Joseph ties Classic series

 
Southern quarterback Dray Joseph, whose eye-popping numbers earned him Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week, debuted as the starter for the Jaguars in the Bayou Classic for the first time in his career.
Southern settled on Joseph at quarterback following a position battle during spring practices under then head coach Stump Mitchell.
Joseph won outright over underclassman J.P. Douglas, who was suspended indefinitely the week of the Alabama A&M game.
Joseph threw two interceptions, while Douglas was picked off eight times.
Struggles with interceptions were what cost Joseph playing time last season, finishing 113 of 212 for 1544 yards, 13 touchdown tosses and nine interceptions. This season, he leads the league with 2511 yards and 26 touchdowns.
The 6-foot-1 212 pound junior quarterback tied a school record with five touchdown tosses to help the Jaguars rally from a 14-point deficit to beat the Tigers 38-33 in the Bayou Classic.
“Ironically I played in this game three times but this is my first time starting,” Joseph said. “Tonight I started the game off. The game was 0-0 and I had to lead my team to victory.”
Charles Hawkins caught three of those TD tosses for the Jaguars, who blew the game wide open with a dominating second half en route to their first win over the Tigers since 2007.
“The whole week I envisioned it,” Joseph said, who went 22 of 37 passing. “I just came out and tried to do my best.”
The win moved Southern into a second place tie with Prairie View in the West standings though the Panthers beat the Jaguars in October.
The record-tying throw came at the start of the fourth quarter on a pass to wide receiver Lee Doss, who caught it for 27 yards.
Earlier, Joseph threw one to running back Jerry Joseph and three to wide receiver Charles Hawkins, who finished with six catches for 99 yards.
Southern kept Joseph in the game in what looked like an obvious attempt to go for the record.
Other notable quarterbacks to throw at least five touchdowns in the Bayou Classic include SU’s Quincy Richard and GSU’s Bruce Eugene, whose six scoring tosses is the record.
In that game, Richard threw for 552 yards and connected on three of his five touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead Southern into the post season with a 44-41 victory. Southern clinched the SWAC West Division title, under then head coach Pete Richardson.
“This is the most touchdown passes in my whole career playing football,” Joseph said. “It feels great to just come out and just execute. I think coach Germany did a great job keeping the defense off balance with the run and pass.”
The win snapped a four game losing streak against the Tigers, who went 0-9 in conference games this season. Joseph now has 44 career touchdown passes.
The Jaguars offense wasn’t flawless playing against a defense that ranked sixth in the conference against the pass (194 yards per game), seventh in scoring defense and eighth in total defense.
They did fumble twice, which set up two GSU touchdowns.
Joseph led SU’s offense like a point guard, one who can score and dish.
He shredded the Tigers secondary, distributing his passes among eight different receivers, for 284 yards and no interceptions.