Southern ends Houston hex by topping Texas Southern

HOUSTON, Texas  -- These trips to Houston aren’t such a bad deal for Southern after all.

The Jaguars had lost their past five games and six of the past seven played in this city before beating Texas Southern 31-24 on Friday night at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Southern, 5-4 and 5-2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, moved within one victory or one Prairie View loss of clinching the conference’s West Division title and returning here next month to play for the league championship. The Tigers fell to 2-7 and 2-6.

The Jaguars bounced back from a 44-38 loss to Alcorn State last week and overcame three turnovers to maintain control of the division with a one-game lead and the tiebreaker edge. They could clinch the division as early as Thursday, when Prairie View plays at Alcorn State.

Southern has two more SWAC games — at Alabama State next Saturday and vs. Grambling in the Bayou Classic on Nov. 30 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Prairie View also hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a league game Nov. 23.

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Morgan’s fake punt run brings Jaguars’ offense to life

HOUSTON, Texas -- Trailing Texas Southern 3-0 in the second quarter, Southern found an offensive spark in an unlikely place: hiding behind two big lineman in a punt formation.

Sophomore receiver Justin Morgan took a fourth-down snap as the upback from the Southern 39-yard line and ran 26 yards for a first down.

SU quarterback Dray Joseph connected with Lee Doss on the next play for the Jaguars’ first touchdown. Five minutes later, the Jaguars had turned a 3-0 deficit into a 21-3 lead.

It all started with Morgan’s fake punt, and the Jaguars never looked back in a 31-24 victory over Texas Southern at BBVA Compass Stadium on Friday night.

“I’m tired of practicing fakes and not running them,” coach Dawson Odums said. “We needed to jump-start the game, and we had to do something to create some momentum.”

After SU saw its first two possessions end in turnovers, the Jaguars were lined up to punt the ball back to Texas Southern. Only the ball never got to punter Corey Carter.



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