Preview: South Alabama Hosts Coastal Carolina For Regular Season Finale With Bowl-Eligibility On The Line
Kickoff: Friday November 26, 2:30pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium – Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Chris Henderson
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
It’s down to a one game season for the South Alabama Jaguar football team.
After dropping the last three games, all on the road, the Jags (5-6, 2-5 SBC) have one final shot to get bowl-eligible this season. The last time the program was bowl eligible and went to a bowl game was 2016.
Last weeks trip to Knoxville did not go as hoped. Tennessee used their athletic advantage and had their way with South Alabama from the opening kick. The Vols cruised to a 60-14 win to earn bowl eligibility themselves.
To even be talking about bowl eligibility in year 1 under head coach Kane Wommack is something fans should be celebrating. The last three seasons the Jags compiled only 9 wins and were no where near bowl eligibility.
Much less above .500 at any point either.
A meteoric 3-0 start to the season slowly came back to earth as the schedule progressively got more difficult. Combine the schedule difficulty with the number of injuries the Jags have suffered and you can see why some celebration is warranted.
Coastal Carolina
The Chanticleers (9-2, 5-2 SBC) were one of the 2020 darling teams. They finished undefeated in the regular season and ranked 9th in the nation however their scheduled game against then #17 Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference Championship had to be cancelled due to positive Covid-19 tests and contact tracing within the program.
They fell in over time to #23 Liberty 37-34 in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.
The Chants lost to Appalachian State in Boone, NC 30-27. Then after losing their starting quarterback, they lost to Georgia State 42-40 and will miss earning consecutive Sun Belt Conference East Division Championships.
Last week their quarterback and 2020 SBC Player of the Year Grayson McCall returned to field and picked up where he left off. McCall threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns in their 35-21 win over Texas State.
Offense
The Chanticleer offense is best described as a spread option or a speed option but they also use triple option plays too.
As you’ll see by the stats, they run their offense very well.
For the season they are averaging 41.6 points, 493.3 total offensive yards, 223.6 rushing yards, and 269.6 passing yards per game.
They are converting 70-of-124 (56%) of their 3rd down attempts and 7-of-9 (78%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
They’ve scored on 39 of their 44 red zone trips, of those 39 scores, and incredible 36 of them have been touchdowns.
Their quarterbacks have been sacked only 16 times this season.
McCall is 138-of-186 (74.2%) on the season with 2.382 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and only two interceptions in 9 games played. Bryce Carpenter, who started in place of McCall in two games, is 41-of-69 for 483 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Jaivon Heiligh is the teams leading receiver with 53 catches for 947 yards and six touchdowns. Isaiah Likely has 49 catches for 795 yards and 10 touchdowns. Kameron Brown has caught 30 passes for 533 yards and five touchdowns. Braydon Bennett is the last receiver with either double-digit catches or in triple digits in receiving yards, he has 19 catches for 246 yards and one touchdown.
Shermari Jones leads the Chanticleer rushing attack with 128 carries for 777 yards and 12 touchdowns. Reese White has 71 carries for 516 yards and seven touchdowns. Bennett adds 62 carries for 485 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Carpenter adds 215 rushing yards on 53 carries with two touchdowns. McCall rounds out the triple-digit yardage club with 191 yards on 67 carries with three touchdowns.
Defense
The Chanticleer defense is fairly stingy.
They allow an average of 19.9 points, 322.6 total offensive yards, 176.3 passing yards and 146.4 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are only converting 53-of-145 (37%) of their 3rd down attempts and 8-of-20 (40%) of their 4th down attempts.
They have 26 sacks and 69 tackles for loss on the season.
Opponents have reached the red zone 29 times and came away with points 23 of them with 19 of those scores being touchdowns.
Silas Kelly leads the team with 88 total stops, 35 solo with 7 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The next closest is Teddy Gallagher with 67 stops, 30 solo with 7 TFLs and 2 sacks.
Josaiah Stewart leads the team in both tackles for loss with 12 and sacks with 10. They have three players with one interception each. They’ve recovered six fumbles on the season too.
Special Teams
Biscardi Massimo is 5-of-6 in field goal attempts with his longest being 50 yards and is a perfect 40-of-40 in extra points. Liam Gray is 12-of-13 on extra points and has made one of this two field goal attempts on the season with it being a 46 yard kick. Kieran Colahan is 7-of-7 on extra points and made a 39 yard field goal, the only attempt of the season.
Charles Ouverson has punted 34 times on the season with an average of 37.85 yards per kick with 13 fair catches, 11 downed inside the 20 and one kick traveling over 50 yards.
South Alabama
Since the injury to quarterback Jake Bentley the offense has struggled.
Desmond Trotter took a couple series to settle in after taking over against Troy. His comeback attempt fell one score short unfortunately.
But in the two game he has started for the Jags they have scored a grand total of 21 points.
But injuries to the offensive line and a number of defensive players have really piled up and taken their toll.
Offense
For the season now the Jags are averaging 25.3 points, 369.1 total offensive yards, 247.1 rushing yards, and 122 rushing yards per game.
The 3rd down conversion rate has fallen to 51-of-163 (31%) while their 4th down conversion rate is now 26-of-41 (63%).
The Jags red zone efficiency had dropped some. They’ve had the ball in the red zone 45 times and come away with points on 34 of those trips (76%) and 29 times they have been touchdowns (64%).
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 25 times. They’ve had eight passes intercepted and 9 fumbles lost.
Trotter is 61-of-104 (58.7%) for 596 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Prior to his injury, Bentley was 184-of-262 for 2,122 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert got to showcase his skills on national television with an impressive one-handed catch against the Volunteers and fresh off of accepting an invitation to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl. He leads the team with 72 catches for 1,283 yards with seven touchdowns (including the 68 yard touchdown against Tennessee).
Jalen Wayne has 44 catches for 519 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 38 catches for 273 yards. Lincoln Sefcik has 29 catches for 205 yards and four touchdowns.
Terrion Avery continues to lead the running back corps with 497 yards on 132 carries with one touchdown. Bryan Hill has 85 carries for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Kareem Walker has 286 yards on 77 carries with four touchdowns.
Defense
The defense was picked apart last Saturday in Knoxville. The big Tennessee offensive line and the breakneck speed at which the offense operates just keep the Jags on their heels.
As of now the Jags defense is allowing an average of 26.4 points, 342.3 total offensive yards, 211.4 passing yards, and 130.9 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 52-of-150 (35%) of their 3rd down attempts and 12-of-20 (60%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents red zone efficiency now stands at 29-of-39 (74%) for red zone scoring and 22-of-39 (56%) for red zone touchdowns.
The Jags have sacked opposing quarterbacks 27 times and they have 62 total tackles for loss. They have collected 14 interceptions and recovered 8 fumbles.
Keith Gallmon now leads the team in total stops with 51, 31 of them solo, with an interceptions and a fumble recovery. He’s also ran the ball twice on two fake punts and have converted both of them into first downs.
AJ DeShazor is right behind him with 50 total stops, 24 solo, with two tackles for loss and 1/2 sack.
Wy’Kevious Thomas and Jamal Brooks continue to lead the team with 5.5 tackles for loss each. Charles Coleman and CJ Rias share the team lead with 3 sacks each. Darrell Luter leads the team with four interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made both of this extra point attempts to run his season record to 32-of-34. He’s also still 10-of-15 on his field goal attempts, but he didn’t attempt any against Tennessee.
Jack Brooks is averaging 42.5 yards per kick over this 51 punts. He’s had 16 fair caught, 13 downed inside the 20 and 12 have gone 50+ yards with his longest traveling 54 yards.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Line Play
The last two weeks the offensive line has gone up against some strong defenses and had problems. Against App State losing Anterrious Gray from an already thin position group didn’t help. The incident that led to Gray being disqualified from the game was inexcusable, but when a player swings at another player it is now in the hands of the officials.
Tennessee also had their way with the Jags offense for most of the night.
In order to win they’ll need to play at the level they’re capable of and the level they’ve shown earlier in the season.
Defensive Discipline
Coastal Carolina executes their offense very efficiently. Their offensive scheme gives defenses problems every week.
Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon faced the Chanticleers just last season with Liberty. That recent experience will definitely aid in preparing for them.
The Jags defense bottled up the usually potent Georgia Southern option offense. However Georgia Southern was not nearly as prolific through the air as the Chanticleers.
The defenders will have to stick to their assignments and fill their gaps. When the Chants get opponents out of position they are quick to take advantage.
Seizing an Opportunity
Only two people on the roster has ever been a part of a bowl game at South Alabama. One is head coach Kane Wommack, who was defensive coordinator in 2016.
The other is Chris Henderson, who was a freshman at the time. He’s a “super” senior, what they call a 6th year senior with the additional eligibility to play afforded to them due to Covid-19.
Chris’ father Terry is a huge supporter of his son and South Alabama. He’s a prolific tweeter and a master of choosing the perfect gif response. Read this article about Chris and Terry. (Jag Nation needs more Terry’s!)
There are other players who may be suiting up for the final time in a South Alabama Jaguar uniform.
But they have a chance to earn a shot at one more game.
With a win they would put the Jaguars in the category of bowl-eligible teams. While not a guarantee they will receive an invite, but without a 6th win it’s a certainty they won’t.
The Jags defeated the Chanticleers in Mobile in 2018 then lost last season in Conway, SC. A win and a bowl invite would give the team a chance at the first bowl win in program history. And a chance at the first winning record since joining the ranks of FBS.
Prediction
The Jags are a 14.5 point underdog at home against Coastal Carolina.
Head coach Kane Wommack did not rule out any chance of Jake Bentley being able to play. He did warm up with the quarterbacks in Tennessee. Was all that some coaching game to make your opponent have to prepare for two quarterbacks?
I believe the coaches and players will be ready. They’ve played road games the last three weeks, it’s senior day, and if you didn’t know they could get bowl eligible.
I believe the Jags not only cover but they win outright and get bowl eligible. They get the upset and they get a chance at a bowl invite.
Encourage your friends and family to come out to Hancock Whitney Stadium. The Jags need the fans in the stands. They need to be loud when the Chanticleers are on offense. Hancock Whitney needs to be rocking Friday afternoon!
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Travels To Rocky Top To Face The Tennessee Volunteers
Kickoff: Saturday November 20, 6:30pm
Venue: Neyland Stadium – Knoxville, TN
TV/Streaming: ESPNU
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Wy’Kevious “Bubba” Thomas
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
The South Alabama Jaguars may have lost to Appalachian State 31-7 but the final score did not show how close the game actually was. But there’s no consolation for that.
