Southern won its home opener Saturday, giving coach Marshall Faulk his first victory as a head coach.
“It’s great,” Faulk said. “The sooner the better. That’s how I was thinking of it. And the cold bath, Gatorade, water, ice, all of that is all good. The kids been working hard, and it’s good when they see the fruits of their labor.”
The Jaguars outplayed Kentucky State 34-15 at A.W. Mumford Stadium, keeping their winning streak against Division II teams alive. The last time Southern (1-1) dropped a game to a D-II program was in 2010 when Arkansas at Monticello beat the Jaguars 31-7 in Baton Rouge.
Faulk, 53, gave his fans their first victory at home since Nov. 16, 2024, when Southern beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 31-9 to take the SWAC West Division crown. That is also the last time the program won a game by more than 10 points. Last year, the Jaguars’ only two wins were by a combined six points.
Prairie View statement
If Southern wants to accomplish its goal of representing the Southwestern Athletic Conference West division, it’ll have to go through Prairie View (1-1, 1-0 SWAC), the reigning SWAC champions.
The Panthers picked up their first win after losing by 19 points to Tarleton State on the road. They bounced back with a dominant 52-14 win against Texas Southern (1-1, 0-1) at home. Last year, they beat the Tigers 22-21, getting the go-ahead 17-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
This year, Prairie View dominated from start to finish. It opened the game with a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown from junior running back Jahbari Kuykendall, an Alabama State transfer.
“I’m a little irritated right now because I don’t think our guys get the respect that they should get,” Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson said to after the game. “So we had to come out here, and we had to prove we are who we say we are.”
Prairie View dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides. Defensively, it had seven sacks for a loss of 32 yards. Junior defensive back Malachi Williams had three sacks. It marked the third time the program has scored at least 50 points since Jackson became the coach in 2025.
QB's hot start
Coach T.C. Taylor left his team’s first home game pleased with Jackson State’s 66-14 drubbing of Division II Edward Waters. Quarterback Jared Lockart had an impressive night, throwing for 388 yards and four touchdowns.
“Very happy with our football team and how they performed tonight,” the fourth-year coach said. “Anytime you can put 60-plus points over a team with 14 points, that’s a great job by our team. I’ve been telling them all year how great of a football team we have. I think now they’re starting to see it and believe it … Offense, we were up and down the field, ran the ball well, threw the ball well. Can’t say enough about this performance tonight by this football team.”
Jackson State (2-0) started the year with a 26-24 win over Tennessee. Lockhart, a sophomore, played well in that game as well and is off to the hottest start of any quarterback in the SWAC. After serving primarily as the team’s backup, the 6-5 signal-caller is leading the SWAC with 610 passing yards and a conference-high tying five touchdowns. He’s also completing 66.7% of his passes with one interception.