Southern Wins in Blowout, 56-7

Houston – Southern didn’t take long to get off to a good offensive start Saturday, against Texas Southern in Houston at Reliant Stadium, as they cruised to victory 56-7.
Offensively Southern (8-2, 6-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) dominated TSU (0-9, 0-8 SWAC), going for 435 yards with 251 coming through the air and 184 on the ground. The Jaguars also got sophomore quarterback Bryant Lee back and it made a big difference. In his return Lee led the way as he went 12-for-18 for 248 yards and four touchdowns. Lee also had seven carries for 73-yards and two touchdowns.
“Bryant’s feeling about 85 percent,” said Southern head coach Pete Richardson. “Landry wasn’t in there but I thought the wide receiving core, especially the young individuals, stepped in. RoShon Jacobs and Del Roberts played well for us.”
In the absence of senior wide receiver Gerard Landry, RoShon Jacobs and Del Roberts teamed to shred the TSU secondary all day as Jacobs caught four passes for 54-yards and two touchdowns and Roberts caught two passes for 123 yards and one touchdown.
Running back Darren Coates also caught a touchdown pass from Lee as he went for 24-yards on four receptions.
“It’s been a long time since we had an opportunity to put some of the guys in and have an opportunity to play,” Richardson said. “They played hard for us.”
“It was about time for us to play a game like this because it seems like the last two years every game it’s been nip and tuck all the way down to the wire and it’s been such a strain on some of them, but they’re playing hard and hopefully we came out of this game without any new injuries,” Richardson said.
Defensively, Southern held TSU in check only allowing seven points on a Jeff Bell six yard run. On the day Southern defense only gave 56-yards rushing and 197 yards for a total of 253 yards total offense.
Quarterback Cornelius Harmon led the way for the Tigers going 24-for-45 1st 197 yards and two interceptions as he was spelled by sophomore Donnie Shorts until he was injured in the second quarter. Short went 0-for-1 and rushed for two yards on two attempts.
“We put things in place but the bottom line is execution,” said Southern defensive coordinator Terrance Graves. “Whether it’s a base defense or a blitz, you got to execute, and when the opportunity is there you have to take advantage of it. They’re doing a good job of executing so that’s why you’re getting the results you get.”
“All the credit goes to them,” said Graves. “Those guys play hard. They have the will to win and the heart of a champion. They know when things get tough somebody has to make plays, and that’s what they did, stepped up and made plays.”
Southern got after TSU’s defense on the first play from scrimmage as Lee hooked up with Roberts on an 80-yard touchdown strike to put the Jaguars ahead 7-0 with 10:02 remaining in the first quarter.
“That was big,” Roberts said. “We knew it was going to work. They came out in the defense we practiced against all week; we just had to execute it. We watched it all week and practiced against it because our defense also plays cover three. We realized that their deep safety never comes off the hash, so we knew if we attacked them vertically we could kill them.
“Playing a winless team on the road they were going to come out with nothing to lose so we wanted to smash them in the mouth and we did.”
Lee showed no immediately signs of rust going 3-to-6 in for 128 yards and one touchdown in the first quarter before Southern exploded to score 27-second quarter points.
“That was really a confidence booster because we know with the offense we have we can score points and our defense can stop, it just goes to show the kind of team we have,” Roberts said. “This definitely gives us momentum going into next week.”
Next week Southern will travel to Pine Bluff, Ark. to play Arkansas Pine-Bluff at Golden Lion Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Got Defense?
In the last two weeks TSU has been outscored 113-16, losing 57-9 to Grambling a week ago and 56-7 today.
TSU’s defense looked suspect early and often giving up and 80-yard strike from Lee to Roberts on the first play from scrimmage.
“We felt like we needed to attack their defense and start early doing that,” said Southern offensive coordinator Mark Orlando. “B. Lee read the first one and took it downtown and that kind of got the ball rolling.”
“It was like the first game when we played Florida A&M, we scored the first time we touched the ball,” Orlando said. “Whenever you get that touchdown on the first drive that’s only the second time it’s happened all year, so it was big for us to get the confidence. We decided to go at them passing and the kids just well and had a good game.”
Lagniappe
The day began with Southern needing assistance from Alabama State to reach the SWAC Championship game. With a win against TSU and a Grambling loss, the SWAC Western division would have been decided in the Bayou Classic, but with a 21-7 win the Tigers clinched the division and their spot in the championship game.
“It was a must win situation,” SU defensive lineman Vince Lands said. “We can’t control Grambling but we control our own destiny.”