Preview: South Alabama Faces Off Against Oklahoma State In Stillwater
Kickoff: Saturday, September 16, 6pm
Venue: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Trey Kiser
It took six quarters of football, but we finally saw the Jaguar team we expected this season make their real debut.
The Jags (1-1) first half of play against Southeastern Louisiana (0-2) was just the test we expected the Jaguars to face. SLU was able to move the ball on the Jags, but the defense wouldn’t break. The Jaguar offense also struggled to move the ball consistently early. But by the end of the opening quarter, it looked like the Jags had found their groove and were driving.
Penalties and negative plays completely derailed the drive and took them out of scoring position. They started the quarter at the Lions 25-yard line, but by the time 4th down arrived, they had given up 27 yards mostly due to penalties.
SLU scored first, but the Jaguars responded with a matching touchdown. The third quarter began with more adversity when Carter Bradley was intercepted on the fourth offensive play of the half. After the defense forced a three-and-out the Jags offense came alive with a spark by La’Damian Webb. South Alabama scored 21-straight points before the Lions stopped the bleeding with a field goal.
The next test for South Alabama is a familiar Power-5 foe, Oklahoma State (2-0).
Oklahoma State (2-0)
The Cowboys experienced a rather disappointing season in 2022 going 7-6. In 18 seasons as the head coach at OSU, Mike Gundy has had seven 10+ win seasons and two 12-win season. The 2021 season was one of those 12-win seasons. They were 12-2 with a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. They were ranked #5 in the nation and on the precipice of their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. However, 9th ranked Baylor upset the Cowboys 21-16 in the conference championship game and knocked them out of the playoff picture.
The 2022 season started off 5-0 before dropping 6 of their final eight games.
So far, the 2023 season has started off on the right foot with non-conference wins over Central Arkansas 27-13 and Arizona State 27-15. But this may be the most vulnerable Cowboy team the Jags have faced in their match-ups over the last few years.
In 2018 they defeated the Jags 44-7 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and then they defeated the Jags 55-13 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater 2018.
Offense
Head coach Mike Gundy and offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn have yet to settle on a single starting quarterback. They are currently rotating between three players: redshirt freshman Garret Rangel, senior Alan Bowman and sophomore Gunnar Gundy.
In the first two games each have seen action. Against Central Arkansas they played Rangel-Bowman-Gundy in that order. Then against Arizona State they went Bowman-Gundy-Rangel. All three are pretty equal athletically, neither one is more dynamic in the run game that the others. All three understand the offense and are efficient throwing the ball.
Rangel may be considered the most efficient of the three since he is 16-of-24 for 164 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and an additional 20 yards on four carries rushing. Bowman is 24-of-40 for 193 yards with -7 rushing yards on four carries. Gundy 12-of-16 for 138 yards, one touchdown, and has rushed for 12 yards on four carries.
Every year the Cowboys seem to have a deep stable of pass catchers and this season is no different. De’zhaun Stribling leads the team with 11 catches, 138 yards and a touchdown. Jaden Bray has nine catches for 118 yards. Brennan Presley has 10 catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns. They have eight other receivers who have caught passes so far this season.
Ollie Gordon II leads the rushing attack with 97 yards on 16 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Elijah Collins also has 16 carries for 71 yards and a touchdown. Jaden Nixon has 13 carries for 70 yards.
As expected the Cowboy offensive line are quite big. They average 306.6-pounds across their offensive line with the smallest listed starter at 296-pounds and the shortest is 6’4”. That size is probably a good reason why the Cowboys tend to rush the ball better later in the game.
The offense has only turned the ball over once and it was by interception.
Defense
The Cowboy defense is good at converging on the ball. The base defense is a 3-3-5 with three down linemen, three linebackers, two corners and three safeties.
They have allowed an average of 334 total yards of offense to opponents through two games. They give up an average of 116.5 yards rushing and 217.5 yards passing per game.
The defense has taken the ball away from opponents twice, once by interception and once by fumble recovery.
Safety Kendal Daniels leads the team with 15 total stops, 10 of them solo, with a fumble recovery. Linebacker Nickolas Martin is next with 13 total stops, eight solo, with three tackles for loss and two sacks. As a team, the defense has eight sacks and 17 tackles for loss.
Special Teams
The Cowboys have used two punters so far this season. Wes Pahl has 6 punts for an average of 47 yards per attempt, a long of 60 yards, three kicks of 50+ yards, three fair catches, two downed inside the 10, and one touchback. Hudson Kaak has four attempts for an average of 36.5 yards per attempt, a long of 42 yards, four downed inside the 20, and two fair catches.
Alex Hale is 4-of-5 on kicking duties with a season long of 52 yards.
South Alabama (1-1)
The Jaguar offense has taken a little time to find its identity this season. It wasn’t until the second half last week did we really see the offense play up to expectations. La’Damian Webb hasn’t fully gotten up to speed yet this season. He was limited in fall camp due to off-season surgery. He only had seven carries against SLU but he made them count by gaining 81 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
Kentrel Bullock and Marco Lee carried most of the load in the game with a brief appearance by true freshman PJ Martin. In all the Jags rushed for 248 yards and four touchdowns against the Lions.
Offense
The Jaguar offense is averaging 26 points, 387 total yards, 225.5 passing yards, and 161.5 rushing yards per game through the first two contests.
Carter Bradley is 42-of-56 (75%) for 448 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Caullin Lacy leads the team in both catches (15) and yards (199) with a touchdown. His yardage stats are aided by the 84 yard touchdown catch and run against the Lions. Jamaal Pritchett has 8 catches for 99 yards. Devin Voisin has 5 catches for 77 yards with a touchdown. Bullock adds 5 catches for 22 yards out of the backfield. Tight end Lincoln Sefcik has 25 yards on four catches.
Webb leads running back corps with 121 yards on 16 carries (7.6 yards per attempt) with two touchdowns. Bullock leads the team with 26 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown. Marco Lee has 11 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Across the offensive line the Jags are big. They average 322 yards per starter with left tackle Josh McCulloch being the lightest listed at 312-pounds. Which may also lend to why the Jags also tend to run the ball better later in the game.
Defense
The Jaguar defense is allowing an average of 27 points, 424 total yards of offense, 322 passing yards, and 102 rushing yards per game.
James Miller leads the defense with 12 total stops, six solo, with a fumble recovery. Yam Banks, Trey Kiser and Jaden Voisin are all right behind him with 10 total stops each. Banks has 7 solo tackles, a forced fumble and an interception on the season.
Quentin Wilfawn leads the defense with two tackles for loss. Khalil Jacobs and Maurice Strong Jr are tied with one sack each.
Special Teams
Jack Martin only has three punts on the season, two of them against SLU last week. He is averaging 42.7 yards per punt with a long of 45, two fair catches and one downed inside the 20.
Diego Guajardo is 1-of-2 on field goal attempts, both in the season opener against Tulane. His long on the season is 36 yards with his only miss from a 52-yard attempt.
Keys to the Game
Secondary Play
The Jaguar secondary made some big strides from game one where Tulane took advantage with three explosive touchdown plays (two of 47 and one of 48).
Against SLU the secondary played better and more consistent. They gave up only one long pass in the game, but they allowed some easy, short passes to be completed and third downs to be converted.
The Cowboys are a better passing team than SLU though.
They will attack the perimeter and look to create one-on-one matchups to their advantage. They’ll mix tempos during the game at what feels like random. Likely the Cowboys will favor how their personnel matches up with the defensive personnel or they see something that is immediately exploitable, so they go up tempo to dissuade subbing players in-and-out. Or they simply want to catch the defense off-guard.
Offensive Line
The offensive line has struggled protecting Bradley early in the season. They found some success against SLU but Oklahoma State will be another big test for this unit. The starting defensive front they’ll be facing will consist of a trio of redshirt seniors. Actually on their two-deep chart they have nine players listed on the defensive line and seven of them are all redshirt-seniors.
Bradley was unable to stretch the field against Tulane. He doesn’t have a big, tall receiver to really go up and contest passes like Jalen Wayne last season. While the Jags receiver corps is really good, they are a little undersized in some matchups.
If the offensive line can win their battles and give Bradley time to throw and the running backs openings to run, the Jags can play some keep-away and shorten the game, especially with the new clock rules this season.
Stay Healthy
With Braylon McReynolds out for an extended time with a broken collarbone and Devin Voisin looking doubtful with a knee injury, the Jags really need to stay healthy.
McReynolds was listed as the #2 running back behind Webb coming into the season. He also was a primary kickoff returner averaging 23.1 yards per return last season.
Voisin was the leading receiver last season with 64 catches, 871 yards and five touchdowns last season.
Jalen Jordan and Keith Gallmon Jr are likely to return to the defensive secondary this week. Jordan sat out last Saturday after suffering a foot injury against Tulane. Gallmon suffered an unspecified injury against SLU and didn’t return to the game.
With Sun Belt Conference play quickly approaching, staying healthy for a run at the conference championship will be paramount.
Prediction
According to odds sites, the Jags are mostly a 7.5 point underdog to the Cowboys. One site has the Cowboys as much as a 9 point favorite.
I don’t really know about this matchup. One moment I feel like the Jags really have a good opportunity. But then I think how they played the first six quarters this season and how we’ve historically played against OSU and doubts creep in.
I think I’ll go with the pessimistic side and say the Cowboys cover narrowly, but I’ll be hoping that they prove me wrong on the field.
Look for a passionate performance by Trey Kiser, he’s returning to his home state and will be wearing the honorary #5 Anthony Mostella jersey this week.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Opens Home Slate Against Southeastern Louisiana
Kickoff: Saturday, September 9, 4pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: James Miller
South Alabama (0-1) opens their home schedule against Southeastern Louisiana (0-1) at Hancock Whitney Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The last two games by the Jags, the “reverse bookends” if you will, were both played in New Orleans. That would be the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to end the 2022 season and the 2023 season opener versus Tulane last week. They have both been humbling and glaring blemishes on what head coach Kane Wommack’s short resume as a head coach.
In his sophomore coaching season, he led the Jags to a 10-2 regular season and a bowl game. Western Kentucky found the most glaring weaknesses in the Jaguar defense and took full advantage of it to the tune of a 44-23 win over the Jags.
The similar issues plagued the team on Saturday: Secondary issues and doing your job. Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt had two touchdowns of 47 yards and a third that went for 48 yards. He was 14-of-15 passing for 294 yards against a defense that returned most of its starters from last season.
But it’s not time to pull the fire alarm on the season just yet. Not one game into the 2023 season.
You have to take the game and the match-up into full consideration as well. It was a top 25 game on the road. Tulane returned some very good players on both lines, and it showed. The Jaguar offensive line, despite its experience, couldn’t maintain their blocks to protect quarterback Carter Bradley from the big Green Wave defensive front.
Meanwhile the Jags defensive front had problems getting pressure on Pratt as the picked apart the secondary like a surgeon.
Coach Wommack has talked about facing adversity during the game and responding to that adversity many times. That’s exactly what happened on Saturday. On the second play from scrimmage, the normally sure-handed La’Damian Webb fumbled the ball away to Tulane, which put the Jags behind early.
But the team responded.
Down 10-0, the Jags cut the lead to a field goal early in the second quarter. Then after back-to-back scoring drives that ended with 47-yard touchdown passes, the Jags responded again. A field goal late in the first half and a touchdown about midway through the second quarter had the Jags within seven points.
Coach Wommack said during his weekly radio show that you don’t get chances like [facing a top 25 team] back, now they have to live with the consequences.
He identified problems in the secondary and offensive line that need to be correctly quickly.
The offensive line played fundamentally inconsistent in the game. However, coach Wommack said that they did well identifying defensive schemes, but they just didn’t execute with consistency.
He also said the secondary got caught looking into the backfield to make a big play and the opposite happened.
But the bottom line is that the coaches and players both believe it can and will be corrected.
Southeastern Louisiana
Next up are the Lions. SLU is coached by Frank Scelfo and he’s been named the Southland Coach of the Year twice since being named head coach in January 2018. He is 34-24 (25-13 in conference play). He led the Lions to the Southland Conference championship last year, their first since 2014, and to their third trip to the second round of the NCAA FCS playoffs during his tenure.
If the Scelfo name seems familiar, you’re right. His nephew, Joseph Scelfo, was a starting center for the Jags before transferring to NC State as a Grad Transfer in 2016.
The Lions know how to win, they finished 9-4 in 2022 and reached the second round of the FCS playoffs.
They have a whopping 17 players named to the preseason All-Conference team entering the 2023 season.
Offense
In 2022, under offensive coordinator Greg Stevens, the Lions averaged 35.3 points and 439.8 yards per game.
