At the end of the day, winning is all that matters. It doesn’t matter how or why you win, just that you win. That being said, this was a really bad game for the Jags.
Southern needed 5 OTs to get past the 2-7 Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at home with a final score of 25-23, a really bad look for the SWAC West favorites. There is a lot to unpack, but the most important takeaway is that this level of play will not be sufficient to win the SWAC, a sentiment Head Coach Terrence Graves and all the players were emphasizing after the game.
The game began with yet another slow start from Southern. The offense was getting nothing done, with seemingly every positive play being negated by a penalty or followed up by a mistake. They couldn’t get any momentum going, and it made things tough on the defense, who had trouble getting off the field. After a first drive punt, Bethune-Cookman was moving the ball pretty easily for a few drives in a row. They got on the board for the game’s only points of the first 3 quarters with a field goal at the end of the first quarter.
However, it could have been so much worse than that. In the first half, Bethune-Cookman had 3 redzone drives to Southern’s 0, but the Wildcats only got 3 points off of those 3 drives. They came up completely empty handed twice – the first was the missed field goal, which hit the upright for a miss. The second was a sequence that would define the game, a huge goal line stand for the Southern defense. Bethune-Cookman went for it on 4th and goal from the 1, and the Jags defense made a huge stop to prevent going down 10-0 in the 2nd quarter.
Defensive dominance and offensive struggles at the goal line became the theme for the game. Both teams had the ability to move the ball between the 20s at times, but once you got near the endzone, those final few yards became nearly impossible to get.
That theme continued when we got to the 4th quarter. Through the first half of the game, Southern starting QB Czavian Teasett was struggling to get anything going on offense, going 8/18 for 111 yards. In the 3rd quarter, Teasett was benched, not for the other previous starting QB, Noah Bodden, but instead for Jalen Woods. Woods took over and the offense immediately started moving the ball for the first time all game. Woods wasn’t that productive through the air either – 5/10 for 53 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT – but he led the Jags to every scoring drive they had in this game.
That brings us to the first play of the 4th quarter. On 4th and goal from the 1, Southern decided to go for it instead of kicking a game tying field goal while down 3-0. It’s a tough decision that can go either way given the situation, but it didn’t end up working out for the Jags as they were stuffed by the Bethune-Cookman defense. The sequence mirrors what Southern did to the Wildcats earlier in the game.
After coming up empty on that drive, the Jags got right back off the mat, forced a punt, and drove down the field again. This time, they avoided the dreaded goal line stand entirely by scoring from outside the 15. Jalen Woods completes the touchdown drive with a pass to a returning Chandler Whitfield, getting Southern on the board for the first time with 10 minutes left in the game, up 7-3.
What felt like a moment to breathe for the Jags didn’t last long as Bethune-Cookman’s offense came back to life. They were quiet in the 2nd half, but once the Wildcats were down, they immediately opened things up and marched right back down the field again. QB Cam’Ron Ransom found Jostein Clarke in the endzone for the Wildcats to take back the lead, 10-7. Yet again, it was a shot from outside the 10 yard line, scoring before we got to a goal-to-go situation. Ransom was great today, finishing 23/36 with 243 yards and 2 TDs.
Woods responded and kept moving the ball down the field, though the Jags were stopped in the redzone yet again. This time, with 3 minutes left in the game on 4th and 2, Southern decided to take the points and they tied up the game. After a BC punt gave the Jags a chance to win in regulation, Woods threw a pick that looked like it would cost Southern the game. The Wildcats got the ball at midfield with a minute left and 2 timeouts, but the Jags defense bowed up and sent us to overtime, tied 10-10.
As it turns out, overtime placed the football at the exact right spot for both teams to be able to score: just outside the redzone. The first two OT periods (before the sudden death OTs starting in the 3rd period) saw 4 quick explosive TD drives. Southern’s rushing attack was unstoppable, with Kendric Rhymes rattling off multiple chunks on the ground (including a one play 25 yard TD drive). Rhymes and Kobe Dillon were great today, with Rhymes totaling 15 carries for 90 yards and a TD, and Dillon totaling 19 carries for 130. CJ Russell made up the final head of the 3-headed monster today, picking up one of the TDs in overtime. Bethune-Cookman scored on the ground, with Dennis Palmer on a one play TD drive of his own, as well as through the air, with Cam’Ron Ransom finding Thomas Nance in the endzone. However, for both teams, the mandatory 2pt tries were unsuccessful – they were just too close to the goal line. That led to the sudden death 2pt try shootout beginning in the 3rd OT.
It was at this point where the strength of the two teams’ goal line defenses (and struggles of the goal line offenses) really showed themselves and defined the game.
Southern was up first, and they suddenly stopped trying to run the ball once they got to the 2pt tries after the rushing attack was what got them here in the first place. Jalen Woods throws an incomplete pass, and Bethune-Cookman is up with a chance to win the game. Ransom’s pass is complete, but Southern rallies for a tackle just inches away from the goal line.
In the 4th OT, Bethune-Cookman got the first crack at it, but a shot to the endzone is broken up by Southern DB Xavier Spencer. Southern now is the one with a chance to win, but Woods’ pass is inches away from Cam Jefferson‘s hands, leading us to a 5th OT. This was the 6th consecutive failed 2pt try from the two teams.
On the 5th OT period, Southern decided to go back to running the ball, and Kobe Dillon finally punched it in from 2 yards out to give Southern the lead and get the game’s first successful 2pt try.
Needing a successful play to prolong the game, BC is stopped as Kam’Ron Ransom is pressured before getting the ball out and brought down near the line of scrimmage by the ferocious Southern pass rush. After a grueling 5 OTs, Southern finally came away with the win.
This game somehow leaves what has been an extremely murky QB situation for the Jags in an even less clear place. Jalen Woods is now the 3rd Southern QB this season to enter a game in relief and lead the Jags to a comeback victory, seemingly supplanting the team’s previous starter. What’s next?
Noah Bodden was the team’s starter in week 1, and he led the Jags to some magical wins earlier in the season. Now he’s not even 2nd on the depth chart, being jumped by Jalen Woods. What happened? Czavian Teasett had the best individual game by any Southern QB all year last week, but this week the offense reverted back to being completely ineffective under him. Jalen Woods had mostly only been seen in garbage time this year, but now he seems to have jumped Bodden on the depth chart, and will clearly make a real case to be the starter next week. In 10 games this season, Southern has seen a QB play an entire game exactly once. Somehow it’s worked, but it leaves a lot of unknown in the future. Nobody knows who will start for the Jags next week, and now it seems that a 3rd serious contender has entered.
Regardless of what happens at the QB position in the future, the present is filled with yet another win for the Jags. Now the whole team and community at Southern can finally exhale and begin to recover from what was one of the most stressful football games of an extremely stressful season. It’s Southern’s 3rd OT win in conference this season (they are undefeated in such games), and it brings them one step closer to a SWAC West championship and an appearance in the SWAC title game. They move to 6-4 on the season, but much more importantly, an impressive 5-1 in conference. Now Southern can clinch the SWAC West next week with a victory at home vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff or a loss by Alcorn St when they travel to Prairie View. As for Bethune-Cookman, they fall to 2-8 in what has continued to be a very disappointing season for the Wildcats. They continue play next week with an even farther road trip to Texas Southern.
You can check out interviews of Head Coach Terrence Graves, as well as RB Kendric Rhymes, WR Chandler Whitfield, LB Vincent Paige Jr, and QB Jalen Woods here!
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