After special teams lapses played a major role in Southern’s opening loss to McNeese State, the unit was scrutinized Saturday night against Savannah State and showed an improved performance.
For the most part.
There were key moments, particularly in the first half when the Jaguars kicked three field goals, which was exactly what the Jaguars needed until redshirt freshman quarterback C’Zavian Teasett came in to jumpstart the offense in a 42-10 win at AW Mumford Stadium.
“We knew we had jobs to do and we had to help the offense in any way we could. That was just the attitude,” said kicker Joshua Griffin.
Griffin put Southern on the scoreboard with a 44-yard field goal late in the first quarter. He added field goals of 38 and 49 yards in the second quarter after Savannah State took a 7-3 lead.
This was a welcome turn of events after last week, when errors in the kicking game helped McNeese to a comeback win.
“As a kicker, after last week and the opportunity to come back, nobody hit the panic button,” coach Terrence Graves said. “We just had to get Josh back in shape and let him do what he naturally does. When he does that, he’s one of the best in the country.”
The punting game, which suffered a 41-yard loss on a high snap last week, was rarely necessary but went smoothly, with Kenny Pham averaging 38 yards on two punts.
The only setback for the special teams came midway through the third quarter after Southern had advanced to the Tigers’ 30-yard line. Griffin attempted a 42-yard field attempt, but it was blocked by Savannah State’s Dreshawn Dawkins.
It was reminiscent of last week when Griffin missed a 31-yard attempt early in the fourth quarter. Griffin’s kick was too low and hit a Southern lineman in the back. Savannah State managed a real block, but the result was the same – a long return and a first down deep in Southern territory.
Although Savannah State failed to get a first down, they were still within reach of kicker Jimmy Mal, whose 27-yard field goal brought the Tigers within 16-10 of Southern.
“Tonight our first film got blocked,” Graves said. “Last week it was a glitch. Tonight it was definitely a block. We took care of it then and we’re definitely going to work on it. We released bad footage and until we fix that, we need to make sure we do what we need to and correct that.”
Griffin had his head down, concentrating on his kick, unsure of what was happening on the block.
“(The block) is on us,” Griffin said. “That’s something we have to get a handle on for next week, whether it’s on the (offensive) line or us. We have to look at the footage and see what happened so we can prepare for Jackson State.”
