Offense sluggish as Tigers fall short
Texas Southern coach Michael Haywood said he saw the Tigers’ loss on Saturday to Jackson State coming. He felt TSU hadn’t prepared well enough during the week to come away with a win.
Haywood was proved correct.
A final drive by Texas Southern netted nine first downs, counting two pass interference calls on Jackson State, but the series ended with Averion Hurts throwing an interception at the 1-yard line, and TSU came up short. Again.
Jackson State held off the Tigers 21-13 at BBVA Compass Stadium, handing TSU its fourth loss in seven games. Saturday’s eight-point margin is TSU’s largest of the season.
“On Friday, we had players celebrating home- coming. Homecoming is great, but there’s a limit,” Haywood said. “We don’t know how to stay within that limit.
“You have to pay the price. We didn’t pay the price this week. It was evident in practice.”
It was a tough loss for TSU, given that it was homecoming and a winnable Southwestern Athletic Conference game. The Tigers, who led 10-7 at halftime, have not beaten Jackson State since 2010.
TSU (3-4, 3-3 SWAC) managed only 201 yards of offense, and had no yards passing in the first half on two completions. Jackson State (3-4, 3-2) accumulated 362 yards, with Robert Johnson rushing for two touchdowns and Jordan Johnson scoring the game’s final touchdown on a 55-yard scamper with 11:24 remaining in the game.
TSU defensive lineman Damond King had a big game with seven tackles, two for loss. The 6-4, 260-pound senior from Westfield caused a second-quarter fumble that Ryhean McMorris recovered. Later in the quarter, safety Dondre Dobbins recovered a fumble for the Tigers.
But the TSU defense allowed the 55-yard touchdown run by Johnson, and the Tigers couldn’t come back.
“We’re going to get it together,” King said. “We should have come out with a victory.”
Hurts, who had 39 yards lost in sacks, netted 37 rushing yards and accounted for TSU’s only touchdown — a 4-yard pass to Mario Smalls — to open the scoring with 9:20 to play in the first quarter. Smalls’ reception was the only one of two comple- tions for Texas Southern in the first half that went for positive yardage.
TSU’s Eric Medina was successful on field goals of 49 and 38 yards.
Before the interception with 15 seconds left in the game, Hurts was impressive on TSU’s final drive. The drive started from its own 11-yard line with 4:20 to play.
The Tigers advanced as far as Jackson State’s 2-yard line with 35 seconds remaining, but then couldn’t get the ball into the end zone, and an offensive holding penalty moved the ball back to the 12-yard line with 18 seconds left. On the next play, Hurts was intercepted by Preston Hughes at the 1, and he returned it 40 yards, securing the victory for Jackson State.