Rapid Reaction: What we learned from the Arkansas State game

A Thursday night in Jonesboro may sound like fun to some people, but, until the very end, it was not for South Alabama fans watching on ESPN2 or lucky enough to be there in person. But no matter the journey, the destination was the fourth win of the season and a 2-0 start in Sun Belt play.

Let's have a look at what we learned on this long, arduous evening.

Very special and not-so-special teams

Once again kick coverage was outstanding and we were treated to the third 100-yard kickoff return in program history, thanks to Keenan Phillips. However, a missed extra point and yet another uneven punting performance took the shine off some truly exceptional performances. A struggling defense needs all the help it can get and a punting game that gives opponents good field position and a kicking game that doesn't help create separation on the scoreboard makes their job that much more difficult. It does bear saying that Davis Little and Aleksi Pulkkinen finished the game well and hopefully have something to build on for the next game.

Speaking of defense

There's no sugarcoating that Todd Orlando's defense hasn't produced the results in the season's first half that everyone was hoping for. For a while it looked like Arkansas State was going to put up more points against USA than they did against West Georgia. Vulnerable to both the run and the pass, there were long stretches when the defense looked, well — defenseless. The good news was it did produce in one the ways it was expected to by generating three turnovers thanks to some imaginative blitzes. Nevertheless, Jaguar ambitions must stay humble unless the defense can turn a corner and start turning offenses away with more regularity.

Can it turn that corner?

As uninspiring as the defense's performance has been through the first six games, there are reasons to hope that it can turn in a more credible performance in the back half of the season. The most obvious one is the benefit provided by a somewhat unusual schedule. Now with the Arkansas State matchup in the rearview mirror, South Alabama will only play one more game in the following 23 days, a Tuesday night affair at Marshall on October 20th. That is a lot of time to not only get the players healed up from the bumps and bruises of half a season of college football, but it's enough time to also work on improving in fundamentals (tackling). Additionally, it may also be enough time so that some missing players like Caleb Dozier, Tirrell Johnson, Emmanuel Waller, DJ Moore and Xavious Anderson may reappear to offer their services.

Even on an off night, this offense is amazing

Jared Hollins' night was somewhat forgettable. He missed some deep shots that he'd been hitting the previous few weeks and he seemed off on several other attempts as well. Nevertheless, he had his best game as a runner and the running backs spent the night going around, under and through the Arkansas State defense to lead the team to 280 yards on the ground and the most points the program has ever scored in a Sun Belt game. As effective as the running game turned out to be, Hollins will need to recapture that passing magic from earlier in the season if the offense is going to continue to be strong enough to carry the team to a bowl game.

Ulcers for everyone

Anyone watching this game knew that no lead was safe. Neither defense was looking forward to film review by the time the final whistle blew. Human nature is a curious thing. The Jaguars led for most of the game, but it was South Alabama fans that had the more stressful evening, knowing at every point of the game that they might be looking at a record-setting scoring performance in a loss. The acid-churning may last for days in the stomachs of Jag fans after this one.