Arkansas State quarterback Fredi Knighten (9) runs away from South Alabama defensive lineman Tre Alford (78) in the Red Wolves’ 49-31 victory Tuesday in Mobile, Ala. (Courtesy Arkansas State University / ANDREW FERGUSON )

MOBILE, Ala. -- Blake Anderson entered his team's locker room not long after Arkansas State reeled off an improbable fourth quarter and said what everyone else was likely thinking Tuesday night.

"Are you kidding me?" the second-year ASU coach said.

A few minutes later, Anderson still struggled for specific answers about how his team rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 49-31 victory over South Alabama at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Anderson said. "Just proud of the guys. Didn't quit. Kept playing. Turned things back our way. I don't know, 20-some-odd points in about five minutes?"

Actually, ASU (3-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) had scored 29 points in 5 minutes, 17 seconds to turn a 31-20 deficit into a victory that ended a three-game losing streak in front of a nationally televised games and gave the Red Wolves their third consecutive 2-0 start in conference play.

"To come on the road and on national TV -- the only game on -- it was big to get a win, especially the way we did it," quarterback Fredi Knighten said. "We were down. Everything wasn't pretty, but we just battled. Kept fighting."

ASU's struggles in midweek games -- it had lost three in a row before Tuesday -- and away from home in general -- where it was 2-7 in two seasons under Anderson -- looked like they would continue. South Alabama quarterback Cody Clements passed for three touchdown through the first three quarters, and Gerald Everett's 3-yard run on a direct snap put the Jaguars (3-3, 1-1) ahead 31-20 with 13:12 left.

But just over a minute later, ASU called a play that hadn't worked three previous times in the game and Knighten lofted a fade pass to the front corner of the end zone that receiver Tres Houston came down with for a touchdown.

Houston was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for spinning the football on the turf after the play, which led to his ejection because it was his second such flag in the game, but ASU's comeback had started.

"Everything turned right there," said defensive end Chris Stone, who had 2 1/2 tackles for loss and 1 1/2 sacks and played a part in one of the scores in the final quarter. "Just extremely proud of the defense for standing up and making plays in the fourth quarter."

Cody Brown's interception set up Johnston White's 1-yard run to give ASU a 35-31 lead, then Stone jumped on Clements' fumble in the end zone to make it 42-31 and freshman Justin Clifton provided the exclamation point with a 37-yard interception return for a touchdown.

In all, ASU scored 29 points in the fourth quarter and Clements was held to 3-of-9 passing for 21 yards with 2 interceptions.

"That's the second wind," Anderson said. "We got to the quarterback a little bit quicker and it kind of spiraled, I think, a little bit out of control at that point."

ASU struggled to finish drives for much of the first three quarters as Clements found success through the air.

Clements, who finished 18 of 33 for 273 yards with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, threw first-half touchdown passes of 10 yards to Everett, 24 yards to Danny Woodson and 76 yards to Josh Magee to give the Jaguars (3-3, 1-1) a 21-14 lead going into halftime. Clements passed for 136 yards in the second quarter alone.

ASU, meanwhile, couldn't take advantage of its opportunities.

Knighten, who was 10 of 17 for 119 yards with 2 touchdowns and 40 yards rushing, led consecutive first-half touchdown drives to put ASU ahead 14-7. But leading rusher Michael Gordon left later with a knee injury, and the Red Wolves squandered a fumble recovery, a 60-yard interception return by Xavier Woodson-Luster and a shanked punt followed by a penalty that put it at the South Alabama 14.

Anderson called it a "comedy" on offense at times.

"We were just killing ourselves," Knighten said.

But ASU's defense held South Alabama to field goals twice in the third quarter when a touchdown would have made the situation more dire. Then Knighten's pass to Houston sparked the comeback that delivered a road victory over a quality Sun Belt opponent.

"You've got to do that to win championships," Anderson said. "You've got to go on the road and win a tough football game.

"There were times when it wasn't looking real pretty, but guys came through with some big plays to make it happen."

Sports on 10/14/2015