The Jags (5-5, 2-5 SBC) have found a more difficult time after starting the season 3-0. But they’ve also had a laundry list of injuries this season. One position that’s been hit particularly hard has been the offensive line.
Center James Jackson returned after missing four games with a knee injury but left a few plays after returning. Hadon Merchant and Josh McColloch have both been sideline with injuries lately. Then Anterrious Gray was ejected for a flagrant foul after an App State player reportedly spit in his face and used “racially charged” language.
Walk-on Reggie Smith filled in for Gray at right guard. The offense only managed 58 rushing yards on 33 carries against the Mountaineer defense.
The ‘Swarm D’ defense forced three turnovers and picked up another one on special teams. However the offense could not convert any of those opportunities into points on the scoreboard.
App State forced the Jags into two turnovers and converted both into points. The final one was a 100 yard interception return of a tipped pass for a touchdown.
Head coach Kane Wommack chose to keep the offense on the field on a 4th and 3 at the App State 5 yard line. They failed to convert and the Mountaineer actually drove down the field and a field goal to go up 17-7.
They attempted to convert five 4th down attempts in the game and converted two of them. On Monday’s radio show Coach Wommack said that their thoughts going into the game was that they were on the road against a good team and needed big plays. He also said they needed to score touchdowns to win, not field goals.
Diego Guajardo missed his fifth field goal of the season. However the snap was high and to the opposite side of the holder. The ball was placed on the left hashmark and the kick ended up hitting the left upright.
The Jaguars are now onto their next game. They now travel Tennessee to face them for the first time since the 2013 near upset.
Tennessee
Tennessee (5-5, 3-4 SEC) is under the direction of first year head coach Josh Heupel. He took over a team that finished 3-7 last season and a program which has struggled with more downs than ups for the last several years.
Last Saturday they hosted #1 Georgia and played them tough for part of the game. However the Bulldogs eventually separated themselves from the Volunteers, 41-17.
Offense
When Heupel came in he immediately implemented his style of offense. The simple way to describe his offense is that it’s similar to the Baylor offense from the early 2010’s or Arkansas State in the mid to late 2010’s.
It begins with a quick diagnosis of pre-snap positioning then is executed with a power run game inside or one-on-one vertical shots outside.
When a defense shows them a single-high safety, it tends to mean they are going to have access to a vertical shot on the outside down the sideline.
When a defense shows them a two-high safety look then the slot receiver is the one playing in space.
At UCF, when they faced off against one-high safety they threw the ball 63% of the time.
It’s the quarterbacks job to keep the safety in the middle of the field using his eyes or via play action then throws down the sideline with receivers running vertical option routes.
The vertical option route for the receiver is if they are at least even with the defender so many yards down the field, then they will stay on the vertical route, but if they can’t beat their defender off the snap or by so many yards downfield they will choke it down and hook.
They are simple reads for the quarterback with a reliance on downfield shots, high screen pass usage, and a high RPO rate which means there’s not much for the quarterback to mess up.
Basically they take young quarterbacks and make them into repetitive, robot-like players. Why would they do that? Because they produce explosive offenses and explosive offenses win games.
The Volunteer offense averages 36.1 points, 450.6 total yards of offense, 200.9 rushing yards, and 249.7 passing yards per game.
They are converting 63-of-139 (45.3%) 3rd down attempts and 10-of-21 (47.6%) of their 4th down attempts.
Out of 41 total trips into opponents red zone they have scored 35 times. Of those 35 scores, 27 of them have been touchdowns.
They have 11 turnovers on the season, eight of them have been fumbles and they have only three interceptions on the season.
Tiyon Evans is the teams leading rusher with 525 yards on 81 carries with six touchdowns in seven games played. Quarterback Hendon Hooker is next with 465 yards on 130 attempts with four touchdowns. Jabari Small has 436 yards on 88 carries for four touchdowns in eight games played.
Hooker is 153-of-223 for 2,138 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions on the season.
Cedric Tillman is the teams leading receiver with 46 catches for 725 yards and six touchdowns. Velus Jones Jr is next with 597 yards on 44 catches with six touchdowns. JaVonta Payton has 373 yards on 15 catches for six touchdowns.
The offense prides itself on quick strikes so their time of possession isn’t very good with 24:23 to the opponents 35:37 average time of possession.
Defense
Tennessee runs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme, which is gaining prevalence in college football these days.
Tim Banks is the defensive coordinator. He spent the previous five seasons as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Penn State.
On average the Volunteer defense allows 29.5 points, 424.9 total yards of offense, 165.4 rushing yards, and 259.5 passing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 80-of-167 (47.9%) of their 3rd down attempts and 9-of-20 (45%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
The defense has allowed opponents in the red zone 39 times this season and they have come away with points on 37 of those trips. Out of those 37 scores, 31 of them have been touchdowns.
The defense has forced 12 turnovers on the season, nine of them have been interceptions while the other three were fumbles.
Jeremy Banks leads the Vols with 89 total stops, 44 of them solo, with 9 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and an interception.
Byron Young leads the team with 8 tackles for loss and is co-leader with Jeremy Banks with 4.5 sacks.
Jaylen McCullough has the team lead with 3 interceptions.
Special Teams
Chase McGrath has made all 46 of his extra point attempts. He is 10-of-13 in field goal attempts with a long of 48 yards.
Paxton Brooks had punted 36 times and is averaging 44.8 yards per punt with three touchbacks, 23 have been fair caught, 13 downed inside the 20, 11 have gone 50+ yard with a long punt of 64 yards.
South Alabama
Offense
The Jags offense is averaging 26.4 points, 377.5 total yards of offense, 127.3 rushing yards, and 250.2 passing yards per game.
They are converting 50-of-147 (34%) of their 3rd down attempts and 21-of-33 (64%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
Out of 42 red zone trips they have scored on 33 of them with 28 of those being touchdowns.
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 21 times on the season. Defenses have forced 17 turnovers, eight of them being interceptions and nine of them fumbles.
Terrion Avery leads the running attack with 498 yards on 129 carries with a touchdown. Bryan Hill has 308 yards on 75 carries with three touchdowns in eight games. Kareem Walker has 257 yards on 70 carries with four touchdowns in only six games.
Desmond Trotter is 42-of-72 for 380 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s playing in place of Jake Bentley who suffered a partially torn MCL against Troy a couple weeks ago.
However Bentley was seen dressed and going through some workouts earlier in the week. While it’s still a long shot that he could play at Tennessee (he is 3-0 in his career against the Vols) it’s more likely he would see the field against Coastal Carolina for the regular season finale.
Jalen Tolbert leads the receiving corps with 65 catches for 1,140 yards and six touchdowns. Jalen Wayne has 42 catches for 464 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 36 catches for 274 yards. Lincoln Sefcik has 27 catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns.
They are winning the time of possession 32:22 to 27:38.
Defense
The Jaguar defense is allowing an average of 23 points, 320.4 total yards of offense, 119 rushing yards and 201.4 passing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 44-of-139 (32%) of their 3rd down attempts and 12-of-19 (63%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents have been in the red zone 34 times on the season and came away with points only 24 times. Of those 24 scores, 17 have been touchdowns.
The Jags defense has 24 sacks on the season. They’ve forced 22 turnovers on the season with 14 of them being interceptions and eight being fumbles.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made his only extra point attempt against App State to make his season 30-of-32. However he missed a 40 yard field goal attempt to drop his season to 10-of-15.
Jack Brooks has punted 45 times on the season with an average 42.8 yards per punt with a long of 54 yards. He’s had 15 kicks fair caught, 11 downed inside the 20 and 11 have gone 50+ yards.
Keys to the Game
Play Keep Away
Control the time of possession and shorten the game by limiting Tennessee’s possession of the ball. When the offense has the ball they need to put together long, time consuming drives like the 19 play, 9+ minute drive they had against Troy. The offense cannot score if they don’t possess the ball.
Put points on the Board
After putting together long, time consuming drive you have to put points on the board. Preferably touchdowns but you have to come away with points.
No matter how good the defense is playing, there’s a high likelihood that the Vol offense is going to strike at some point so you’ve got to put points on the board.
If you can get and maintain a lead then you can quiet down Neyland Stadium, which can be quite loud.
Don’t let receivers get behind the secondary
The defense has to keep the receivers in front of them. If they get behind the secondary they’re going to put the ball up toward the sidelines.
If they do hit on a long pass, they are going to go full-speed, up-tempo. Tennessee is definitely one of the most up-tempo offenses I’ve seen. That’s not to say they won’t go up-tempo any other time, but they really like to do that after a big play. They try to either hit it again or just take advantage of the defense as they try to recover from allowing a big play.
Fans going to the game: Watch out for Mustard Bottles
See the final few minutes of the Ole Miss game. Thankfully we don’t have Lane Kiffin on staff.
Prediction
This is going to be a tough game. The offensive line is banged up and very thin. The defense may be without a couple of players too.
SEC schools usually have some of the first choices in college recruiting. But any team can win on any given day. Just like the Jags did in 2016 at Mississippi State and had an opportunity against UT in 2013.
The Jags could use this game for bowl eligibility. But a win would do much more than that for the program. It would help in recruiting foremost.
The Jags are a 28.5 point underdog when they take the field in Knoxville. It’s hard to know how the game could turn out.
Do the Jags fall behind early and Tennessee just piles on the points after the loss to Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss losses in the last four weeks? Does the Swarm D come out and cause havoc from the beginning and help keep the game close? Do we see Jake Bentley play?
As much as I hate it, I think the Jags fall to below .500 this week. But I hope they cover the spread on Tennessee. But I’ll gladly have them prove me wrong and get that big W I N in Knoxville (the one they so nearly had in 2013).
Go Jags!
South Alabama Falls To Appalachian State 31-7
South Alabama held Appalachian State in check for most of the game, including on the scoreboard, but fall 31-7 to the Mountaineers in a cold, brisk game in Boone, NC.
The Jags (5-5, 2-5 SBC) went down 14-0 before offsetting flagrant fouls cost South Alabama a starting offensive lineman.
The teams came up to the line and a dispute erupted between the two teams. Apparently Mountaineer defensive lineman spit in Anterrious Gray’s face, who responded by throwing a punch. Two plays later Desmond Trotter connected with Jacob Hopper for a 27 yard touchdown.
