The Southern Jags come out of a big homecoming win over Alcorn St. with a lot of positive takeaways from the game. It was the first complete game they played all season, including a reasonably good start and the ability to generate turnovers. Head Coach Terrence Graves was happy with the team’s performance after getting the chance to look at the film for the game.
“It was better than with the naked eye. Those guys came out inspired. They were locked in. They played well for all four quarters.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
The offensive line has been growing since the dismal performance in the Nicholls game, and has become a bit of a revelation in the past two weeks. After a game where the team rushed 50 times and leaned on the line as the game came to its conclusion, the whole unit will look to continue that momentum into the next week.
“This was their best performance. We had 295 yards rushing, and didn’t give up a sack for the 2nd week in a row. hats off to those guys. Those guys were really working hard and trusting what we were doing offensively, and it shows. They work hard in practice. You play like you practice, and these guys were practicing hard, and it showed up on gameday.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
The defense came out with another stellar performance, as has become standard for this team. Despite giving up some yards on the ground, the defense never allowed a long scoring drive the entire game and shut out Alcorn St. in the 2nd half of the game. A large part of that is thanks to the secondary, which is still yet to allow a 200 yard passer this season. The passing defense leads the SWAC and ranks 3rd in the entire FCS in pass yards allowed per game. It has become a dominant force for Southern this year.
“We gave up more rushing yards than we wanted to, but to hold a team to 76 yards passing, hats off to Coach Miller, the defensive staff, and the defensive players, those guys played lights out.”
Southern Head Coach Terrence Graves
That elite pass defense unit will be put to the test this week as the Jags take on their toughest test through the air all season. Florida A&M is 3rd in the SWAC (25th in the FCS) in passing this season with a lethal attack led by veteran QB Daniel Richardson. Richardson hasn’t thrown for under 196 yards this season against an FCS opponent. Southern hasn’t allowed more than 193 yards passing this season. Literally something has to give.
“He makes throws in tight windows that I haven’t seen a lot. He’s just able to pick up blitzes before the play, that’s pretty impressive as well.”
Southern LB Vincent Paige Jr. about Daniel Richardson
Southern travels to FAMU to play this Saturday at 6:00 central (gametime is 7:00 eastern). You can check out the full press conference below, featuring Head Coach Terrence Graves, OL Cameron Foster, OL Juan Gonzales, LB Vincent Paige Jr, and DL Ckelby Givens.
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