Southern University kicked off a new football era with a dominating win over an NAIA HBCU football program in its second full season Saturday night in Baton Rouge.
Southern got off to a huge start against Florida Memorial and never looked back, putting up 86 points on the HBCU out of Miami Gardens. The program was started in 2020.
The Jaguars put up a total of 611 yards, including 396 on the ground, en route to the first victory under new head coach Eric Dooley. That number includes seven touchdowns for an average of over 10 yards per rush.
Southern University got the scoring started when Beset McCray hit Jerold Sims for a 34 yard touchdown pass with 11:05 left in the first quarter. It would score five more times before the quarter mercifully ended with a 42-0 lead in favor of the home team. It would score 14, 16 and 14 points the rest of the way for the final scoring margin.
Florida Memorial was held to just 92 total yards on 63 plays, for an average of 1.5 yards per rush. Its best drive was an eight-play, 31 yard drive early in the fourth quarter. FMU was 1-for-13 on third downs.
Southern University will go from the hunter to the hunted next week as it travels across town to take on LSU for the first time in history.