However the loss of Gray meant that a walk-on freshman had to step up to replace him.
The Jags offense was getting something going but then began struggling again.
Darrell Luter got an interception late in the second quarter to give the Jags a chance before halftime. Passing completions of 24, 7, 4, and 22 moved the Jags into App State territory. The drive stalled and Diego Guajardo’s 40 yard field goal attempt hit the left upright no good.
USA had the ball 4th and Goal at the 3 yard line and went for it. Desmond Trotter connected with Lincoln Sefcik out in the flat but he was dropped for a one yard loss to turn the ball over on downs.
The Mountaineers took that possession and padded their lead with a field goal to go up 17-7.
Approaching midway through the 4th quarter App State was facing 4th and 3 at the USA 14, instead of settling for the field goal, Chase Brice tossed the ball up to his left and Thomas Hennigan was able to run under it and take it into the end zone to go up 24-7 with 8:23 left in the game.
After trading three-and-out punts, Trotter used his arm to get the Jags down the field. Passes of 7, 1, 15, 20 and 15 yards on the drive got the Jags down to the 9 yard line. But disaster struck when a defender blitzed off the right edge and hit Trotter just as he was throwing the ball. It left his hand and fluttered to the goal line where it was intercepted and returned the length of the field for the final score of the game.
Stats
The Jags put up 284 yards of total offense, 226 of them came through the air and the remaining 58 came on the ground.
The Jags converted only 3-of-16 (19%) of their 3rd down attempts. They converted 2-of-5 (40%) 4th down attempts.
The Jags forced three turnovers but could not get any scores off of them.
Desmond Trotter went 21-of-38 for 226 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert was targeted 12 times and caught 7 passes for 108 yards. Jalen Wayne was targeted 11 times and caught 5 of them for 50 yards. Hopper had two catches for 42 yards and the only Jaguar touchdown.
Terrion Avery had 11 carries for 24 yards. Kareem Walker had 7 for 20 yards.
AJ Deshazor led the team with 10 stops, 5 solo. Jamall Hickbottom recorded the only tackle for loss in the game.
Darrell Luter and Devin Rockette both came away with interceptions in the game.
Shawn Jennings and Hickbottom both forced fumbles.
Appalachian State put up 330 yards of total offense, 195 passing and 135 rushing. They were 5-of-14 (36%) of their 3rd down attempts and all three of their 4th down attempts.
The Mountaineers forced two turnovers and scored 14 points off of them.
Case Brice went 14-of-26 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Thomas Hennigan caught 5 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Corey Sutton caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown as well.
Camerun People carried the ball 23 times for 90 yards. Nate Noel had 7 carries for 22 yards. Brice had the only rushing touchdown.
Next Game
South Alabama will finish out their three game road swing and their road schedule for the season against Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, November 20. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30pm CDT at Neyland Stadium.
The Jags need one win in the last two games to get bowl eligible for the first time since 2016.
Preview: South Alabama Visits Appalachian State For Final Conference Road Game Of Season
Kickoff: Saturday November 13, 1:30pm
Venue: Kidd Brewer Stadium – Boone, NC
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey (wearing 55 for an offensive lineman): Trey Simpson
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama didn’t get the result they were hoping for at Troy last weekend.
It looked like the Jags had a good gameplan from the start. However losing your starting quarterback on the opening possession tends to throw a monkeywrench into your plans. Then having a pair of mistakes by the next man up leading to two easy scores definitely doesn’t help matters.
Quarterback Jake Bentley, on only his second pass attempt of the game, stepped into the throw on a play-action pass and was hit low, below the knee, causing his knee to flex laterally. He was in visible pain on the ground after the play. After being attended to by the trainers, he jogged off the field but could still be seen favoring his left knee.
Desmond Trotter finished off the opening drive with a four yard touchdown run. On the next offensive possession, with the Jags at their own 24 yard line, a botched hand off resulted in the a fumble that was recovered by Troy. That turnover led to a field goal.
With the Jags trailing 24-7 Trotter was pressured and threw the ball in an attempt to prevent a sack, however Troy intercepted it and took it 32 yards for a touchdown. While it was their last points of the game, it would be all Troy would need for the win.
Bentley has a partially torn MCL and at the very least will miss this weeks game at Appalachian State. What his status will be going forward is still very much unknown. Team doctors will be involved as to any likelihood that he could suit up again for any of the remaining games. The concern is some “looseness” with his ACL.
The Jaguars still need to get one more win to bowl eligible with just three games left. The next chance is Appalachian State on the road this weekend. So let’s get started with the breakdown.
Appalachian State
The Mountaineers (7-2, 4-1 SBC) went to Arkansas State and earned a 48-14 win over the Red Wolves.
Arkansas State scored twice in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-all. But it was all App State after that with 34-unanswered points to close out the game. Among those 34 unanswered were two interceptions returned for touchdowns by the defense.
App State’s two losses came to #22 Miami 24-23 on September 11 and on October 12 at Louisiana-Lafayette 41-13.
They rebounded from the Louisiana loss on a Tuesday to defeat #14 Coastal Carolina on a nationally televised Wednesday night game on October 20.
Boone, NC is always a difficult place to play. But with with a forecast of a high of 41 degrees and winds between 10 to 20 MPH it doesn’t make it any more welcoming.
The Mountaineers are in their second season under the direction of head football coach Shawn Clark. He was named the head coach after Eliah Drinkwitz left after one season to take the head coaching position at Missouri.
Eight days after taking the reigns, Clark led the Mountaineers to a 31-17 win over UAB in the 2019 New Orleans Bowl.
In his first season as a head coach the Mountaineers went 9-3 and 6-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. They finished 2nd in the east division with a 56-28 win over North Texas in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
Offense
Here is the offense by the numbers.
They average 36.9 points, 200.8 yards rushing, 263.3 passing yards, and 464.1 total offensive yards per game. They average 24.4 first downs per game.
They are converting 44-of-116 (38%) of their 3rd down attempts. They are also converting 11-of-20 (55%) of their 4th down attempts.
Their red zone efficiency is very high. Of their 34 red zone trips they have scored 31 times (91%) and of those scores 21 of them have been touchdowns.
Their offensive line has only allowed 9 sacks on the season.
They have 14 turnovers on the season. Six interceptions and out of 14 total fumbles, they’ve failed to recover eight of them.
Quarterback Chase Brice is 172-of-264 for 2,261 yards, 15 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Corey Sutton and Malik Williams are the top two receivers with almost identical numbers. Sutton has 47 catches for 711 yards and 5 touchdowns with an average of 15.1 yards per reception. Williams has 45 catches for 678 yards and 5 touchdowns with an average of 15.1 yards per catch.
The receiving numbers drop off pretty substantially after those two. Thomas Hennigan is third on the team with 34 catches for 472 yards and two touchdowns. No other receiver has more than nine catches after him.
The rushing statistics are similarly dominated by two individuals. Nate Noel leads the way with 153 carries for 889 yards and three touchdowns. Camerun Peoples is next with 105 carries for 609 yards and 13 touchdowns (double checks the number…wow) in seven games. Both average 5.8 yards per carry.
Chase Brice is next in line with 43 carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Followed by Anderson Castle with 24 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns. No other ball carrier has over 59 yards rushing on the season after those four.
Defense
The App State defense is allowing an average of 23.3 points, 133.9 rushing yards, 226 passing yards, and 359.9 total yards per game.
Opponents are converting 46-of-129 (36%) 3rd down attempts and 4-of-10 (40%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opposing offenses have had 31 trips into the red zone, they have scored 25 times (81%), but only 16 of them have been touchdowns (52%).
They have an eye-opeing 66 tackles for loss and have sacked opposing quarterbacks 24 times on the season. They’ve collected 17 turnovers on the season, forcing 13 interceptions and recovering 4 fumbles.
D’Marco Jackson leads the Mountaineer defense with a whopping 84 total stops, 42 of them solo, with 12 tackles for loss, five sacks, and seven quarterback hurries from his linebacker position.
The next closest defender is Nick Hampton with 48 total stops, 27 solo, with a team leading 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.
Steven Jones leads the team with six interceptions.
This is another case where the Jags offensve will have to be able to operate behind the down and distance schedule. The Mountaineers will get negative plays.
As with any game, South Alabama must protect the ball, but against a ball-hawking defense like App State they will be out to pick off Trotter if he makes an errant throw.
Special Teams
Chandler Staton is perfect on the season. He’s made all 38 extra point attempts and all 14 field goal attempts. His longest is a 48 yard attempt against Georgia State.
Xavier Subotsch has punted 29 times on the season with an average of 39.6 yards per kick, 17 of them have been downed inside the 20 yard line and one went 51 yards, the only one to go over 50 yards for him this season. While his average yards isn’t high, he’s hasn’t needed to be. He’s been very effective with over half of his punts being downed inside the 20 yard line.
South Alabama
The loss of Bentley came as he was playing some of his best football. The offense struggled when Trotter took over but eventually started to find their rhythm and had a chance at a tying drive late in the game.
With a week of practice, Trotter should be well prepared to take back over the role he had previously. Trotter completed 64.5% of his passes last season for 1,917 yards and 11 touchdowns.
There are things that Bentley does that elevated himself over Trotter and earned the starting position. However there are things that Trotter does better than Bentley. One of the major things is his legs. He can run and he can extend plays.
We saw him use his legs on the first snap he took in place of Bentley.
Troy took away the deep threat of Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Wayne. Trotter and company found success underneath with one of his favorite targets being Lincoln Sefcik.
In the second half offensive coordinator Major Applewhite and Trotter pieced together a 19 play, 76 yard drive for a touchdown that drained 9:52 off the clock.
Offense
Let’s get the stats out of the way.
On average the Jags are scoring 28.6 points per game. They are rushing for an average of 135 yards, throwing for an average of 252.9 yards, and putting up an average of 387.9 total yards per game.
They are converting 47-of-131 (36%) of their 3rd down attempts and 19-of-28 (68%) of their 4th down attempts.
Their red zone trips have resulted in points on 33-of-39 (85%) times, with 28 of them being touchdowns.
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 19 times on the season.
With the interception and fumble against Troy the offense has now had 15 turnovers, six have been interceptions along with nine lost fumbles out of 12 total fumbles.
Jake Bentley currently stands at 184-of-262 passing which is a 70.2% completion rate for 2,122 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Trotter is 21-of-34 (61.8%) for 154 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Jalen Tolbert has caught 58 passes for 1,032 yards and six touchdowns, for back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons for the Jags.
Jalen Wayne has 37 catches for 414 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 34 catches for 269 yards and Lincoln Sefcik has 26 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Avery is the last player with double-digit catches with 17 for 92 yards and three touchdowns.
Terrion Avery has hit triple digit carries on the season now with 118 for 474 yards with one touchdown. Bryan Hill has 67 carries for 297 and three touchdowns. Kareem Walker, who didn’t see any playing time last week, has 63 carries for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
Defense
The defense played quite a good game outside of a pair of touchdown drives late in the first quarter and early second. The other two touchdown came on a very short field after a fumbled handoff attempt and a pick-six.
On to the numbers.
The defense is allowing an average of 22.1 points per game, 117.2 rushing yards, 202.1 passing yards, and 319.3 total offensive yards per game.
Opponents are converting 39-of-125 (31%) of their third down attempts and 9-of-16 (56%) of their 4th down attempts. Opponents have scored on 20-of-30 (67%) of their red zone trips, out of those 20 scores only 14 have been touchdowns.
The Jags defense have taken the ball away from opponents 18 times, 12 have been by interception and six have been fumbles. They’ve also sacked opposing quarterbacks 24 times on the season.
Quentin Wilfawn leads the defense with 45 total stops, 18 solo with 1 sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. Trey Young is not far behind with 41 total stops, 24 solo, with 1.5 tackels for loss and tied for the team lead with three interceptions.
Charles Coleman III and CJ Rias are tied for the team’s sack lead with three each. Christian Bell is next in line with 2.5 sacks. Then Wy’Kevious Thomas, Chris Henderson, Shawn Jennings, and Jamall Hickbottom all have two sacks each.
Jamal Brooks leads the team with 5.5 tackles for loss. Wy’Kevious Thomas right behind him with five tackles for loss.
Darrell Luter is tied with Young with three interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made all four extra points and his only field goal attempt against the Trojans. He is now 29-of-31 on extra points and 10-of-14 on field goals, with a long of 48.
Jack Brooks has punted 38 times with an average of 42.5 yards per attempt with 11 downed inside the 20 and nine have traveled over 50 yards.
Keys to the Game
Establishing the Run
The coaches will probably ease Trotter into the game. Look for them to probably lean on the run quite a bit and use short, high percentage throws to make sure he is comfortable and get him going, especially against a ball-hawking secondary like the Mountaineers field.
With Trotters dual threat ability you’ll likely see more zone read looks than what they call with Bentley. If that is successful then that could open up Wayne and Tolbert for some big plays down field.
Stopping the Run
App State thrives on running the ball. The Jags defense loves to shut down the run.
Who wins that battle could determine the game.
App State runs the ball to open up the pass. When they can open up the pass they are a very hard team to beat.
The Elements
Weather forecasts are calling for a cold and breezy game in Boone. It may not snow but it may feel like it should when they are playing.
The training staff will have to ensure that all the players warm up properly in pre-game and stay warm throughout the game.
Cold weather tends to make skin and extremity injuries more painful due to the cold’s effect on the sensory nerves. Players also tend to be an increased risk of muscle strains and tears, usually to the hamstring, quadriceps and calf muscles. But with winds over 5 mph and temperatures around 40 or below you can experience hypothermia or cold-induced asthma.
Special teams players are usually at a heightened risk as they only play intermittently and are expected to go “all out” without significant warm up time.
Skill players also need to keep their hands warm or risk fumbles or dropped balls as well.
Prediction
It’s not like the Jaguars are having to prep and start a quarterback who’s never started before. Trotter has 14 starts in his career at South Alabama.
But the Jags will also be getting some players back from injury. James Jackson looks to be ready to suit up, but it’s not a certainty he will start or play. If an injury happens to occur, Trey Simpson could move back over to guard and Jackson could potentially play at center. Wilfawn and CJ Rias may both be able to play as well. Having any or all of these will help tremendously.
Will it be enough?
The Jags are a 21.5 point underdog on the road against the Mountaineers. With that number I’ll definitely take the Jags and the points.
Can the Jags win outright?
They’ve responded to losses like Texas State and ULM with some big wins. They need at least one more this season to get bowl eligible.
It won’t be easy on the road. Boone is a tough place to enter and leave with a win and the elements may not be the most favorable. But I think the Jags can do just that. It’ll be a bit of a statement win on the road against a conference foe.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Rally Falls Short At Troy, 31-24
South Alabama attempted to rally back from a 24-point deficit, but couldn’t find the tying touchdown as they fall at Troy 31-24.
The Jags (5-4, 2-4 SBC) took the opening kickoff down the field to open the game with a statement touchdown. However, one play before the touchdown, starting quarterback Jake Bentley was forced out of the game after a hit below the knee.
Troy (5-4, 3-4 SBC) went three and out and was forced to punt back to the Jags. But the first handoff exchange between Desmond Trotter and Terrion Avery wasn’t clean and ended up on the turf with a Trojan covering.
The Trojans put up 31 unanswered points with the last seven coming via a pick-six when Trotter threw an ill-advised pass in an attempt to evade a sack.
South Alabama got the ball back with 1:41 left before halftime with good field position at the Troy 47 yard line after a personal foul on the Trojans on the punt return. The Jags patched together a 9 play drive, with a 4th down conversion, to put seven on the board with only 9 seconds left befor halftime.
The Jags ended the Trojan’s first possession of the second half when Tre Young picked off Taylor Powell at the Jags 24 yard line.
A 19 play, 76 yard drive with three 4th down conversions ended with a three yard touchdown pass by Trotter to Terrion Avery to make it a 10 point game.
Early in the 4th quarter a 31 yard punt gave the Jags the ball at their own 35 yard line with 12:53 left in the game.
They drove down to the Troy 10 yard line but a sack on 3rd and 9 at the 10 yard line forced the Jags to settle for a field goal with 6:45.
Troy was backed up to their 9 yard line after a mishap on the kickoff but hit on a 34 yard pass to get out of the shadow of their own end zone. Three plays later the Swarm D force a punt.
The Jags had the ball 1st and 10 at their own 10 yard line with 4:14 left in the game. They converted one 4th down to extend the drive. But the second one, a 4th and 3 at the Jags own 33 could not be converted. Trotter had an open Avery but an overthrown pass hit the turf to give the ball back to try who were able to ice the game.
Stats
Jake Bentley was a perfect 3-for-3 for 49 yards before having to leave the game with a knee injury. Desmond Trotter went 20-of-32 for 138 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Lincoln Sefcik caught nine passes for 55 yards. Tolbert caught four passes for 65 yards. Avery caught four for 31 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Wayne caught three for 29 yards.
Avery led the Jags rushing attack with 75 yards on 23 carries. Trotter had 11 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Bryan Hill added 26 yards on nine carries.
Gunnar Watson was 11-of-14 for 121 yards before leaving the game himself. Taylor Powell was 6-of-11 for 80 yards and a touchdown in relief.
Tez Johnson led the Trojans with 4 catches for 46 yards. Luke Whittemore added three catches for 59 yards.
BJ Smith led the Trojans rushing attack with 49 yards on 12 carries. Tez Johnson had one carry for 31 yards and a touchdown. Kimani Vidal only had 5 carries for 29 yards. Jamontez Woods had 5 carries for 7 yards for two touchdowns.
South Alabama had a 335 to 308 advantage in total yardage. They were outgained 187 to 201 through the air, but out gained the Trojans 148 to 107 on the ground.
The Jags converted 5 of 16 3rd down attempts in the game and were 5-of-8 on 4th down attempts. Troy was 6-of-12 on 3rd down and didn’t attempted a 4th down conversion against the Jags.
The Jags gave the ball away twice, a fumble and an interception, which led to 10 points for the opponents. The Jags defense got one interception and turned it into a touchdown.
Next Game
The Jags travel to Appalachian State for a 1:30pm kickoff against the Mountaineers in Boone, NC on Saturday, November 13. They defeated Arkansas State 48-14 in Jonesboro, Arkansas earlier today
Preview: Battle For The Belt Edition, Jags Look To Bring The Belt Back From Troy
Kickoff: Saturday November 6, 2:30pm
Venue: Veterans Memorial Stadium, Troy, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Darrell Luter
It’s Battle for the Belt Week.
South Alabama (5-3, 2-3 SBC) came out of the locker room ready to play from the opening whistle. They scored touchdowns on each of their first four possessions in route to a 31-13 win over Arkansas State (1-7, 0-4 SBC).
The only touchdown allowed came on the ensuing kickoff after the Jags fourth touchdown of the first half.
Jalen Tolbert scored the first two touchdowns for his 9th career touchdown against the Red Wolves.
Terrion Avery is only the second Jaguar to rush for over 100 yards in a game this season. The last was Kareem Walker against Alcorn State back in week 3 of the season.
Second half adjustments by Arkansas State really stymied the Jaguars offense in the second half. They had negative yardage in the third quarter. While the offensive adjustments by the Red Wolves helped them to have more production in the second half, the Jaguar defense kept them out of the end zone and forced four turnovers.
Now the Jags are just one win away from bowl eligibility.
But they also being the much talked about three-game road swing. It all begins on the road in Troy, AL.
Troy
The Trojans are 4-4 overall, 2-2 in Sun Belt play and the largest margin of defeat was 13 points to the ULM. Both of their conference wins have been by 3 points (27-24 over Georgia Southern in Troy, 31-28 over Texas State in San Marcos). Both conference wins came by late game heroics.
The two conference losses have come at the hands of ULM (29-16) and Coastal Carolina (35-28).
Their two non-conference wins were over Southern (55-3) and Southern Miss (21-9). Their losses were to Liberty (21-13) and South Carolina (23-14).
Offense
Here are the Trojans by the numbers. They are averaging 27.4 points, 138.3 rushing yards, 243.7 passing yards and 382 total offensive yards per game.
They are 41-of-99 (41.4%) on third down situations. They are 6-of-11 (54.6%) on fourth down situations.
In the red zone they have scored 19-of-25 trips, with 15 of them being touchdowns.
The offense has fumbled the ball 8 times and lost possession 6 times. Quarterbacks have thrown 4 interceptions on the season.
