Southern University Accept WNIT Invite: Travels to Tulane on Thursday

Baton Rouge, La. - Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season women's basketball champion Southern University accepted an invitation Monday to the WNIT, an automatic berth for conference champions that do not win their respective tournament title. The Lady Jaguars will travel to New Orleans to face Tulane on Thursday in the opening round of the 64-team tournament.

There was some speculation as to whether or not the Lady Jaguars would accept the bid to the tournament when head coach Sandy Pugh announced in her post-game interview following the SWAC Tournament championship game that the school might not be able to afford to send the team to the post-season.

2011 WNIT Bracket

SU raises funds, draws Tulane in WNIT

One by one, they started to show up at Southern University with their checkbooks and wallets open, offering to support the women’s basketball team however they could. Thanks to a flood of 11th-hour donations from alumni and booster groups, the women’s basketball team collected enough money to cover last-minute travel costs for the WNIT.

That allowed the Jaguars to accept the automatic bid they received for winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

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Southern University Releases 2011 Football Schedule

Jaguars face stiff 2011 slate

Stump Mitchell, quite naturally, wants to win more than two games in his second season as Southern University’s football coach. Apparently, his team won’t grow fat on weak opponents. SU’s schedule for 2011 includes three games in NFL stadiums, home games against big rivals and a first month that looks like a doozy.

Southern opens its season in Nashville, Tenn., against Tennessee State in the John Merritt Classic at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.

After that, the Jaguars face Alabama A&M and Jackson State on back-to-back Saturdays, followed by an appearance at the Georgia Dome in the Atlanta Football Classic, against an opponent to be announced later (Florida A&M University Rattlers).

Southern University Jagaurs 2011 Football Schedule

September
3 Tennessee State Nashville, Tenn.
10 Alabama A&M Baton Rouge
17 Jackson State Baton Rouge
24 Florida A&M Atlanta Football Classic Atlanta
October
1 at Mississippi Valley State Itta Bena, Miss.
8 Prairie View Baton Rouge

15 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff Pine Bluff, Ark.

22 Open

29 Alcorn State Baton Rouge

November

5 at Texas Southern Houston

12 at Alabama State Montgomery, Ala.

19 Open

26 Grambling New Orleans

A week-by-week look at SU's football schedule

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Maxey, Tigers rip Jags, set up SWAC showdown

Grant Maxey scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds and Jackson State rebounded from Saturday's loss at rival Alcorn State with a 72-43 whipping at Southern University on Monday night.

"Every one's a big win for us," JSU coach Tevester Anderson said on his postgame radio interview. "You need big wins when you're competing for a championship."

With Mississippi Valley State's loss Monday, the Tigers (13-10, 9-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference) now hold sole possession of second place in the conference standings with a home showdown against SWAC-leading Texas Southern set for Saturday.

"It should be a big game. I hope our fans will come out," Anderson said. "We'll be competing for first place. They win, they'll take a two- game lead."

SU back in top gear; Jaguars ride big 2nd half to run over Jackson State

The slump is over. The streak lives. And the Southern women’s basketball team may be close to reaching its full potential — just in time for the stretch run.

Locked in a tight game against Jackson State on Monday night, the Jaguars used a sharp, timely second-half run to pull away for a 72-55 victory inside the F.G. Clark Activity Center, extending their winning streak to eight games and maintaining their grip on first place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings.

But it wasn’t just that Southern (13-8, 10-1) put an opponent away. It was how the Jaguars did it, using the talents of four seniors to stretch out their advantage. Leading 52-46 with less than six minutes remaining, the Jaguars went on a 16-0 run.


Videographer: tarentulami; Southern University Drumline performs in Algeria.

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Mitchell hoping effort pays off for Southern Jaguars

Less than three months after his first season ended with a 2-9 record, Stump Mitchell said he knew his second recruiting class had to count for quite a lot. This time around, his program couldn’t afford to whiff.

Mitchell, who introduced 17 new recruits to a crowd of faithful fans Wednesday night at the Smith-Brown Memorial Student Union, said he wanted the complete package among this year’s signees — players who weren’t just ready for college football, but those who were coming to campus with a lofty grade-point average.

