TURNOVERS DROWN JAGS 41-7

The Louisiana Superdome was the site of the 1st annual Big Easy Classic and a 41-7 slaughtering of the Southern Jaguars at the hands of the Greenwave of Tulane University, it’s first Division I-A opponent in school history.
The Jaguars saw their game plan for the night self-destruct, as Terrence Levy threw for two interceptions and the offense ended the game with five turnovers that resulted in 19 points for Tulane.
“We came out to let the chips fall where they may and the chips just fell in Tulane’s directions,” said Levy.
In this first meeting between the two schools, Tulane made the first score of the night after a TU interception, with a successful field goal by punter Seth Marler.
Another quick field goal by Marler brought the score to 6-0, Tulane.
Southern’s only lead of the game came late in the first quarter. Levy threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Williams. A successful kick by Francisco Villagrana put the Jaguars into the lead for the first and only time of the game, score 7-6.
After another Marler field goal and a 50-yard touchdown pass from TU quarterback Patrick Ramsey to Roydell Williams, the teams returned to the locker rooms, TU leading 22-7 at the half.
The second half was a replay of the first half without a Jaguar score.
A failure to capitalize on play making opportunities and a Jeremy Williams fumble in the endzone led to a final score of 41-7 Tulane victory.
This devastating loss, which will not affect their conference standings, was their second loss of the season. Both losses came against non-Southwestern Athletic Conference opponents. The Jaguars are currently 2-0 in conference play and 2-2 for the season.
“We just have to regroup,” SU coach Pete Richardson said. “Our goal is to win our conference championship, and we’re still able to do that.”
Regrouping for the Jaguars has been made just a little harder with the loss of two more key players. In addition to already losing Michael Hayes for the season, wide receiver Haywood Gallien and Dedrick Shelmire are also finished for the year. Gallien suffered an injury to his left knee during Saturday’s practice. Shelmire will be out with a torn ACL, acquired during Saturday’s game against TU.
On a positive note the Jaguars will still have the help of this year’s sophomore sensations. Sophomore walk-on return specialist Ezra Landry is a having a great year. He leads all SU punt receivers with 429 yards, he leads the SWAC in kick returns with 163 yards and is second in the conference on punt returns with 266 yards. Linebacker Jabari Greene, also a sophomore, is the teams leading tackler with 30 stops for the season, making him the tenth leading tackler in the SWAC.
The Jaguars will be back in action Saturday, at 6:30PM against Alabama A&M at A.W. Mumford Stadium.