Helping the Lions out last season was former South Alabama quarterback Cephus Johnson. He finished his collegiate career with the Lions last season and was signed to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad.
Stevens is known for coaching quarterbacks. In 2021 he helped Cole Kelley to Southland Conference Player of the Year, Louisiana Offensive Player of the Year, Walter Payton Award runner up and consensus All-American honors as the threw for 5,124 yards and 44 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 73.6%. But he also ran for 491 yards and 16 touchdowns as well.
SLU only managed 208 yards of total offense (125 passing, 83 rushing) against Mississippi State in their season opening 48-7 loss last weekend.
Starting quarterback Eli Sawyer was 11-of-19 for 85 yards in the first half before giving way to Zachary Clement. Clement went 5-of-9 for 40 yards with a touchdown in relief. Sawyer and Clement were named to the first- and second-team all-conference preseason teams respectively.
Harlan Dixon led the Lions with 51 yards rushing on eight carries. Rodeo Graham Jr ran for 23 yards on five carries. In all, eight players are credited with carries for the Lions, those that were not quarterbacks did not have any negative yardage against the Bulldogs.
Dixon also topped the stat sheet for the Lions with a team-high four catches for 42 yards. Darius Lewis added three catches for 25 yards.
Defense
Defensive Coordinator Bill D’Ottavio is in his third season with the Lions and his second season calling plays. In 2021 he coached safeties. Then in 2022, his first as the Lions DC, this squad finished 10th in FCS in turnovers forced (24), 5th in interceptions (16), and 11th in defensive touchdowns (3).
Previous to joining SLU, he was the defensive coordinator at Samford for 13 seasons, where he coached four NFL draft picks.
Defensive back Ian Goodly led the Lions with 15 total stops, eight solo, against the Bulldogs. Linebacker Herman Christophe collected 10 stops, 1 solo. Anthony Britton Jr., also a linebacker, finished with nine total stops, two solo, with a forced fumble.
The only player to record a sack was defensive back Khamron Ford, which was one of his two stops for the game.
Special Teams
Austin Dunlap had seven punts for an average of 46.3 yards per kick. His long was 56 yards, four of his kicks were 50+ yards and four were downed inside the opponents 20. He is in his senior year and has played in all five seasons as a Lion with a career average of 42.5 yards per punt with only two blocked, both in his freshman season in 2019.
Riley Callaghan (So) earned Stats Perform Freshman All-America and All-Southland Conference honors as a freshman is the teams placekicker. He went 15-of-18 (with a long of 47 yards) and was 42-of-44 on PATs. He did not attempt any field goals last week.
South Alabama
The Jaguar offense may not have played up to their potential in the first game, but they did show some of what they did well last season. La’Damian Webb wasn’t given much room to run, and was also kept out of the game for a while, but he found creases and eeked out positive yardage. He finished with 40 yards on nine carries.
Kentrel Bullock had 12 carries for 37 yards in his Jaguar debut. Braylon McReynolds only had two carries for nine yards before he left the game with an injury.
Carter Bradley was 23-of-30 for 190 yards, with a touchdown but he was also sacked five times and had two interceptions when he tried to force the ball out.
Jamaal Pritchett led the Jags with 63 yards receiving on five catches. Caullin Lacy led the team with seven receptions for 60 yards. Bullock added 19 yards on three catches out of the backfield. Devin Voisin was held to only one catch for a 7-yard touchdown.
As we mentioned above, we the offensive line struggle to protect Bradley, especially on obvious passing downs. Bradley trying to force the ball out, this led to a pair of interceptions.
There were a few key opportunities where the Jags faced 3rd and short and procedural penalties killed their opportunities. What would have likely been easy first downs by running the ball. Instead, two of them turned into quarterback sacks instead.
Defense
The Jaguar defense held strong against the run for most of the game. Quarterback Michael Pratt was just edged out by Makhi Hughes as the team’s leading rusher (41 to 39), and that was due to the Green Wave’s late success running the ball.
As mentioned earlier, the Jags secondary gave up two touchdown passes of 47 yards and one other for 48 yards.
The defensive front held the Green Wave to a mere 36 yards rushing in the first half. It wasn’t until later in the third quarter that Tulane started finding more success running the ball.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo went 1-of-2 in field goal attempts. His attempt from 53 yards out in the first quarter came up short. But he nailed a 36-yarder in the second quarter. In doing so, he broke the tie he had with former Jaguar placekicker Aleem Sunanon for the all-time scoring record. Guajardo now tops that list with 244 career points.
Jack Martin only saw the field once for a 45-yard punt.
Keys to the Game
Establish the Run
The Jags need to establish the run early against the Lions. They have a defense that loves to cause havoc and force turnovers. Last season the Lion defense forced 16 interceptions alone.
An old adage in football says, and I paraphrase “when you throw the ball, there are three outcomes and two of them are bad.” While that statement may still be true, it hasn’t stopped offenses from throwing the ball at a high frequency. But when your opponent has forced 16 interceptions the previous season, you may look to keep the ball on the ground a bit more if you can find success.
Webb has shown he can get it done. Bullock has shown, in one game so far, that he will be a good addition to the backfield.
However, it looks like the Jags will be without Braylon McReynolds for SLU so everyone moves up a spot on the depth chart. But with Marco Lee, Jonathon Carter (R-Fr), and a trio of true freshmen, the Jags look okay depth and talent wise at the position.
Tighten up the Secondary
Getting torched by three explosive touchdown passes in one game will definitely light a fire under you. But then if you go back and see how inconsistent they have played over the last two games (spanning the bowl game last season) and you know these guys are going to put in the work to get better.
You are only guaranteed a limited number of games in a season. You have to make your opportunities count. One has already passed. Now they have 11 more chances during this regular season to show what they can do.
This group needs to go out and show they can get it done on Saturday during game situations.
They need to get their eye discipline back and to simply do their job and trust their teammates to do their job as well.
Pass Protection
The offensive line had a tough assignment against Tulane. But they have to shake that off and get back to executing the fundamentals at a high level. The quarterback needs time to go through his progression and the receivers need to have time to run their routes.
Giving Bradley a little more time in the pocket will allow him to stretch the field vertically, making the defense have to cover and respect more of the field. Last Saturday against Tulane, the defense had effectively shorted the field that they needed to defend and the Jag offense struggled because of it.
Injuries
Jalen Jordan went out early in the game with a foot injury. Coaches think he could be ready to play against SLU, however they will know more later in the week. At this time, they are projecting him as Questionable.
Braylon McReynolds left the game with a shoulder injury after a kickoff return. Coach Wommack said he was “very questionable” for Saturday. They will also know more about the extent of his injury later in the week but we likely will not see him against the Lions at a minimum.
Yam Banks was forced out of the game in the second half after forcing a fumble. They put him in the concussion protocol. While they believe he will be cleared to play by Saturday, if he did suffer a concussion, it’s not a guarantee he will be able to suit up on Saturday.
Prediction
South Alabama opened as a 10-point favorite and the consensus is that the Jags are a 9.5-point favorite if you can find a line anywhere. Looking up and down their roster, their size and skillset are on par with what you see across the Sun Belt.
Southeastern Louisiana is no pushover.
The Jags have won eight consecutive games against FCS teams, but not without some close calls. In 2021, the Jags defeated Alcorn State 28-21. In 2016 the Jags needed two stops in overtime to earn a 41-40 win over Nicholls. The Jags lost to Southern Utah 22-21 to start the 2013 season.
I think they keep the win streak alive. But I think some of the fans who don’t read this site (or any site for that matter) will not be satisfied with the win because SLU is an FCS school.
I think the Jags cover the spread in the friendly confines of the ‘cock, but don’t look for it to be a blow out as the uninformed will expect. I think it’ll be something more modest like 30-13. Even if they are able to have their way with the Lions, I don’t think they will put too much on display for Oklahoma State to watch and prepare for when the Jags go to Stillwater in week 3.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Falls To Western Kentucky In New Orleans Bowl
South Alabama (10-3) was simply unprepared for Western Kentucky’s (9-5) passing attack led by Austin Reed. Reed threw for a New Orleans Bowl record 497 yards to lead the Hilltoppers to a 44-23 win over the Jags.
The Hilltoppers used tempo during the season, but they dialed up the tempo and caught the Jags unprepared for the additional speed of play. The defense struggled to get the plays in and the defense struggled to get lined up before the snap.
Yam Banks was caught in coverage against a wide receiver early in the game which resulted in a score.
Reed was 36-of-55 in the game with four touchdowns and one interception. Malachi Corley led the Hilltoppers with 11 catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Dalvin Smith led the Hilltoppers with 145 receiving yards on six catches with a touchdown. Jaylen Hall added another 138 yards on nine catches and a touchdown.
Markese Stepp led the Hilltoppers with 63 rushing yards on seven attempts. Davion Ervin-Poindexter led the rushers with nine carries but only gained 33 yards.
Carter Bradley was 36-of-53 for 360 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions in the loss.
Devin Voisin led the Jags with 11 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. Caullin Lacy added seven catches for 57 yards. DJ Thomas-Jones had four catches for 45 yards and a touchdown. La’Damian Webb caught four passes for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Webb also led the Jags rushing attack with 48 yards on 12 carries. Braylon McReynolds added 15 yards on four carries.
CJ Thompson led the Jags defense with seven total stops, six solo. Trey Kiser, CJ Rias, and Jalen Jordan all had one tackle for loss in the game. The Jags couldn’t get to Reed for any sacks in the game.
Yam Banks had a highlight reel worthy interception to save a touchdown. It was a leaping one-handed catch in the end zone to turn away the Hilltoppers on one drive.
Overall, the Jags defense was just seemingly overwhelmed. They allowed a single game record 677 yards of total offense and 522 passing yards.
Meanwhile the Jags rolled up 421 yards of total offense, 377 yards through the air and only gained a net of 44 yards rushing after sack yardage was applied.
The Hilltoppers averaged 9.3 yards per passing attempt and 8.3 yards per snap against the Jags.
In the end, it wasn’t the ending to the season that the players and staff wanted or were hoping for. But on a positive note, the Jags still set a new program record for wins in a season as an FBS program. Coming into the bowl game, the two losses were by a combined 5 points.
On another positive note, the Jags got several additional practices in when many teams didn’t have the same opportunity. Hopefully those additional practices will help the Jags going into spring practice in just a few short months.
The 2022 South Alabama Jaguars set the bar high for future teams and the returning players will have a chip on their shoulder for 2023.
Go Jags, J’s Up!
Preview: R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – South Alabama vs Western Kentucky
Kickoff: Wednesday, December 21, 8:00pm
Venue: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
TV/Streaming: ESPN
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama’s march towards the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl is quickly reaching its end. The Jags will tee it off against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at 8pm on Wednesday, December 21st in the Big Easy.
Jaguar fans have been eager to earn a bowl invite since their last trip in 2016.
Six years is a long time to wait for another shot to win the schools first bowl game. While the Jags were favored to be bowl eligible in preseason prognostications, few outside of Jag Nation thought they would be rolling into the post season with a 10-2 record. Much less only losing their two games by a combined 5 points.
While playing in a bowl game is a huge accomplishment for the team, the extra practices leading up to the bowl game is huge in and of itself. It’s additional reps for the young players and keeps momentum going to bridge the football season into spring football.
Head coach Kane Wommack said in his press conference leading up to game week that the team has gone back to a fall camp practice schedule. They were doing fundamental drills that haven’t been run since August due to time. But they are still doing preparation for Western Kentucky at certain times throughout those practices. Once they got to game week, then they started their usual game-week preparation.
Western Kentucky
The Hilltoppers are no stranger to South Alabama. They were fellow members in the Sun Belt Conference from 1982 until their departure in 2014. The Jags and Hilltoppers had a particularly strong rivalry in men’s basketball over the years.
The one and only time the Jags and Hilltoppers met on the gridiron, the Jags won 31-24 back in the 2013 season.
Now the Hilltoppers come in representing Conference USA with an 8-5 record on the season. They were allowed to schedule a 13th regular season game by the NCAA as compensation for traveling to play at Hawaii. Some of their noteworthy games on the season: 33-30 loss at Indiana, 73-0 win over Florida International, 31-28 loss to CUSA Champ UTSA, and a 32-31 win over Florida Atlantic in overtime in the regular season finale.
Offense
Western Kentucky is the #2 ranked passing offense team in the nation, behind only Washington and ahead of #3 Tennessee and #4 Georgia Southern. Their rushing offense ranks 72nd in the nation. They rank 10th in total offense in the nation.
