Schiefelbein: SU finds way to win

• By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Sep 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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As strong safety Glenn Bell got off one of Southern’s buses on a gorgeous, sunny Saturday afternoon at Alcorn State, he turned to a teammate and mentioned how he wished the upcoming game would end in a 3-0 victory.

There’s nothing wrong about a defensive guy wanting a defensive game.

About six hours later, with the darkness of a night deep in the country surrounding the stadium, Bell had SU’s margin of victory accurate, 15-12.

Plus, he had the defensive stand part dead on.

But he decided he wants no more of these close ones.

“Going through this, I don’t want any three-nothing games,” Bell said. “I want all blowouts. My nerves are too bad for this.”

SU survived its first Southwestern Athletic Conference game this season by getting a 21-yard touchdown pass in the final two minutes in front of a capacity crowd of 22,500 at Jack Spinks Stadium in Lorman, Miss.

Now, the Jaguars (2-2, 1-0 SWAC), on a two-game winning streak, travel to play another fierce rival, defending conference champ Jackson State (1-3, 0-0), which did not play Saturday, in Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Southern got better Saturday by finding a way to win.

“We didn’t panic with what we were trying to do,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “We hung in there and hung in there.”

In the big picture Southern finished a game — which is what Richardson had been asking — after struggling to finish chance after small-picture chance throughout the game.

Southern outgained Alcorn 451 to 241 — with 83 yards coming on three plays that helped the Braves to nine points. But the Jaguars, who had put up 81 points in their previous two games, struggled to score.

SU missed a field-goal try, had another blocked, threw an interception at the Alcorn 11-yard line and got stopped on downs at the Alcorn 30 and 1. (And the Braves cashed a bad Southern punt snap into a short field goal.)