Kimani Vidal leads the running back corps with 105 attempts for 553 yards and 5 touchdowns. BJ Smith has 248 yards on 54 attempts with 2 touchdowns. Jamontez Woods has 222 yards on 40 carries with 4 touchdowns.
Taylor Powell, a transfer from Missouri, started the first four games of the season before being sidelined by a knee injury. Powell is 101-of-153 for 960 yards, 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions in those four games.
Gunnar Watson has started the last four games and is 68-of-100 for 746 yards and 6 touchdowns without an interception. Watson started nine games last season before being beaten out for the job by Powell.
Tez Johnson is the teams leading receiver with 46 catches for 481 yards and three touchdowns.
Reggie Todd in the next leading receiver with 21 catches for 257 yards and a touchdown. However Todd has been indefinitely suspended after being arrested on a charge of hindering prosecution in relation to a shooting during a high school football game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on October 15.
Three other receivers have over 100 yards receiving on the season and five have 10 or more catches on the season.
While the offense hasn’t been overly productive, they really been kept in games by their defense.
The Jags know how that goes.
Defense
The Troy defense is a scrappy, stingy unit.
Statistically speaking the Trojans defense allows an average of 21.6 points, 99.9 rushing yards, 211.4 passing yards, and 311.3 total yards of offense per game.
Opponents are converting 35-of-101 (34.7%) 3rd down attempts and 6-of-9 (66.7%) 4th down attempts.
When opponents get into the red zone, they have scored all 13 times, however less than half have been touchdowns (6-of-13).
As a team the defense has 59 tackles for loss with 27 sacks, 13 interceptions, and 3 fumble recoveries.
Linebacker Carlton Martial from Mobile’s McGill-Toolen HS, leads the team with 70 total tackles, 31 solo, 8 tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception.
The next two combined come up one short of Martial’s total. Javon Solomon from the Bandit position has 35 total stops, 19 solo with 11.5 tackles for loss and team leading 8 sacks and an interception. Linebacker KJ Robertson has 34 total stops with 3 tackles for loss and 1/2 sack.
The defense kept the game against Coastal Carolina close in the fourth quarter. The Chanticleers gambled with a fake punt on a 4th and 4 from their own 31, which paid off in their favor. Though they still had to punt a little later, they were able to burn more time off the clock before doing so.
The Trojan defense forced three interceptions in the fourth quarter against Texas State. One of them went for a touchdown which provided the go-ahead score.
The week before that the defense collected an interception which allowed the Trojans to drive and get the game-winning field goal with 1:46 left in the game.
Troy’s defense ranks 18th in the nation in total defense, 39th in passing yards allowed, 20th in rushing defense, T36th 3rd down conversion percentage, and T10th in turnovers gained. Which right there with the Jags.
Special Teams
Brooks Buce is 4-of-4 on field goal attempts, his longes of the season is only 34 yards and is 24-of-25 in extra point attempts.
Luke Magliozzi has punted 38 times on the season with an average of 42.8 yards per kick, 15 fair catches, 9 downed inside the 20, 7 have gone 50+ yards with the longest being 65 yards.
South Alabama
One win away from bowl eligibility. Did any fans think this would happen a year ago?
It’s a testament to head coach Kane Wommack and his staff for the progress they’ve been able to make through eight games.
Offense
Four touchdowns on their first four possessions. This is type of execution a coach wants to see.
Statistically the Jags are averaging 29.1 points, 133.4 rushing yards, 261.1 passing yards and 394.5 total yards of offense per game.
They are converting 43-of-115 3rd down attempts (37%) and they are converting 13-of-20 on 4th down (65%).
The offense has given the ball away 13 times with 8 fumbles loss on 10 total fumbles and five interceptions.
Terrion Avery, who wore the honorary #5 jersey, showed why he earned. Avery was only the second Jag rusher to run for over 100 yards this season. He continues to be the Jags leading rusher with 399 yards on 95 carries with a touchdown.
Bryan Hill is next in line with 271 yards on 58 carries with three touchdowns. Kareem Walker, in only his second game back from a quad inury, has 237 yards on 63 carries with four touchdowns in five games of action.
Jake Bentley is the first Jag in five seasons to throw for over 2,000 yards. And he’s only 2/3rds of the way through the season!
On the season Bentley is 181-of-259 (69.9%) for 2,073 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Not only is Jalen Tolbert leading the team, but he’s among the best in the conference and the nation in receiving. He has 54 catches for 967 yards with six touchdowns.
Jalen Wayne is next in line with 34 catches for 385 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 262 yards on 32 catches. Lincoln Sefcik has 17 catches for 146 yards with three touchdowns.
Defense
South Alabama’s defense held the Red Wolves to only 28 yards of total offense in the first half. The rushing yardage was -12! Though they weren’t quite as dominant in the second half, they didn’t allow a single touchdown.
Statistically the defense is allowing an average of 21 points, 118.5 rushing yards, 202.2 passing yards and 320.8 total offensive yards per game.
Opponents are converting 33-of-113 (29%) of their 3rd down attempts and 9-of-16 (56%) of their 4th down attempts.
On the season they have 54 tackles for loss with 24 sacks. Jamal Brooks, despite not playing, still leads the team with 5.5 tackles for loss. Charles Coleman III tied CJ Rias for the team lead with 3 sacks.
With Darrell Luter’s two interceptions he jumps Tre Young into the team lead with 3 on the season.
Quentin Wilfawn leads the team with 36 total stops, 18 solo with two tackles for loss and a sack. Keith Gallmon and Yam Banks are still tied with 35 stops each and both have 21 solo.
The first two interceptions last week came at great times. The Red Wolves were starting to move the ball some and the Jags were able to shut those drives down with turnovers. The final one simply sealed the game with a nice exclamation point.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo connected on all four extra points against Arkansas State, he’s not 26-of-28 on the season. He also connected on a 39 yard field, his only attempt of the night, to put the icing on the game. He’s not 9-of-13 on the season.
Jack Brooks’ punting averaging a solid 41.6 yards per attempt.
Keys to the Game
Offensive line
Which way the game goes will greatly depend offensive line play. Both defenses create havoc which results in negative plays and turnovers.
The Jaguar offensive line needs to communicate and play well in a hostile environment. If they can give Bentley and his receivers time, the Trojan defense is susceptible to big plays. Can you think of a better pair of receivers ready to exploit a secondary deep than the two Jalen’s?
Playing Behind Schedule
The Trojan defense generate a lot of negative plays. The Jaguar offense will have to find a way to be comfortable playing behind schedule.
That means they need to come to terms with and be comfortable executing 2nd-and-12 or 3rd-and-long situations. They don’t necessarily need to get all the yards back in a chunk but they must execute each and every play with a neutral mindset.
A player does not need to be heroic when behind schedule, they just need to execute their job each and every play at a high level no matter the previous outcome.
Injuries
You can’t talk about injuries without circling back to point number one: offensive line.
The Jags are thin as gift tissue paper on the offensive line right now. Center James Jackson injured his knee a couple of games ago. Hadon Merchant missed last week with a knee injury. Right guard Anterrious Gray suffered a concussion against Arkansas State and will have to clear the concussion protocol in order to play against Troy.
Due to Jackson’s injury, Trey Simpson moved from guard to center. If neither Jackson nor Merchant are able to play against Troy, that would likely leave Kent Foster and a group of freshmen and former walk-ons to back up the interior of the offensive line.
But that’s not all.
Jamal Brooks missed playing time against Arkansas State due to a shoulder injury that he had been trying to play through.
Bryan Hill broke a 47 yard run, his only carry of the game, but exited the game with a shoulder injury of his own.
Not only do they need to stay healthy but, if needed, they need to be ready if their number is called.
Prediction
Head coach Kane Wommack talked to the team about the Battle for the Belt rivalry on Monday. He brought in the empty case that houses the belt when under South Alabama’s care.
The Trojans have won the last three games in the series and currently holds a 6 games to 3 advantage in the series.
The last time the Jags won was in 2017 when coach Wommack was the defensive coordinator.
What could be sweeter than the Jags ending the three winning streak, bringing the belt back home, and getting bowl eligible against your in-state rival?
But Troy would like to keep their streak alive and also get within one game of bowl eligibility themselves.
Troy is favored by 3.5 points in the game. Basically an even game but given the three point home boost. I think the Jags get it done and win outright, get bowl eligible, and bring the belt back to Mobile.
Go Jags!
South Alabama’s Fast Start Leads To 31-13 Win Over Arkansas State
The South Alabama Jaguars got their third-consecutive win over Arkansas State and is now one game away from earning bowl eligibility after the 31-13 win.
A pair of Jalen Tolbert touchdown receptions in the first half and a pair of interceptions by Darrell Luter Jr in the second half propelled the Jags (5-3, 2-3 SBC) over the Red Wolves (1-7, 0-4 SBC).
The Jags opened the game with an 8 play, 79 yard touchdown drive on their first possession. A great mix of run and pass where the shortest gain was of 5 yards was capped off by a 13 yard touchdown pass by Jake Bentley to Jalen Tolbert.
The offense got the ball back after Arkansas State went three-and-out. The Jags only needed 7 plays to cover the 75 yards for the score. Jalen Tolbert got his second score of the game and his 9th overall against the Red Wolves when Jake Bentley connected with him for 30 yards.
Alan Lamar returned the kickoff 52 yards to give the Red Wolves the ball in Jaguar territory for the first time in the game. The Jags defense were backed up with ASU getting a 1st and goal at the 7 yard line after a pass interference penalty. On 4th and goal at the 1 Chris Henderson hurried quarterback Layne Hatcher and helped force an incomplete pass.
The Jaguar offense took over possession at their own 1 yard line with 1:41 left in the opening quarter. Terrion Avery barely got the ball out of the end zone saving a safety on the first play from scrimmage. When it was all said and done the Jags put together a 18 play, 99 yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a two yard touchdown pass from Bentley to Avery. The drive took 8:31 off the clock with the Jags up 21-0.
The defense forced another three-and-out and pushed the offense back 16 yards as they did it.
Bryan Hill took the first handoff and scampered 47 yards to the Red Wolves 14 yard line. Then Bentley connected with Brandon Crum for a 14 yard touchdown to cap off the 2 play, 61 yard drive for a 28-0 advantage.
Alan Lamar took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to give Arkansas State their only touchdown of the game to make the halftime score 28-7.
