Coach Eric Dooley proved that he still is "The Man" on The Hill in Prairie View after his Southern Jaguars team scored 35 unanswered points to trounce the Prairie View Panthers 45-13 for a critical SWAC West victory.
The game was a story of two halves. Prairie View left the Blackshear Field at halftime feeling confident with a 13-10 lead. Unfortunately for Coach McDowell's team, that became the last lead the Panthers would have on the afternoon.
MCCRAY WAS MAGICAL
Southern controlled the game in the second half with a balanced offensive strategy.
McCray led the charge with the Jaguars' offense totaling 304 yards after intermission. He finished the day passing for 16/22 attempts, 275 yards, two passing touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown. The signal-caller led all rushers with ten carries for 85 yards and connected with seven receivers.
Passing or rushing, Dooley's offense confounded the weary Panthers' defense.
INTENSITY GUT-CHECK
Prairie View couldn't match Southern's intensity and desire to win. The Jags had 15 big plays netting 314 yards, compared to the Panthers' 11 big plays totaling 203 yards.
The Panthers' defense held their ground in the first half by surrendering 59 rushing yards and 99 passing yards. Defensively, Southern was on their heels as Prairie View gained 206 yards of offense. Then the Jaguars shut down the Panthers' offense and yielded only 115 yards in the final half of play.
OL' MO WAS FOR THE JAGS
Winning the coin toss is often overlooked. But in the case of Southern and Prairie View, it was huge. Momentum swung in the Jags' direction after marching five plays and 78 yards in 1:46 to re-take the lead 17-13. After each team swapped the subsequent possessions, two-straight drives for touchdowns had Southern distancing themselves from a Prairie View comeback attempt.
Two touchdowns from WR Pitre III and one rushing score from QB McCray had Southern clicking on all cylinders and ready to make the Panthers' offensive one-dimensional in an attempt to mount a comeback.
The Jags' defense pounced on every running play and quarterback dropback with three sacks and 7 TFLs. LB Campbell's ten tackles, Givens' seven tackles, one sack, and two TFLs were the team's top defensive performers.
Please make no mistake about the game. Southern was a different team once Dooley and his staff made the necessary halftime adjustments. The old ball coach didn't have to resort to many tricks to win this one. Perhaps, it was mental, or the Jaguars were better prepared.
JAGS IN CONTROL
The victory sets up Southern for an all-important home stance against Alcorn State next weekend at Mumford Stadium.
Southern will be in the driver's seat to win the SWAC West title if they defeat the Braves. If they don't, Alcorn and Prairie View could still have a shot.
We shall see.
HBCU Legends' Recent Articles:
- SWAC Game of the Week: McDowell Confident Panthers Can Defeat Jaguars
- HBCU Football Coaches Seats Starting to Get Warm
- Alabama State's 'Ugly Win' Over TSU was 'Beautiful' to Eddie Robinson Jr.
- TSU-ASU Halftime Report
- HBCU Football: Featured Games of Week 5
- CIAA Receives $10K Donation from HBCU All-Star Game, CBS Sports
- SWAC Football Schedule, How to Watch, Predictions | Week 5
- Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders Challenge 'The Level of Competition' Theory
- Shedeur Sanders, PLBSE Announce NIL Partnership; Launches '#2 BBQ Sauce'
- Stillman College, Wiley College Set for Inaugural Pittsburgh HBCU Baseball Classic
- Is Shedeur Sanders a Legitimate Heisman Candidate?
More must-reads: