Key to Southern's win vs. South Carolina State: Winning third down on both sides of the ball

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Southern won Sunday’s game against South Carolina State on third down.

The Jaguars didn’t have a banner day offensively in their 14-8 win — their 14 points and 297 yards were their lowest outputs since 2015 — but they converted 11 of 19 third-down opportunities.

And the defense was even better: South Carolina State did not convert a single third down in 10 tries.

“That definitely helped,” Southern coach Dawson Odums said. “I didn’t realize they were 0 for 10. If we can play great third-down defense and great third-down offense, we’ve got a chance to be successful.”

It led to Southern having a nearly seven-minute advantage in time of possession.

“They stayed on the field in a lot of situations where we needed the football back desperately,” South Carolina State coach Oliver Pough said.

Southern quarterback Austin Howard was particularly effective on third down: He was 8 of 11 for 109 yards, each of his third-down completions resulting in a first down.

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