Southern Jaguars head coach Dawson Odums watched his team struggle through the first half in games early this season, and finally had enough. He pinned the blame on his teams’ lack of a sense of urgency as the primary reason.
“We had some turnovers that really just took the life out of us,” said Odums, whose team improved to 3-0 in league road games.” “When you look at our team overall, I think what you saw was a confident football team that had put that previous game behind them. We got it corrected.”
Odums team suffered a 44-38 loss on their homecoming night in Baton Rouge.
The Jaguars, trying to avoid their second straight loss and stay atop the West Division, erased an early deficit en route to 31-24 victory over Texas Southern Friday night at BBVA Compass stadium.
Jaguar’s receiver Justin Morgan fueled his teammates when the Jaguars special teams tricked TSU’s punt return team in the second quarter. Morgan took a direct snap, outran defenders for a 27-yard gain and got a first down. The Jaguars offense returned to the field and ran seven plays for 65 yards, capped by a 35-yard touchdown pass by quarterback Dray Joseph to Lee Doss for a 7-3 Jaguar lead with 13:33 remaining. Junior running back LonDres Johnson added another score when his one-yard run gave the Jaguars a 14-3 lead with 8:57 remaining in the first half.
“Coming into the game they said they wanted to get me the ball more,” Morgan said after the game, after totaling 60 yards offense.
Odums watched his team score 21 unanswered points in the second quarter for a 21-10 halftime lead. At that point, the Jaguars had outgained the Tigers in total offense, 166-119.
“We kind of slow down our tempo a little bit,” said Joseph, whose two interceptions led to both TSU’s first half scores.
Odums defense played solid. Linebacker Anthony Balancier got his first interception of the season and Trae’ Tiller recovered a fumble that led to the Jaguars second score. By the end of the game, Odums defensive unit had allowed _ yards. TSU quarterback Homer Casey kept the Tigers in the game, totaling _ yards of total offense. He had two rushing scores and one touchdown pass that was the final score of the game.
“Every game you win, you get a step closer,” Odums added, whose team will travel again to play Alabama State next weekend.
The victory was the Jaguars third road victory this season. Joseph was _ of _ for _ yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown pass went to freshman receiver Randall Menard for 65 yards, his third touchdown catch in two games.
“We in the drivers’ seat and we control our own destiny,” Odums said.
Southern linebacker Anthony Balancier runs the ball to the goal line for a touchdown after an interception during the game Friday in Houston, Tx against Texas Southern University.