On the season Western Kentucky averaged 35.8 points (18th nationally), 483.5 total yards (9th nationally), 339.2 passing yards (2nd nationally), 144.3 rushing yards (72nd nationally), and 28:52 time of possession per game (92nd nationally).
They converted 72-of-175 (41%) of their 3rd down attempts (T46th nationally) and 15-of-37 (41%) of their 4th down attempts (105th nationally).
They possessed the ball in their opponents red zone 53 times, scoring on 44 of those possessions (83%) with 34 of them being touchdowns (64%) (71st nationally).
Austin Reed went 353-of-548 (64.4%) for 4,249 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions at quarterback. Two other players saw some playing time but neither one had any significant numbers for the season. Reed actually put his name in the transfer portal, but has since removed it to stay at WKU.
In total, WKU had seven receivers who had over 100 yards receiving on the season, four of them with over 500 yards on the season, and also seven receivers who caught touchdowns. Malachi Corley led the team with 1,181 yards on 90 catches with 9 touchdowns. Daewood Davis added 872 yards on 63 catches with 7 touchdowns in 12 games played. Jaylen Hall had 731 yards on 59 catches with 5 touchdowns. Michael Mathison added 580 yards on 49 catches with 3 touchdowns.
Kye Robichaux and Davion Ervin-Poindexter were the top two running backs on the season. Robichaux, a sophomore, rushed for 496 yards on 73 carries with three touchdowns in only eight games played, he suffered an injury against North Texas and saw action in only one other game the rest of the season. Robichaux is listed 3rd on the depth chart at running back. Ervin-Poindexter rushed for 492 yards on 107 carries with 3 touchdowns as well. Quarterback Reed has logged 199 yards on 87 attempts with eight touchdowns.
Defense
The Hilltopper defense is allowing an average of 23.5 points (44th nationally), 380.8 total yards (69th nationally), 225.2 passing yards (70th nationally), 155.6 rushing yards (75th nationally), and 31:08 time of possession per game this season.
Opponents are converting 68-of-194 (35%) of their 3rd down attempts (39th nationally) and 14-of-28 (50%) of their 4th down attempts on the season (T62nd nationally).
Opponents have scored on 36-of-41 (88%) of their trips into the red zone. With 24 (59%) of them result in touchdowns (98th nationally).
JaQues Evans leads the team with 100 total stops, 60 of them solo. Evens also leads the team with 11 tackles for loss, and sacks with 7.5, two fumble recoveries, and a blocked kick. Derrick Smith is next with 90 total stops, 56 solo with six tackles for loss and three sacks and an interception. Kahlef Hailassie has 65 total stops, 44 of them solo, 8 tackles for loss (2nd on team), three sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Kaleb Oliver and Upton Stout are the team co-leaders with three interceptions each. .
Special Teams
Brayden Narveson converted all 59 of his extra point attempts on the season. He also went 15-of-21 on field goal attempts with a long of 51 yards.
Cory Munson has handled all but one punt on the season. Munson is averaging 61.1 yards per punt with 34 touchbacks and 3 kicked out of bounds. Narveson punted once on the season for 65 yards and a touchback.
Transfer Portal
Most of WKU’s student athletes entering the transfer portal are on the defensive side of the ball. Edge rusher and leading tackler JaQues Evans entered the transfer portal on 12/14. He joined fellow edge rusher Dante Walker who joined on 12/12. Safety Arthur Brathwaite entered on 12/7.
Offensive tackle Luke Slusher and wide receiver Joshua Simon both entered the portal on 12/6.
On 12/5 Wide receiver Barry Wagner, safety Talique Allen, quarterbck Darius Ocean, and offensive tackle Rusty Staats all entered the portal.
12/1 starting kicker Brayden Narveson entered his name into the transfer portal.
South Alabama
As has been already mentioned, this is the Jags first bowl appearance since 2016 and only the 3rd bowl appearance in program history.
Head coach Kane Wommack only needed two seasons to get the Jags into a bowl game and to record their best record as a FBS program. The New Orleans Bowl gives them the opportunity to add one more to their win column and to notch the programs first bowl win.
Offense
The Jags are averaging 31.9 points (T41st nationally), 423.8 total yards (40th nationally), 259.2 passing yards (42nd nationally), 164.6 (57th nationally) rushing yards, and 32:24 time of possession (18th nationally) per game this season.
They are converting 77-of-179 (43%, 35th nationally) of their 3rd down attempts, and 17-of-26 (65.4%, T21st nationally) of their 4th down attempts.
Of the Jags 49 trips into the red zone, they’ve scored on 41 of them (83.7%) and scored touchdowns on 30 (61.2%) of those trips. Those numbers rank them at T68 nationally in red zone offense.
Quarterback Carter Bradley, who came to South Alabama from Toledo, has gone 240-of-374 (64.2%) for 2,983 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during the regular season. Desmond Trotter appeared in four games going 14-of-18 for 127 yards.
South Alabama had a trio of receivers with over 50 receptions and 700-yards receiving on the season. Jalen Wayne led the trio with 793 yards and 9 touchdowns on 56 catches. Caullin Lacy led the trio with 58 catches for 759 yards and six touchdowns. Devin Voisin, who came on later in the season, caught 53 passes for 718 yards and four touchdowns.
Behind the three-headed beast of receivers, the next closest is Braylon McReynolds with 188 yards on 17 catches with a touchdown.
La’Damian Webb led the Jags backfield with 1,015 yards on 197 carries with 13 touchdowns. He missed one game due to an injury.
McReynolds finished his true freshman regular season with 311 yards on 55 carries as the second leading rusher. Marco Lee rushed for 247 yards and four touchdowns on 67 carries. Omni Wells rushed for 234 yards on 55 carries.
Defense
The Jags are allowing an average of 19.4 points (T14th nationally), 302.6 total yards (11th nationally), 215.0 passing yards (51st nationally), 87.6 rushing yards (4th nationally), and 27:11 time of possession per game.
Opponents converted 49-of-164 (29.9%, 11th nationally) of their 3rd down attempts, and 15-of-26 (57.7%, T105th nationally) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents have possessed the ball in the red zone 35 times during the regular season and scored on 28 of those trips (80%), with only 17 being touchdowns (48.6%) those numbers lands them at T36th nationally.
Jaden Voisin finished the regular season with 76 total stops, 42 of them solo, to lead the team. He added 6 tackles for loss, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Trey Kiser had 71 total stops, 53 solo, with four sacks and a forced fumble on the season. Kiser and CJ Rias are team co-leaders with 10 tackles for loss each. Jamie Sheriff leads the team with six sacks.
Yam Banks leads the team with 5 interceptions on the season while also leading with 10 pass breakups and five quarterback hurries.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks has 53 punts on the season with an average of 42.8 yards per kick with 16 kicks downed inside the 20, 11 fair catches, 10 punts of 50+ yards and only 3 touchbacks.
Diego Guajardo finished the season 17-of-18 on field goals with a long of 49 yards, and 44-of-45 on extra point attempts.
Transfer Portal
Only two Jaguars who have entered the portal have been Anterrious Gray, who left the team to enter his name into the portal during the season, and reserve quarterback Eli Gainey.
Keys to the Game
Pass Defense
Western Kentucky is a very prolific passing offense led by the most prolific quarterback the Jags will have faced all season. In addition, the Jags have had their share of injuries in the back end of the defense. Keith Gallmon Jr was lost in preseason camp, Marvin Martin was lost during the season with very serious hit in practice, Quentin Wilfawn was lost during the season due to a shoulder injury.
It seems the Jags have been particularly susceptible to inside slants. But when they are able to shut down their opponents rushing attack and are able to get pressure on the quarterback with their defensive front, they have been able to drop a linebacker and take away that play.
The Hilltoppers rank above Georgia Southern (4th ranks passing offense nationally), which the Jags were able to defeat in Statesboro. The Jags held them to almost 50 yards below their season average and only allowed seven points in the second half.
Turnovers
Turnovers as a “key to the game” is pretty obvious. It’s always a key to the game.
An interesting college football stat is that, if your team averages a turnover margin of +1 per game, you should expect them to win 8 or 9 games if all other things are equal (but they never are).
However teams often have more turnovers in bowl games, possibly due to the time between their final regular season game and the bowl game. Call it rust, or just a long layoff, but teams often suffer from the “turnover bug” in postseason play.
It’s a no-brainer that if you get more turnovers than you give away, your chance of winning is higher.
The Jags offense has been very good all season protecting the ball. They’ve had 10 fumbles all season but lost only 4 of them to their opponents. Bradley has thrown 10 interceptions but he threw half of them in the final four games of the season, three in the last two while he was nursing an injured non-throwing shoulder.
Run The D*mn Ball
RTDB has become a mantra for the Jags. It was mentioned that Director of Football Athletic Performance, Matt Shadeed, printed “RTDB” on a sheet of paper and taped it to his shirt for a practice and that was when they adopted it as their mantra. Now they have actually printed shirts that have been worn by coaches in practices.
La’Damian Webb has shouldered the workload in a few games and basically willed the team to a win. The offensive line opened a crease and Webb would explode through them to grind out first down and melt the clock. That has helped him to be only the second 1,000 yard rusher in Jaguar history.
He scored the final three touchdowns against Georgia Southern in the Jags come-from-behind win and ate clock while doing it. He even did that after having the flu during the week leading up to the game.
A strong run game will minimize opponent’s possessions and shorten the game. Braylon McReynolds showed he can fill in for Webb in the final two games of the season when Webb was hampered by a foot injury. Marco Lee and Omni Wells also had a huge game filling in for Webb and McReynolds when they both missed a game early in the season.
Prediction
South Alabama opened at a 7.5-point favorite but the spread has shrunk to only a 4.5 point favorite for the Jags.
Coach Wommack and his staff are great and preparing for games as well as master motivators. I expect the Jags to come out fast. The team, especially the seniors, will be highly motivated to earn the first bowl win in program history. Excluding players who have transferred from other programs, there’s no one on the team who have been to a bowl game before.
I think the Jags win but I think it will be a close, hard-fought game where they don’t cover the spread. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Jags having to mount a game winning drive late in the game.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Hosts Old Dominion On Senior Day, Regular Season Finale
Kickoff: Saturday, November 26, 11:00am
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
#5 Jersey: A.J. DeShazor
South Alabama’s (9-2, 6-1 SBC) win over Southern Miss (5-6, 3-4 SBC) wasn’t the stellar performance by the Jags. Fans will be quick to say that any win is a good win. But coaches will be quick to point out lots of things that need attention before the next game.
But both can be true, and this is one of those instances.
The Jags win was a good win. They showed great resilience in the face of adversity. Overcoming turnovers and a poorly executed fake punt in route to a 27-20 win on the road was exactly what a good team does. Head coach Kane Wommack’s process-oriented approach and neutral mindset philosophy has proven to be effective in changing the culture in the program.
The win sets a new record for wins in a season as a FBS program. The previous record was set just the week before. Now they have an opportunity to move that bar one notch higher with a 10th regular season win on the line this Saturday against Old Dominion.
Being Senior Day, it’s a great time to reflect on this group of seniors. Many of them have seen this program at it’s lowest (2-10 in 2019) and, even if the season ended prior to the game versus Old Dominion, they have seen the best FBS season for this same program. But they have one final chance to play in Hancock Whitney Stadium and earn a 10 win season. They’ll also have an opportunity to record the first-ever bowl win, they just have to wait to find out the details on when and where.
They also still have an outside shot to play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game. They just have to win against Old Dominion and they need Arkansas State to upset Troy in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Two of the seniors on the team are the last players to play under South Alabama’s first football coach and architect for the program, Joey Jones. Jalen Wayne and this weeks #5 jersey honoree, A.J. DeShazor.
Old Dominion (3-8, 2-5 SBC)
The Monarchs have had quite an interesting season first season in the Sun Belt. They opened the year with a 20-17 win over Virginia Tech. Then dropped games to East Carolina (39-21) and Virginia (16-14). They earned their second win against Arkansas State (29-26). They dropped their next game 38-24 against Liberty before knocking off the top team in the Sun Belt Conference, and gave them their only loss of the season so far, with a 49-21 win at Coastal Carolina.
They come to Mobile on a five-game losing skid after defeating the Chanticleers and looking to go into the offseason on a high note.
Offense
The offense is averaging 19.5 points, 335.9 total yards, 243.7 passing yards, 92.2 rushing yards, and 24:17 time of possession per game.
They are converting only 40-of-144 (27.8%) of their 3rd down attempts, and 7-of-20 (35%) of their 4th down attempts. Of their 24 trips into opponents red zone, they have scored points 19 times with 13 of them being touchdowns.
In total, they have thrown seven interceptions and lost 11 fumbles.
