BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Coming into the season, Southern University was picked to win the SWAC West and even received the most votes to finish first. But just five games into the season, the Jaguars are 1-4 and have not looked competitive against other top SWAC teams such as Jackson State and Alabama State.
Southern fans want answers as to why this team has been drastically underperforming in all three phases of the game. On paper, this Southern team has the talent to at least compete for a SWAC Championship, but through five games, that has not been the case. The truth is, there is no simple answer for why the Jaguars have not lived up to expectations so far—but let’s start by taking a look at where the Jags stand statistically heading into the bye week.
Offense Defense PASS YPG – 128.4 PASS YPG – 244.2RUSH YPG – 168.4RUSH YPG – 178POINTS PG – 15POINTS PG – 36.8
Southern is giving up more than double the points they score, and the offense is more to blame than the defense. The Jags have had only 11 red zone trips all year, with just four resulting in touchdowns. That means the defense is on the field far more than it should be, often in bad field position. We saw it in the Alabama State and Jackson State games: the defense did its job well enough to keep the game within reach in the first half, but everything fell apart after halftime. For reference, Southern has been outscored 97-24 in the second half of games this year.
This is where coaching comes into play. While other teams make adjustments, Southern struggles to counter them. Ultimately, Southern has been its own worst enemy—the self-inflicted wounds, inefficiency moving the ball, and lack of in-game adjustments are issues that will continue to hurt them all year. What’s most concerning is that five games into the season, they have yet to correct any of these problems.
The good news is that Southern has an opportunity to address these issues during the bye week and prepare for more manageable conference opponents moving forward. The season is far from over, but the time to fix these mistakes is running out.
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