdowns last fall.
The NSU defense, which allowed less than 360 yards per contest in ’11, has seven starters back including leading tackler Jordan Piper — who had 81 total stops, four for loss — and Siegan Vergenal, who accounted for 65 tackles and also broke up four passes.
Corey Kemps averaged 42.8 yards per punt last season to rank sixth at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision level, with 16 kicks downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. The Colonels will be without the services of both return men from a year ago; Chika Madu ran back two kickoffs for touchdowns while averaging nearly 24-and-a-half yards per return and Bobby Felder averaged almost seven per punt return, but the two were seniors in 2011.
In the 2010 matchup between the two schools, NSU jumped out to 7-0 and 14-7 leads — the first time the Jaguars had ever trailed in a game — as Jesse Turner, who is listed second on the Colonel depth chart this week at running back, scored on a 33-yard run and 95-yard reception in the game’s opening 13 minutes.
USA responded with 20 unanswered second-quarter points, however, taking the lead for good on an eight-yard Santuan McGee touchdown rush. The Jags finished with 490 yards of total offense in the game, with 288 of those coming on the ground as Brandon Ross joined Houston with 100-plus rushing yards after carrying 19 times for 115 and a touchdown. Glover returned three kicks for 116 yards, and a trio of linebackers — Justin Dunn, Williams and Johnson — paced the defense with nine, six and five stops, respectively.
Caston led the Colonels to 372 total yards, going 13-of-23 passing for 273 yards and a pair of scores. Turner finished with a game-high 159 all-purpose yards, with 98 coming on three receptions and 61 via nine carries.
Despite the first meeting taking place just two years ago, Jones doesn’t think reviewing video will help the Jaguars prepare for this contest. “This is a completely different ballgame,” he stated. “You can look at some things offensively because coach [Charlie] Stubbs has been calling the plays the whole time [he has been running the program], but they have changed on defense. We won’t really look back at that film.”
Tailgating will begin in the stadium parking lot at 8 a.m. Saturday, while the ticket office on site will open at 9 a.m. and gates will be opened at 2 p.m. The Jaguar Prowl will take place when the Jaguars arrive on site at 1:40 p.m., going through the south parking lot.
Shuttles — which provide continuous loop service to and from the stadium until 90 minutes after the end of the game — will begin running at noon from the Bel Air Mall parking lot south of Target and J.C. Penney. The cost for a round-trip ticket is $2.50.
Tickets for as low as $10 are still available for the contest. They can be purchased in advance by either ordering online at www.usajaguars.com or calling (251) 461-1USA (1872) by noon on Friday.
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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