Hayden Wolff is 213-of-376 (56.7%) for 2,623 yards, 16 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
Ali Jennings III is the leading receiver with 54 catches for 959 yards and nine touchdowns in only nine games played before being lost for the season to injury. Javon Harvey has 28 catches for 523 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games played. Blake Watson has 31 catches for 226 yards and a touchdown in 10 games played. Bly Jordan adds 22 catches for 225 yards in 10 games. Four other receivers have recorded over 100 yards on the season. One of those, Zach Kuntz, had 144 yards receiving on just 12 catches with two touchdowns in only five games before his season ended due to injury.
Blake Watson has 806 yards rushing on 140 attempts with five touchdowns in 10 games played. Keshawn Wicks has 125 yards on 32 attempts and a touchdown as the only other player with over 100 yards rushing on the season.
Complicating things is that the offensive line has been beat up this season too.
Defense
The Monarchs defense found itself bruised and beaten after last weeks game against Appalachian State. Linebackers Jason Henderson entered last weeks game just 28 tackles short of breaking the FBS record for tackles in a season. If he is able to go this week, he would need to record 26 tackles in order to get the record.
The defense is allowing an average of 26.6 points, 446.6 total yards, 249.2 passing yards, 197.5 rushing yards, and 35:43 time of possession per game.
Opponents are converting 68-of-170 (40%) of their 3rd down attempts and 13-of-22 (59.1%) of their 4th down attempts.
Of the 44 times opponents have been in the Monarch red zone, they have scored 32 times but only 19 have been touchdowns.
The defense has collected 11 interceptions and recovered 7 fumbles.
Unsurprisingly, Henderson is the leading tackler with 168 total stops, 52 of them solo. The next closest is R’Tarrium Johnson with 80 total tops, 48 solo. Henderson also leads the team with 10 tackles for loss. Ryan Henry and Denzel Lowry are tied leading the team with four sacks each.
Tre Hawkins III leads the team with just two interceptions. Nine other players have one interception each.
Special Teams
Ethan Sanchez is 8-of-11 on the season as placekicker. His long for the season is a 44-yarder. He’s missed one of this three attempts from 40-49 yards and two of his five attempted from 20-29 yards.
Ethan Duane is averaging 43.1 yards per punt. His longest punt of the season is a 59 yarder. He has 26 punts downed inside the 20, 20 have been fair caught, 13 kicks have gone over 50 yards and only three have been touchbacks.
South Alabama (9-2, 6-1 SBC)
Offense
The Jags are averaging 32.4 points, 426.1 total yards, 265.5 passing yards, 160.6 rushing yards, and 32:09 time of possession per game. They are converting 68-of-162 (42%) of their 3rd down attempts and 14-of-23 (60.9%) of their 4th down attempts.
They scoring on 38 of their 46 trips into the red zone with 28 of them being touchdowns.
They have only lost 4 fumbles on the season with only 9 interceptions as well.
Carter Bradley is 223-of-345 for 2,793 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions on the season. Desmond Trotter in only his third game appearance on the season is 14-of-18 for 127 yards with no interceptions or touchdowns.
Jalen Wayne continues to lead the receiving corps with 730 yards on 53 catches with eight touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 706 yards on 52 catches with five touchdowns. Devin Voisin has 682 yards on 50 catches with four touchdowns. A pair of running backs and a pair of tight ends round out the receiving corps with over 100 yards on the season, all of them have one touchdown each.
La’Damian Webb, after missing his second game of the season, still leads the team with 941 yards on 179 carries with 13 touchdowns. He just needs 59 yards to hit the 1,000-yard mark for the season.
Braylon McReynolds, on his first start, had his first 100-yard rushing game against Southern Miss. He has 255 yards on 45 carries in nine games played. Marco Lee has 239 yards on 64 carries with four touchdowns, but the bruiser has converted a number of 3rd downs for the season. Omni Wells has 194 yards on 46 carries.
Defense
The defense is allowing an average of 19.4 points, 295.5 total yards, 208.6 passing yards, 86.8 rushing yards, and 27:24 time of possession for the season. Opponents are converting just 42-of-149 (28.2%) 3rd down attempts and 14-of-24 (58.3%) of 4th down attempts.
The stingy defense has only allowed 25 scores out of 32 trips into the red zone with only 16 being a touchdown.
Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the week Jaden Voisin had 17 total stops, 11 solo, with 1.5 tackles for loss and an interception last week against Southern Miss. Those tackles jumped him into the top stop for the team with 68 for the season, 37 solo, with 5.5 tackles for loss. Trey Kiser stayed in second place with 65 total stops, 48 solo, with 10 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. James Miller dropped from the top spot to 3rd with 61 total stops, 35 solo, with 6.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.
Yam Banks leads the team with five interceptions, but almost added one more against the Golden Eagles. Jaden Voisin moves into a tie with Ke’Shun Brown with two interceptions each.
Kiser and CJ Rias continue to pace the team with 10 tackles for loss each. Jamie Sheriff leads the team with 5 sacks.
Special Teams
Diego Gajardo had another perfect week for the Jags. He is now 15-of-16 for the season. He added a season-long 49-yarder just before halftime to give the Jags the lead going into the locker room.
Jack Brooks is averaging 42.4 yards per punt for the season with a long of 58. He has 8 kicks of 50+ yards, 16 downed inside the 20, 11 fair catches and only two touchbacks.
As coach Wommack highlighted in his weekly radio show, kickoff specialist Jacob Meeks has 25 touchbacks on the season. This is not an insignificant team stat. When you can consistently force touchbacks on kickoffs, the opponents are consistently having to drive the length of the field for touchdowns while preventing momentum-stealing kickoff returns.
Keys to the Game
Continue Limiting Penalties
The Jags entered the game last week ranked #1 in the nation in total penalties, total penalty yards, and penalty yards per game. Those are not categories you want to be a national leader in.
However, after two games with 13 and 11 penalties, the Jags were only flagged five times against Southern Miss. They avoided any post-play unsportsmanlike penalties. They only had one offensive penalty, a false start. But defensively they were flagged three times: one for defensive holding, one for pass interference, and once for targeting.
The targeting wasn’t egregious, the runner dipped his head while Rickey Hyatt Jr was leading with his head. He immediately knew he messed up as he immediately grabbed his head after the flag was thrown. The Jags were already without Jalen Jordan due to a targeting flag in the second half against Texas State.
It would be great for the team to limit penalties for a second-consecutive game.
Balanced Offensive Attack
In the three wins by Old Dominion they have successfully made their opponent primarily one-dimensional by limiting their opponents rushing attack.
Virginia Tech saw the most success on the ground with 136 rushing yards, but the Monarchs were at their peak health-wise. Arkansas State rushed for 112 yards. Coastal Carolina rushed for only 90 yards while the Monarchs had their way with 323 yards on the ground against the Chanticleers.
According to coach Wommack’s radio show, they believe that he will be able to play on Saturday. However, if last week is any indication, Braylon McReynolds would be ready to step into the starting role if needed. But Marco Lee and Omni Wells both rushed for nearly 100 yards each when both Webb and McReynolds were unavailable earlier in the season.
Don’t Look Ahead
With the Jags bowl eligible and eager to win their first bowl game, they can’t look ahead to an unknown opponent just because they are playing a 3-8 team. The Sun Belt has proven that from top to bottom, any team can win on any given week.
Just ask Coastal Carolina.
Though they are the lone top-25 ranked team from the Sun Belt, they would have most certainly been ranked higher than their current 23rd place. They are in the running for a new years 6 bowl game. If they are the highest ranked group of 5 champion, they get an automatic berth in a new years 6 bowl game.
Prediction
Depending on the site you look at the Jags are either a 16.5-point favorite or a 15.5-point favorite on others.
The Monarchs have had lots of attrition due to injury. They’ve lost two key pass catchers on the season. Their top tackler’s status is currently unknown for the season finale this week.
They have played well against their biggest opponents, power five opponent Virginia Tech and top Sun Belt team Coastal Carolina. They would like to add another win against one of the upper-level teams in the conference.
I think the Jags will thwart their attempt in the friendly confines of Hancock Whitney Stadium on Senior Day though. I also think they cover the 15.5 point spread due to the injury status of the Monarchs as well.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Returns Home To Host Texas State
Kickoff: Saturday, November 12, 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
#5 Jersey: Brandon Crum
South Alabama (7-2, 4-1 SBC) returns home after back-to-back road contests. It’ll be the first home game since the loss to rival Troy in the ‘Battle for the Belt.’ The road trip began with a 31-3 thumping of an ailing Arkansas State team. It wrapped up last week with a major gut-check of a game against Georgia Southern where the Jags came from behind to win 38-31.
It gave the Jags their first win in Statesboro, Georgia.
Against Georgia Southern, the Jags fell behind by two scores before the halfway mark of the first quarter. Carter Bradley’s first pass attempt was tipped, intercepted, and returned for a touchdown less than a minute into the game. Then a 50+ yard touchdown run on Georgia State’s first offensive possession.
In all they allowed 21 points in the first quarter but only allowed 10 points the rest of the way and only seven points in the second half.
The Jags trailed 31-17 around midway through the third quarter but from there it became the La’Damian Webb show. Webb would score all three of the Jaguars touchdowns down the stretch. He finished with 247 yards rushing with four touchdowns on 35 carries. He set single game records for yards and attempts and tied a record for touchdowns in a game.
It also marked his second-consecutive Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor.
Louisiana-Lafayette had Troy 17-0 at halftime, however the Trojans managed to fight their way back and score the game winning touchdown with five seconds left. The Trojans continue to hold onto the Sun Belt Conference West lead over the Jags due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
While the Jags may not control their destiny in the Sun Belt Conference West division race, they control what happens in the next game.
That next game is Texas State.
Texas State (3-6, 1-4 SBC)
Bobcat head coach Jake Spavital is in his fourth season at the helm. He is 12-33 overall and 8-21 in conference play. The Bobcats upset the Jags in overtime last season 33-31. The Bobcats scored a game-tying touchdown with :17 left in regulation to force overtime.
In overtime both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. Texas State missed a field goal and forced a fumble in the second overtime. Both teams failed to convert their two-point conversions in the third overtime. Then in the fourth overtime the Bobcats convert first, but Jake Bentley’s pass attempted fell incomplete for the loss. The Bobcats would finish the season 4-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
Offense
This is the third season that Spavital is calling the plays on offense.
On the season the Bobcats are averaging 22.6 points, 330.7 total yards, 242.3 passing yards, 88.3 rushing yards, and 30:37 time of possession per game.
They are converting 52-of-138 (37.7%) of their 3rd down attempts and have converted 4-of-16 (25%) of their 4th down attempts on the season. While they are scoring well when they get into the red zone, they are only coming away with touchdowns 2/3rds of the time. Of their 27 trips, they’ve scored 24 times with 16 being touchdowns.
Quarterback Layne Hatcher’s name should be familiar. He transferred to Texas State after spending the previous three seasons at Arkansas State. In 32 career games and 16 starts the threw for 7,427 yards and 65 touchdowns. He is currently 4th all time in Arkansas State history in career passing yards, 3rd in career passing touchdowns, and 4th in completion percentage (61.6%).
So far this season Hatcher is 215-of-337 (63.8%) for 2,181 yards and 18 touchdowns with 8 interceptions.
The Bobcats top receiver is Ashtyn Hawkins with 56 catches for 587 yards and 7 touchdowns. The next closest receiver in receptions is Julian Ortega-Jones with 28 catches for 266 yards and a touchdown in eight games played. The next closest receiver is yardage is Marcell Barbee with 21 catches for 299 yards and a touchdown in eight games played. Only four other receivers have caught double-digit passes on the season. But a total of 18 players have caught passes on the season.
Lincoln Pare, another name that may be familiar, also transferred to San Marcos from Arkansas State. He leads the rushing attack with 458 yards on 120 carries with three touchdowns. Calvin Hill adds 333 yards on 76 carries with a touchdown in seven games played. Jahmyl Jeter has 108 yards on 35 carries and a touchdown in eight games.
Defense
Jake Spavital’s brother Zac, is the defensive coordinator for the Bobcats. He has helped the Bobcats to ranking among the nations top 50 teams in forcing turnovers in 2020. They were a top 25 pass defense in 2019 when they allowed an average of 199.3 passing yards per game that season.
This season the Bobcats are allowing an average of 24.9 points, 358.9 total yards, 239.7 passing yards, and 119.2 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 48-of-132 (36.4%) of their 3rd down attempts and 9-of-19 (47.4%) of their 4th down attempts on the season. While opponents have been in the red zone 30 times on the season, they have scored points in 24 of those trips and 18 of those scores were touchdowns.
