Box Score
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama football team's defense had six takeaways, with the final two coming on Arkansas State's last drives of the game, to lift the Jaguars to a 24-19 Sun Belt Conference football win over the Red Wolves on Senior Day at Ladd-Peebles Stadium Saturday.
With A-State (5-3, 4-1 Sun Belt) facing third-and-goal from the four-yard line with just over five minutes remaining in the contest Bull Barge forced a fumble just before Justice Hansen crossed the goal, with Malcolm Buggs recovering in the end zone to preserve the five-point advantage for South (4-6, 3-3 SBC). The Red Wolves then advanced just shy of midfield on their final drive before Jeremy Reaves intercepted a second-down pass to clinch the win, the Jags first-ever against ASU.
Barge posted a career-best 13 stops, with Reaves adding 11 and Darrell Songy 10 for the Jaguars.
Cole Garvin was 25-of-45 passing for a career-best 343 yards and two scores to pace the USA offense.
South Alabama 24, Arkansas State 19
South Alabama/Arkansas State photo gallery
South Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony (video)
South Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony (photo gallery)
GAME FACTS
-South earned the win despite being outgained by a 365-340 margin.
-A-State held the Jaguars to minus-three yards on the ground in the contest, the first time USA has finished with a negative rushing total.
-The Jags forced three of the Red Wolves' six turnovers in the opening quarter while building a 10-0 advantage.
-South limited the Red Wolves to only 118 yards and eight first downs in first half before ASU gained 125 yards in the third quarter.
-A-State had only 66 yards rushing, one more than their season-low total
-ASU held the ball less than three minutes in the first quarter as South would go on to hold a 33-27 minute advantage in time of possession.
NOTES
-South Alabama recognized 19 seniors in a ceremony on the field prior to kickoff of its last home game of the 2017 season.
-The three individuals inducted into the USA Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday morning — David Doss (baseball2006-09), Ajoke Odumosu (women's track & field/cross country 2004, '06-07) and Viktoria Stoklasova (women's tennis 2001-03) — were honored on the field as part of a presentation at halftime.
-The Jaguars now have a 5-4 record on Senior Day with a victory in the home finale for the second year in a row.
-The win was the first for South in six tries against the Red Wolves
-The six turnovers forced by the Jags were one shy of matching the school game record set on Oct. 29, 2011, and the most caused by South against an NCAA Division I opponent.
-The USA defense also had a season-high four sacks.
-Garvin's 343 passing yards were the second-highest total ever recorded in a game by a Jag quarterback.
-It was the first time in his career that Barge has posted a double-digit tackle total, and it included his first stop behind the line of scrimmage this year.
-It was the second time this season that the Jags had multiple individuals in double figures in stops, with Songy also finishing with a season-best total.
-Tra Minter's rushing touchdown to start the scoring was the first of his career.
-Sean Grayer and Tobias Moss both collected their first career interceptions.
-Seven different Jaguar receivers finished with multiple receptions, with Malik Stanley posting a team-best six catches and Jordan McCray ending up with a squad-high 72 yards; both were career-high totals.
THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Joey Jones
Opening statement: "I challenged the kids today and told them to try and whip [Arkansas State's] tail every play, and if they did that we were going to have a chance. That's all I asked them to do today. I just wanted them to play their tails off every play; the offensive line, the defensive line and every player on the field, and I think they did that. They gave unbelievable effort. We made a few mistakes, but they gave unbelievable effort and played their tails off. I'm just so proud of the way they played tonight. They played with so much confidence. We beat a really good football team, Arkansas State's the cream of the crop in our league. They've got great coaches and great athletes, they've won five out of the last six conference championships, and we were finally able to beat them. To get a win against this team speaks volumes for our players and their dedication to this program."
On the early energy and sustaining that: "I just challenged them before the game at our pregame meal and I felt like they were ready. I didn't want them to worry about anything else except their effort every play. I wanted them to try to beat their guy every play. Sometimes football's as simple as that. I know we all get caught up in the X's and O's, and worry about the scheme, but to me if you play your tail off, you're going to give yourself a chance to win. Our kids responded to that and did very well. We weren't able to start very well the past two games, but tonight I thought we did."
On Bull Barge's play causing the fumble with Arkansas State threatening to score: "What a play. Great players make great plays in big times. Bull Barge is probably the most improved player on our football team. He's become a leader and a captain on our team in my mind, and he's a guy we can count on. If you have a bunch of guys like him on your team, you're going to be able to make plays like that one. I'm so proud of him."
On finishing the game: "We just kept our players up on the sideline. Whenever they went down and scored quickly, the momentum could have changed and they could have dropped their heads, but everybody on offense and defense kept coming over and encouraging each other. I felt like our attitude just completely changed and it was fun to see that tonight."
