“Defense wins championships” as the famous saying goes, but defense can not do it alone.
The Southern Jaguars began Terrence Graves‘ first official season as Head Coach of the Jags by falling on the road to the McNeese Cowboys. The defense looked great throughout the vast majority of the game, but an inconsistent offense and a couple of dreadful special teams plays let the Jags down.
The defense was able to corral the Cowboys offensive attack throughout the game, forcing their starting quarterback Clifton McDowell off the field after an anemic start. In the first four drives of the game, McDowell only completed one pass, and the Cowboy offense only had 38 yards of total offense and one first down. The ball was not going anywhere under the Jags’ watch, so McNeese Head Coach Gary Goff decided to bench McDowell for backup Kamden Sixkiller. The quarterback change didn’t seem to make much of a difference, however, as the Cowboys failed to do anything offensively in the entire first half. Everyone on the Jags defense feasted, but most notable was star defensive lineman Ckelby Givens, who logged a TFL early in the game and seemed to live in the backfield the whole game.
The Jags’ offense was a bit more effective to start the game out, and that paid off in points early. A couple of 30 yard drives early in the game didn’t amount to anything, but this all changed during Sixkiller’s first drive. Early in the 2nd quarter, Cowboy running back Joshon Barbie fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Southern defensive tackle Zak Yassine. This gave the Southern offense a short enough field for them to punch the ball in with a 1 yard touchdown run by Barry Remo, making the score 7-0 Jags.
Unfortunately, despite being able to move the ball a bit more throughout, the Jags’ offense couldn’t make any further dents in the scoreboard. The Jags had chances, like when a Sixkiller fumble deep in Cowboy territory was recovered by Marcus Borne later in the 2nd quarter. But these chances would be squandered in one way or another, like when that fumble was immediately followed up with a Noah Bodden interception by Boogsie Silvera just 3 plays later.
This standstill continued until there was 11:39 left in the 4th quarter, where the Jags seemed to finally have a chance to finish another scoring drive with a 38 yard field goal attempt from returning all-SWAC kicker Joshua Griffin. At this point in the game, McNeese had 190 yards of total offense, 0 points, and had only put together one drive longer than 25 yards all game. A made field goal and a lead of 10 points would feel insurmountable. Instead, however, Griffin’s kick was blocked by the Cowboys and returned by Levi Wyatt all the way to the Jags 6 yard line.
This led to a quick touchdown run from a returning Clifton McDowell. Seemingly wanting the bigger body to help with running the ball in, McDowell was back in the game at quarterback over Sixkiller. McDowell carried the ball from the 6 yard line and scored, tying the game up at 7.
Unfortunately for the Jags, everything spiraled from there. The ensuing Southern drive went nowhere, and the snap went over the head of punter Kenny Pham, who kicked the ball out of the back of the endzone, resulting in a penalty and turnover on downs.
This gave the Cowboys yet another short field (this time only 2 yards), which was paid off again by McDowell. With 9:24 remaining in the game, Southern now trailed 14-7. In the span of 2 minutes, The Jags went from preparing to take a commanding two score lead to trailing by 7 points themselves.
At this point, the dam broke for Southern. The Jags brought in a new quarterback themselves, so Czavian Teasett got a chance to lead the offense. It didn’t help and the Jags found themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to punt again. There was no special teams miscue this time – instead, the Cowboys offense finally broke through and put together a drive themselves, mostly from the legs of McDowell on an impressive 36 yard run. This led to another short rushing touchdown, this time from D’Angelo Durham, in order to make the score 21-7 Cowboys.
Only about 5 minutes earlier in the game, the idea of a 2 score Jags lead felt insurmountable. Now, the harsh reality of a 2 score Cowboys lead really was insurmountable. The Jags failed to mount any comeback and lost with that final score, 21-7.
For McNeese, this is their first win on the field since November of 2022, a big milestone for a team that has struggled mightily as of late. For Southern, Terrence Graves will have to wait for his first win as the proper Head Coach of the Jags. McNeese will continue their season next Saturday at 11:45 A.M. by going to Texas A&M. Southern University will look to bounce back from this loss next Saturday at 6:00 P.M. when they host Savannah St for their home opener. For future updates on Southern University as well as football at both the high school and college level, make sure to stay posted here at www.gridironfootballusa.com.
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