Despite Southern being one win away from clinching the SWAC West division championship for the first time since 2022, Terrence Graves doesn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it with his players.
That’s because the first-place Jaguars haven’t exactly played clean football, particularly on offense, during a stretch in which it has won four of the last five games.
The performance at quarterback has remained inconsistent, as both Noah Bodden and C’Zavian Teasett have been unable to string together back-to-back good outings.
Saturday’s six-OT 25-23 win versus Bethune-Cookman was symbolic of that. Teasett, who was named SWAC Offensive Player of the Week just seven days ago, struggled, going 9 of 18 for 111 yards on the night.
He split time with third-string QB Jalen Woods, who threw for 53 yards to go along with a touchdown and interception against the Wildcats.
The Jaguars running game and defense bailed out the offense. Southern rushed for 233 yards, with Kobe Dillon going for 130 and Kendric Rhymes nearly reaching 100 on the ground. The defense, which ranks third in the SWAC, held B-CU to no points on its final overtime possession. It was Southern’s third overtime win of the season.
After the game, Graves said the team’s lackluster performance might have been due to its focus on wrapping up the division.
So, heading into a matchup with Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the message will be just to win the game and worry about celebrating a championship later.
“We need to win. We need to win the football game because that’s the next opponent,” Graves said Monday. “What comes with that is just part of it, but that can’t be the focus. That can’t be the alarm sounding for the week. We have to play our best game and execute at a high level in all three phases of the game.”