After all, he said, student-athletes aren’t worth much to a football program if they can’t remain students.

SU’s Mitchell re-recruiting former players

Second-year coach Stump Mitchell was, without much doubt, pleased with his second class of recruits at Southern University, which included 17 signees. But there’s another piece to a potential turnaround at SU, which posted a 2-9 record — the worst in school history — in Mitchell’s first season.

It was almost as important, Mitchell said, to re-recruit some players who are already on campus — former SU veterans who were academically ineligible last season.

The Official List of 2011 Southern U. Football Signees

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SU women beat ASU for fourth straight victory

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Defense, rebounding and strong guard play helped the Southern women’s basketball team in a 50-41 victory at Alabama State on Saturday night, extending the Jaguars’ winning streak to four games. Now, it’s on to Alabama A&M and a showdown for control of the Southwestern Athletic Conference race.

Saturday night in the Dunn-Lover Acadome, for the seventh time in seven conference games, Southern shot below 40 percent from the floor — but the Jaguars, as usual, made sure their 50 points were enough.

Southern (9-8, 6-1) forced 20 turnovers and owned a 33-25 advantage in rebounds against Alabama State (4-13, 1-5). The Lady Hornets got 14 points from Tanika Jackson and 10 points from Erica Henderson, but six of their 11 players went scoreless.

ASU falls short, Moorer or less

Former Central-Hayneville standout Tramayne Moorer returned to the Alabama State lineup for just the second time this season Saturday.

He responded with only the third double-double by a Hornet this season, scoring a team-high 11 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as the Hornets lost to Southern 64-52 at Dunn-Oliver Acadome.

For Moorer, it's a double dose of frustration. Sidelined for all but one game of his second and third years at ASU with a broken kneecap and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, he was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA to play this season.

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Maxey, JSU Tigers put clamps on Southern Jaguars

Two days after scoring its most points in a conference game in eight years, Jackson State delivered another impressive performance - this time, on the defensive end.

Grant Maxey had his first double-double in nearly two years - re-emerging for the Tigers at the right time - and Jackson State whipped Southern 73-49 Monday night, pushing its Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season win streak to 17 games and showing the home crowd it can also play some defense.

"I think our defense is getting better," JSU coach Tevester Anderson said. "We played awesome defense the first 20 minutes."

Southern women edge Jackson State

JACKSON, Miss. — Hannah Kador and the Southern women’s basketball team had both been in an ugly shooting slump. Monday night at Jackson State, they both warmed up when they absolutely needed to.

The Jaguars set a season high by shooting 50 percent from the floor, and Kador was 3-for-6 in the second-half — including the game-winning shot, a short jumper that gave Southern a 63-61 victory Monday night over Jackson State.

It was a happy ending to an otherwise rough game for the Jaguars (6-8, 3-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Tiffany Foster and Ashley Augerson, both seniors, weren’t available for the final horn. Foster fouled out, and Augerson suffered a broken nose during the first half.

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Slow-starting LSU Tigers heat up late to pull away from Southern Jaguars

Not long after the LSU men’s basketball team pulled away from Southern in the second half for a 62-41 victory Monday night, fans trickled out of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and headed into the night, many of them surely searching for updates on the just-under-way Saints-Falcons game.

By then, the temperature in Baton Rouge had dipped to 31 degrees and headed toward the 20s. How fitting. For much of Monday night’s game between these two struggling teams, the Jaguars and Tigers were both ice-cold from the floor.

Assessing basketball season as SWAC play nears

Yes, the Southern men’s basketball team lost to LSU by 21 points on Monday night, 62-41.

Yes, it was the Jaguars’ ninth straight loss.

No, they probably won’t sniff a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

They probably won’t finish above fifth.

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Xavier (N.O.) knocks off Southern U. 72-58

BATON ROUGE, La. – Michael Harvey scored a season-high 20 points and Xavier (N.O.), a NAIA program, never trailed in a 72-58 victory over Southern University on Monday night. Anthony Simmons added 14 points for the Gold Rush (12-0), who are No. 9 in NAIA Division I.