“I thought it was a tremendous first half in terms of our execute,” head coack Kane Wommack said. “I thought we did a poor job on our kickoff unit, we have to get better there. But outside of that, we really played with a lot of effort and energy. We executed at a high level. It was a good response victory to a week ago against Louisiana-Monroe where I didn’t think we played anywhere near the standard offensively, defensively, special teams.”
Arkansas State came out hot early in the second half but the Jags defense got a stop when needed and forced a 32 yard field goal and cutting the score 28-10 with 10:05 left in the third quarter.
The South Alabama offense’s next three possession all were three-and-outs.
Arkansas State’s first two possessions after the field goal all ended with turnovers. The first was a fumble forced and recovered by AJ DeShazor. The second was Darrell Luter’s first interception of the game.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Jake Bentley was intercepted when his pass intended for Tolbert was taken away by the defender. But the Jags would get it back a few plays later when Devin Rockette caught the ball as he was sliding down.
The Jags defense bent but refused to break again when the Red Wolves drove down to the Jaguar 17 yard line. A sack on 3rd and 7 took the option of going for it out of ASU head coach Butch Jones’ playbook and forced them to settle for a 43 yard field goal to shrink the lead to 28-13 with 6:22 left in the game.
The onsides kick attempt bounced and went off a Jaguar player out of bounds at the 50 yard line. On the kick Arkansas State’s Corey Rucker was injured. After a long time on the turf on the Jags sideline, he was finally helped up but immediately was assisted through the Jags bench towards the tunnel until the cart came to take him into the locker area.
Terrion Avery got 23 yards on the first play of the possession but the offense could not muster much else. Diego Guajardo made it a three score game with a 39 yard field goal for the 31-13 final score.
Darrell Luter got his second interception to ensure Arkansas State would not have another opportunity to score.
Game Stats
After putting up 352 total yards of offense in the first half. The Jags were negative in all three yardage categories in the third quarter. Their total yards was -5, their rushing yardage was -4 and their passing was -1 yard.
“I thought we played very hard and aggressive on defense the entire game,” Wommack said. “You look at the numbers and you can see that it was a dominating performance by our defense [only allowing] 242 yards total, giving up 38 yards rushing. They were 3-of-13 [on third down]. We stopped them in the red zone on fourth down. Obviously getting four takeaways on defense is huge and tremendous.
“Offensively, we did such a great job in the first half. I thought Arkansas State responded well in the second half. They competed their tails off, particularly their defense. I thought offensively, they did some challenging things that we had to continue to adjust to and we did. We’ve got to be more consistent though. When we can operate at such a high level at the beginning of the game, we need to do that in the third and fourth quarter as well.”
The Jags ended the game with 424 yards of total offense, they rushed for 173 yards and threw for 251 yards.
They were 5-of-14 (36%) on third down attempts and 2-of-3 (67%) on 4th down attempts. They had 23 first downs in the game, 20 of them came in the first half.
Arkansas State finished the game with 224 total yards of offense after going into halftime with 28 yards. They ran for only 38 yards and passed for 186.
The Jags defense held the Red Wolves to only 3-of-13 (27%) on third down and 1-of-2 (50%).
Arkansas State had 232 kickoff return yards, more than their total offensive output for the game.
Jake Bentley went 29-of-39 for 251 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Jalen Tolbert caught 8 passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Wayne, Caullin Lacy and Lincoln Sefcik all caught five passes for 42, 39, and 35 yards respectively. Brandon Crum cuaght 3 passes for 31 yards and a touchdown. Terrion Avery’s only catch of the game went for a 2 yard touchdown.
Terrion Avery carried the ball 22 times for 113 yards. Bryan Hill had one carry before injurying his shoulder and it went for 47 yards. Kareem Walker had 5 carries for 26 yards.
Quentin Wilfawn led the defense with 11 total stops, 6 solo with 1/2 sack. Ke’Shun Brown had two tackles for loss with one sack. Charles Coleman III had 1 1/2 sacks. Luter had one tackle for loss to go along with his two interceptions. Devin Rockette had 1/2 tackle for loss to go along with his interception.
Layne Hatcher was 19-of-37 for 186 yards and three interceptions. Corey Rucker caught 4 passes for 67 yards.
Lincoln Pare had 8 carries for 32 yards. Johnnie Lang had 7 carries for 20 yards.
The Jags have the most wins (5) since the 6-7 record in the 2016 season, the last appearance in a bowl game.
“…the standard and capability of this team is not five wins,” Wommack said. “It’s disappointing that it’s been so long since we’ve had five wins as a program, but at the same time we need to be process oriented. To me, we are not where we can be, but we’ve created an opportunity for this team to play our best ball at the end of the year and that is really exciting.
“You appreciate what you have, because at the end of the season there are a lot of teams sitting there that don’t get to compete or play their best football at the end of the year and they don’t have opportunities to better themselves in a bowl game and all the preparation that comes with that. We do have those things, but our process and consistency has to get better. This was a great win, but we need to move the dial forward in this program, and until we become a consistent football team, we will not achieve our goals.”
Next Game
The Jags will travel to Troy for the annual Battle for the Belt game against the Trojans. Kickoff in Troy, AL is scheduled for 2:30pm.
Preview: South Alabama Looking For 3rd Consecutive Win Over Arkansas State On Homecoming
Kickoff: Saturday October 30, 4:00pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama ran into a fired-up ULM team last week that put up season-high numbers on the Jags defense. It was uncharacteristic of the defense to struggle as much as they did against the ULM offense.
But credit is due to ULM (4-3, 2-2 SBC) and offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez for scheming a game plan and preparing their players for the Jaguars (4-3, 1-3 SBC) defense.
ULM put up 554 total yards of offense on the Jaguars with 369 yards coming through the air.
USA only managed to briefly seize control of the momentum in the game in the third quarter against ULM. They opened the half with a 10 play, 75 yard touchdown drive to tie the game. The defense held on a 4th and 3 at the Jags 34 yard line to give the ball back to the offense. Then the offense only took four plays to cover the 66 yards, the final 40 via a touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert.
It seemed at that time that the halftime adjustments had cured the ills.
But ULM took the ball on the ensuing kickoff and responded to the Jags two-consecutive scores with a touchdown of their own to tie the game again.
The Warhawks had retaken the momentum and would not relinquish it.
Arkansas State
South Alabama’s next opportunity to get a game closer to bowl eligibility comes up this weekend. The Jags will host Arkansas State (1-6, 0-3 SBC) for their annual homecoming on Saturday.
Last season the Jags notched their first win in Jonesboro in four tries. It marked the Jags first two-game winning streak against the Red Wolves and the third win in the last four meetings.
Overall the Jags still trail in the series 3 games to 6.
Gone is coach Blake Anderson. His replacement is former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones and most recently University of Alabama analyst.
However the Butch Jones tenure is off to a rough start.
The Red Wolves are off to a 1-6 start to the season. But they’ve had some close calls. They came up short in a shootout against Memphis 55-50, on the road against Tulsa 41-34, and just last week they fell to Louisiana-Lafayette 28-27 coming off their bye week.
But they’ve also been on the wrong side of some blowouts too. They fell to Washington 52-3, to Georgia Southern 59-33, and to Coastal Carolina 52-20.
Each week you’re not quite sure which team you’re going to get.
Offense
Arkansas State averages 29.6 points per game, 436.3 total yards, 348.6 passing yards, and 87.7 rushing yards per game.
They are converting 36-of-99 3rd down attempts (36%) and 1-of-7 4th down attempts (14%) on the season.
The quarterback has been sacked 26 times on the season for a loss of 140 yards. That’s an average of 3.7 sacks per game.
They have turned the ball over 11 times on the season, seven interceptions and four fumbles lost of their eight total fumbles.
Their top three running backs are all within a couple carries of each other. Lincoln Pare has 41 carries for 205 yards and a touchdown, Johnnie Lang has 44 carries for 172 yards, and Alan Lamar have 40 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown.
The Red Wolves do not have as much of a two-quarterback system as they have utilized under coach Anderson. However they are still utilizing a two quarterback system.
James Blackman is 109-of-184 (59.2%) for 1,334 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. Layne Hatcher is 78-of-139 (56.1%) for 1,106 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. Each quarterback have missed a game each.
ASU has a long list of receivers with catches. Three of them stand out from the rest. Corey Rucker has 35 catches for 550 yards and eight touchdowns. Te’Vaila Hunt has 32 catches for 511 yards and four touchdowns. Jeff Foreman has 24 catches for 419 yards and two touchdowns. Four other receivers have over 100 receiving yards on the season and five receivers beyond the three mentioned have double-digit numbers of receptions.
Lamar is the team leader with 900 all-purpose yards with 690 of them coming from kickoff returns. That includes a 93 yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Tulsa.
The Red Wolves have rushed for over 100 yards in a game twice. In their only win of the season they rushed for 194 yards against Central Arkansas. The other time was last weeks close game against Louisiana where they ran for 113 yards.
Defense
The defense has really been the Achilles heel for the Red Wolves. Particularly their run defense it seems.
Lets delve into the statistics first.
The defense is allowing a whopping average of 44 points per game.
On average the defense is allowing 578.6 total yards of offense, 288 yards passing and 290.6 yards rushing per game this season.
As a defensive coach those numbers make you cringe a bit. As an offensive coach I’m sure that makes you smile.
Opponents are converting 36-of-87 3rd down attempts (41%) and 5-of-6 4th down attempts (83%).
Safety Elery Alexander leads the team with 50 total tackles, 31 solo with a sack and two fumble recoveries.
The next closest defender is linebacker Caleb Bonner with 39 stops, 16 solo.
Georgia Southern ran for 503 yards and averaged 9.9 yards per rush. Coastal Carolina rushed for 294 yards and 8.2 yards per rush. Louisiana ran for 424 yards and 8.0 yards per rush. Tulsa ran for 308 yards and 6.3 yards per rush.
Louisiana only threw the ball 20 times in the game with 11 completions for 122 yards. Their final drive was a gruelling 18 play, 88 yard march burning 10:26 off the clock before they took two knees to end the game.
Special Teams
Blake Grupe is 22-of-23 on extra points and 10-of-12 on field goals for the season. His long is a 50 yarder against Tulsa.
Ryan Hanson has 42 punts on the season and is averaging 43.3 yards per attempt. He has 9 punts that have gone 50+ yards, the longest being a 60 yard kick. He has 16 of them inside the 20 yard line and none have been touchbacks.
South Alabama
Good news was that some injured players returned to the lineup for the Jags. Kareem Walker, Caullin Lacy were among those who returned.
