South Alabama Faces Toughest Opponent To Date in Nicholls State
Jaguar Quarterback Myles Gibbon reads the Pikeville Defense in the first half of the South Alabama victory over Pikeville on September 4, 2010.
The South Alabama Jaguars will have the biggest test of the programs short history on Saturday when they host the Nicholls State Colonels. This will be the Jaguars first time to face a Division I-AA opponent. Also this will mark the first time the Jags will face an opponent with the same number of scholarships.
Don’t let the Colonel’s record fool you. Even though they are win less, they did face schools that are Division I-A in San Diego State and Western Michigan. As Coach Jones said, “Anytime you play a Division I-A school, they’re going to have more scholarships than an FCS school so the scores sound pretty bad. But they played both teams tough early, and just wore out. The bottom line is I think those teams just had a lot more depth, and so toward the end of those games they got a little tired. They are a very good football team and we’ll find out what we’re about after this week and see where we are as a football program.”
Even the team knows what the numbers can lie sometimes. Starting Quarterback Myles Gibbon recognizes that the Colonel’s lost to a good Western Michigan team. They have been studying them for the last two weeks and they know should know what to expect. At least on video.
The Colonel’s head coach is Charlie Stubbs. Stubbs has over 31 years of coaching experience, 22 of which on the collegiate level. This is his first season with the Colonel’s coming from the University of Central Missouri where he was the offensive coordinator. He has been an offensive coordinator for over the last 14 years, six of which as an assistant head coach.
Stubbs began his coach career at BYU, his alma mater, in 1983. The following year he was part of the National Championship staff at BYU in 1984 under LaVell Edwards. He was offensive coordinator at Oregan State from ’85-’90, Memphis ’94, Tennessee-Martin ’95, Nevada-Las Vegas ’96-’97, Alabama ’98-2000, Tulsa ’02-’06, Louisville ’07, and Central Missouri ’08-’09.
His offenses have been ranked in the top three in the PAC-10 during his time in Oregon State, including finishing 10th nationally in ’87 and sixth in ’88. Then in ’96 UNLV finished ninth nationally in passing offense. The offense then led the WAC and finished 12th nationally in ’97.
As most notably in the south east, Stubbs was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at the University of Alabama. His offense led Alabama to appearances in the ’98 Music City Bowl and the Orange Bowl in ’99 while also winning the SEC Championship and being named the ’99 SEC Offensive Coordinator of the year.
As you can see, the Colonels should have a strong offense. The Colonels defensive coordinator is a former defensive coordinator from Thibodaux High School. He was a defensive end coach for Nicholls State previous to his high school coaching.
Stubbs and the Colonels will be running the spread offense with an athletic quarterback who can make plays. As history has shown, the Jaguar secondary will be tested along with the rest of the defense.
Don’t expect a blow-out victory for the Jags this go around. It should go into the fourth quarter this time and be a good test for the Jags. Can they match up with a Divsion I-AA school? Come to Ladd-Peebles Stadium this Saturday and find out.
GO Jags! Beat Nicholls!