LAS CRUCES, N.M. — New Mexico State quarterback Tyler Rogers threw a go-ahead touchdown pass with 32 seconds remaining, and the Aggies held on to beat South Alabama 22-17 on Saturday in the final game of Joey Jones’ tenure as the Jaguars’ head coach.
The loss ended South Alabama’s season at 4-8 and closed the careers of the team’s 19 seniors. New Mexico State’s win put the Aggies in position for their first bowl appearance since 1960.
Jones, who was hired in 2008 to build the South Alabama program and led the Jaguars through their first season of play in 2009, finishes with a record of 52-50 over nine seasons.
Aggies Take Halftime Lead
South Alabama led 7-0 entering the second quarter, but New Mexico State scored the next 13 points to take a 13-7 lead into halftime.
The Jaguars had a chance to answer before the break. Cole Garvin connected with Kawaan Baker for an 18-yard gain to the New Mexico State 2-yard line, but a personal foul on Harrison Louden pushed the ball back to the 17. Jordan McCray then lost 9 yards on a reverse when he stepped out of bounds, and an 11-yard sack produced a fumble that rolled out of bounds at the Aggies’ 40.
A personal foul on New Mexico State after the fumble gave South Alabama 15 yards and a first down at the 25. A pass to Reinkemeyer lost a yard and Garvin was sacked for a 3-yard loss, leaving the Jaguars facing third-and-14. Garvin’s next pass was intercepted along the sideline at the 24, ending the threat.
Garvin started at quarterback and rotated series with Dallas Davis during the first half.
Fourth-Quarter Comeback
New Mexico State opened the fourth quarter with a field goal for a 16-7 lead. South Alabama responded with 11:49 remaining when Garvin threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to McCray, cutting the margin to 16-14.
The Jaguars’ defense then made a stop. Facing fourth-and-4 at the South Alabama 17, New Mexico State went for the first down, and the Jaguars forced an incompletion to take over on downs.
Garvin followed with four straight completions of 10, 3, 19 and 42 yards. Jamarius Way caught three of them, and McCray caught the 19-yarder. On third-and-goal from the 10, Garvin’s pass to Malik Stanley fell incomplete, and Jones sent out the field goal unit. The kick gave South Alabama its first lead since early in the game, 17-16, with 3:13 left.
Aggies Answer Late
New Mexico State moved down the field with a series of short completions. Rogers capped the drive by finding Conner Cramer, a native of Grand Bay, Ala., in the back of the end zone. The Aggies’ two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score 22-17 with 32 seconds to play.
New Mexico State’s ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, which would have given South Alabama the ball at its own 35. Jones’ staff instead elected to have the Aggies kick again from the 30. The Jaguars attempted a cross-field throwback on the return, but the lateral did not carry and bounced, allowing defenders to close in as the clock ran. South Alabama took over at its 27 with 24 seconds left.
Garvin completed an 11-yard pass along the left sideline and then ran up the middle but came up short of a first down, forcing the Jaguars to use their final timeout with 12 seconds left. After an incompletion, Garvin threw deep into the end zone on the final play. A defender tipped the pass, and the ball bounced away from Way.
Jones: ‘I Was Proud of Our Guys Fighting’
In his final postgame press conference at South Alabama, Jones said he had asked his team to compete.
“All I wanted for us to do coming into this game was to fight and I thought we did that. We came up a little short,” Jones said. “[New Mexico State’s] quarterback is a great player and made some plays on their last drive. With about five minutes left, they had a third-and-10 and he hit it. On their touchdown play, he was able to scramble around and made a great throw. It really wasn’t anything that our guys did wrong, but rather what [NMSU] did right. I was proud of our guys fighting tonight.”
Jones said the offense executed better after halftime. “In the first half, we dropped some passes. We also got down to the one and got a penalty, which brought the ball back and hurt us trying to score,” he said. “I told the guys at halftime, that if we just keep running our offense, we’ll be OK.”
The Jaguars limited New Mexico State running back Larry Rose III on the ground. “Our coaches did a great job calling plays defensively. Rose is a heck of a running back,” Jones said. “We wanted to make NMSU throw the ball, but unfortunately Tyler Rogers is a very good quarterback. Our hats are off to New Mexico State.”