London Harris leads the team with 64 total stops, 30 of them solo, with two tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble. Levi Bell leads the team with 10.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, and six quarterback hurries from the defensive line. Jordan Revels had 55 total tackles, 21 solo, 9 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery from his outside linebacker position. Defensive lineman Nelson Mbanasor has 8 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, and two forced fumbles. Bell and Mbanasor are co-leaders in sacks.
Kordell Rodgers leads the team with 4 interceptions of the teams 10 total interceptions.
Special Teams
Seth Keller is the team’s primary placekicker. He is 9-of-11 with a long of 41 yards and has converted all 23 extra point attempts. Mason Shipley made his only kick attempt on the season from 54 yards.
Seamus O’Kelly is averaging 41.9 yards per punt with a long of 68 yards, 8 kicks of 50+ yards, 28 fair catches, nine downed inside the 20.
South Alabama (7-2, 4-1 SBC)
The Jags locked in the programs first-ever winning season since transitioning to the FBS ranks. But head coach Kane Wommack does not want to just get back to a bowl game. Anytime the subject is mentioned he tells people that he wants it to be an expectation that South Alabama is going to a bowl game year after year.
As players continue to build upon coach Wommack’s process-oriented approach, the results are showing up on the field.
And in the win-loss column too.
Offense
After the big offensive day against Georgia Southern, the Jags are now averaging 32.3 points, 432.9 total yards, 265.4 passing yards, 167.4 rushing yards, and 32:22 time of possession per game.
They are converting 58-of-131 (44.3%) of their 3rd down attempts and 6-of-13 (46.2%) of their 4th down attempts.
Across their 30 trips into the opponents red zone, the Jags have scored points 34 times, with 26 of them being touchdowns.
La’Damian Webb is closing in on a 1,000-yard season. He has 896 yards on 163 carries with 13 touchdowns on the season. He is averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Omni Wells is next in the Jaguars stable of running backs with 175 yards on 39 carries. Marco Lee has 157 yards on 44 carries with four touchdowns. Braylon McReynolds has 150 yards on 28 carries.
Carter Bradley is 188-of-289 (65.1%) for 2,281 yards, 15 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on the season.
Jalen Wayne leads the receiver trio with 670 yards on 46 catches with 7 touchdowns. Caullin Lacy leads the trio with 48 catches for 615 yards and three touchdowns. Devin Voisin, who has emerged as a clutch receiver, has 467 yards on 38 catches with a touchdown.
Defense
The Jags SwarmD defense has picked up where they left off last season with impressive national defensive rankings.
The rushing defense ranks 5th, 6th national in 3rd down conversion percentage defense, tied 18th in scoring defense, 12th nationally in red zone defense, T-19th in turnover margin, and 19th in time of possession.
On the season the Jags defense is allowing on average 19.1 points, 302.4 total yards, 217.3 passing yards, and 85.1 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 33-of-119 (27.7%) of their 3rd down attempts and 10-of-18 (56.6%) of their 4th down attempts. Also, of opponents 26 trips into the red zone, they came away with points on 19 of those trips and only 12 of them were touchdowns.
James Miller continues to lead the defense with 51 total stops, 28 solo, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and two quarterback hurries. Trey Kiser is second with 47 total stops, 33 solo, with six tackles for loss and two sacks with a fumble recovery.
CJ Rias and Jamie Sheriff co-lead the team with four sacks each. Though Rias leads the team with eight tackles for loss.
Yam Banks leads the team and is tied for the national lead with five interceptions on the season.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo remains perfect on the season by making his 12th field goal attempt of the season against Georgia Southern. Guajardo has only missed one of his 34 extra point attempts on the season.
Jack Brooks is averaging 42.1 yards per kick with a season long of 58 yards and 14 kicks downed inside the 20.
Keys to the Game
Establish the Run
I can hear you now, “but they’ve been running the ball great the last two weeks, why is it key for this game?”
Well, despite their record, the Texas State defense is a very strong unit. Are they a Troy caliber defense? I don’t think so. But they have enough talent on that side of the ball to give me some concern because it stacks up a little bit like Troy.
Troy was able to just smother us defensively. None of our running backs could find room to run, their defensive speed closed any hole, and La’Damian Webb wasn’t at full health either.
However, over the last two weeks, we’ve established that either Webb is back at full strength or very close to it. We’ll need him, the rest of the running back corps, and the offensive line to play up to the task at hand.
Play Disciplined
Last week was another game with 13 penalties for 118 yards assessed on the Jags. As a team that prides itself on being very physical, it also comes with penalties. However, the number of unsportsmanlike penalties needs to be reduced. Plus you just cannot commit some of those penalties in certain situations.
Dontae Lucas being ejected for an unsportsmanlike penalty is completely avoidable. He is suspended for this game against Texas State. Actions have consequences. Thankfully the penalty didn’t seem to hurt the team against Georgia Southern. The offense was able to continue their domination against the Eagles with Kent Foster in as his replacement. That also goes a long way to show how much this staff has been able to turn around this offensive line in only their second season.
The worst penalties for the Jags have been offensive penalties that get them off schedule. When you dig yourself into a 1st & 15 or 1st & 20 situation, those have often been drive killers.
Staying Healthy
Like all teams, the Jags have had their share of injuries and have managed to continue to play at a high level. Coach Wommack and his staff have done a good job with player rotations and preparations. When a player has been forced out of a game, the “next man up” has been well prepared and has not had a significant drop-off in terms of play.
With three weeks left in the regular season, and still the hope for a spot in the conference championship game, health down the stretch will be key.
Seeing many key starters still playing at the end of the Arkansas State game was a little disconcerting. But at the end of the game, you could see Carter Bradley limping as he was jogging towards the locker room. The 2021 season was hampered down the stretch by an injury to starting quarterback Jake Bentley.
With La’Damian Webb’s workload the last two weeks, and dealing with flu-like symptoms last week, I hope they manage his workload in practice accordingly. He has had 68 carries and 409 yards rushing over that stretch. That is 41.7% of his carries and 45.6% of his rushing yardage for the season over the last two games alone.
Thankfully Braylon McReynolds is on track to clear the concussion protocol for the game on Saturday to hopefully give some additional help in the backfield.
Prediction
The Bobcats rallied and got us in overtime last year in San Marcos, TX. Actually, San Marcos is another place we’ve never won at on the road. But that will have to wait until next year to be settled. Conversely, the Jags have never lost to Texas State in Mobile either (two wins at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and one at Hancock Whitney Stadium).
The Jags are a solid 16.5-point favorite to win according to the different handicapping websites. Combine that with South Alabama’s strong play at home and Texas State’s poor play on the road and I understand why the line is set where it is.
I say the Jags win but I don’t think they cover the 16.5. I think the Bobcat defense will do just enough to keep the Jags under that line.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Scores 21-Unanswered For 38-31 Come Back Win Over Georgia Southern
Murphy’s Law states in the simplest form: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” On the second offensive play from scrimmage quarterback Carter Bradley’s pass was tipped and intercepted then ran back for a touchdown only 41 seconds into the game.
On Georgia Southern’s first offensive possession, the fourth snap went 54 yards for a touchdown when Darrell Luter gave a soft push at the sideline but Jalen White kept his balance and ran down the sideline to the end zone.
Not even half way through the opening quarter the Jags (7-2, 4-1 SBC) were down 14-0 to Georgia Southern (5-4, 2-3 SBC). Fans were thinking “oh no, not again.”
But the Jags were not going to give up that easy.
La’Damian Webb took the team on his shoulders behind the offensive line and ground out a 38-31 come from behind win.
Trailing 31-17 in the 3rd quarter, the Jags got the ball back on the kickoff and answered with a 75 yard, 13 play drive for a touchdown. La’Damian Webb capped off the drive with three straight runs for 4, 3 and then 5 yards into the end zone to make it 31-24. But they lost Dontae Lucas on the TD play after being flagged for unsportmanlike conduct for allegedly spitting on a Georgia Southern player.
After forcing a punt, disaster was averted. Caullin Lacy let the ball hit and bounce, then tried to pick it up with a group of Eagles in front of him. Georgia Southern recovered the ball at the Jags 15 yard line and threatening to go back up by to scores. However Vantrease’s pass to the right sideline in the end zone was slightly overthrown and Yam Banks was in perfect position for the interception and touchback.
The turnover allowed the Jags tie the game early in the 4th quarter behind La’Damian Webb legs and his third touchdown of the game. But Webb was set up by a 27 yard catch by Devin Voisin earlier in the drive.
The SwarmD forced a punt after just four offensive snaps. The punt was fielded by Caullin Lacy at the 7 but he was hit by the Eagles and gifted 15 yards on a kick catch interference penalty. The 78-yard touchdown drive only took seven plays, all but one of them were carries by Webb. He punched the ball in from 9 yards out to give the Jags their first lead of the game with 5:50 left in the game.
The defense forced a 4th & 5 at the Jags 47-yard line, a short pass was caught but Jalen Jordan was right there to drop him two yards short of the line to make. La’Damian Webb kept carrying the ball and kept churning out first downs until they bled Georgia Southern of their time outs and secure the best record in the Jags short history as a FBS Program.
Bradley and the Jags responded after going down by two scores early in the first quarter with a gusty drive capped off by a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Wayne to finally get on the board 14-7 at the 6:56 mark of the first quarter.
A pair of penalties on the ensuing Georgia Southern possession helped them down the field. Quarterback Kyle Vantrease hooked up with Derwin Burgess for a 16-yard touchdown to go back up by two scores 21-7, the final score in a high power first quarter.
The Jags were not fazed though. They drove 74 yards down the 1-yard line as the quarter expired. Webb punched it in to start the second quarter to make it 21-14.
Another penalty-ridden drive, three on the Jags and two on Georgia Southern, but the Jags eventually hold the Eagles to a field goal at the 10:17 mark of the 2nd quarter.
Diego Guajardo would answer with a field goal of his own at the 3:23 mark.
After a Jags punt and a block in the back on GSU, they started at their own 25 yard line. The Eagle drove to the Jags 35 yard line facing 4th and 6 with just :06 left until halftime, coach Clay Helton chose to kick a 52 yard field goal to put more points on the board before the half. Coach Wommack called a time out from the sideline just before the snap, which placekicker Michael Lantz was able to just barely get over the crossbar.
After the time out, Charles Coleman III burst through the line and blocked the attempt to preserve a 24-17 deficit at halftime.
Stats
The Jags offense gained 514 total yards of offense, 321 of it was on the ground. They were 8-of-15 on 3rd down conversions with a time of possession of 37:04.
Georgia Southern put up 366 total yards of offense, 278 through the air and only 88 on the ground. The Jags held them to 4-of-12 on 3rd down conversion attempts and only 22:56 time of possession.
La’Damian Webb followed up his offensive player of the week honor from last week with another effort worthy of the same honor. He rushed for 247 yards and 4 touchdowns on 35 carries. His longest run was only 26 yards. He set single-game records for yards and carries in a game while tying the most touchdowns by a player.
Braylon McReynolds rushed for 42 yards on six carries. He also caught one pass for 16 yards and was knocked out of the game when he stayed down after being slung to the ground after the catch and run. He was taken to the trainers’ tent and evaluated for a concussion.
Todd Justice had one carry for 30 yards on the key fake punt.
Carter Bradley went 16-of-27 for 193 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Caullin Lacy led the receivers with 33 yards on three catches. Jalen Wayne added 28 yards and a touchdown on his three catches. DJ Thomas-Jones also had three catches for 17 yards. Three players all has two catches with Devin Voisin gaining 42 yards, Lincoln Sefcik with 31 yards, and Omni Wells with 26 yards.
Jalen Jordan led the Jags with 10 total stops, eight solo. CJ Rias had 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Yam Banks got his 5th interception of the season.
Kyle Vantrease went 26-of-45 for 278 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Derwin Burgess led all receivers with 8 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. Khaleb Hood added 76 yards on seven catches.
Jalen White led the Eagles rushing attack with 65 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. Gerald Green added 27 yards on five carries.
Next
South Alabama returns home to host Texas State on Saturday, November 12th. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm at Hancock Whitney Stadium in the Jags annual Hall of Fame game, Honor Band weekend, and Salute to Heroes.
Preview: South Alabama Travels To Georgia Southern
Kickoff: Saturday, November 5, 3:00pm
Venue: Allen E. Paulson Stadium, Statesboro, Georgia
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Trey Kiser
South Alabama earned a decisive 31-3 win over Arkansas State last Saturday. But it was a bit more than just another win for the Jaguar football program. It was the sixth win of the season, which marks FBS Bowl Eligibility. A feat that has not been accomplished since 2016.
