Monday, September 24, 2007

Landry continues touchdown streak


By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter



Southern wide receiver Gerard Landry didn’t miss a step after having to sit out the first half.

And neither did his teammates.

Suspended by NCAA rules after being ejected for throwing a swing in the fourth quarter a week earlier, Landry came on to make a 6-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give him a touchdown catch in all four games this season as SU beat Tennessee State 41-34 Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium.

Plus, RaShon Jacobs, a Louisiana-Monroe transfer who sat out last season and started in place of Landry, caught his first touchdown as a Jaguar and Del Roberts, a former North Carolina transfer, had a career-high 110 yards and his first score this season, a go-ahead 48-yard TD five minutes into the fourth quarter.

“I was very anxious to get in after I sat out the first half,” said Landry, who motioned to the crowd as he took the field in the second half. “It was good to see guys like Jacobs stepping up and making plays for us. That was a big for us.”

Jacobs’ 13-yard touchdown, on a third-and-11, came on a slant route against Tennessee State cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, whom his position coach called a first-round draft pick earlier in the week. It was Jacobs’ first collegiate score since Oct. 4, 2003.

Later, on Landry’s first catch, he went for 21 yards and a first down — converting a third-and-7 — as Rodgers-Cromartie leaped with two hands unto Landry’s back, only to have Landry shrug him off and keep chugging.

“We wanted to execute every play, take advantage of him,” Landry said. “We weren’t going to stop throwing to his side just because he’s supposed to be a first-round draft pick. It didn’t make any difference. We were going to attack him, no matter what.”

Landry’s TD catch got the Jaguars within 27-25 with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
“When I got in there, I just made something happen,” said Landry, who has caught one TD pass in six of SU’s last seven games.

Jacobs had three catches for 40 yards, all in the first half. Landry finished with the two catches for 27 yards.

Roberts had four catches for 41 yards in the first half and six catches total.

On Roberts’ touchdown, he was pushed out of bounds by cornerback Ozzie Harrell, on what was ruled pass interference, along the right sideline but adjusted to get back to the ball and then weave through the defense to give SU a 38-34 lead with 10:16 to play.

“I knew it was going to be pass interference, so I just kept going,” Roberts said.

Quick hits
SU came up with seven sacks Saturday after totaling six in the previous three games. &hellip SU turned three of Tennessee State’s five second-half turnovers into 16 points. &hellip SU has won five consecutive games, dating to the Bayou Classic. &hellip Southern’s 41 points was its best total since a 44-20 win over Texas Southern in 2005. The Jaguars had gone 16 games without breaking 40 points.

Lagniappe
When Southern plays Tennessee State next season, the teams will play in the John Merritt Classic in Nashville, Tenn., at LP Field (home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans) on Sept. 6, 2008. That will be the second game of the season. SU opens at the University of Houston on Aug. 30. SU had its first sustained first-quarter scoring drive of the season, going 65 yards in nine plays for a TD. Previously, SU’s only first-quarter score came when RB Darren Coates broke a 90-yard TD run on the offense’s first play of the season. TSU stayed in New Orleans on Friday night. TSU CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s PAT block with 10:16 left gave him his third straight game with a blocked kick (one field goal and two PATs).

Southern University Jaguars Human Jukebox Marching Band

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