On the big plays in the passing game: "I thought [offensive coordinator] Richard Owens called a heck of a ball game tonight; he didn't hold anything back. We knew coming in that it was going to be tough to run the ball on these guys; they've got a great defensive front. Our guys held on in the pass protection and we were able to get the ball down the field and score some touchdowns. Our receivers made big plays. You are going to have to do that to beat teams like that. We knew that there was no way that we could beat them just trying to run the ball constantly."
On getting this win for the seniors: "I'm so happy for them. This senior group is unbelievable in the leadership category. It is a small class and we don't have a ton of starters who are seniors, but we've got a ton of guys that lead. They've learned how to lead and I'm just so proud of them. When they leave, we're not going to miss a ton of numbers in players, but their leadership is going to be missed, because it permeates throughout the team."
Bull Barge
On the play on the goal line: "It was me and Jeremy. Jeremy had the back man-to-man, and I was the extra player, so I had the quarterback. When Jeremy saw the quarterback take off, he sealed the outside, I saw him cut up, and I just dove at him trying to kill him, basically. He tried to jump over me, and I guess my head hit the ball perfectly. And when I hit the ground, I thought he scored, and I turned around and saw the ball rolling, and I just wanted to lay down and cry. That's the biggest play of my life, ever."
On defensive effort: "Before the game, we sat down as a defense and really got on the same page. We told all the seniors how much we love them and how much we really want them to go out on top of a bowl game, and we knew we had to win this game to get where we wanted to be. We just came out and executed the way we wanted, the way we talked about before the game. It got a little shaky in the end, but we talked on the sideline and we knew how we were going to respond. Jeremy sealed the game as always. I have looked up to Jeremy so much ever since I got here. I love him, and I just want to send him out on top."
Cole Garvin
On the win: "That's probably the best front seven in the conference, and we knew that it wasn't going to be impossible to run against them but we were going to have to beat them on the perimeter. That's just what we had to do; we threw it 40 or 50 times and it paid off in the end."
On David Gardner and Kawaan Baker: "Jamarius [Way] is a great player and a very specific part of our offense, but when he goes down it doesn't matter — we have to figure out other ways to get it done and that's everybody's job on the offense."
Sean Grayer
On the defensive takeaways: "It was big time. We wanted to get this win for the seniors. Before the game, our defense got together and we felt like for us to win this game that we would have to create about five turnovers — big-time game-changers. We felt like if we could do that then we could win this game."
On Bull Barge's forced fumble on the goal line: "I was on the sideline at that time, but I wasn't worried. I knew the defensive line and linebackers were going to hold their own. Bull always makes plays, no matter what. I was always confident that they [Arkansas State] weren't going to score."
Sam Harris
On his touchdown reception: "I felt like it was due time to make a play. I just made a play when we needed it to happen."
On the ASU defense: "In the first half they came out in a different coverage than we prepared for, but [offensive coordinator] Coach [Richard] Owens did a great job at halftime of making adjustments in order for Cole to get the ball off."
Jeremy Reaves
On forcing the game winning turnover: "That was the perfect way I wanted to go out. I'm so proud of my teammates, and it's a great feeling to know that I've got 10 guys behind me who are going to bust their behinds just like I am. I'm proud of my offense, I'm proud of Bull, I'm proud of everything. We knew we had to make plays. This is a great team, and we made plays when we needed to."
On ending at home with a win: "It's very emotional. It's hard because this is my last one at home with these guys, and we got it. It's been so long together. I've built so many relationships. It's just a good feeling to go out the right way. My family got to see my go out at home the right way. I can't put it into words. It's a blessing, honestly."
On going forward: "We'll celebrate this win tonight, and it's gone after that like it never happened. It's another week. We've got to play again on Saturday. We'll celebrate this one tonight as a team. We did something that no other team here has done, and we put this one behind us and go forward from there."
Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson
Opening statement: "This loss falls on my shoulders. The offense did not play well, that's my job. We turned the ball over, had a chance to win and turned it over again. We'll fix it. They [South Alabama] did a great job. Kane Wommack's defense is one of the best in the league and has been the last two years. They played us tough last year. They've played teams tough this year. The only team that really had success was Oklahoma State and other than that they've played well against everybody. When we needed to run it we couldn't. We needed to throw it, we struggled to protect. And six turnovers were the story tonight. Catch the ball at the end in the end zone or we dive for that ball late, I don't think our defense gives up he lead again. They played a great game all night. Obviously they have stuff they'd like to fix, but this falls on my shoulders. We can't put our offense in that situation."
On if they changed anything before they started making quick scores: "Nothing really changed. We ran the same stuff. We made a few adjustments because they had taken a little bit of a different approach. Not that we weren't aware of some things they were going to do., but they did more of it, but as we made adjustments, we started to do some things better. We settled down, had to get control of some of the movements we were seeing and just go through things we do every day. When we did that we were successful. But turnovers are the story of the game. You can't have six turnovers in a game and expect to beat anybody, especially a team as capable as they are and as physical as they are defensively."
Up next: South visits Georgia Southern Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST) in Statesboro, Ga.
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