Tres Bien: Jags' skill shows in win over Ohio, even without Davenport

South Alabama is 2-1 and showing some serious skill early into the season. Despite a few close calls in the final quarter of play, the Jags managed to handle business at home with a 41-36 win against a stout Ohio squad. The win is a much-needed bounce back from last week's close loss at Tulane, and exhibits some substantial growth from players on both sides of the ball.

I'll talk about the numbers later. First, it's very important to bring up the guts and resolve shown by the offense. In a game-time decision, previously starting quarterback Bishop Davenport did not take the field during the first drive or in the game at all. This kind of decision is usually one that strikes fear into the hearts of fans, but the Jags offensive unit worked incredibly hard to ease any worries that spectators may have had. Local guy, Jared Hollins played some lights-out football against the Bobcats defense. Hollins, who played in four games last season was tasked with a big-time start against a tough squad. He ended up throwing 13-of-20 for 192 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers coming from the Jaguars. As impressive as the statistics are, what impressed me was, sure, his ability to extend plays and find the right receiver at the right time, but more so the support he had from the entire offense. Specifically, the offensive line stands out as they did not allow a single sack to be recorded. Hollins managed to keep his jersey fairly clean and delivered some outstanding plays. And paired with the Jaguar trio of rushing domination putting up 248 rushing yards on top of Hollins's 18 yards of scrambling, you've got yourself an offensive performance singing the tune of 458 yards of total offense with 5 touchdowns and no turnovers. Add that to a pair of Davis Little field goals and you've got a combination that's hard to beat. But Ohio came close.

Defensively, the Jaguars allowed the Bobcats to put up 387 yards, of which 234 were through the air, and 36 points. After a dominant first half where the defense held Ohio to 7 points and forced two turnovers, one of which being an unlikely fumble recovery in their own end zone for a touchback, the defense came out and immediately let the Bobcats cut the 17-point lead down to 3. Even though the initial third-quarter score came due to an official who was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time and serving as a lead blocker, defensively, the Jags seemed more content to simply hold a lead rather than push to extend it. That kind of pattern can prove problematic in most games and catastrophic come time for conference play. But, South Alabama eventually shored up their walls and came up with some pretty big stops and a crushing sack in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. And after a couple more Ohio touchdowns and two failed onside kicks the game was over.

South Alabama did well against a challenging team who beat them two years ago, and it was a pretty great showing all around. (If you ignore the whopping 91 penalty yards the Jags racked up…) At the end of the day, a win is a win, and this was a much-needed one as the Jaguars go on the road to play Kentucky.

If there are any final thoughts to be had, they would be:

Offense, way to keep the ball safe and build each other up.

Defense, good effort holding a crafty and talented offense, but please stop giving free yards away.

Thank you hands team. Thank you so much.

Everyone, rest up. Next Saturday is going to be a challenge.