Xavier shot 50 percent from the field (23 of 46), 85.7 percent from the free-throw line (18 of 21) and outrebounded the Jaguars 41-29. Jamann Kenner hit a 3-pointer to give the Gold Rush a 12-2 lead with 15:46 left in the first half. Xavier extended the margin to 28-13 on Harvey's dunk with 6:25 left before halftime.

Southern (1-9) cut the lead to 47-43 on Blake Sanford's jumper with 11:17 to play, but the Gold Rush pushed the lead to...

Xavier-N.O. keeps Southern reeling

Unable to hit an outside jumper or grab a key rebound, Southern forward Quinton Doggett wore warmups and watched Monday’s game from the bench in the northeast corner of the F.G. Clark Activity Center. He had barely settled into his seat when Xavier players started burning up the nets.

Running down loose basketballs, racing down the floor in transition and sinking a flurry of outside shots, the Gold Rush opened a big lead in the first half and finished strong down the stretch in a 72-58 victory, handing the Jaguars their seventh consecutive loss.

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Ned, longtime Southern assistant trainer, dies at 53

Terrence Graves was hard at work Friday night in Itta Bena, Miss., when his cell phone practically fell off the table, ringing with calls and text messages from old friends from Southern University. Graves, the former Southern defensive coordinator, knew that was bad news.

His worst fear about a longtime friend was true: Assistant trainer John Ned, a fixture at Southern University for the better part of four decades, died late Friday night from cancer at 53, leaving behind friends and family who were saddened by the loss and stunned by how quickly his life ended.

“He and I became like family, so it’s kind of rough right now,” said Graves, now coaching at Mississippi Valley State. “I want to remember Ned like he was — healthy and happy.”

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Legendary Coaches Walker and McGowan leads 2010 SWAC Hall of Fame Class

Coach Shirley Gibbs Walker won 493 games at Alcorn State

Birmingham, Ala. - The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) announced its 2010 inductees for the league’s Hall of Fame. The class includes six honorees affiliated with five of the league’s 10 member institutions.

The 2010 inductees are: Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd (Jackson State, baseball), Clyde Duncan (Texas Southern, track and field), Charlie Granger (Southern, football / track and field), Aaron James (Grambling, basketball), Willie “Rat” McGowan (Alcorn State, baseball/ football), and Shirley Walker (Alcorn State, basketball).

Coach Rat McGowan won 701 games and four titles at ASU

The class will be honored on Thursday, December 9 at an invitational reception at the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham as a part of the festivities surrounding the 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Football Championship Game. The inductees will also be made available to media members at the championship’s press conference at the Birmingham Sheraton on Friday, December 10 at 10:00 a.m.

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Baptiste signing off after 35 years on Southern radio call

On this beautiful autumn afternoon, three hours before kickoff, Henry Baptiste will ride the elevator to the third floor of the press box at A.W. Mumford Stadium, walk to the Southern University radio broadcasters booth, put down his briefcase and get to work. It’s been this way, every Saturday during the fall, for 36 years now.

He’ll meet with his colleagues: play-by-play man Clarence Buggs, sideline reporter Eric Randall and longtime engineer Arnold Crump. Together, they will sit down and map out the broadcast of today’s game between Southern and Alabama State, the Jaguars’ last home game in a season that’s been brutally disappointing to date.

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Foster's 3-pointers power Southern over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Tiffany Foster hit 5-of-5 from 3-point range to lead the Southern University women’s basketball team to a 73-51 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night.

Foster finished with a game-high 18 points as the Jaguars evened their record at 1-1. The Islanders fell to 0-2 in the game played at American Bank Center. Southern led 40-30 at halftime as the Jaguars hit 6-of-11 3-pointers. Foster hit four from long range in the half.

Robinson scolds Islanders after second loss

CORPUS CHRISTI — It’s never too early in the season for a good old-fashioned, closed-door meeting. After two games, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women’s basketball team has reached that point.

The Islanders, minus two inside players, were beaten by Southern in most facets of Saturday night’s game — including the scoreboard — in falling to the Jaguars 73-51 in the consolation game of the Islander Tip-Off Tournament at the American Bank Center.

