South Alabama Earns Fifth-Straight Win Over Arkansas State Behind Strong Defense, 21-14
South Alabama held off a late surge for a 21-14 win over Arkansas State on a misty, windy evening at Hancock Whitney Stadium. It puts them one win away from bowl eligibility and marks their fifth consecutive win over Arkansas State in the series.
Carter Bradley returned from his knee injury he suffered against Louisiana-Lafayette to toss a pair of touchdowns to Jamaal Pritchett. La’Damian Webb ran for 163 yards and a touchdown. Quentin Wilfawn, wearing the honorary #5 jersey, led the team 9 total stops, 6 solo, 1.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss and 4 quarterback hurries.
The Jags improve to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in Sun Belt Conference play while Arkansas State falls to the same 5-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
South Alabama opened the game with a three-and-out on the opening possession. Arkansas State found success running the ball early in their first possession, but the Jags defense stiffed up and held them to a field goal.
Head coach Kane Wommack has spoken all season that the team needs to be responsive, and they did exactly that on the next possession. On the second play of the drive, La’Damian Webb busted off a 60 yard run to the Red Wolves 12 yard line. Two plays later Webb finds the end zone on a 13 yard run to give the Jags the lead and they wouldn’t surrender it.
Late in the second quarter, the Jags faced a 4th and 5 from their own 41 yard line when they called a direct snap to Todd Justice. He found a big opening on to his left and rumbled for 19 yards. Though he fumbled at the end of this run, but it was covered by long snapper Travis Drosos. After calling a time out with :12 left until halftime, Bradley connected with Jamaal Pritchett in the left side of the end zone for a 20 yard touchdown. They took a 14-3 advantage into halftime.
Arkansas State took the opening possession of the second half and quickly burned the defense for a pair of passes for 17 and 24 yards. But the Jags defense regained their composure and held the Red Wolves to another field goal, making it 14-6.
But again the Jags responded.
Caullin Lacy returned the kickoff 40 yards to the 47, giving Bradley and the offense a short field. The drive was capped off by the second passing touchdown from Bradley to Pritchett for a 21-6 lead at the 7:52 mark of the 3rd quarter.
The Jags looked to be driving for another score in the fourth quarter when Webb slipped and was stripped of the ball at the Arkansas State 19 yard line. The Red Wolves capitalized with a 46 yard touchdown pass by Jaylen Raynor to Jeff Foreman. Raynor also converted the two-point conversion to make it 21-14 with 3:39 left in the game.
Arkansas State used their final two time outs and forced the Jags to punt with 2:44 left but a running into the kicker penalty gave the Jags 5 yards, which was enough for a first down. From there Webb was able to run for a first down to seal the game.
“I’m very, very proud of the responsiveness of our team tonight,” head coach Kane Wommack said. “We’ve been talking about doing hard things in hard times and certainly tonight was that. The last couple of games here, it’s been really hard. This season, we’ve had to grind for everything that we’ve gotten. We’ve earned wins and earned losses, but I’m very proud of our guys. I’m proud of our defense because we’ve talked about being responsive and being the aggressor, and I thought we stayed in the backfield all night.”
Team Stats
| Stat | South Alabama | Arkansas State |
| Total Yards | 344 | 302 |
| Passing Yards | 145 | 186 |
| Rushing Yards | 199 | 116 |
| 3rd Downs | 5-of-15 | 2-of-13 |
| 4th Downs | 2-of-3 | 1-of-3 |
| Penalties | 8 for 71 yards | 3 for 15 yards |
| Time of Possession | 32:52 | 27:08 |
Individual Stats
Carter Bradley finished 19-of-25 for 145 yards and two touchdowns with two sacks in his return.
Caullin Lacy was held to only 50 yards on seven catches. Jamaal Pritchett also had 50 yards on three catches with two touchdowns. La’Damian Webb had four catches for 32 yards.
Webb had 28 carries for 163 yards and a touchdown. Braylon McReynolds, making his return from his broken collarbone in the season opener at Tulane, added 20 yards on four carries. Todd Justice had the one carry for 19 yards on the fake punt.
Wilfawn has been playing lights-out over the last two games. In addition to his nine tackles, four quarterback hurries, two TFLs and 1.5 sacks, he also broke up a pass and kept pressure in Raynor’s face all night.
“[Raynor is] a really good athlete and getting pressure to him the whole game was one of our keys, and I th ink we executed really well,” Wilfawn said after the game.
Jaden Voisin picked off Raynor for his third of the season.
Jaylen Raynor was limited to 15-of-28 for 186 yards with an interception and a touchdown with four sacks. Raynor was also held to 26 yards on the ground on 10 carries.
Jeff Foreman led the receivers with 61 yards on three catches with a touchdown. Adam Jones added 30 yards on three catches. Courtney Jackson has 23 yards on two catches.
Zak Wallace was held to 56 yards on 11 carries. Ja’Quez Cross had 52 yards on 13 carries.
Next
South Alabama will attempt to earn bowl eligibility next Saturday when they host Marshall for their first-ever meeting. Marshall is also 5-5 and will also try to earn bowl eligibility. It will be the last home game of the 2023 season for the Jags. South Alabama will be honoring the Seniors prior to the game on Senior Day.
The game is scheduled to kick off at 4 pm and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
