Alabama State 41, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 10

September 17, 2005

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – When the power failed briefly at Golden Lion Stadium with a little more than three minutes remaining in the first half, Alabama State looked like a team in the dark against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

But while the lights were off until the start of the second half, they seemed to turn on at that moment for the ASU offense.

Tarvaris Jackson threw for three touchdowns and Robert Randolph rushed for over 100 yards as the Hornets (2-1, 2-0 SWAC East) scored 34 unanswered points after the power outage to blast Arkansas-Pine Bluff 41-10.

Head Coach Charles Coe said he wasn’t as worried about the Hornets play at the time as he was getting the game finished.

“Honestly, the only thing I thought about was ‘I hope we don’t have to call this game.’ But fortunately for us, we were able to play it,” Coe said. “We addressed some things at half time and came out and moved ball like we’re capable of doing.”

The Hornets scored on the third play of the second half on a 32-yard pass from Jackson to Alvance Robinson and ASU added touchdown runs by Keldrick Williams and Marlin Lynch, along with a 55-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Clinton Smith to Tavores Boyd to complete the scoring.

Not included in the scoring plays was a big 80-yard run in the fourth quarter by Randolph, who finished with 114 yards on nine carries. It set up Lynch’s 2-yard scoring jaunt.

“Randolph has come up big last two weeks,” Coe said of the senior tailback who also had a 84-yard touchdown reception last week. “He’s a strong kid and deceptively fast.”

ASU went to work early, scoring on its first drive to take a 7-0 lead at the 9:45 mark of the first quarter. Jackson completed all four of his passes during the march, the last for 15 yards to senior receiver Chris Maddox.

UAPB took its first lead in the game after another special teams’ lapse by the Hornets. A 32-yard punt return by Myron Jefferson set the Golden Lions up at the ASU 21. Three plays later, John Pierce connected with Ryan Watley on a juggling 15-yard touchdown reception that put Bama State in a 10-7 hole at the end of the first quarter.

After the hot start, Jackson cooled down as he missed on 11 of his next 13 attempts. But just before the half, he got it going again and – in the dark – found Maddox again for a 16 yard touchdown with 1:18 left in the second quarter that gave the Hornets a 14-10 halftime lead.

Jackson finished 16-of-26 for 229 yards and he and Smith helped the Hornets amass 512 yards in total offense. Coe said he was happy with his receiving corps as eight different players caught at least one pass.

“I’ve been on those guys from the first day I got here in 2003. From day 1, I wasn’t real happy. But I think they’re doing a better job,” Coe said.

What does have Coe concerned is his defense, which again gave up an enormous amount of rushing yards (203) and several big gains on the ground.

“The defense isn’t giving up a lot of points but teams are getting a lot of yards. We’ll have to go back and look at what we’re doing and try to correct some of those things,” Coe said.