The second bad loss in a row for A&M-Corpus Christi (0-2) prompted a 20-minute postgame heart-to-heart between coach Robert Robinson and his team.

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Texas Southern hands Southern worst loss since 1999

When Southern’s football team came out the locker room after halftime Saturday night at A.W. Mumford Stadium, the goal was to close a 13-point gap against a brutally physical Texas Southern football team. The Jaguars believed they could do it. They had faith.

“The coaches told us to keep fighting. We weren’t out of the ballgame,” safety Anthony Wells said. “They told us to keep mistakes to a minimum and play hard.”

Southern needed a spark, a turnover, a big special-teams play. Something. Anything. Nothing good happened. By the end of the third quarter of a thoroughly convincing 54-7 blowout, the pep in Jaguars’ step was long gone and so were most of the 8,329 fans who bothered to show up.

Jaguars offense stymied

Call it intuition, call it foreboding. Whatever it was, the smallest crowd of the season was on hand to watch the most lopsided home loss for Southern University in recent seasons, a 54-7 defeat at the hands of Texas Southern.

Texas Southern brought in the second-ranked defense in the Football Championship Subdivision, and the Tigers acquitted themselves nicely. Southern’s offensive statistics all came in below the meager averages already allowed by Texas Southern.

SOUTHERN NOTEBOOK: Lopsided loss makes history

This was not the way Southern intended to make history. In dominating the Jaguars 54-7 on Saturday night in A.W. Mumford Stadium, Texas Southern earned its most lopsided win in the history of the TSU-SU football series, which dates to 1946. Before Saturday, the Tigers’ largest margin of victory was 37 points, achieved in a 37-0 win in 1972.

Southern offense manages just 134 yards

Think Southern’s 54-7 loss to Texas Southern on Saturday night was bad? Linebacker Shomari Clemons said it should have been worse. “We could have held them to zero points, we could have held them to a goose egg,” said Clemons, the LSU transfer who scored the first of Texas Southern’s two defensive touchdowns — outscoring Southern’s offense. His defensive teammates agreed.

TSU/SU: How they scored

First quarter
TEXAS SOUTHERN: Shomari Clemons 3 fumble return (Robert Hersh kick) at 14:08. KEY PLAYS: On Southern’s third play from scrimmage, defensive lineman Jonathan Hollins, a Redemptorist graduate, sacks quarterback Dray Joseph, forcing a fumble in the process. Clemons, a former LSU player, scoops up the fumble and walks into the end zone. Texas Southern 7, Southern 0.

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ATTENDANCE: 8,329

Videographer: Bookman, 11/7/10

TSU looks to gain more respect today against Southern

Texas Southern has spent much of this season fighting to earn respect. Southern, a once-proud program, is doing all it can to keep the respect it has left. Thus, it will be an unusual matchup when the two Southwestern Athletic Conference programs meet today in Baton Rouge, La.

TSU (5-3, 5-1 SWAC) has won four consecutive games and remains on track to challenge Grambling State for the SWAC Western Division crown. The Tigers have the SWAC’s No. 1 and the Football Championship Subdivision No. 2 defense (223.6 yards per game) to go with a power rushing attack (232.8-yard average the past five games) that continues to stymie defensive coordinators.

Jaguars face stiff challenge from Texas Southern

The Southern Jaguars have lost three consecutive games and sunk into last place in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's Western Division. That's the bad news for the Jaguars. The good news? Well, there's not much good news — at least not this week.

Texas Southern (5-3, 5-1 SWAC) brings a four-game winning streak into Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge to face Southern (2-6, 1-5). "They are one of the best defenses in the SWAC and in the country when you talk about statistics," Southern coach Stump Mitchell said.

Worth repeating: Johnnie Cole

In a teleconference earlier this week, Texas Southern coach Johnnie Cole discussed Saturday's game against Southern, the rise of his football program and an upcoming showdown against Grambling, likely for control of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division:


The Wright change

Marcus Wright employs a simple yet effective rushing style, a method which has transformed Texas Southern’s offense. “I’d rather hit them before they hit me,” said Wright, who is listed at 5 feet-10, 210 pounds. Strong words for a running back, but his coach, Johnnie Cole, said he can shoulder the load. So much so that Cole, whose offenses are known for their passing, opted for the change in philosophy midway through the season.