However with the good also comes some bad. They lost Hadon Merchant to a knee injury early in the game. At a minimum he’s going to miss some time and could possibly miss the remainder of the season.
Also at practice during in the week leading up to the ULM game Josh McCulloch suffered an injury that kept him sidelined. It’s unknown if McCulloch will be ready for the Red Wolves.
But others continued to be hampered by lingering issues. Jamal Brooks was one of those who had to leave the ULM game a few times but tried to play through the pain.
Offense
South Alabama is averaging 28.9 points, 390.7 total yards, 263 passing yards, and 127.7 rushing yards per game on offense.
Their third down efficiency needs improvement. They are converting 38-of-101 (38%) 3rd down attempts on the season. They are converting 11-of-17 (65%) 4th down attempts on the season. That includes the 4th and 3 near the goal line last Saturday that went for a touchdown.
The Jags have converted 26-of-31 (84%) of their red zone trips into scores. Of those 26 scores, 22 (71%) of them have been touchdowns.
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 14 times for a loss of 88 yards on the season.
Terrion Avery leads the Jaguar backfield with 286 yards on 73 carries with a touchdown. Bryan Hill is next with 224 yards on 57 carries through five games with three touchdowns. Kareem Walker has 211 yards on 58 carries and four touchdowns in only four games.
Jake Bentley is completing 69.1% of his throws. He is 152-of-220 for 1,825 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert is far and away the leading pass catcher in the offense. He has 46 receptions for 873 yards and four touchdowns. That averages out to be 124.7 yards per game and 19 yards per catch.
Jalen Wayne has 343 yards on 29 catches with two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 27 catches for 223 yards. Tight end Lincoln Sefcik has 12 catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns.
As mentioned above, the Jags offensive line has suffered more than their share of injuries this season. However there’s a good chance that James Jackson could return to action this week. If so that would allow Trey Simpson to move back over to left guard.
Defense
The Jaguars are allowing an average of 22.1 points, 334.6 total yards, 204.6 passing yards, and 130 rushing yards per game. Which rank nationally at T43rd, T35th, 40th, T40th respectively.
The Jags defense has 13 takeaways which is tied for 24th nationally.
Keith Gallmon and Yam Banks are tied for the lead with 34 total stops each. Both has 20 solo stops each. Gallmon has 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery. Banks has 4 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.
CJ Rias continues to lead the defense with three sacks on the season. Tre Young also continues to lead the defense with two interceptions.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks has punted 31 times with an average of 41.9 yards per punt. Eight downed inside the 20, 11 fair caught, six have gone 50+ yards and his longest has gone 54 yards.
Diego Guajardo is 22-of-24 on extra point attempts. He is 8-of-12 in field goal attempts, missing one attempt in each of the last four games. His long on the season in 48 yards.
Keys to the Game
Consistent Execution
In every game, except maybe the Georgia Southern game, the Jags have had stretches with some quite poor execution. In the first five games, the Jags opening possession all ended with three-and-outs.
Against ULM the defense couldn’t execute well enough to stop the Warhawks passing game taking advantage of seams in the coverage.
The only game where the Jags executed consistently for the most part was against Georgia Southern. And you can see what they are capable of when they do.
Stay Healthy
Many teams are bruised and beat up by this point in the season.
The Jags are no exception. And they may be more bruised and beat up than a few others.
They need to get through a week without accumulating more injuries, especially on the offensive line. But the linebacker corps could use a break from the injuries as well.
Flying Footballs
There is no denying that Jalen Tolbert is a beast.
Arkansas State is particularly bad at defending the pass. This could set up for a huge game for Jake Bentley, Jalen Tolbert, and the rest of the Jaguar receivers.
But Arkansas get most of their offensive yards through the air themselves. After ULM’s slicing and dicing of the Jaguar secondary, this should be of some concern.
Prediction
The Jags chances are growing fewer by the game. If they want to attain bowl eligibility that is. Arkansas State looks like they should be a team the Jags can and should win against.
However last week the Jags were a double-digit favorite and we see how that turned out. You simply cannot take anything for granted.
As we keep pointing out, the final three or four games are brutal. And as it stands right now they will need to find at least one win out of those four to get bowl eligible.
Three consecutive weeks of travel to rival Troy, App State, and SEC opponent Tennessee is followed by the regular season finale against Coastal Carolina at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
But we can’t lose focus on this week. Arkansas State is coming and the Jags need a win.
The Jags are favored in the game by 9.5 points. Last week I had a bad feeling about the game. I picked the Jags to win but not to cover. Well, I was a bit wrong.
This week I feel a bit better. The Jags will be at home, not playing in Monroe, LA. It’s homecoming and the opposing team’s rush defense is particularly weak and has a weak rushing offense.
If the Jags secondary can hold up against the Red Wolves passing, they can win the game. But as we saw last week, the Jags had better be prepared.
I think the Jags win, but they don’t cover. It may come down to a defensive stand late in the game or Diego’s leg once again. It could also be a one sided affair, it really depends on which Jaguar team and which Red Wolves team show up at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Falls On The Road At ULM 41-31
The South Alabama Jaguars couldn’t get it done in Monroe as the Jags fall 41-31 to Louisiana-Monroe. The Jags record falls to 0-4 in Monroe, LA. and the Warhawks extend their lead in the series to 5-3.
The Warhawks (4-3, 2-2 SBC) grab control of the game early. They took the opening possession down the field in chunks with gains of 12, 18, 19 and 20 yards. The drive only took 7 plays to score with a 20 yard touchdown run by Andrew Henry.
The Jags (4-3, 1-3 SBC) start driving on their first possession of the game however a completion to Jalen Tolbert was knocked loose and recovered by the Warhawks at their 42 yard line.
ULM was driving and looking to go up two scores however a very similar situation happened. Quarterback Chandler Rogers connected with Will Derrick, Jamal Brooks knocked the ball loose and Keith Gallmon picked it up and returned it 26 yards to the USA 38 yard line.
USA tied the game on the possession when Bentley connected with Jalen Wayne in the back of the end zone on a 4th and 3 play at the ULM 10 yard line.
Bentley was intercepted early in the 2nd quarter which led to a touchdown pass to Jared Sparks for the Warhawks to go back up by a touchdown, 14-7.
The Jags answer with a field goal from 28 yards out. Facing 3rd and 6 at the Warhawk 7 yard line Bentley couldn’t find a receiver and was sacked for a three yard loss.
The Jags defense kept them out of the end zone but couldn’t keep them off the scoreboard. Calum Sutherland connected on a 39 yard field goal for a 17-10 advantage.
The Jags and the Warhawks traded scores with ULM taking a 24-17 lead into the halftime locker room.
South Alabama came out in the second half with some urgency. They took the opening possession and drove down the field methodically. The 10 play, 85 yard drive spanned 4:43. Jalen Tolbert called off the drive with an 8 yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 24-all.
ULM could not convert a 4th and 3 at the Jags 33 yard line turning the ball over on downs. The Jags only needed four plays to put it into the end zone again. The drive was capped off when Bentley connected with Tolbert for a 40 yard touchdown to go up 31-24.
The Jags offense went cold and the defense got worn down after that. ULM scored 17 unanswered points to go up 41-31.
The Jags got the ball back after the final score of the game, a 40 yard field goal, with 6:21 left in the game. Facing 3rd & 19 Bentley scrambled for 14 yards to the ULM 21. However Diego Guajardo’s 39 yard field goal attempt missed wide left with only 1:22 left on the clock.
USA managed to get the ball back with 1:00 left in the game, but it was too little too late.
The Jags defense allowed a season-high 554 total yards of offense. The Warhawks passed for 369 yards and rushed for another 185 yards.
ULM converted 7-of-13 3rd down attempts (54%), the best conversion rate the Jags have allowed this season.
Chandler Rogers was 25-of-35 for 369 yards with four touchdown passes.
Boogie Knight caught 6 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Will Derrick had 135 yards on 5 catches, including an 81 yard touchdown reception.
Andrew Henry carried the ball 18 times for 88 yards and a touchdown as the leading rusher.
The Warhawks also won the turnover battle 2-1.
The Jags had 409 total offensive yards, 320 through the air and 89 on the ground. They converted 6-of-16 of their 3rd down attempts (37.5%). They were also 3-of-4 on 4th down attempts (75%).
Jake Bentley went 30-of-41 for 320 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert set the record for career touchdown receptions in the game and also set a school-record seventh 100-yard game of his career. He caught 10 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Terrion Avery caught seven for 48 yards. Jalen Wayne caught 5 for 36 yards and a touchdown.
Avery led the Jags backfield with 87 yards on 14 carries. Bryan Hill had 10 yards on 5 carries. Kareem Walker had 5 carries for 3 yards in his return to action.
“I thought ULM did a nice job of attacking our seams,” head coach Kane Wommack said. “They did a good job attacking some of the zone windows. Their quarterback was very decisive. Credit Rich Rod [offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez] on what he was able to do… I thought he did a nice job of continually adjusting and keeping us off balance and off kilter. At the same time, we call things and we have to know that our guys are in this position.”
“I thought it was an all-around thing,” Wommack said as to what he thought led to the struggles in the game. “There wasn’t enough effort or execution.”
“To build consistency in a program is the only way that we are going to be able to get to where we want to go,” Wommack said. “That means consistent effort, consistent execution, consistent adjustment and we are not there as a program right now and we have to be. We have to get to that point. It’s not all going to change in year one, but we’re capable of it, and so we have to be able to go do it.”
The Jags return home on Saturday, October 30 when they host Arkansas State for a 4pm kick at Hancock Whitney Stadium for the Jags Homecoming game.
Preview: South Alabama Travels To ULM Looking For First Conference Road Win Of Season
Kickoff: Saturday October 23, 6:00pm
Venue: Malone Stadium, Monroe, Louisiana
TV/Streaming: ESPN3
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Jake Bentley
The South Alabama Jaguars got the win they needed last week against Georgia Southern. Not only did you see players step up to fill in for injured players, but they did it in an impressive fashion by a score of 41-14.
The Jags (4-2, 1-2 SBC) now turn their focus to Louisiana-Monroe team (3-3, 1-2 SBC) that just upset a heavily favored Liberty team 31-28 on Saturday.
ULM is the next game in a four-game stretch of games that are ripe for the picking as we wrote about a few weeks ago. The Jags dropped the first one to Texas State in a 4OT heartbreaker. The Jags came out of that game bruised and battered from a very physical contest.