While six years doesn’t sound like a long time, in football terms it feels like an eternity.
La’Damian Webb started the game with a bang, reeling off a 69-yard run on the opening offensive play of the game. He finished the game with 162 yards on 28 carries with three touchdowns. He ran all 11 plays on the Jags final offensive possession, which ended with a score, late in the fourth quarter. That was good enough to earn him Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week honors.
The Jags defense turned in a stellar performance too.
They held the Red Wolves to only 158 yards of total offense and -19 yards rushing. Only 3 of their 15 offensive possessions gained over 12 yards of offense. Five of their possessions finished with negative yardage.
But there’s a few things to work on from this game too. The Jags committed seven first-half penalties, but only one after halftime. Two of them were false starts when they were pinned deep at their own 2-yard line. No other Jaguar running back rushed for more than 12 yards. Webb shouldered the workload, but after Webb went out with an injury earlier in the season Omni Wells and Marco Lee came in rushed for season highs. Where did they go?
Now the Jaguars must turn their attention to Georgia Southern. Last season they broke through and won their first game ever against the Eagles 41-14, in Mobile. Now they get to follow up last seasons win with a trip to Statesboro to see if they can notch their second against the Eagles and their first in Statesboro.
Georgia Southern (5-3, 2-2 SBC)
Georgia Southern had been a long-time powerhouse in the FCS ranks. In 2014 they moved up to FBS and joined the Sun Belt Conference and proceeded to go undefeated 8-0 in conference play their first season. Their success put them as only the third team in the modern era to win a conference title in it’s first FBS season, and the first to ever go undefeated in conference play in their first FBS season. However, they were unable to go to a bowl game due to transition rules and the NCAA denied a waiver request by the school as well. (Also the Sun Belt Conference did not have a Conference Championship Game at that time either.)
In 2017 the Eagles hit their low point with a 2-10 season. But a 52-0 win over the Jags in Statesboro in the next to last game of the season led to South Alabama head coach Joey Jones to not be retained. Georgia Southern took the interim tag off of Chad Lunsford, who took over the head coaching duties for the Eagles mid-season. In 2018 they went 10-3 with a win over then #25 ranked rival Appalachian State and a bowl victory over Eastern Michigan.
In 2019 and 2020 they posted 7-5 records. The beginning of 2021, after a 1-2 start, the Eagles fired Lunsford and finished 3-9.
Former USC head coach Clay Helton was hired and immediately went to work overhauling the Eagles offense. Georgia Southern had been known as a triple-option powerhouse for many years in FCS and again in FBS.
Helton’s transition has been pretty successful too.
Offense
Helton and offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis’ offensive scheme see them throw the ball over an average of 45 times per game. Nealy 60% of their offensive plays have been pass plays so far this season.
Ellis came to GSU after helping Western Kentucky to a Conference USA championship in 2021 where their offense ranked 2nd in FBS with 44.2 points per game, 2nd in total offense (535.3 yards per game), and led the nation with 433.7 passing yards per game (41.1 yards above the 2nd ranked team). They had 92 offensive plays of 20+ yards with 24 going for touchdowns.
The Eagles offense is averaging 36.9 points, 494.5 total yards, 338.0 passing yards, 156.5 rushing yards, and 29:29 time of possession per game. They are converting 71-of-130 (54.6%) of their 3rd down attempts and 8-of-15 (53.3%) of their 4th down attempts on the season. They have committed 13 turnovers on the season, only one of them have been a fumble.
Of the Eagles 34 trips into the red zone, they have scored on 32 of those trips with 23 of them being touchdowns.
Kyle Vantrease, a transfer from Buffalo, is 232-of-374 (62%) passing on the season for 2,704 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
While they have lots of numbers for their receivers, Khaleb Hood is their leading receiver with 53 catches for 609 yards and two touchdowns. Derwin Burgess Jr has 45 catches for 546 yards and five touchdowns. Jeremy Singleton has 46 catches for 497 yards and two touchdowns. Amare Jones has 35 catches for 483 yards and six touchdowns. The last receiver with double-digit receptions is Jalen White with 18 for 183 yards and a touchdown.
Jalen White leads the rushing attack with 678 yards on 132 carries with nine touchdowns. Gerald Green has 404 yards on 71 carries with six touchdowns.
Head coach Kane Wommack and defensive coordinator Corey Batoon have their hands full with this passing offense. But they use the rushing attack to open up their passing game.
Defense
As much as the offense takes, the defense allows almost as much.
On average the Eagles defense allows 30.4 points, 480.9 total yards, 270.1 passing yards, 210.8 rushing yards, and 30:31 time of possession per game. Opponents are converting 42-of-106 (39.6%) of their 3rd down attempts and 7-of-12 (58.3%) of their 4th down attempts.
The defense has taken the ball away 11 times on the season, only three of them have been fumble recoveries.
Of their opponents 35 trips into the red zone, they have only scored on 25 of them with 18 of them being touchdowns.
Special Teams
Alex Raynor has attempted all but one of the team’s field goal attempts. He is 12-of-14 on the season with a long of 45 yards and has only missed one of his 36 extra point attempts. Michael Lantz attempted one from 50+ yards but was unsuccessful.
Anthony Beck II has punted 26 times with an average of 44 yards per kick with 11 downed inside the 20, six kicks of 50+ yards with a long of 59.
South Alabama (6-2, 3-1 SBC)
Offense
The Jags are now averaging 31.6 points, 422.8 total yards, 274.5 passing yards, 148.3 rushing yards, and 31.46 time of possession per game this season. They didn’t have a particularly good game on 3rd down so their conversion rate on the season is now 50-of-116 (43.1%) and their 4th down conversion rate is 5-of-12 (41.7%) on the season.
They didn’t give the ball away last weekend so they hold fast with only 7 offensive turnovers, two of them being fumbles. Of 33 trips to the red zone, they have scored 28 times with 21 of them being touchdowns.
Carter Bradley saw all the action against the Red Wolves and is now 172-of-262 (65.7%) for 2,088 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. Most of the passing plays against the Red Wolves were short and towards the perimeter due to the rainy conditions. They wanted to limit the possibility of a wet ball being tipped or slipping through a receivers hands and being intercepted.
Jalen Wayne leads the way receiving with 642 yards and six touchdowns on 43 catches. Caullin Lacy is right behind him with 582 yards and three touchdowns on 45 catches. Devin Voisin has 425 yards on 36 catches with a touchdown.
Webb has 649 rushing yards on the season on 128 attempts with nine touchdowns. Then there’s a big dropoff to the next rushers: 157 yards by Omni Wells, 152 yards for Marco Lee but he has four touchdowns. True freshman Braylon McReynolds, who made his return to the lineup after missing a couple games, has 108 yards on 22 carries this season as a true freshman.
Defense
After the big effort last week, the Jags statistics are looking great this year. They are now ranked 4th in FBS in rushing defense, 16th in scoring defense, 8th in 3rd down conversion defense, and 18th in first down defense.
The defense is allowing an average of 17.6 points, 294.5 total yards, 209.8 passing yards, 84.8 rushing yards, and 27:36 time of possession per game.
Opposing offenses are converting 29-of-107 (27.1%) of their 3rd down attempts and 10-of-17 (58.8%) of their 4th down attempts.
Defensively they have taken the ball away 16 times, 7 fumbles and 9 interceptions.
James Miller leads the team with 44 total stops, 24 solo, with 4 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Jaden Voisin has 43 total stops, 25 solo, with 4 tackles for loss and an interception.
CJ Rias leads the team with 5.5 tackles for loss with Trey Kiser right behind him with 5 TFL’s. Jamie Sheriff, with his effort against ASU, leads the team with for sacks. Rias is right on his heels with three sacks. Yam Banks continues to lead the team with four interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo only saw action in extra point attempts, where he made all four. He is still a perfect 11-of-11 on the season with a long of 48.
Jack Brooks, who wore the honorary #5 jersey, is averaging 41.88 yards per kick this season. He has 14 downed inside the 20. Although he had one mishap against Arkansas State, when a snap got away from him and he was taken down without being able to punt the ball away.
Keys to the Game
Fast Start
When the Jags get off to a fast start against a team, they seemingly cannot be stopped. Through eight games, when the Jags lead after the first quarter, they are 6-1. They jumped out to a 14-3 lead over Arkansas State and never looked back. They were up 14-0 over Louisiana Tech and also sailed to a 38-14 win. Also, against Central Michigan, they jumped out to a 20-7 lead and a 31-10 halftime lead as they cruised to a 38-24 win, though CMU scored two late touchdowns to make it seem much closer than it was. The lone loss was to UCLA where they held 10-6 lead after the first quarter.
The Jags recipe for success is to jump on their opponent early and seize the momentum. This has really helped this team go from a bad road record team to sitting at 3-1 in road games this season, the first time a Jags team has won three road games in a season since 2014. Until this season the Jags had only won three road games in total in the previous four seasons. They were winless on the road for two seasons in 2018 and 2019.
It would be nice to jump out to a fast start on Saturday in Statesboro.
Defensive Front Play
The Jags have allowed several explosive plays through the air on defense. Explosive plays are not an official stat, so their definition varies by team. Some consider an explosive pass play to be 15 yards or more, others define it as 20 yards or more.
The Jags secondary hasn’t been the strongest unit, but they aren’t slouches either. Offenses are throwing the ball more over the last several years than they have in years before so defensive secondaries are under more pressure than ever before. But the Jags defense has turned teams one-dimensional with their 4th ranked rushing defense.
The Jags lost preseason honoree Keith Gallmon to injury in preseason camp. Darrell Luter has been hampered by a wrap on one of his hands. Transfer Jamar Richardson missed time with an injury. The latest injury to affect the secondary was to transfer Marvin Martin, who was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after a hit during practice. News has been positive for Martin, it remains unknown if his playing career is over but the current focus is on his health and wellbeing.
Last week against Arkansas State, a fairly prolific passing team, the Jags defensive front generated a ton of pressure on a quarterback that wasn’t 100% and playing in the rain. They generated four sacks in the game with numerous quarterback hurries.
But they shut down the run and made Arkansas State one dimensional.
Coach Wommack and coach Batoon have a goal to shut down the Georgia Southern rushing attack. The Eagles establish the run early to then open up the passing game.
Strong play by the defensive front, particularly the defensive line, to shut down the run and also in generating pressure on the quarterback will be key to limiting the Eagles scoring opportunities.
The Jags will definitely be without linebacker Quentin Wilfawn as coach Wommack announced that he will miss the remainder of the season with a neck issue that will require surgery. However, they say he will have eligibility for the 2023 season and will be able to return along with Keith Gallmon.
Turnovers
Any time you play on the road, turnovers are a key part of the game. You’re playing in a hostile environment and a turnover can give momentum to your opponent and energize their fans.
South Alabama has been quite greedy with turnovers. With a +9 turnover margin (16 takeaways to 7 giveaways) the Jags often win the turnover battle. However, defensive coaches have been encouraging the defense that they should be generating more turnovers. Look for the Jags to be eager to give the ball back to their offense more down the stretch. This weekend would be a great time to get that ball rolling with more momentum in the closing month of the regular season.
Prediction
The spread has been a consistent with the Jags as a 3.5 to 4 point favorite over the Eagles.
The Eagles are 3-0 at home this season with a 45-38 win over then #25 ranked James Madison just a couple of weeks ago. They also notched a 45-42 win over Power 5 Nebraska in week 2. Add in that they were on a bye last Saturday; the Jags will be facing a rested Georgia Southern team in a very tough environment.
Coach Wommack and his staff always has his team ready to play. They have turned the overall culture around very quickly and the road game culture is paying off so far this season.
This is a very winnable game, but it also has me nervous. I feel that it’s going to be an interesting and exciting game, but I feel that the Jags win a very close game. Possibly too close for comfort.
Go Jags!
Preview: Battle For The Belt, South Alabama vs Troy
Kickoff: Thursday, October 20, 6:30pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPNU
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Carter Bradley
It’s the “Battle for the Belt” week.
When South Alabama announced the formation of a football team, it was destined to become a rivalry. Two institutions separated by 170 miles that are already in the same conference and rivals in other sport. Football just made it that much more.
Troy has won the last four meetings between the two schools to gain a 7-3 advantage in the series. Last year was the closest game over that four-game span was a 31-24 decision in Troy.
The remainder of the Jags season was thrown off script by that game too.
On the first series of the game the Jags lost starting quarterback Jake Bentley on a hit below the knee that tore two tendons in his knee. That put the Jags season in Desmond Trotter’s hands until Bentley returned for the season finale against Coastal Carolina. Unfortunately, the Jags couldn’t earn a win in the final three games and were unable to attain bowl eligibility in head coach Kane Wommack’s first season at the helm.
