ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Led by Darius Staten's seven-carry, 127-yard performance, Navy became to first opponent to ever rush for more than 300 yards against the University of South Alabama football team's defense as the Midshipmen handed the Jaguars a 42-14 non-conference defeat Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Keenan Reynolds contributed 59 yards on 17 carries while also completing 10-of-17 pass attempts for an additional 168 yards, helping the Middies post 519 yards of total offense while outgaining USA by 219 yards.  Ten individuals contributed to the Navy rushing attack — which finished with 351 of those yards — with Marcus Thomas adding four carries for 40 yards, Tago Smith three for 38 and Shawn White six for 34.

With the win, the Midshipmen (6-4) clinched their first undefeated mark at home since the 2004 campaign as well as an invitation to the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 30.  The Jaguars — now 3-6 overall — will have to win their final three outings to be eligible for a postseason bowl, all in Sun Belt Conference action; the first will be against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. and the game airing live regionally on the Sun Belt Network.

"They're a very good football team.  They are a seasoned team, and probably a little better than we are right now," explained USA head coach Joey Jones.  "They just do a great job.  They do a heck of a job coaching; they run that offense like a machine."

Although the Jags were held to their lowest offensive output of the season, Shavarez Smith became the second individual to post multiple touchdown receptions while ending the night with five catches for 65 yards.  Wes Saxton also recorded five receptions — adding 48 yards — and Ross Metheny finished 18-of-27 passing for 160 yards.

Enrique Williams led USA with 12 tackles, his third straight outing with a double-digit total.  It was the 10th time in the senior's career that he has collected 10 or more stops.  "We knew going into the game that it was going to take everyone to get the job done," he stated.  "We had a few miscues, but the offense was just difficult to stop.  They threw a lot of different looks at us.  For every look we had, it seemed like they had something drawn up against it — it was hard to adjust to."

The Middies were paced defensively by Chris Johnson and Cody Peterson, who each were credited with eight total tackles.  Parrish Gaines and DJ Sargenti contributed six stops apiece, and Wave Ryder had five.

The Jaguars gained first downs on completions of 18 and six yards from Metheny to Saxton on their opening possession, but were forced to punt after crossing midfield.  Navy took more than six minutes off the clock on its initial possession, moving inside the USA-15 after runs of 23 and 16 yards by Staten.  But a Jesse Kelley sack on second down and a quarterback pressure by Romelle Jones on the next play forced the Midshipmen to settle for a 37-yard Nick Sloan field goal and a 3-0 lead with just over six minutes to go in the first quarter.

But the Jags responded with a double-digit play drive of their own, marching 78 yards in 14 plays and five minutes and 39 seconds, going ahead 7-3 on a four-yard scoring pass from Metheny to Smith.  Saxton had two more catches on the possession — the first covered nine yards while providing a first down — although the drive was kept alive by Metheny, who picked up 13 yards on the ensuing snap from the 50-yard line and 14 more with USA facing fourth-and-three at the Navy-30.

The Midshipmen regained the lead on a 17-yard Staten touchdown run with 13-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half, which came one play after the slotback picked up 27 yards down the right sideline.  Navy's second possession covered 91 yards in six snaps and just over two minutes.

Smith would help the Jaguars regain the lead with a little over nine minutes left in the second quarter with his second score of the contest, this time on a 22-yard pass from Metheny, to cap an 11-play possession for USA.  Metheny was 4-of-5 passing for 41 yards on the drive.  White put the Middies back in front, 17-14, less than two minutes later after barrelling into the end zone from seven yards out; the 51-yard drive was sparked by Reynolds, who gained 12 yards on first play of the possession before completing passes for gains of 19 yards to Geoffrey Whiteside and 11 yards to Jamir Tillman.

Sloan doubled the Navy lead 34 seconds before the intermission with a 21-yard field goal, while Reynolds extended the advantage to 27-14 less than four minutes into the second half when his one-yard touchdown run wrapped up the Midshipmen's first possession.  The Midshipmen added 15 fourth-quarter points, moving 94 yards in seven plays to go ahead 35-14 when Reynolds found Matt Aiken on a 45-yard scoring pass then hit him again for the two-point conversion.  With just over two minutes remaining in the contest, Smith — Navy's backup quarterback — went around left end for a 24-yard touchdown run and the final points of the night.

"They were a better football team than us tonight," commented Jones.  "You feel like you're playing catch up the entire game once you fall behind."

USA would march inside the Midshipmen five-yard line early in the fourth, but come away empty when Navy stopped a pair of Kendall Houston rushes.  The drive, which started with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter, began with a quick first down after a seven-yard pass from Brandon Bridge to Saxton and Houston's seven-yard run.  But facing fourth-and-four from the USA-35, the Jags moved the chains again with a 13-yard Trey Fetner rush on a fake punt.  Houston helped the Jaguars convert again on fourth down — this time needing one yard from the Navy-28 — and Bridge set up another first down at the 12-yard line with runs for seven and nine yards.  But after an eight-yard gain by Jay Jones, Peterson stopped Houston to end the threat first for no gain before tackling the junior two yards behind the line of scrimmage.

"We had a chance to make a game of it down near the goal line when it was 27-14," Jones observed.  "I don't know what the outcome would have been, but I would have liked to have found out."

"Getting ahead of them and making them throw is how you win the football game.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that," Metheny added.  "They did a great job of executing offensively to keep moving the chains and eat clock.  But we just didn't make the plays that we needed to do in the second half."

Houston paced the Jaguars with 36 yards on 11 carries, and Jones supplied 31 more on seven attempts.

In the second half, Navy held a 261-108 advantage in total offense, ending the night with 28 first downs while controling the ball for over 31-and-a-half minutes.

"When you play a team like this, you have to score points to beat them and we just didn't," said Jones.  "When teams beat them, they score 30-something points — you just have to do that.  Our defense didn't play great.  We stopped them a couple of times but we gave up a lot of big plays.

"They are dang good at what they do."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—