'Burger' time

You first meet Roddrell Stewart — a massive fifth-year senior guard, a mainstay of the Southern University football program, a jolly young man with a neatly trimmed beard, an ever-present grin and no visible neck — and you see any number of things.

You see a natural-born character. He is a 6-foot-3, 315-pounder whose size is only outmatched by his personality. Think of a cross between Keenen Ivory Wayans and George Foreman, and you’re in the ballpark.

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Late defensive stand ends Alcorn's four-game slide

LORMAN, MS — Alcorn State accomplished what it needed to Saturday against Southern University by snapping a four-game losing skid. But the game ended up being much closer than Alcorn would have liked.With just one touchdown in the second half, the Braves survived a late Jaguars surge with a last-minute defensive stop to escape with a 27-20 win.

“A win is a win is a win, and I’ll take it any way I can, but (we still made) mistakes,” Braves head coach Earnest Collins said. “Today, the difference in the mistakes we made the last few weeks is, we had a better defense out there to make up for it.”

Jags just short again

LORMAN, Miss. — Four yards.

On a beautiful sun-drenched afternoon in the Mississippi woods, after Southern had made so many mistakes, fallen asleep and fallen 24 points behind Alcorn State in the second half of yet another college football game to remember, the late-arriving, late-thriving Jaguars found themselves 4 yards away from a game-tying touchdown.

With less than a minute remaining in the Braves’ 27-20 thriller of a victory, both teams lined up for the most crucial play of all.Southern, still searching for its first big win under a new coaching staff, faced a fourth-and-goal at the 4.

Joseph comes alive in second half

LORMAN, Miss. — In the first half, he hurried throws, scrambled away from trouble, and watched as his receivers dropped a handful of on-the-money passes.

This was not how Southern quarterback Dray Joseph envisioned his first college start. Early on, in a heartbreaking, down-to-the-wire 27-20 loss at Alcorn State on Saturday, Joseph looked exactly like what he was: A true freshman who wanted to win it all by himself.

“He just had to calm down,” SU quarterbacks coach Ted White said. “He’s played in a couple games, but he still hasn’t had a lot of snaps. Until you get in there, in real live action, that’s when your experience starts to gather.”

Revitalized running game

LORMAN, Miss. — A renewed focus on the rushing game, and contributions from untapped sources played key roles for Alcorn State on Saturday afternoon at Jack Spinks Stadium.

Terrance Lewis and Jaquez Caldwell each scored touchdowns as Alcorn State held off a late Southern rally en route to a 27-20 win.

Before this week, Lewis had primarily played wide receiver while Caldwell had seen most of his action at running back, but those things changed against Southern.

Alcorn holds off late Southern rally, wins 27-20

Alcorn State jumped to a 24-point third quarter lead, then held off a frantic Southern comeback for a 27-20 Southwestern Athletic Conference win Saturay at Lorman, Mississippi.A fourth-and-goal pass by Southern's Dray Joseph got the Jaguars down to the Alcorn 1-yard line in the game's last minute, but fullback Lee Mitchell was tackled just short of tying the game.

Alcorn (4-4, 3-3 in the SWAC) led 27-3 after Terrance Lewis' 1-yard touchdown run with 10:26 left in the third quarter. But the Jaguars (2-6, 1-5) stormed back with a 5-yard touchdown run by Sylvester Nzekwe, a 22-yard field goal by William Griswold, who also kicked a 49-yarder in the first quarter, and a 54-yard run by Corey Cushingberry.

Attendance: 18,075

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SU showing signs of improvement

JACKSON, Miss. — It happened just after 9:20 p.m. Saturday night in Veterans Memorial Stadium, very late in the fourth quarter, while Southern’s sloppy, mistake-filled game against Jackson State turned into a bona fide thriller — easily one of the most exciting finishes in the long, proud history of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

It happened just after the Jaguars scored with 15 seconds left, presumably clinching their first signature win of the Stump Mitchell era. It happened while thousands of SU fans overflowed with joy and exhilaration, thinking— no, knowing — their team had pulled off the ultimate Houdini, in a hostile setting no less.

