Football is a tough game to win if you can’t get into the endzone.
Southern‘s loss to Florida A&M was a great example of this; despite a reasonable (although still somewhat concerning) effort from the defense, they lost the game because they could generate practically nothing on offense all day, no matter who was under center.
It was a promising start for the Jags, as their opening drive resulted in points for only the 2nd time all season. Noah Bodden started the game at QB for the Jags and rattled off a few first downs before the drive stalled and Joshua Griffin hit a 50 yard field goal to give the Jags an early 3-0 lead.
It was all downhill from there. FAMU was very successful in their first drive, finding chunk plays all the way down the field. They eventually came up with 0 points because of a redzone fumble, but it pinned the Jags deep in their own territory. After a 3-and-out, FAMU #1 WR Jamari Gassett housed the punt return and gave the Rattlers the lead 7-3 early.
The offense sputtered for the rest of the game. The ground game that the Jags were able to lean on last week was completely ineffective against the Rattlers defense, as the Jags only averaged 3.4 yards per carry. They were even worse through the air, as Noah Bodden went 8/18 for an abysmal 45 yards passing and this terrible INT to TJ Huggins.
The defense, while putting up a decent performance, had their fair share of problems themselves. The exciting matchup between the FAMU passing offense led by Daniel Richardson and the Jags’ vaunted passing defense didn’t live up to the hype. Richardson went 25/34 for 274 yards, 2 TD, and an INT, only 14 yards off his best performance through the air this season. His #1 target, Jamari Gassett, was seemingly unstoppable. On top of the punt return TD, Gassett had 5 catches for 118 receiving yards and this explosive receiving TD.
The most surprising stat about FAMU’s offense has nothing to do with their passing attack. FAMU outrushed Southern in this game, both in terms of yardage and efficiency. FAMU is a team that, even after this week, still doesn’t have a rushing TD this season, and they were going against the #1 defense in the SWAC. On the other side, Southern just rushed the ball 50 times for almost 300 yards against the toughest competition the SWAC West has to offer. And yet, on this night, FAMU outrushed Southern 126-122. It was easy to imagine a world where FAMU won this game, but it was impossible to imagine a world where that happened.
In the 3rd quarter, Noah Bodden was benched for Czavian Teasett in order to try to get anything going on offense. This was the 8th time in 8 games this season that the starting QB has left the game for Southern for one reason or another. Teasett led the Jags to another FG drive, but little success after that. He finished the game, going 3/9 for 38 passing yards. In the 4th quarter, up 14-6, FAMU separated with Richardson’s 2nd passing TD of the game, this time to Kelvin Dean Jr. FAMU would tack on a field goal late, giving us our final score of 24-6.
This is a rough game for Southern, but there is a bright side. This wasn’t a divisional game, so the Jags still have all of their goals in front of them this season. They still control their own destiny in the SWAC, but they have lost the cushion they had going into the week. Now, any loss can put Alcorn St. back in the driver seat for the division, and Arkansas Pine Bluff will have a chance to knock the Jags off in November to take the lead themselves. Southern has another road trip next week, as they travel to Huntsville to take on Alabama A&M next week. That is the team’s first day game of the season, as it will be at 2:00 P.M. next Saturday.