Georgia Football: Southern University Will Bring a Football Team Saturday

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The Georgia football season will continue Saturday a midst rumors of a Sanford Stadium marching band festival.  Yes, Southern will bring a football team with the band.

Related: Ten Biggest Recruiting Busts of the Mark Richt Era

Sandwiched around the Human Jukebox performance, Southern University and Georgia will have a football contest. While the Southern university Marching Band is considered the feature attraction, it’s not too late to give the Southern university Jaguar football team some attention.

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Southern University and A&M College, is a Historically Black, 1890 land-grant institution in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Baton Rouge campus is situated on Scott’s Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

Notable Southern alumni include track star Willie Davenport, jazz great Branford Marsalis, and the first person of African-American descent to become U.S. state governor, Pinckney Pinchback. Pinchback, born near Macon, GA, the son of a freed slave, served as governor of Louisiana while the elected governor, Henry C. Warmoth, underwent impeachment proceedings from December 9, 1872, to January 13, 1873.

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Who: Seventh/Sixth ranked Georgia (3-0, 2-0 SEC) vs. Southern University (2-1, 2-0 SWAC)

When: Noon – September 26, 2015, Athens, Sanford Stadium

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network from IMG, Bulldog Radio Network Affiliates, Sirius 158/XM 191

TV: SEC Network

Head Coach: Southern head football coach Dawson Odums, a North Carolina native and graduate of North Carolina Central, Odums is no stranger to Georgia. Odums coached at Clark Atlanta and served as an assistant during Georgia Southern’s 2000 national Championship season and 2001. Odums also coached at Bethune – Cookman and North Carolina A & T.

Conference: Southern University participates in inter-collegiate athletics as part of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

One of the oldest conferences in the NCAA, the SWAC was formed by Bishop College, Paul Quinn College,  Samuel Huston College (now Huston Tillotson), Texas College, Wiley College and Prairie View A&M University in 1920.

Between 1929 and 1968, all the members left the conference except Prairie View and were supplanted by Arkansas AM&N University, Southern University, Texas Southern University, Grambling State University, Jackson State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University. (Langston University joined and then left the SWAC during that time.)

Since 1982, Alabama State University, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alabama A&M University joined the SWAC to finalize the current membership.

Southern competes in the Western Division of the SWAC, which includes Prairie View, Grambling, Texas Southern, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The Jaguars are the two-time defending West champion, and selected by the media as the likely second place finisher in 2015. Last year, Southern finished 9-4 overall, 8-1 in the SWAC. Southern won seven straight games before falling to Alcorn State in the title contest.

Running back Lenard Tillery is a first team pre-season all-SWAC choice. He rushed for 1,196 yards on 209 carries and seven touchdowns, averaging 5.7 yards per carry in 2014. He also caught 19 passes for 196 yards.

Wide receiver Willie Quinn was also picked to the first team. Quinn had 62 catches for 892 yards and five touchdowns in 2014. The 5-5, 145 pounder was also named to the second team as a kick returner.

Against Louisiana Tech in the 2015 season opener, Quinn earned SWAC Special Teams Player of the Week after tallying 197 return yards including a 100-yard kickoff return. In his career, he has two kickoff return touchdowns and five overall returns for scores. In the win over Mississippi Valley, Quinn completed an 89-yard touchdown pass.

The Jaguars opened the season with a 62-15 loss to Louisiana Tech. Southern (2-1) then bounced back with big wins over Mississippi Valley (50-13) and Jackson State (50-31). The Jaguars accumulated 675 yards of total offense in last Saturday’s win over Jackson State.