Mitchell bemoans bad play calls

Just minutes after his team lost 49-45 to Jackson State on Saturday in the last minute — quite literally the last minute, which included three touchdowns and three lead changes in a back-and-forth explosion of big plays — Southern coach Stump Mitchell, who calls the offensive plays, said this one was on him.

Even though the Jaguars had season highs in points (45), passing yards (293) touchdown passes (three), and committed no turnovers for the first time all year, Mitchell said his offense should have done even more.

Southern aims to cut down on penalities

Southern University head football coach Stump Mitchell doesn't need a stat sheet to tell him one area his team needs to improve. Still, the numbers jump off the page. Southern was penalized 16 times for 195 yards during the Jaguars' 49-45 loss at Jackson State on Saturday. Southern's 63 penalties are the most in the SWAC. The Jaguars' 119.8 yards in penalties per game also top the SWAC.

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JSU Tigers' Richardson scores with 2 seconds left to cap frenetic finish

Rico Richardson said it was a simple "go route."

With 9 seconds left in the game and Jackson State trailing Southern University by four points, the Tigers receiver raced straight down the field for what he hoped was a game-winning touchdown. Seven seconds later, Richardson fell head first across the goal line to cap one of the wildest finishes college football has ever seen and give JSU a history-making victory over its rival from Louisiana.

"This is destiny," linebacker Todd Wilcher said afterward. Said JSU coach Rick Comegy: "Unbelievable." Richardson's 28-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Casey Therriault with 2 seconds left lifted Jackson State over Southern 49-45, and capped a frantic fourth quarter that won't be forgotten around these parts for a long, long time.

Out-of-breath QB Therriault leads wild win

Jackson State quarterback Casey Therriault nicely asked a reporter for a moment immediately following his team's wild win Saturday night. He was granted it. "You'll have to give me a few seconds," he said, "my heart is pounding." Rightly so.

Therriault didn't have his best game Saturday in Jackson State's 49-45 win over Southern University. He threw an interception - he only had two all season - and forced plenty of balls into blanketed coverage. But in the end, the transfer from a Michigan junior college helped the Tigers get a fourth win in five years over Southern.

Photo Gallery: JSU - Southern

JSU outlasts Southern

JACKSON, Miss. — When all the madness finally ended, when there were no more wild plays, no more magic tricks left to pull, most of Southern’s football players stood on the visitors’ sideline at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Actually, most of them rested on one knee. The game clock flashed three zeroes, but they didn’t move. In complete and utter disbelief, they stared straight ahead, slackjawed, exhausted and emotionally spent. The final score — Jackson State 49, Southern 45 — was like the final frantic minutes of Saturday night’s game itself: Amazing, stunning and completely unbelievable. But absolutely true.

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Attendance: 42,053

Wells, Southern Jaguars relish role as underdog against Jackson State Tigers

Jackson State University head football coach Rick Comegy

His knee was at full strength again, but his hamstring still burned. It felt tight, and he couldn’t run like he wanted. Anthony Wells’ body kept betraying him. How was he supposed to make an impact like this?

He was missing from spring practice at Southern, and he missed summer workouts, too. There was, of course, a new coaching staff in town. As first impressions go, this one wasn’t much to brag about. This was not how Wells had envisioned his grand return.

QB makes most of his chance at Jackson State

Less than three years before Casey Therriault became Jackson State’s starting quarterback, he spent a night of his winter break hanging out with former Wyoming Park High football teammates in Grand Rapids, Mich.

On the way to their car, they were approached by a man who was inebriated. He traded insults with one of the guys. When Therriault laughed at something his friend said, the man turned his attention to him, striking Therriault, who, in turn, threw one punch and walked away.

Jackson State vs. Southern

When: Today, 6 p.m.
Where: Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium
Television: None
Radio: JSU Network (WHLA-95.5 FM, Jackson)
Records
Jackson State: 4-1, 2-1 SWAC
Southern: 2-3, 1-2
History: Last meeting: Jackson State 22, Southern 14, 2009
All-time series: Southern leads 28-26-0

Touchdown issue getting to Richardson

Casey Therriault knows what comes with being the quarterback of a pass-happy, high-scoring offense like the one Jackson State runs. "Everybody wants to score," the Tigers star said.Add receiver Rico Richardson to the very top of that gradually shortening list.

