Tigers Learn from Loss
9/6/02
After Jackson state got thrashed last Saturday by Southern Miss, offensive coordinator Darrell Asberry saw some things on film that impressed him.

"I was shocked we only got seven points," Asberry said. "We moved the ball pretty well against a good defense. . .we did a good job of running the football.

The one thing that the Tigers don't have to worry about is playing another team like Southern Miss.

"That's a heckuva game to start off with," JSU offensive line coach Carl Roberts said. "We won't see anything better. That game should help us down the road."

Defense coordinator Greg Johnson was also pleased with the way the defense played.

"Overall, I saw signs of a good defense that can be great," said Johnson, who fielded five players making their first collegiate starts. "But our inexperience showed. It makes it tough when you're backed up most of the night like we were. We got three or four stops. Eventually they just wore us down."

Now if look at the negative things that happen that the tigers will need to change is holding down the big plays from the opposing offense.

"Our game plan was to slow down the running game and force them to pass more," Johnson said. "And some of that had to do with our youth and bad decisions. But the bottom line is we gave up too many big plays. You can't be successful on defense giving up that many big plays. We've got to play more solid defensively."

JSU gave up 15 plays of 15 yards or more in yards gained, seven of which were for more than 20 yards. This can not happen in the up coming games if the tigers expect to be a championship caliber team.