SAN MARCOS, Texas — South Alabama fell behind by 24 points in the first quarter and could not complete its comeback Saturday, losing 52-44 to Texas State in the regular-season finale.
Desmond Trotter, who replaced an injured Carter Bradley early in the second half, threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns. DJ Thomas-Jones caught three touchdown passes, and Braylon McReynolds, starting in place of an injured La’Damian Webb, led the Jaguars with 79 rushing yards on 19 carries.
South Alabama finished the regular season 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. Texas State improved to 7-5 and 4-4.
Wommack: “An Incredible Hole”
“We dug ourselves into an incredible hole and earned a loss with poor execution,” South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack said. “We didn’t make enough plays defensively. We weren’t nearly responsive enough. That was really the story to me all season. When we’re in tight games and tough moments, we didn’t have a defense that was responsive enough.”
“We just made too many errors in all three phases – offense, defense, special teams,” he said.
Bobcats Strike Early
South Alabama’s defense kept Texas State off the scoreboard on the Bobcats’ opening possession, only the third time this season Texas State had been held scoreless on its first drive. On the Jaguars’ first offensive play, however, Texas State forced a fumble by Caullin Lacy, and Kaleb Culp returned it 31 yards for a touchdown.
TJ Finley then threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Ashtyn Hawkins for a 14-0 lead at the 8:47 mark. After a South Alabama three-and-out, Donerio Davenport opened the next drive with a 31-yard run, and Jahmyl Jeter scored on a 1-yard keeper out of the wildcat formation to make it 21-0 with 3:38 left in the first quarter.
Texas State recovered an onside kick at the South Alabama 37, and the Jaguar defense held the Bobcats to a 28-yard field goal with 1:05 left in the opening period for a 24-0 lead.
Jaguars Answer Before Halftime
Bradley found Javon Ivory for a 39-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, Ivory’s first score of the season. The two-point attempt failed, leaving South Alabama behind 24-6 with 14:08 left in the half. Texas State’s Kole Wilson immediately returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown from about two yards deep in the end zone, making it 31-6.
Khalil Jacobs forced a fumble that Marquise Robinson caught and returned 25 yards to the Texas State 29, setting up a season-long 51-yard field goal by Diego Guajardo. After forcing a punt, South Alabama took over with 1:52 left in the half, and Bradley capped the drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Thomas-Jones. Bradley hit Thomas-Jones again on the two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 31-17 at halftime.
Trotter Takes Over
On the third play of the second half, Bradley went down on a hit that aggravated a left knee injury. Trotter led the Jaguars into field goal range, but Guajardo’s 55-yard attempt had the distance and was pulled wide right.
After a Texas State punt, Trotter completed passes of 19 yards to Lacy and 51 yards to Jamaal Pritchett, then threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Thomas-Jones to make it 31-24 with 6:41 left in the third quarter.
Texas State answered with a 64-yard drive aided by completions of 39 and 16 yards, and Finley scored on a 1-yard run with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Quentin Wilfawn tipped a Finley pass at the line, and Jacobs intercepted it and returned it 12 yards to the Texas State 28. McReynolds opened the drive with a 16-yard run, and Trotter threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Lacy on a corner route at the 12:57 mark. The two-point try failed, leaving South Alabama behind 38-30.
The Bobcats needed four plays to answer, with Finley hitting Wilson for a 24-yard touchdown and a 45-30 lead with 11:31 remaining.
Final Minutes
South Alabama drove for a touchdown on a possession that took 7:25 off the clock, with Trotter finding Thomas-Jones in the end zone. After a pass interference penalty gave the Jaguars a second two-point attempt, Trotter was pressured and threw incomplete to the right side of the end zone, leaving the score 45-36 with 4:01 to play.
South Alabama used two timeouts on the next Texas State possession, but on third-and-9, Finley completed a 41-yard pass to Konner Fox to the 1-yard line. The Jaguars allowed Texas State to score to preserve time, and the Bobcats led 52-36 with 2:54 remaining.
On South Alabama’s next possession, Texas State’s Jordan Revels was penalized for unnecessary roughness for a hit on Thomas-Jones after the whistle, and South Alabama’s Dontae Lucas was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the following play. The Jaguars drew consecutive neutral-zone infractions, and Trotter later threw a 5-yard touchdown pass. McReynolds converted the two-point attempt on a shovel pass to make it 52-44 with 1:02 left.
Texas State recovered the onside kick, and with South Alabama holding one timeout, the Bobcats ran out the clock.
By the Numbers
After being dominated statistically in the first quarter, South Alabama finished with more total yards than Texas State.
Bradley completed 18 of 24 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns before leaving. Trotter was 19 of 22 for 220 yards, four touchdowns and an interception, and ran seven times for 20 yards. Marco Lee Jr. had 4 yards on four carries.
Lacy caught 11 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Thomas-Jones had nine catches for 56 yards and three touchdowns, McReynolds caught six passes for 70 yards, Ivory had four for 85 yards and a touchdown, and Pritchett had four for 81 yards.
James Miller, Ricky Fletcher, Wilfawn, Jacobs and Charles Coleman III each had six tackles. Wilfawn and Jacobs each recorded a sack, and Jacobs had the Jaguars’ only interception.
Finley completed 19 of 28 passes for 368 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Hawkins led all receivers with 131 yards and a touchdown on five catches, and Wilson had six catches for 102 yards and a touchdown. Ismail Mahdi ran for 97 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, Davenport had 35 yards on six carries, and Jeter scored on two carries for 3 yards.
Wommack Praises Trotter
“Our offense was better in the second half,” Wommack said. “But our defense never gave us a chance to get back in the game enough. We had to find a way to get one more stop and we didn’t do that. That’s kind of been the take of our season, we have not been responsive enough in tough games. That’s something we’ve got to get better at.”
“I’m so proud of Desmond Trotter,” Wommack said. “He answered the bell and made play after play. He’s worked so hard every single day. He’s been the guy ready at a moment’s notice. He was selfless when we put Gio in versus Troy. I didn’t want to burn Gio’s redshirt, but we wanted to give Dez a shot and what a tremendous job he did. We would have loved to be able to execute better so he had a chance to win it at the end.”
Up Next
South Alabama will learn its bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 3. The athletics department is taking ticket requests for the Sun Belt Conference’s tie-in bowl games at usajaguars.com; fans will be contacted before being charged if the Jaguars are selected for one of those bowls.
