Hail Jaguars: SU Takesover Jacksonville and BCU

A change of scenery happens in sports, especially football, but an NFL stadium is the icing on the cake and would be the venue for an exciting matchup. The Southern University Jaguars took on Bethune Cookman Wildcats in Jacksonville, FL stadium, home to the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars for what would be a neutral site game. With a slow start to the game, the energy from the crowd was there in the sunny Florida heat. However, someone could feel the excitement in the air. Both teams wanted to win, especially the Southern Jaguars, as the team was the away team. The Bethune Cookman Wildcats are winless against the Jaguars all-time.
Several analysts mentioned that this game would be great to watch because Bethune’s offense has an effective running game. However, the “Southern Jaguars, they are talked to be a force to be reckoned with, especially with Bethune’s offense not looking so hot,” said The CatEye network. Overall, Jaguar fans had some promise for a win. Southern’s defense started lackluster, as the Wildcats moved the ball effectively to start the game. However, with roughly 9 minutes left in the quarter, the “Dog Day Defense” forced a fumble that was recovered by graduate student defensive back Jordan Carter. However, the offense for Southern would waste the opportunity by turning the ball over on downs. Unfortunately, the Wildcats did not waste their opportunity on offense. The defense blew a coverage assignment, allowing the Wildcats’ quarterback to find a wide-open receiver, allowing Bethune Cookman to take the lead 7-0. Several questions that have been boiling up for the Southern University offense were whether they have an identity and if the offense is consistent. The Jags offense is still having numerous struggles, with penalties being one. It wasn’t until halfway through the second quarter when the Jaguars got in the endzone when graduate student quarterback Harold Blood scored on a 6-yard run. The drive featured several big plays, including a 29-yard run by Harold Blood. On the assuming Wildcats’ possession, junior cornerback Kriston Davis intercepts a pass. Fortunately, the Jaguars wasted no time getting another touchdown due to a 23-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore running back Kendric Rhymes, making the score SU-14 BCU-7. The Wildcats would drive the ball efficiently but missed their field goal. On the other hand, the Blood would throw an interception, allowing the Wildcats to get their field goal back, and at halftime, it was SU-14 BCU-10. After halftime, the offense came out weak for the majority of the third quarter, but an explosive 57-yard passing touchdown from Blood to graduate student wide receiver August Pitre III changed that. The score was SU-21 BCU-10. The Southern Jaguars had all the momentum. The momentum would lead to the Jags forcing a blocked punt and scoring another touchdown, expanding their lead 28-10. The Wildcats would score late, but the final was SU-28 BCU-18.
Despite the score, this wasn’t the cleanest or best-executed game from the Jags. The Jaguars were penalized 13 times, resulting in 115 yards lost. However, Kendric Rhymes did have his best performance of the season, finishing with
128 yards on 22 attempts. In addition, Blood ran for 55 yards on 9 attempts. Blood provided his comments on the overall aspect of the game. According to The Advocate, he said, “We have to understand everything is not going to be perfect, sunshine and rainbows. If you can grit it out, that’s the sign of a good team.” The identity of the Southern offense is based on the big play opportunities and capitalizing, but the offense is still struggling, and Dooley provided his comments to The Advocate by saying, “There are still some corrections we have to make… I won’t say we made a lot of mistakes, I’ll say it had a lot to do with Bethune-Cookman.” Dooley has a lot of faith in his team. The team is now 1st in the SWAC West but will face Texas Southern next week at A.W. Mumford Stadium on the 28th at 4 P.M. Texas Southern has won the last two against the Jaguars.