Through five games, Richardson, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound sophomore from Natchez, has gained 256 yards - fourth on the team - on 15 catches and averages 17 yards a catch - tied for second on the team. He's among the six JSU receivers who have caught 15 passes or more this season.

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Shreveport Classic: Prairie View A&M Panthers vs. Southern Jaguars

Prairie View A&M University Department of Athletics has entered into a two-year agreement with the City of Shreveport and State Fair of Louisiana to bring to the city one football game each during the 2010 and 2011 seasons at Independence Stadium.

Prairie View's first contest in Shreveport will take place on October 23rd, 2010 versus Southern University and A&M College (Baton Rouge). The gridiron matchup will be a reunion of sorts as both teams met in Independence Stadium during the 2003 campaign.

SWAC coaches offer SU's Mitchell encouragement‎

SWAC coaches offer SU’s Mitchell encouragement

Three games. One thrilling win. Two ugly losses. The Stump Mitchell era has barely begun at Southern University, and already, the first-year coach must try to assure fans that his program isn’t doomed to fail. "I still love this football team,” Mitchell said Monday. “We just have to be consistent in doing the things that we want to get done.”

But of all the people to offer a ray of light, perhaps the least likely — Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones, who handed the Jaguars a 34-14 defeat on Saturday — was the one who gave some interesting, encouraging advice.

Jaguars nursing injuries to key defensive leaders

A 34-14 defeat at the hands of Alabama A&M wasn’t the only thing Southern University lost Saturday night in Normal, Ala. The Jaguars also took a blow to their defense when two key starters were injured.

Middle linebacker Corey Ray, who suffered a shoulder injury in the first half of Saturday’s game, is “day-to-day,” Southern coach Stump Mitchell said. The status of free safety Jason House is a little less clear.

Rough sailing could be ahead for Southern

At about 9 p.m. Saturday, after they shook hands with an Alabama A&M team that handed them a second ugly loss in as many games, members of the Southern football team removed their helmets and took a knee on the soft, wet grass at Louis Crews Stadium.

The rain kept falling, and somehow, that figured. The Jaguars were soundly beaten on the line of scrimmage and, after a first-play touchdown, seemed overmatched in a 34-14 loss. It had been, without any doubt, a night to forget.

SU preaches effort

As far as he knew, first-year coach Stump Mitchell said the charter bus Southern’s football team used this weekend was not equipped with a panic button. Even if it were, he said, the Jaguars did not intend to use it as they rode home from Normal, Ala., after a 34-14 loss Saturday night against Alabama A&M in their Southwestern Athletic Conference opener.

SU (1-2, 0-1 SWAC) faces Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-2, 0-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday in A.W. Mumford Stadium, the second of eight games in eight consecutive weeks.

Struggling defense loses leaders

NORMAL, Ala. — Southern’s defense struggled for the second consecutive game Saturday in a 34-14 loss to Alabama A&M at Louis Crews Stadium. It didn’t help that this time, the Jaguars lost two of their leaders to injury.

Middle linebacker Corey Ray suffered an injury to his right shoulder with 3:11 remaining in the first quarter, watching the second half in a T-shirt and a sling. Ray’s injury was noteworthy for two reasons: He has dislocated the shoulder before, and he is largely responsible for calling plays and checks for the SU defense.


Hollimon finally gets chance at quarterback for Southern

This is for all those afternoons when Gary Hollimon iced down his shoulder, having finished another practice with pride and purpose, even though he knew he’d never play on Saturday.

This is for all those times when coaches praised Hollimon’s work ethic and easygoing attitude, then told him to stay on the bench. This is for the time Gary Hollimon nearly got cut from the team he now leads.

Mitchell taking the heat

Stump Mitchell spent nine years as an NFL running back. He knows how to take a beating. Mitchell has lived in Georgia, Arizona, Texas and, since January, when he accepted the job as Southern’s football coach, Louisiana as well. He knows how to deal with heat. These days, he’s getting enough of both.

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