The Southern University Jags will be returning to conference play this week after an ugly 51-7 loss to Nicholls State. In what was their worst performance of the season, the team got dominated in each aspect of the game. For Head Coach Terrence Graves and the rest of the team, bouncing back from this performance is going to be paramount.
“We didn’t have the outcome that we wanted, which is very disappointing. But we made the corrections, last night in practice we had our meetings. Our spirits are good, last night we flew around, and we put that on the shelf and started talking about Texas Southern.”
Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves
In a loss as bad as the Nicholls loss last week, there are constantly going to be fears about a team’s confidence being shaken moving forward. However, because this was an out of conference loss, it becomes increasingly important for the Jags to be able to move past the game and try to play their best moving forward. Despite the bumpy road that this season has been so far, the Jags still have all of their goals in front of them as they are still unscathed in conference play.
“That game is over with. You can’t bring it back, can’t do anything about it. Did we want to win the game? Yes. Did we play well enough to win? Absolutely not. Did we coach well enough to win? Absolutely not. But we can’t change that. That game is over with. We have a section on Mondays called “Mistake Mondays” where we make our corrections. Once we correct that, then it’s over with. Now we focus on the next opponent. You don’t ever go into the next week still talking about what happened in the last week.”
Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves
One of those corrections made on Monday is likely to be revolved around the play on special teams. Field position was a nightmare for the Jags during the first quarter of last week’s game, with special teams being a large reason for that. An opposing punt was downed on the one, and one of Southern’s punts went sideways for only 24 yards.
“We have to be better, we have to be locked in and focused. We’re going to change some people around and do some things differently schematically to help those guys out as well, and I think we’ll be fine.”
Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves
The offense struggled immensely during the game against Nicholls. Both Noah Bodden and Jalen Woods had a tough time moving the ball throughout the game, and the team seems to be badly missing starting quarterback Czavian Teasett since his ankle injury in Southern’s loss to Jackson St. 4 weeks ago. There is no confirmation about Teasett’s status at this point, but the general tone seems to be more positive than in past weeks.
“He moved around well. He is moving around, throwing the ball. He will know how well he feels. He looks good moving. It’s just going to be day-to-day. I’m not a medical doctor or a director of sports medicine, so whatever they tell me and what he says, then that’s how we will approach it. But it’s good to see him move around, and we’ll know more as the week progresses.”
Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves
Moving on to the next game, The Jags travel to Texas Southern this week in a return to conference play, which begins a gauntlet of 6 straight conference games in 6 weeks for the Jags. The Texas Southern Tigers are yet another team known for their ability to run the ball, with a number of proficient ball carriers. Their starting QB, Jordon Davis, is a perfectly balanced dual threat this season, with exactly 51 pass attempts and 51 carries to this point in the year. Their lead back is Quintell Quinn, and they also have a freshman who has been effective in the backfield, Danny Green Jr. This is especially a concern for the Jags this week, as Nicholls had a similar reputation going into last week’s game, and the Colonels had no trouble running the ball on a previously-stout Jags run defense.
“They are going to come out and run the football. They are big up front. They have some big offensive linemen, a big freshman running back. They are going to line up and [try to run the ball], and rightly so. If the team they played before had success running the ball, then you are going to at least try to do some of the same things to see if you can run the ball.”
Southern University Head Coach Terrence Graves
Southern’s game against Texas Southern will be in Houston at 6 P.M. this Saturday night. You can see the entire press conference for Head Coach Terrence Graves, as well as Czavian Teassett, Derrick Williams, and Marcus Borne below!