Fast forward to this season and both teams have an opportunity to reach bowl eligibility in this game. But most of all the winner of this game will control their destiny in the Sun Belt Conference Western Division and a berth in the conference championship game. South Alabama received votes in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 2016.
Troy (5-2, 3-1 SBC)
The Trojans are under the direction of first-year head coach Jon Sumrall. But he is familiar with Troy as he served on Neal Brown’s staff from 2015-2017 as associate head coach and was defensive coordinator and special teams coach.
Sumrall began his coaching career at Kentucky after suffering a career-ending injury. He served as a graduate assistant from 2005-2006. He then got his first coaching position with San Diego as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator 2007-2009 before being promoted to associate head coach, linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator from 2010-2011. He then went to Tulane as co-defensive coordinator from 2012-2014 where he also coached the defensive line for the first two seasons then linebackers the final season there.
In 2018 he left Troy for Ole Miss where he coached linebackers for a season. He then went back to his alma mater, Kentucky, to coach inside linebackers from 2019-2020 before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2021.
The two losses that Troy has on their 2022 record is a 28-10 loss at then #21 ranked Ole Miss and a 32-28 loss at Appalachian State on a hail mary touchdown pass as time expired.
Offense
Joe Craddock is in his first season as offensive coordinator at Troy. His coaching career began as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Briarwood Christian school from 2010-2011 where they went 25-4 with him on staff and finished at the 2010 state runner-up in their division. He then went to Clemson for the 2012 season as an offensive player development coach then he moved to an on-field graduate assistant position working with quarterbacks from 2013-2014. Chad Morris, whom he met at Clemson, hired him at SMU as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2015-2017 which made him the youngest offensive coordinator in college football at the time. When Chad Morris was hired as head coach at Arkansas, he brought Craddock with him as his OC, a position he held from 2018-2019. The last two seasons he served as tight ends coach at UAB.
Craddock’s offense ranked #8 in FBS in scoring offense (40.2 points), #13 in total offense (493.8 yards) and #16 in passing yards (308 yards) in 2017 at SMU. That season they had a 3,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher, and two 1,000-yard receivers.
So far in 2022, the Trojans are averaging 24.3 points, 399.4 total yards, 312.7 passing yards, 86.7 rushing yards, and 30:38 time of possession per game.
They are converting 32-of-91 (35.2%) of their 3rd down attempts and 7-of-14 (50%) of their 4th down conversion attempts. Troy quarterbacks have thrown a total of nine interceptions and they have lost four fumbles for a total of 13 offensive turnovers. They’ve been in the red zone 27 times on the season and have scored points on 20 of those trips, 12 of them being touchdowns.
Gunnar Watson is the team’s leading quarterback going 122-of-193 for 1,691 yards, six touchdowns and 7 interceptions on the season. Jarret Doege is 34-of-50 for 491 yards with five touchdowns to two interceptions on the season.
Deshon Stoudemire leads the Trojans in receptions with 30 catches for 337 yards and a touchdown. Tez Johnson leads the team in receiving yards with 479 on 22 receptions with three touchdowns. Jabre Barber has 25 catches for 351 yards and two touchdowns. RaJae’ Johnson has 15 catches for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Two other receivers have 128 or more receiving yards on the season.
DK Billingsley leads the Trojans running game with 386 yards on 77 attempts with three touchdowns. Kimani Vidal has 308 yards on 76 carries with two touchdowns. No other back has more than 35 rushing yards on the season.
Gunnar Watson and Tez Johnson left games early with injury. Sumrall said publicly that they should be available to play on Thursday, but until pre-game warmups and kickoff we won’t know if this is a ruse to keep the Jags spending time preparing for players who won’t see the field.
Defense
Shiel Wood was hired by Sumrall as defensive coordinator when he took the helm. Wood began his coaching career at Woodruff High School in South Carolina in 2006. He then joined his alma mater, Wofford, in 2007 and spent a total of eight seasons there. From 2007-2010 he coached wide receivers, from 2011-2012 he coached safeties. From 2016-2017 he served as recruiting coordinator and coached the secondary, in 2017 he added defensive coordinator to his list of duties. In 2018 he coached the safeties at Georgia Tech and helped them to a bowl berth. In 2019 he served as inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for Georgia State. In 2020 he joined the Army program as co-defensive coordinator, his first season he coached the inside linebackers before transitioning to coach safeties in his last season.
His 2021 squad finished 9-4 with a win over Missouri in the Armed Forces Bowl. The defense ranked 17th nationally, they held opponents to 328.4 yards per game, ranked 36th by allowing 22.3 points per game, and 17th nationally allowing 117.2 yards per game rushing.
Opponents are averaging 19.3 points, 341.0 total offensive yards, 229.7 passing yards, 111.3 rushing yards, and 29:22 time of possession per game.
Opponents are converting 48-of-111 (43.2%) of their 3rd down attempts and 8-of-14 (57.1%) of their 4th down attempts on the season. The defense has forced seven interceptions and recovered five fumbles for a total of 12 forced turnovers. Opponents have been in their red one 21 times on the season and scoring on 17 of those trips, 14 of them touchdowns.
Linebacker Carlton Martial leads the team with 63 total stops, 25 of them solo, he has 2.5 tackles for loss with .5 sack with two pass breakups and an interception. Martial is a Mobile native who went to McGill-Toolen.
Craig Slocum Jr is the next closest tackler with 53 on the season, 20 solo. T.J. Jackson leads the Trojans with 10.5 tackles for loss, and also leads the team with 5.5 sacks. Markeis Colvin is the team leader with two interceptions.
Special Teams
Placekicker Brooks Bruce is 10-of-11 on the season with a long of 48 yards. Mike Rivers has punted 30 times with an average of 43.5 yards per kick, a long of 56 yards, three touchbacks, 15 fair catches, 13 downed inside the 20 and 5 that went 50+ yards.
South Alabama (5-1, 2-0 SBC)
The Jags got some revenge against Louisiana-Monroe last Saturday night with a 41-34 win. Though a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter made it a one-possession game, Marco Lee effectively took the team on his shoulders as he ground out first downs on the final possession of the game, draining time off the clock and denying ULM a chance to possess the ball once more.
The Jags secondary was torched by Tyrone Howell for the tune of 244 yards on nine catches with three touchdowns.
Coach Wommack, defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, and the staff and players will look to correct the mistakes and prepare for the Trojans with two fewer days than normal game-week preparation.
Offense
Looking at the team statistics, particularly rushing, you wouldn’t have known the Jags lost their starting running back La’Damian Webb on the first possession to an injury. Omni Wells and Marco Lee combined to rush for 178 yards between the two of them. The Jags as a team rushed for 195 yards
After a productive third quarter, the Jags were held to 96 offensive yards and just 18 snaps in the fourth quarter, 10 of those snaps and 79 of those yards came on the final possession as the Jags milked the clock for the win.
On the season the Jags are averaging 36.0 points, 462.3 total yards, 300.3 passing yards, 162 rushing yards, and 31:56 time of possession per game.
They are converting 43-of-88 (48.9%) of their 3rd down attempts and 2-of-7 (28.6%) of their 4th down attempts. Jag quarterbacks have thrown four interceptions and lost only two fumbles for a total of only 6 giveaways on the season. In 29 trips to the red zone, they have come away with points on 24 of those occasions with 18 of them being touchdowns.
Carter Bradley is 126-of-198 for 1,694 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. He set a single-game record against ULM with 420 passing yards in the game.
The “Big Three” receivers for the Jags each had over 100 yard receiving last time out against ULM. Caullin Lacy leads the team with 35 catches for 503 yards and three touchdowns for the season. Jalen Wayne is right behind him with 31 catches for 491 yards and five touchdowns. Devin Voisin has 26 catches for 334 yards and a touchdown.
La’Damian Webb leads the team with 470 rushing yards on 91 carries with six touchdowns. Marco Lee has 138 yards on 33 carries with four touchdowns. Omni Wells has 141 on 30 carries. Lee and Wells each were close to 100 yards rushing each last week against the Warhawks. Braylon McReynolds, who’s been the teams #2 back has had a quad issue since the Louisiana-Lafayette game. The staff are publicly hopeful that he may return this week. Both Webb and McReynolds availability look to be game-time decisions.
Defense
The Jags defense is allowing an average of 21.3 points, 322.0 total yards, 227.2 passing yards, 94.8 rushing yards, and 27:14 time of possession per game.
Opponents are converting just 26-of-81 (32.1%) of their 3rd down attempts and 7-of-13 (53.9%) of their 4th down attempts. They have forced teams into eight interceptions and six fumbles for a total of 14 takeaways. Of the opponents 19 trips into the red zone, they have scored 14 times with nine of them being touchdowns.
Linebacker James Miller leads the Jags defense with 33 total stops, 19 of them solo, with 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack. Brock Higdon leads the team with 3.5 tackles for loss with one sack. Jaden Voisin, Trey Kiser, and CJ Rias each have three tackles for loss each. Kiser, Rias, and Wy’Kevious Thomas all have two sacks each to lead the team. Yam Banks leads the team with three interceptions as well as four pass breakups.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo remains perfect on the season making all nine of his field goal attempts, adding two more over ULM, with a season long of 48. He is also 25-of-26 in extra point attempts and leads the team in scoring with 52 points on the season.
Jack Brooks has punted 26 times for an average of 41.7 yards per punt, a long of 58, five punts of 50+ yards, 10 downed inside the 20, four fair caught and only two touchbacks.
Caullin Lacy is averaging 14.7 yards per punt return with one touchdown return on the season. He also has a 49 yard kickoff return on his resume for the season.
Keys to the Game
Turnovers
In a rivalry game, turnovers play a huge part of the game. A poorly times mistake can swing the momentum to your opponent on a dime. The Jags are +8 in turnover margin and are very protective of the ball with only six giveaways on the season.
Meanwhile Troy is +1 on the season in turnover margin. They’ve given the ball away 13 times but have generated 12 takeaways defensively.
Pass Defense
The Jags secondary were exposed on a few pass plays and allowed a number of explosive plays, including an 83 yard touchdown pass. The Trojans, who are a primarily passing offense, will try to exploit the same weaknesses if given the opportunity.
Coach Wommack and coach Batoon have certainly worked with the players on those issues and will come into the game with a good gameplan to get pressure on the Trojan quarterback and limit the explosive plays. But how will the players execute is the question.
Health
The Jags were able to return a few players to the lineup after their bye week. Braylon McReynolds and Quintin Wilfawn were two notable exceptions. McReynolds has not played since prior to the Louisiana-Lafayette game due to a quad issue. La’Damian Webb left the ULM game with an injury on the teams first possession. Without Webb and McReynolds, the Jags were left with Omni Wells and Marco Lee at running back.
Wells and Lee performed great against ULM, neither one has had anywhere near that level of success in the previous five games. They were the next men up and they played their heart out.
Who can forget losing Bentley to a hit below the knee on the first drive last year at Troy.
There is some uncertainty out of Troy as well as they lost their starting quarterback Gunnar Watson early in their game against Texas State last Saturday. It’s unknown if Watson and Tez Johnson, who also left the game early, will both be available to play in the game. Coach Wommack said they will continue to prepare for both quarterbacks since they do utilize a rotation at that position.
If Webb, McReynolds, and Wilfawn can all play Thursday night, that would be a huge boost to the Jags roster for the rivalry game. I’m sure they are eager to see action against the Trojans too.
Prediction
Rivalry games can be difficult to prognosticate. There are times when you can “throw the records out the door.” Troy is a good team, particularly on defense. They are riding a four-game winning streak in the series.
The Jags are a 3-point favorite at home. Which traditionally the home team is typically given a three-point advantage, which translates to the bookies considering the game basically a toss-up.
I feel that this game could honestly go either way, it would be a big win by the Jags or it could be a nail-biter.
This game is always circled on the calendar, but I think this one had some extra circles drawn around it. Coach Wommack doesn’t focus too much on any one particular opponents too much, but if there ever was one, this would probably be it. My gut is nervous but my head tells me the Jags should win this barring any unforeseen developments prior to or during the game. I’m going with a Jags win and cover.
Go Jags! Go home Troy!
Preview: South Alabama Host ULM On Homecoming
Kickoff: Saturday October 15, 6:00pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: NFL Network
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Yam Banks
A bye-week makes for a good milestone on your season. It’s an opportunity to reflect on what you have done on the season so far. What have you done right? What could use some attention?
But it’s also a great time to heal.
