I’ll give you the bad news first.
South Alabama had six touchdowns called back by penalty, two by instant replay and also gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
End of bad news.
The Jaguars set a Sun Belt Conference record for points in an 87-10 victory over Northwestern State on Thursday night at Hancock Whitney Stadium. It was South Alabama’s first win of the season and of the Major Applewhite era.
Gio Lopez returned to the lineup after missing last week’s loss at Ohio due to turf toe and was near-perfect passing the ball. The redshirt freshman completed 15 of 19 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns despite playing only 2 ½ quarters.
South Alabama rushed for 362 yards as a team, 143 by Fluff Bothwell and 102 by Kentrel Bullock, who combined for four touchdowns. The Jaguars had 620 yards off total offense, just off the 647 they totaled vs. Southern Miss a year ago.
South Alabama scored two touchdowns in the first 4:02 of game time despite possessing the ball for only one play. Jamaal Pritchett returned Northwestern State’s first punt 62 yards for a touchdown, then Lopez hit Jeremiah Webb for a 39-yard score and a 14-0 lead just after Jaden Voisin’s long interception return.
Northwestern State then kicked a field goal, but South Alabama answered with Lopez’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Thomas-Jones to go up 21-3. The Demons (0-3) never got within two scores again.
Laith Marjan’s 28-yard field goal made it 28-3, then came NSU’s biggest highlight of the night. Quarterback JT Fayard found Myles Kitt-Denton in stride for a 75-yard touchdown on the final play of the first quarter, cutting South Alabama’s lead to 28-10.
The Jaguars scored four touchdowns in the second quarter: Bullock’s 1-yard run, Bothwell’s 7-yard run, Lopez’s 4-yard pass to Thomas-Jones and Bothwell’s 5-yard run. South Alabama led 52-10 at halftime, a school record for points in a half.
Lopez played the first two series of the second half before giving way to backup quarterback Bishop Davenport. Bullock ran 59 yards for a touchdown on the second play of the third quarter to make it 59-10, then Lopez found Pritchett on a 10-yard touchdown to give the Jaguars a 66-10 lead with 6:48 left in the third.
PJ Martin’s 4-yard touchdown run made it 73-10 with 2:40 left in the third. The Jaguars then went up 80-10 on Chrystyile Caldwell’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown with 55 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was shortened to six minutes by mutual agreement of both coaches. South Alabama got another turnover deep in NSU territory and cashed it in for Jarvis Durr’s 4-yard touchdown run, an 87-10 lead and the Sun Belt scoring record.
South Alabama’s 87 points exceed the 83 scored by Arkansas State vs. Texas Southern in 2008 and Georgia Southern vs. Savannah State in 2014. The Jaguars’ previous record in any game was 64 three times vs. Division 2 or NAIA opponents in the program’s early years, and 59 vs. a Division I team in last year’s 68 Ventures Bowl.
South Alabama forced a season-high four turnovers in all. Voisin, Caldwell and Amarion Fortenberry all had interceptions, while Julian Demby recovered a fumble.
South Alabama plays on Thursday again next week, traveling to Appalachian State for its Sun Belt Conference opener. That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
