A calamitous third quarter spelled doom for South Alabama on Saturday vs. North Texas, which ran away with a 52-38 victory at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jaguars (0-1) led 19-14 at halftime, but could not stop the Mean Green (1-0) in the second half. North Texas scored four touchdowns in the third quarter to turn Major Applewhite’s South Alabama coaching debut into a nightmare for the home team.
“Give credit to North Texas, Eric Morris and his team, first of all for winning the football game,” Applewhite said. “They made the plays on offense, defense and special teams. But I’m just disappointed in our second half, disappointed in the way we came out in the second half. … We really just lost our bearings to start the third quarter.”
North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris passed for three touchdowns and ran for two, completing 32 of 41 passes for 415 yards in the game. The Mean Green went 8-for-12 on third down and totaled 550 yards of offense.
South Alabama, meanwhile, piled up 582 offensive yards behind redshirt freshman quarterback Gio Lopez, but a slow start to the second half led to the Jaguars’ undoing. USA went three-and-out on its first two and three of its four possessions of the third quarter, with North Texas scoring each time it had the ball.
“We left some plays on the field,” Lopez said. “We had a lot of yards but there’s more points out there we need to score. … We were in a groove going into halftime. I think we thought we were just going to come back out there firing away and we didn’t do that.”
South Alabama also buckled on special teams, getting a punt blocked for a touchdown in the third quarter and allowing a number of long kick and punt returns. C.J. Garnett recovered the blocked Jack Martin punt — which actually hit a Jaguars blocker in the back after Martin dropped the snap — in the end zone to put the Mean Green on top 42-26 with 2:40 left in the third quarter and effectively end the game.
Lopez passed for a school-record 432 yards and three TDs and ran for a team-high 62 yards and another score. Jamaal Pritchett caught 10 passes for a career-best 197 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Shamar Sandgren hauled in a 21-yard touchdown from Lopez in the third quarter, while freshman Fluff Bothwell ran 13 yards for a score in the first half. Lopez hit redshirt freshman Anthony Eager on a 23-yard TD pass with 4:39 left for the Jaguars’ final points.
North Texas’ second-half scores came on Morris’ 25-yard pass to Blair Conwright, Morris’ 1-yard run, a 54-yard pass from Morris to Damon Ward, Garnett’s fumble recovery, Ikaika Ragsdale’s 3-yard run and Kali Nguma’s 30-yard field goal. Ward caught 12 passes for 230 yards and the two TDs.
South Alabama’s defense did not record a takeaway or a sack. They rarely hit Morris or even put pressure on him at all, in fact.
“We had bad eyes,” South Alabama safety Jaden Voisin said. “They did exactly what we game plan for and we just didn’t make plays. … We just did not execute at all. Tackling was a struggle; we’ve got to work on that. Getting to the quarterback — I mean, if the quarterback’s comfy back there, it’s not going to help anybody.
“… Any time our offense is at 38 points, we should win the game. I’m not saying we (defense) lost the game, but we lost the game.”
South Alabama led by five after a wild first half that featured 569 combined yards by the two teams. The Jaguars scored touchdowns on a 6-yard run by Lopez and a 13-yard run by Bothwell, and also got field goals of 39 and 32 yards by Laith Marjan (the Jaguars missed on three tries for 2 points after touchdowns).
North Texas scored on a 4-yard keeper by Morris and a 3-yard pass from Morris to Ward. The Mean Green had two touchdowns overturned on their final drive, with a 93-yard kickoff return by Juwaun Price and Morris’ 6-yard pass to Jeremiah Aaron both wiped out by holding.
North Texas got inside the South Alabama 5-yard line in the closing seconds of the half, only for South Alabama to make a huge defensive stop. Blayne Myrick and Wy’Kevious Thomas stonewalled Ikaika Ragsdale at the 1-yard line on third down, then Ward slipped on his route on fourth down and Morris’ pass fell incomplete.
South Alabama played without starting cornerback Ricky Fletcher, sidelined with a bad back. Applewhite said Fletcher is officially “day-to-day, week-to-week,” so it’s unclear how soon he might return to the lineup.
South Alabama hits the road in Week 2, traveling to Ohio for a non-conference game at 5 p.m. next Saturday. That game will stream live via ESPN+.
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Publish date : 2024-08-31 15:48:00
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