Players React
Senior defensive back Jeremy Reaves became only the second defensive back in South Alabama history to record at least 100 tackles in a season.
“We fought and that’s all coach [Joey Jones] asked for,” Reaves said. “We fought for 60 minutes and the score didn’t reflect it, but I’m happy with the way our guys fought considering this was my last game here.”
Reaves said the defense focused on physical play against Rose. “We knew that Rose was an electric player and that he was going to make plays. We also knew it was going to come down to us being physical,” he said. “The defense was just able to stop them at the line of scrimmage and the point of attack.”
Of Rogers, Reaves said, “He’s a great player. We were talking throughout the game and he told me he was trying to throw away from me because I hit too hard. He’s a ball player though; he’s good with his legs and he’s good with his arm.”
Garvin said the offense stuck with what was working in the second half. “We made it a game [in the second half] and we really tried to get the win, but we couldn’t get it done on the last offensive drive,” he said. “We just kept calling the same plays that were working and minimized mistakes. Coach Owens called a really good game against the defense we were in and we just kept hitting the holes.”
Statistics
South Alabama finished with 353 yards of total offense, including 331 passing and 22 rushing. Jaguar quarterbacks combined to complete 26 of 46 passes with one touchdown and two interceptions.
- Cole Garvin: 22-of-37, 268 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; sacked four times
- Dallas Davis: 4-of-9, 63 yards, 1 INT; team-high 15 rushing yards on five carries
- Jamarius Way: 7 catches, 88 yards
- Jordan McCray: 4 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD
- Malik Stanley: 3 catches, 47 yards
- Tra Minter: 3 catches, 42 yards; 8 rushing yards
- Jalen Wayne: 8 rushing yards
- Sacks: Bull Barge, Darrell Songy and Wade Forde, one each
South Alabama’s defense allowed 491 total yards, 451 of them through the air and 40 on the ground. Rogers completed 40 of 61 passes with two touchdowns and an interception. Jaleel Scott caught nine passes for 134 yards, and Rose added nine receptions for 95 yards along with 52 rushing yards. Jason Huntley ran for 10 yards.
Coaching Search Ahead
With the season complete, South Alabama’s search for Jones’ successor is expected to accelerate. Athletics director Joel Erdmann is expected to begin interviewing candidates this week as other programs’ seasons conclude.
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is expected to serve as interim head coach until a new head coach is hired.
Pregame Notes
Jones announced his resignation about a week before the finale, after the loss at Georgia Southern ended South Alabama’s bowl hopes. He did not attend the team’s regular Monday press conference before the game, keeping the focus on his players. Asked earlier about coaching on the Jaguars’ sideline for the final time, Jones said, “It will probably mean a lot more later when I have a cane and a wheelchair and they’re honoring me on the field for starting the program back in 2009. It’s going to be special one day. I’m just proud to be a small part of it.”
“A lot of people want to send coach Jones out with a win because of everything he’s done for us. We want to do right for him,” senior offensive guard Harrison Louden said before the game. “We want to do right for the seniors as well and I can’t emphasize that enough.”
Louden was one of seven projected senior starters playing their final game, along with Dominic Esposito, Andrew Reinkemeyer, Zach Befort, Finesse Middleton, Darrell Songy and Jeremy Reaves. “I know things haven’t panned out the way that we would’ve liked them to, but I want to go out with a bang; I want to go out with a ‘W’,” defensive end Jimmie Gipson said.
South Alabama entered the game short-handed at running back. Career rushing leader Xavier Johnson and Tywun Walters were no longer with the team because of violations of team rules, and three other backs were sidelined by injuries, leaving Tra Minter and Carlos Robinson as the only running backs active from the start of the season.
Rogers played after suffering a grade 2 sprain of the AC joint in the second half of New Mexico State’s Nov. 18 game against Louisiana-Lafayette. Entering the finale he ranked third nationally in completions per game (27.9), sixth in total offense (339.8 yards per game) and 16th in passing yards (3,374). Aggies wide receiver OJ Clark, second on the team with 44 catches for 492 yards, was slated to miss the game. Scott entered with 908 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
