SHC: THEMES STILL CLASSIC
Jackson State offense is strong as usual
During the past few Southern Heritage Classic football games, the key matchup has been Jackson State’s high-scoring offense against a Tennessee State defense known as one of the nation’s best.
TSU and its defense won a field goal-heavy game last year, 26-16.
The theme is likely to be the same this year, but there are several new faces on the Jackson State sideline, with former NFL star wide receiver Harold Jackson as head coach and record-setting former Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang running the Tigers’ offense as coordinator.
Jackson State has averaged more than 35 points and 430 yards in two wins so far this season, and the Tigers are hoping the new attack leads to a different outcome when the series resumes at 6 p.m. Saturday inside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
“Coach Chang threw for 17,000
yards in college, and I think a lot of people were expecting us to just throw it all over the field because of that,” said Jackson, who had 29 career 100-yard receiving games in the NFL. “But he’s not locked in with any one particular facet of the offense. He does a great job of taking what the defense gives him.” It’s worked so far. In this year’s seasonopener against Florida A&M, Jackson State won 22-17 with 269 yards passing and 170 rushing. Then in a 59-0 victory over Virginia-Lynchburg last week, JSU quarterback La Montiez Ivy passed for 246 yards and three touchdowns while eight players combined to rush for 162 yards.
But the Tennessee State defense isn’t known for giving an offense much of anything.
TSU allowed 20 points or fewer in eight of its 14 games last season on its way to the second round of the FCS playoffs. The Tigers allowed 10 points or fewer five times.
During last year’s Southern Heritage Classic, Jackson State gained 367 total yards. But JSU managed just one offensive touchdown, and that didn’t come until the 2:12 mark of the fourth quarter.
With good field position all day, Tennessee State kicked four field goals, returned an interception 50 yards for a score and finally reached the end zone for its lone offensive touchdown on a 1-yard run by quarterback Mike German with 0:24 remaining in the third quarter.
The TSU defensive players, who have been solid again this year in a 58- 6 win over Edwin Waters and a 27-21 loss to Alabama State, aren’t backing away from the new JSU challenge.
“Any team that throws the ball is great for us,” said Daniel Fitzpatrick, an All-America TSU defensive back who returned a pick 50 yards for a score in last year’s SHC. “We have a great defensive line that can get after a quarterback and make him throw some balls that he necessarily might not want to throw. That gives our DBs a chance to make plays — and once they make those plays, our front seven does a great job of finding blocks so that we can try to put points on the board.”
With the success of the TSU defense, the offense often gets overlooked. But the Tigers rushed for an eye-popping 445 yards in the win over Edwin Waters and then passed 61 times for 340 yards in the loss to Alabama State.
TSU coach Rod Reed would just like to see a little more consistency from German, who is in pursuit of several school passing records. German completed just 6-of-20 in Game 1 and 26-of-61 last week.
“Against ASU, we didn’t get into a rhythm offensively until the fourth quarter when we scored 18 or 19 points,” Reed said. “If I would like to see anything come together a little bit more, it would be the timing between our receivers and quarterbacks. Then I’d like to see the offensive line continue to jell and our receivers hold onto the ball better.”