Stung: SU falls in Season Opener

When September rolls around and that first Saturday arrives, everyone knows Southern football is back. The Labor Day Classic Southern faced Alabama State in Montgomery, Alabama. Before the game, Southern hadn’t lost to Alabama State since 2012. SU had a lot of questions concerning their offense, particularly the quarterback position. The wait is now over.
The Southern University offense would come out blazing on their drive leading to a 16-yard touchdown pass from graduate student quarterback Harold Blood to sophomore running back Kendric Rhymes, allowing Southern to take the early lead 7-0. However, that drive would be misleading regarding the rest of the game. Alabama State would get their home crowd riled back up after Alabama State’s sophomore quarterback Dematrius Davis connected with sophomore wide receiver Kisean Johnson on a 43-yard pass play for a touchdown, tying the game at 7. Southern would come back and answer with a 40-yard field goal from junior kicker Joshua Griffin, allowing the Jags to take the lead 10-7 going into halftime.
The second half had the looks of a similar SU last year as it relates to offensive consistency. Toward the end of the 3rd quarter, Harold Blood was sacked and fumbled the football deep on their side of the field, setting up a quick Alabama State touchdown from Davis to Johnson, allowing Alabama State to take the lead 10-14. One thing that didn’t change was the Dog Day defense of Southern being physical to close out a game. However, despite the opportunities the defense gave the offense, the Jags’ offense would turn the ball over four times, including a fumble by Kendric Rhymes in scoring territory. The Jags did get one more chance, but Blood threw an interception, and the Jags lost 10-14.
Southern would finish the game with 235 yards of total offense compared to Alabama State’s 266 yards. Southern has a talented running back room, but they managed only 69 yards on the ground. In addition to the Jags offensive woes, they were 4 of 14 on third down. Harold Blood, in his starting debut, finished 17 of 34 passes for 166 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. Senior linebacker Jalen Cambell had 15 tackles and one sack in the game. According to a report from The Advocate, Dooley had some post-game comments, “You’ve got to finish; that’s what we preach and teach all practice long.” He also commented about Harold Blood, “I think he’s going to be able to lead us where we’ve got to get to. It always comes down to the quarterback when you talk about it, but it takes all 11.” In addition, Harold Blood provided his take on the game, “Penalties, things like that, costly mistakes are things that can be fixed. Those mistakes are momentum killers. That threw us off.” In the end, the Jags will have a lot of work to do if they want to beat Jackson State come Saturday.
The next time you will see the Jags is Saturday, September 9th at 6 P.M. As a reminder, this is the Boombox Classic, and Southern has lost the last three against Jackson State, and it will be the first time these two teams have met up since the SWAC Championship, last year.