The team was without Kareem Walker, Caullin Lacy, James Jackson, Shawn Jennings, and Trent Tyre. They also had a number of players who missed practice time leading up to that Georgia Southern win.
Despite the adversity the Jags showed that any given week they can play and compete with any team in the conference.
ULM
The Warhawks are under the direction of a new head coach this season. His name may be a bit familiar to some people in the state of Alabama.
At a minimum, his last name should be very familiar to anyone who’s a fan of college football.
Terry Bowden was the head coach at Auburn University in the 1990s, succeeding Pat Dye. As his last name suggests, he is the son of hall of famer Bobby Bowden.
He spent about 10 years out of coaching as a broadcaster for ABC sports among other football related media jobs. In 2009 he returned to the coaching ranks with North Alabama where he accumulated a 29-9 record and three consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
He then went to Akron for the 2012 season and went from a 1-11 record his first season with the Zips to almost upsetting Michigan in 2013. There he compiled a 35-52 record and led the Zips to their first MAC Championship game appearance since 2005 and only the second in program history. He also led the Zips to their second bowl game in three seasons and only their third bowl game in program history. He was fired in 2018.
After being let go by Akron, Bowden join the Clemson staff for the last two seasons as an offensive analyst before being hired by ULM in the offseason.
Joining Bowden as his offensive coordinator is another name that many football fans may also remember, Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez came to prominence at the West Virginia University (2001-2007) with his zone read offensive concepts. He was considered for the job at the University of Alabama, which he turned down and eventually led to Nick Saban being hired.
He was hired at the University of Michigan in 2008. His first team finished with a 3-9 losing record, the worst season in school history and missed a bowl game for the first time in 33 years. After acknowledging rules violations to the NCAA and a disappointing season, the was dismissed.
He was the head coach at University of Arizona from 2012-2017, winning 33 games in his first four seasons, the most in school history over a four-year period. It included four-consecutive bowl berths, a first in program history.
In 2018 he was hired as offensive coordinator at Ole Miss under head coach Matt Luke. When Luke was let go, he was not offered a position with the Lane Kiffin staff.
Prior to the upset of Liberty, the Warhawks lost back-to-back games against Coastal Carolina (59-6) and Georgia State (55-21).
Offense
On the season, ULM’s offensive stats are not that impressive. They are averaging 18.2 points per game, 259 total yards of offense, 164.5 passing yards and 94.5 rushing yards per game.
They have converted 25-of-92 3rd down attempts (27.2%) and 6-of-8 4th down attempts (75%). In 12 red zone trips they have scored 11 times (91.7%) but of those 11 conversions, only six of them have been touchdowns. They have fumbled seven times and lost two of them.
Andrew Henry leads the team in rushing yards with 283 on 66 carries with two touchdowns. Chandler Rogers is next with 213 yards on 77 carries. No other ball carrier has over 65 yards rushing after that.
Chandler Rogers is leading the Warhawks quarterback position. He is 44-of-75 for 590 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Rhett Rodriguez, coach Rodriguez’s son, is 35-of-62 for 337 yards and a touchdown though he’s missed three games due to a punctured lung.
Boogie Knight leads the receiving corps with 23 catches for 285 yards. Zach Jackson has 17 catches for 239 yards and two touchdowns in five games. Jared Sparks also has 17 catches for 162 yards. No other receiver has over 71 yards receiving or more than 6 catches on the season.
Against Liberty the Warhawks came out in the third quarter, trailing 14-0, and scored 28-unanswered points to take a 28-14 lead. They broke the 28-all tie with the game winning 53-yard field goal with 1:44.
Defense
As mentioned before, prior to the Liberty win, the Warhawks allowed 50+ points in back-to-back games. They allowed 291 yards rushing to Coastal Carolina and then 323 yards rushing to Georgia State. Those numbers skew the game averages, but definitely shows how Jekyll and Hyde ULM seems to be.
The Warhawk defense allows an average of 35 points, 455.3 total yards, 275.3 passing and 180 rushing yards per game.
Opponents have converted 42-of-79 3rd down attempts (53.2%) but only 1-of-7 4th down attempts (14.3%).
Opponents have had the ball in the red zone 22 times and have scored 19 times (86.4%), of those 17 have been touchdowns.
Linebacker Traveion Webster leads the defense with 46 total stops, 14 solo, two tackles for loss, and 1/2 sack on the season. Cornerback Adam Sparks has 39 stops, 21 solo with a fumble recovery.
Defensive end Ty Shelby leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss and also leads the team with 5 sacks on the season. Linebacker Zack Woodard has 34 total tackles on the season with 4 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks, both of those are second on the team.
Special Teams
Calum Sutherland is 10-of-14 this season in his field goal attempts. He is 1-of-2 from 50+ yards, 4-of-6 from 40-49 yards. His longest was from 53 yards out. He’s had one attempt blocked. He has made all 11 extra point attempts on the season. Of his 27 kickoffs, he has eight touchbacks and one has gone out of bounds.
Punter Devyn McCormick is averaging 42.1 yards per punt over his 40 kicks this season. He’s kicked seven 50+ yards, his longest went 56 yards. He has four touchbacks and 18 fair catches. Nine has been downed inside the opponents 20 yard line.
South Alabama
Game six was finally the game where the offense came out ready to go. Not only did they get their first 1st down on an opening drive this season, but they also scored a touchdown.
That helped propelled the Jags to a 41-14 rout of Georgia Southern and broke seven-game winless streak the Jags held against the Eagles.
Offense
Jake Bentley finally showed his FBS experience. He set a school-record throwing for 389 yards and accounting for five total touchdowns in the game. That earned him Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The offense is now averaging 28.5 points, 387.7 total yards, 253.5 passing yards and 134.2 rushing yards per game.
They have converted 32-of-85 3rd down attempts (38%) and 8-of-13 4th down attempts (62%). They have scored 22 times in 27 red zone trips (81%) with 19 of those being touchdowns.
Bryan Hill is currently the teams leading rusher with 214 yards on 52 carries in four games with three touchdowns. Kareem Walker has 208 yards on 53 carries with four touchdowns, but has missed the last couple of games due to a quad injury.
Terrion Avery has 199 yards on 59 carries with a touchdown. AJ Phillips has 78 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns in only two games played.
Bentley is 122-of179 (68.2%) passing for 1,505 yards, 7 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert has 36 receptions for 718 yards and two touchdowns. He’s averaging 119.7 yards per game and 19.9 yards per reception.
Jalen Wayne is the next closest receiver with 307 yards on 24 catches with one touchdown. Caullin Lacy has 170 yards on 23 catches.
Defense
The Jags Swarm D keeps living up to its name. They are producing turnovers and causing havoc for the opponents.
The defense is allowing an average of 19 points, 297.8 total yards, 177.2 passing, and 120.7 rushing yards per game.
With the interceptions they gathered against the Eagles, USA now has 8 INTs on the year and have recovered four fumbles from opponents too. The team turnover margin is +3.
Yam Banks leads the Jaguar defense with 28 total stops, 17 solo. Keith Gallmon Jr. has 27 total stops, 15 solo with 2.5 sacks and an interception. CJ Rias leads the team with three sacks. Tre Young leads the team with 2 interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo has connected on 7-of-10 field goal attempts this season. He is 4-of-5 from 40-49 yards on the season with his longest being from 48 yards out. Of his 33 kickoffs, 15 have been touchbacks.
Jack Brooks is averaging 40.9 yards over his 28 attempts on the season. He’s had three go 50+ yards and his longest has been 54 yards. None have been touchbacks, 9 have been fair caught, 7 have been downed inside the opponents 20 yard line. He had one kick blocked.
Keys to the Game
Early Game Momentum
It took six games, but the Jags offense finally came out of the locker room ready to go last week. They took the opening kick and drove 84 yards for the score.
At one point they converted first downs on 5 consecutive plays.
They really need to come out and do that again, this time on the road.
Sustaining Momentum
Last week ULM started slow and was in a 14-0 hole at halftime. They then scored 28-unanswered points to seize control of the game in the second half.
The Jags need to put pressure on ULM early like they did Georgia Southern. But they need to keep applying pressure because the Warhawks will not give up and they also have proven they can make that come back.
Minimizing Mistakes
Well, obviously minimizing mistakes is a big deal. But where I’m coming from is penalties and mental mistakes in some specific instances.
Two weeks ago the Jags lost AJ DeShazor in the second half due to a targeting call. That forced him to sit out the first half of the Georgia Southern game. He was previously flagged for targeting in the season opener against Southern Miss and missed playing time.
Against Georgia Southern Yam Banks was flagged for targeting on a kickoff return. Upon review it was overturned otherwise the Jags linebacking corps was going to be quite thin without Banks and the injured players unable to play last week.
The offense and defense has had the occasional mistake occur. The offense has committed a penalty to negate a good play and put them behind the down and distance schedule. Also the defense has committed a penalty that extended drives.
Prediction
A couple weeks ago we saw one of the best second halves of football the Jags have played all season when they came back against Louisiana.
This past week we saw the best complete game effort by the Jags this season. It was probably one of the best team efforts in several years.
Coach Wommack’s mantra about the “neutral mindset” is his process. It’s all about the team playing to the same standard regardless of the score or game situation.
There are going to be highs and lows in each game. Some will be really high and some will seem really low.
But if they can continue to focus on the next play. If they can continue to do their job at a high level, regardless of success or adversity, then good things will happen. They want to do the same high-level job over and over again. Play after play.
When the team plays like that, they can compete with anyone in the Sun Belt.
If they can do that play after play and game after game, then they will build into a consistent program.
ULM leads the series 4-3. They’ve won every game in Monroe and the Jags have won three of the four contests in Mobile. It’s an opportunity for the Jags to break another streak against a Sun Belt foe.
Monroe is a tough place to play. The Warhawks have pulled off a pair of surprises this season under coach Bowden, both at home. They upset Troy 29-16 on September 25 then the 31-28 upset Liberty last week that was mentioned above.
The Jags will need the neutral mindset and they will need to play at a high level for the entire game in order to not fall into the Monroe trap.
The Jags are favored by 13.5 points over ULM. That line makes me nervous. You can call me a homer, but I think the Jags win however I don’t think they cover. ULM plays very tough at home and it’s not the best place to travel to.
Go Jags!