MOBILE, Ala. – Despite holding a 30-14 heading into the fourth quarter, South Alabama Football could not hold on late as Georgia Southern came back to win, 34-40, Saturday night at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The loss dropped the Jaguars to 4-5 overall on the season with a 3-2 mark in Sun Belt Conference play.
"I'm proud of the way our guys battled and the effort we gave every play," said head coach
Major Applewhite. "Our kids played hard. Give credit to Georgia Southern for staying there and continuing to fight when they trailed by 16 points. We have to play better because we are our own worst enemy right now. There was miscommunication on special teams, and it took the air out of the stadium when we gave them good field position. Those are the types of things that we cannot do as a ball club and expect to win games. We didn't play cleanly enough in the fourth quarter. Give them credit for coming back in the ball game, but we made it easier on them."
Despite the setback, South Alabama got several strong performances from players on both sides of the ball.
Kentrel Bullock rushed for 101 yards on the night, giving him back-to-back 100-yards performances. Fluff Botwell also chipped in two touchdowns on the ground to give him 10 for the season, and wide receiver
Jamaal Pritchett hauled in a career-high 12 catches for 107 yards and a score.
On the defensive side of the ball, linebackers
Blayne Myrick and
Darius McKenzie each recorded 10 tackles. McKenzie recorded the first sack of his South Alabama career when he teamed up with
Tyler Thomas for the takedown.
Jordan Scruggs also chipped in eight tackles including one for loss, and
Jaden Voisin made six tackles and broke up one pass.
After training 14-13 going into halftime, the Jaguars came storming out of the gates to start the second half. Kicker
Laith Marjan hit his third of three field goals on the night to give the Jags their first lead of the ball game, then Bothwell and Pritchett scored back-to-back touchdowns to extend the lead to 16. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Georgia Southern threw a 45-yard touchdown pass which would be the start of 20-unanswered points over the final-15 minutes to complete the comeback for the Eagles.
South Alabama will now enjoy its bye week before hitting the road for the first time in over a month. The Jags will travel to challenge Louisiana on Saturday, Nov. 16. Kickoff time and broadcast details for that game will be announced at a later date.
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