MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama head coach Joey Jones thanked Jaguar fans and students for the atmosphere at Ladd-Peebles Stadium during Saturday’s win over Western Kentucky, then turned his team’s attention to fundamentals during the bye week before its Sept. 28 game at Tennessee.
‘An Electric Feeling’
“I want to thank our fans, especially our students (for Saturday’s game),” Jones said at his Monday press conference. “Our student section seemed to be as big as it has been in a while. They came out and supported us, and were really loud. Some of our coaches were talking on the sideline about how loud it was. We couldn’t even talk in the huddle during timeouts. It was such an electric feeling, and that’s the kind of environment we want to play in. Our fans created that, and we appreciate that.”
Jones said the game unfolded as the staff had hoped. “It was one of those games where you hope you can hang around until the middle of the third quarter, and have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter and that’s exactly what happened,” he said. “After we tied the game up with the two-point conversion, at that point I knew the game was on. Our kids had a lot of confidence. It’s a tribute to my (coaching) staff and players for what they have done.”
Jones said the locker room after the game was as much fun as he had experienced in a long time, and that he was proud of his team for earning a win over a good opponent.
Improvement Since Tulane
Jones pointed to several areas of improvement since the Tulane game. He said the Jaguars’ tackling was much better against Western Kentucky, particularly against a running back who is difficult to bring down. He also cited improved special teams play and better decision-making by the quarterbacks, which he said has given the offense better balance.
Jones singled out the offensive line for its work. “It’s a position where you don’t get your picture in the paper very much or your name across the Jumbotron very often for making a good block,” he said. “They just have to do it because they love it and this team. I’m so proud of those guys. They’re doing a really good job.”
Back to Basics
Jones said his players are looking forward to playing at Tennessee in a stadium that seats more than 100,000, but that the open week would be devoted primarily to fundamentals.
“If you look at every play in the game where we didn’t do well, there’s always a fundamental flaw,” Jones said. “We have to learn to get better fundamentally, and this is a week you do that. You certainly start working on Tennessee and putting parts of the game plan in, but we have to come out of the next two days with two great practices from our players. If we do that and approach it that way, we can have a good week next week. But we have to get better fundamentally. We won the ballgame, but there are a lot of things we can get better at fundamentally and we have to continue to work on that.”
Tuesday’s practice followed that plan, with tackling work for the defense and on special teams. Jones said offensive players do not often get tackling work in practice, so the special teams drills benefit them as well. The staff is also installing parts of the Tennessee game plan this week.
Schedule and Health
South Alabama practices again Wednesday, then takes three days off before resuming game-week preparation on Sunday.
Aside from players already lost for the season, the Jaguars are relatively healthy, and Jones expects the rest of the roster to be available for the trip to Knoxville.