The South Alabama football team prides themselves in being a very physical team. But with that physicality also comes those typical bangs and bruises that can linger and sometimes just needs a little extra time to heal fully.
Head coach Kane Wommack hopes that his team has taken advantage of the extra rest and can get some players back from injury for their stretch run of the season. Defensively they hope to return some if not all of the following players: Quintin Wilfawn, Jamar Richardson, Wy’kevious Thomas, Dallas Gamble, and Ed Smith. Offensively they hope to return some if not all of the following: PJ Mixon, Dontae Lucas, Adrein Strickland, and Brandon Crum.
They could also return DJ Thomas-Jones who collapsed on the sidelines in Lafayette and had to be taken to the hospital to get checked out. He has been through a litany of medical tests and has, reportedly, passed everything so far. His availability and clearance to return to play is still uncertain as they continue testing to ensure he is healthy and safe to return.
ULM (2-4, 1-2 SBC)
The Warhawks are led by second-year head coach Terry Bowden. His team went 4-8 (2-6 SBC) in his first year with the program, one of those wins was a 41-31 win over the Jaguars at home in Monroe.
However, Bowden had some staff turnover after his first season as offensive coordinator Rich Rodriquez left for a head coaching opportunity at Jacksonville State and took staff with him. His replacement, Matt Kubik, has prior experience as offensive coordinator for the Warhawks. He filled that role from 2016-2019.
During his previous stint at ULM as OC, his teams produced 500+ yards of total offense 13 times. Over that three-year stint they averaged 181.7 rushing yards, 263.2 passing yards, 444.9 total yards and 30.7 points per game. In 2019 ULM was one of five FBS schools to average at least 200 rushing yards and 250 passing yards per game.
Kubik spend the 2020 season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Southern Miss, his first and only season with the Golden Eagles. Head coach Jay Hopson resigned after the season opening loss to the Jags as they went 3-7 on the year. He transitioned to Columbia High School where he became the offensive coordinator and helped them to a 14-1 record and a Mississippi Class 4A state championship in 2021. Prior to ULM he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Stephen F. Austin from 2014-2015 as they averaged 427.9 yards of total offense and 28.7 points per game in 2015.
Bowden also had to find a new defensive coordinator when Zac Alley joined Rodriquez in Jacksonville as DC. Bowden turned to veteran coach Vic Koenning to fill the open position. Koenning started his coach career at Memphis in 1991. He then served as DC at Wyoming (1997-1999) then head coach (2000-2002). He then had stops as DC at Troy (2003-2004), Clemson (2005-2008), Kansas State (co-DC 2009), Illinois (2010-2011, interim head coach 2011), North Carolina (2012-2014), Troy again (2015-2018), West Virginia (2019) and now at ULM in 2022. Koenning was hired by Neal Brown at Troy in 2015 and he followed him to West Virginia but resigned in 2019 due to backlash from allegations of player mistreatment.
Koenning helped lead Troy to a top-10 ranked defense in 2004. At Clemson he helped them rank in the top-25 for scoring defense and total defense as well as 9th in total defense in 2007. He helped the Kansas State defense to improve from 118th to 38th in the nation. He also helped Illinois to improve the defense from 91st in 2009, to 38th in 2010, and 7th in 2011 allowing only 291.8 yards per game and ranking 4th in the nation in pass defense. At UNC his defense finished 3rd in the nation in tackles for loss and allowed just over 25 points per game in his first season in 2012.
Offense
On the season the Warhawks are averaging 143.5 rushing yards, 187.3 passing yards, 330.8 total yards, and 20.3 points per game. However, those stats are a little bit skewed as the Warhawks opened the season with a 52-10 loss at Texas and then a 63-7 loss two weeks later against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. If you remove those two games their scoring average goes up to 26.2 points per game, boosted by a 35-7 win over Nicholls in week 2.
Quarterback Chandler Rogers is 98-of-141 for 1,066 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions on the season.
Rogers has a trio of receivers with very similar numbers. Tyrone Howell leads the team with 261 yards on 15 catches with a touchdown, Alred Luke has 217 yards on 15 catches with a touchdown, and Jevin Frett has 199 yards on 16 catches with a touchdown. Tight end Zach Rasmussen only has eight catches for 58 yards, but three touchdowns so far on the season.
As a team they are 34-of-87 (39%) on third down attempts and are 1-of-6 on 4th down conversion attempts. To go along with the three interceptions, the Warhawks have fumbled the ball eight times and lost four of them to opponents. Warhawk quarterbacks have been sacked 14 times on the season. Of their 16 red-zone trips they have scored 13 times with only one of them being a field goal, so they are quite efficient when they reach the red zone.
The Warhawks leading rusher is Malik Jackson with 292 yards on 76 rushing attempts five touchdowns. Andrew Henry has 222 yards on 43 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Rogers has run for 177 yards on 69 carries with three touchdowns to his credit as well.
Against Coastal Carolina last Saturday, the Warhawks rushed for 145 yards, threw for 279 for 424 total yards of offense against the undefeated Chanticleers. Rogers was a very efficient 27-of-31 in that game as they had a couple of opportunities to tie the game coming down the stretch.
Two weeks prior, the Warhawks got their first and only conference win of the season so far with a 21-17 upset of Louisiana-Lafayette. In that game they rushed for 227 yards and passed for 192 yards as they rolled up 419 total yards of offense. They won the game with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns over the Cajuns who are still winless in conference play.
Defense
On the season the Warhawks defense is allowing an average of 142.7 rushing yards, 247.3 passing yards, 390 total yards and 35.3 points per game in 2022. Those numbers also include the games against Texas and Alabama. If you leave those two out, they are allowing 24.3 points per game, then if you also leave out Nicholls, they allow an average of 30 points per game which seems a bit more honest of ULM’s status thus far this season.
Opponents are 35-of-84 (41.7%) when facing 3rd down and they are 7-of-13 (53.9%) when attempting 4th down conversions. Opponents have been in the red zone 24 times and scored on 21 of those trips, only two of them were held to field goals.
Linebacker Tristan Diggers leads the team with 31 total stops, 21 solo, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, one pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry. Fellow linebacker Zach Woodard is right behind him with 30 total tackles, 20 solo, five tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Quae Drake leads the team with six tackles for loss.
Based on the numbers, the linebacking corps are quite active. Their defensive front has good size and they do a lot of stunts to confuse the opponents offensive line.
Special Teams
Calum Sutherland, in his sixth season, is 1-of-2 on the season in field goal attempts, his only conversion was from 25 yards.
Devyn McCormick has punted 35 times with an average of 43.3 yards per kick. His longest was 60 yards and he has two touchbacks, seven fair catches, 10 downed inside the 20, and eight kicks of 50+ yards. Braxton Guilbeau has three punts on the season with an average of 42 yards per kick with one downed inside the 20.
Boogie Knight and Tyrone Howell have two and three punt returns in their stats respectively with a grand total of -1 return yards between them in total.
South Alabama (4-1, 1-0 SBC)
The Jags stand atop the Sun Belt Conference Western Division with a 1-0 conference record. All other western division teams all have at least one loss, so as it stands the Jags control their destiny as to a berth in the conference championship game. But they can’t count their eggs before they hatch. There’s no bigger game than the one at hand.
Last time out they knocked off the Ragin’ Cajuns on the road to break a six-game skid and to win their first game at Cajun Field.
While there’s still lots of football to be played this season, the win definitely changed the landscape of the SBC Western Division. It remains to be seen who eventually ends up on top of the division when the regular season concludes.
Offense
On the season the Jags are averaging 155.4 rushing yards, 276.4 passing yards, 431.8 total yards, 32:59 time of possession, and 35 points per game through five games this season. They are 37-of-75 (49.3%) on 3rd down attempts and 2-of-6 (33%) on 4th down conversion attempts. Jag quarterbacks have been sacked eight times on the season. Of the 23 trips into the red zone, the Jags have scored touchdowns on 15 of those trips.
Carter Bradley is 101-of-165 (61.2%) for 1,274 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions through the first five games.
Caullin Lacy and Jalen Wayne have very similar numbers on the season. Lacy has 23 receptions for 370 yards and two touchdowns while Wayne has 26 catches for 364 yards and three touchdowns. Devin Voisin has 19 catches for 193 yards and a touchdown.
La’Damian Webb leads the Jaguar rushing attack with 463 yards on 90 carries with six touchdowns. He also has one touchdown receiving. Braylon McReynolds has 104 rushing yards on 18 carries as a true freshman. Omni Wells has 82 yards on 21 carries.
Defense
On average the Jags defense is allowing 100.4 rushing yards, 198.4 passing yards, 298.8 total offensive yards, 27:01 time of possession, and 18.8 points per game.
Opponents are only converting 23-of-69 (33.3%) of their 3rd down attempts and 5-of-11 (45.5%) of their 4th down attempts. Of their 17 trips into the Jaguars red zone, opponents have scored 12 times with eight of them being by way of a touchdown.
Trey Kiser and Jaden Voisin both lead the defense with 25 total tackles, 18 and 14 solo respectively, both have three tackles for loss as well with Kiser having two sacks on the season but Voisin with an interception.
James Miller is right behind them with 24 tackles, 14 solo, 2.5 tackles for loss. CJ Rias is tied with Kiser for team lead in sacks with two.
Yam Banks leads the team with two interceptions and four pass breakups.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo nailed the game winner against the Cajuns to complete his redemption from the 2021 game. He is a perfect 7-for-7 on the season with a long of 48 yards.
Jack Brooks has punted 22 times this season with an average of 42.6 yards per punt with a long of 58 yards, five kicks of over 50 yards, one touchback, one fair catch, and nine downed inside the 20.
Lacy has returned 8 punts with an average return of 14.25 yards with a 57 touchdown return against Louisiana Tech.
Keys to the Game
Running the ball
The Jaguar offense has drastically improved in year two under coach Wommack and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. The big difference has been the ability to run the ball effectively each week.
You can heap quite a bit of praise on the shoulders of La’Damian Webb, but plenty of praise needs to be shown to the offensive line as well. Webb definitely gives them praise when he has the opportunity.
In last years game the Warhawks held the Jags to only 89 yards rushing. They also got Jake Bentley to throw a pair of interceptions in the Jaguar loss.
Pass Defense
Chandler Rogers lit up the Jaguar secondary by throwing for 369 yards on 25-of-35 passing with four touchdowns, including an 81-yard touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter to break the 31-all tie. That was the most passing yards allowed by the Jaguar defense in a single-game last season.
The Jags pass defense is much improved over last year and should be aided by the return of several players who have missed time over the last couple of games.
Turnovers
Through the first few games the Jags weren’t able to get many turnovers on defense. However, against Louisiana Tech, the Jags generated five turnovers, three interceptions and two fumbles. It was also Yam Banks’ big night with a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery all by himself.
As a team the Jags are +7 in turnover margin. Continuing to generate turnovers on defense will be something defensive coordinator Corey Batoon and his squad will have as a goal to keep the Swarm D rolling in the 2022 season.
Prediction
Starting with ULM, the Jags next two games may be among the most meaningful two-game stretch the South Alabama football program has ever faced in its short history.
Even if coach Wommack and the Jags with both games, they will not secure the western division crown. They won’t be assured to host the conference championship game. They won’t be locked into a bowl game.
But what they will accomplish is earning bowl eligibility for the first time in six seasons and for only the fourth time in program history (2013, 2014, 2016), they will be the undeniable frontrunner for the SBC west title, and they will continue on their “revenge tour” with wins over ULM and Troy (who have won the last four contests in the series).
But they will continue to control their destiny this season.
Thankfully both games will be decided at Hancock Whitney Stadium with the Battle for the Belt game happening on a short turnaround on the following Thursday night.
Many thought the Jags looked uncharacteristically out of sorts in the game against the Warhawks last year. The defense allowed the most pasting yards all season, and the second most points allowed all season (41, Tennessee scored 60 a few weeks later).
But this team is much different than the team last year.
Vegas Insider has USA as a 17-point favorite in the game. ULM’s early season schedule has been quite difficult to date but they notched a win over their in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette and had opportunities to get a game-tying touchdown against undefeated Coastal Carolina last weekend, so they’re signs of life in Monroe.
I think the Jags take care of business at home against ULM thanks to the return of some players after the bye-week. But we’ve also seen lots of growth from both the team and the staff in year two under the leadership of coach Wommack.
While I think the Jags win, I think they don’t cover the spread. Giving them 17 points is quite a bit in a conference game with a team who just played Coastal Carolina and didn’t allow them to score in the second half. I think it’s a case where a win is a win, you have a short week to prepare for your in-state rival, you want to stay healthy and keep your cards close to your chest.
Go Jags!