Texas Southern SWAC West hopes take a hit with Jackson State loss

Pushing a top 25 FCS squad to fumes on their turf had folks in SWAC circles looking at this season’s Texas Southern squad in a bit of a different light. A definitive loss to Eastern Division foe Jackson State this weekend seems to have taken some of the shine from those team aspirations coming into the real start of their conference schedule.

The game ended in a 43-14 loss for Texas Southern and exposed some glaring chinks in the defensive armor of a team that was pretty stingy playing the run against their opponents to this point in the first quarter of the season.

TSU's defense against the run fails them...

The one glaring statistic that sticks out after Saturday's game was Texas Southern's failure to stop the running game. Jackson State QB Jacobian Morgan had a field day, accounting for 4 total touchdowns and 281 yards from scrimmage (185 yards passing, 96 yards rushing).

He was the catalyst for a Jackson State rushing attack that generated 258 yards collectively. The Texas Southern defensive unit had shown a stoutness against the run that wasn't visible on Saturday, which may be closer to the median in terms of what we can expect from this defensive unit going forward.

TSU's Offense can't Compensate for Defensive Shortfall...

The jury may still be out on where this Tiger offensive unit will be by season's end, but Saturday's performance didn't stoke any positive vibes for Texas Southern fans. The Tigers found it difficult to generate anything in both the passing game and the rushing game.

The Tigers found it almost impossible to sustain drives, which compounded their struggles on the defensive side of the ball. Chris Dishman's squad will need to find consistency and answers for those offensive droughts going forward if they still hope to contend for a potential SWAC West title and a berth in the SWAC Championship Game.

Where does TSU go from Here?

It's a step back for the Tigers after this weekend's performance against a pretty strong, but offensively single-minded scheme in Jackson State. They'll need to take a serious look at how to stop some other potent run games going forward in their SWAC schedule.

The outlook for fortunes on the offensive side of the ball is a bit brighter, but the output of Saturday's game raises a lot of concerns about consistency that will also need to be addressed sooner rather than later. The POTENTIAL for a West Division run of form is there on paper, but it's going to take more than what Tiger fans saw at home on Saturday Night.

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