LIVE FOOTBALL TONIGHT: Jackson State vs. Texas Southern on ESPNU at 7:30 PM ET

JACKSON, Mississippi -- The Game: The Jackson State Tigers and the Texas Southern Tigers square off in a Thursday night game on September 19 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU. The two teams meet for the 58th time on the gridiron. JSU holds a 38-18-1 series advantage. The two teams have split the last four games with Texas Southern winning in 2009 and 2010. JSU won the last two games in 2011 and 2012. Both teams are looking to rebound from disappointing losses. JSU (1-2) fell 26-16 to Tennessee State on Saturday during the 2013 Southern Heritage Classic and Texas Southern (0-2) fell 55-17 to Sam Houston State. With Thursday night’s game being nationally televised on ESPNU both the JSU Tigers and the TXSO Tigers look to bounce back.

Head Coach Rick Comegy: Jackson State head coach Rick Comegy (Millersville, ‘76) enters his eighth season at the helm of the Tigers’ football program. He comes into the game with a 49-34 overall record at JSU and a 157-84 career record. Over the previous seven seasons, Comegy has led the Tigers to six winning seasons, three Southwestern Athletic Conference Eastern Division titles and one SWAC championship. Last season the Tigers fell just short of claiming a second SWAC championship by falling 24-21 in OT to Arkansas Pine Bluff in the conference title game at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. Prior to coming to Jackson State, Comegy was the head coach at Tuskegee University where he won four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships (NCAA D-II), three Pioneer Bowl crowns and a Black College National Championship (2000). In 2000 his Tuskegee Tigers recorded a perfect 12-0 record. Since coming to JSU Comegy has a -25 record against Texas Southern.

Jackson State Game Notes (TXSO)
Jackson State Updated 2013 Stats
Texas Southern Game Notes
Live Stats

Scouting Texas Southern: The Texas Southern Tigers enter Thursday’s game with a 0-2 record. TXSO fell 55-17 to Sam Houston State on Saturday and 37-13 to Prairie View A&M in the team’s season opener. The TXSO offense is led by Daveonn Porter, who leads the team in rushing with 197 yards through two games. He is averaging 98.5 yards per game and has one touchdown. Homer Causey is the signal caller with the most attempts on the team. To date he has passed for 163 yards and a touchdown and two interceptions. He has completed 15 of his 27 pass attempts. So far, his favorite target has been Dedric Shipman, who has hauled in seven passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, TXSO is led by Darveon Trahan who has a 24 tackles.

Texas Southern Head Coach Darrell Asberry: Darrell Asberry was named the 15th head coach of the Texas Southern Tigers team in December 2011 by athletics director Dr. Charles McClelland. Asberry was the head coach at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC for the previous five seasons. The Baton Rouge, LA native is a 1994 graduate of Jackson State University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. He lettered two seasons as a quarterback at JSU, earning the team’s MVP award as a senior. After his collegiate career, he played professionally as a wide receiver and quarterback with the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League (1994-95) and as a wide receiver with the Amsterdam Admirals of the World League of American Football (1995-96). In 1999, he returned to his alma maters as the running backs coach before being promoted to Offensive Coordinator in 2000. In 2001, JSU led NCAA Division I-AA in passing yards, and in 2012 the JSU Tigers led the nation in total offensive yards.

Last JSU – Texas Southern Meeting: When the two teams met last season, JSU defeated Texas Southern 45-35 at TXSO’s new stadium (BBVA Compass). The win was Jackson State’s first of the 2012 season. Not only did JSU win the game, but the Tigers also identified their starting signal caller in Clayton Moore. Moore got his first start in a JSU uniform and passed 363 yards and three touchdowns against TXSO. He also ran 101 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Rico Richardson caught eight passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns. Joseph LeBeau led the Tigers defensive effort, finishing with eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

Next Game: Jackson State will return to action September 28 when the Tigers travel to Baton Rouge, La. to face Southern University Jaguars.

COURTESY JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS