Southern coach Marshall Faulk didn’t try to sugarcoat what happened Saturday night.
The Jaguars were overwhelmed from the opening whistle, falling 77-6 to No. 22 Houston in a game Faulk described as less of a contest and more of a preseason tuneup for the Cougars.
“That wasn’t really a game,” Faulk said. “That was a kind of a preseason crash dummy test for Houston.”
Southern struggled to generate offense, while Houston capitalized on short fields and mistakes to turn the matchup into a rout. Faulk said the Jaguars again put themselves in a difficult position with early execution problems, including turnovers and an inability to sustain drives.
“Against a really good team like this, you can’t do that,” Faulk said in a postgame video provided by WAFB journalist Kevin Batiste. “You can’t put your defense on short fields. You can’t turn the football over.”
The Jaguars’ coach also acknowledged the obvious talent disparity between the programs.
Houston entered the game ranked No. 22 in the country and competes at the FBS level in the Big 12. Southern is an FCS program, and Faulk said the financial realities of college football make matchups like Saturday’s increasingly difficult for HBCUs to navigate.
“We don’t have the budget to compete against them,” Faulk said. “We just don’t.”
Faulk said there was a time when a veteran Southern roster might have made a game against a team such as Houston more competitive. But with the resources available to major FBS programs, he said determination alone is no longer enough.
“Guts and glory is just not enough,” Faulk said. “Want and will is not enough.”
Still, Faulk found some value in the lopsided loss. Southern played a number of younger players, giving the coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate personnel and identify areas for development.
#Southern head coach Marshall Faulk kept it real following the 77-6 loss to No. 22 Houston.
Not only on his team’s performance but “money games” and the challenges in general. Full postgames presser below. @WAFB pic.twitter.com/mPQGK2WsN0
— Kevin Batiste (@KBatisteJr) September 13, 2026
The Jaguars also avoided further damage by pulling key players as the game got out of hand. With conference play approaching, Faulk said protecting his players became more important than continuing to chase an increasingly unrealistic comeback.
“You got to know when to say uncle,” Faulk said. “You got to know when to say when.”
Faulk said the Jaguars will study the film, not necessarily to grade individual players, but to emphasize the consequences of poor execution.
The lesson, he said, is simple: Small mistakes against an opponent of Houston’s caliber can quickly become overwhelming.
Southern will now turn its attention toward improving before returning to conference play. Faulk knows the loss could linger, but he believes the Jaguars can use it as a teaching tool.
“We have to take this game for what it is, learn from it,” Faulk said, “and now as a coaching staff, we’ve got to figure out how we convince them to continue moving toward our goals.”
