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SAN MARCOS, Texas – Robert Lowe ran for a career-high 248 yards and three touchdowns to lead Texas State to a 36-18 Sun Belt Conference football victory over the University of South Alabama at Bobcat Stadium Saturday.

Lowe scored in each of the final three quarters from two, 16 and 54 yards out, helping the Bobcats (2-4, 1-1 Sun Belt) record a season-best 319 yards on the ground and 424 overall.

Blake Dees paced the Jaguars (3-4, 1-2 SBC) with a career-high 15 stops, including 13 of the solo variety, but it wasn't enough to prevent the home team from winning for the third time in as many meetings in the series.

Tyler Jones added 71 yards on 11 carries, and he was also 13-of-23 passing for another 105 to guide the TSU offense.  C.J. Best recorded a game-high five catches for 32 yards, while Ryan Carden, Jafus Gaines, Lowe and Brandon Smith chipped in with two receptions each.

Damani Alexcee paced the Bobcats with 10 stops, while Trey McGowan and Aaron Shaw made nine tackles apiece.  Marcus Dallas Jr. was credited with a pair of sacks among his four tackles also.

"First of all I want to congratulate Texas State; they came out and played a very good football game," said USA head coach Joey Jones.  "They ran the ball well, threw it well when they needed to, played scrappy defense and my hat's off to them for that."

The Bobcats broke open the game with 19 unanswered points in the second quarter.  They went ahead for the first time with 10-and-a-half minutes remaining before the break, using a 12-play, 95-yard march — the longest against the Jag defense this fall — to go up 6-3 after Jones crossed the goal line from three yards out.  The TSU quarterback had a 21-yard carry on third-and-five to keep the possession alive, and he recorded gains of 10 and 21 yards later in the drive in addition to completing three passes for 32 more.

Later in the half, TSU stopped a fake punt attempt to take over at the USA-47 and with just over a minute left before the intermission Lowe scored on a two-yard run, giving the Bobcats a 12-3 advantage after Andrew Philon tackled Jones shy of the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt.  The Jags drove into field position with time winding down in the half, but when Aleem Sunanon's try from 53 yards fell short, Brandon McDowell returned it 100 yards as time expired for a 19-3 lead at the break.

Lowe scored on a 16-yard run with a little over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter to up the TSU lead to 26-3, and he would end up closing out the scoring with a 54-yard touchdown with less than three minutes to go in the game.

D.J. Vinson scored from three yards out to cap a 10-play, 87-yard march with less than three minutes left in the third period to close the gap to 26-10 for the Jags.  Cody Clements — who was 15-of-26 passing for 189 yards on the night — converted a third-and-21 with a 21-yard rush to the USA-40, then moved the Jaguars into the red zone with a 43-yard pass to Marvin Shinn to set up their first touchdown of the contest.  The Bobcats tacked on a 36-yard field goal from Lumi Kaba to make the score 29-10 with less than 13 minutes to go in regulation, however the Jags closed the margin to 11 when Gerald Everett scored on a two-yard run to finish a 75-yard drive that used two-and-a-half minutes of clock and Clements hit Danny Woodson II for the two-point conversion.  USA's quarterback opened the possession with a 28-yard pass to Everett, and later hit Shinn for a gain of 20 as well.

Shinn's 94 yards, which came on three receptions, led all players, while Braedon Bowman and Claude Garrett caught three balls each as well.

The Jaguars would finish with 468 yards in all after rushing for 272, their highest output on the ground this fall.  Xavier Johnson recorded 93 yards on just nine attempts and Tyreis Thomas posted 84 on 16 carries, with Terrance Timmons adding 44 yards and Clements 37.

"We just have to go back to work, that's a tough one right there," center Joseph Scelfo stated.  "We beat them last year; we were really confident going into that game.  The coaches did a great job with the game plan.  [Offensive coordinator] Coach [Bryant] Vincent did a heck of a job, [defensive coordinator] Coach [Travis] Pearson and Coach Jones did a heck of a job.  We just have to play.  The players play and the coaches coach.  That loss is on us as players, not on the coaches at all."

In fact, USA held a 145-24 advantage in total offense after the first 15 minutes of the game, taking a 3-0 lead with seven minutes to go in the first period when Johnson's 61-yard run up the middle of the field set up Sunanon's 32-yard field goal.

In addition to Dees' performance, Jeremy Reaves posted eight tackles and Devon Earl collected six — all unassisted — while Jalen Thompson recorded five stops, intercepted the first pass of his career and broke up another pass.  DeMarion Harper was credited with two of the Jaguars' five tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

"I thought we hung in there and played hard," Jones observed.  "We gave up some runs. Rob Lowe is a really good player, and they have a good experienced quarterback with a senior offensive line.  They are a senior team, and they made plays.  Our guys played scrappy for the most part; yhey had some bad field positon put on them throughout the game."

"Defensively we played well," said Dees.  "We were three-and-out on them a lot of times.  But we're a team, we're all together.  No matter what we do on that side of the ball, we're looking for the offense to do it.  And if they give us a three-and-out, we're going to go back out there and give them another chance.  Stopping them in the red zone is big, but unless we capitalize then it doesn't mean anything."

The Jags offense was forced to start inside its own 20-yard line five times on the night thanks to the efforts of Kaba, who averaged 47.7 yards per punt including three that were downed at the one-yard line.

Both teams were also penalized more than 100 yards; USA had 127 on 16 fouls while the Bobcats finished with 11 flags for 111.

After an open weekend the Jags will play host to Idaho on Saturday, Nov. 7 as part of South Alabama's Homecoming weekend.

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—