South Alabama Closes Out Regular Season And Ladd-Peebles Stadium Against Arkansas State
South Alabama will close out one era in Jaguar football on Friday when the scoreboard clock finally hits :00.
The Jags program began there in 2009 with their historic win over Hargrave Military Academy. They won their first 19 games played in the stadium. They didn’t lose their first home game until the final game of the 2011 season to Cal Poly.
With Hancock Whitney Stadium taking shape on campus and on target to be ready for the Jags first home game of the 2020 season, a new era of South Alabama football will begin. As much negativity that has been directed at Ladd-Peebles stadium since 2009, without the stadium it’s unknown if the football program would have started when it did. The current price tag on “The ‘cock” is $75 million and it wasn’t until 2019 for the school to put together the plan to fund it. If they had to build a stadium to start football in, would we have FBS football today? Would we be the fastest program to go from inception to playing in a bowl game in modern football history?
With the rich Jaguar history in the stadium like the first win, the first win against an FBS team (Florida International), clinching their first bowl berth (Texas State), and defeating their first ranked opponent (San Diego State) it will be a little bittersweet bidding goodbye to Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
As strong as the Jags started when playing in the stadium, the team has struggled over the last couple of season. Amassing a 4-19 record so far over the last two seasons including a program-record nine-game losing streak this season.
The team would like to do nothing more than to close out the Ladd-Peebles era the way the team started it: with a win.
Their opportunity will come against a perineal power in the Sun Belt Conference. Arkansas State has reached bowl-eligible status for their ninth consecutive season despite a few years of one-and-done coaches. Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, and Bryan Harsin all spent one season with the Red Wolves and getting to a bowl game before departing for another job. Blake Anderson is in his 6th season as the Red Wolves head coach and earning a bowl bid in each of his previous 5 seasons but only winning one of them so far (2016 against UCF).
But this season is much different for Anderson.
If you’re a religious viewer of ESPN College Gameday, you probably watched the segment about Anderson, his team, and the loss of his wife to cancer. If you didn’t see it, I highly recommend watching it.
So to say the Red Wolves are also motivated would be an understatement.
The Red Wolves enter the game with a 7-4 overall record (5-2 in conference play). They have played some wild games too. A 50-43 shootout against Troy and 48-41 one against ULM, a nail-biting 28-27 win over Coastal Carolina, and holding on to a 38-33 win over Georgia Southern. But they’ve had a 55-0 spanking at national power Georgia, and a 52-38 loss to Georgia State.
But in each of their games they have played fearlessly and confidently. They rank second in the conference in passing offense with over 300 yards per game. Omar Bayless leads the country in receiving yards and touchdowns (1,375 and 15) with 85 catches. They average 34 points per game and over 430 yards of total offense per game.
But their defense ranks 9th (out of 10) in Total Defense by allowing 480 yards per game. And staying consistent, they are also 9th in both passing and rushing defense. However, their red zone defense is 2nd in the conference (behind Louisiana-Lafayette) with 78%.
The Jags are dead last in scoring offense (edging out Texas State) with a mere 17 points per game average. They are also last in total offense with 315.3 yards per game average and last place in 3rd down conversions at 30.5%. Finally they are -5 in turnover margin, placing them 9th among Sun Belt teams.
While you can taut their 4th place scoring defense, they still allow 30.7 points per game. Their defensive stats are roughly middle of the pack across the board.
The Jags had played spirited football over the previous two weeks before the loss at Georgia State on Saturday. A missed field goal at Texas State then the inability to get defensive stops against Louisiana-Lafayette late in the game both ended in losses but with scores of 28 and 27 points respectively. But seemingly regressed against Georgia State, as they only managed 3 points prior to two garbage time touchdowns against defensive reserves.
South Alabama will look to get back on track with behind Desmond Trotter at quarterback running the RPO scheme with Tra Minter and Carlos Davis powering the running game.
The Jaguar defense will have to clamp down on Bayless and the rest of the Red Wolves passing game, which is their bread and butter. With a secondary that is expected to be without Jalen Thompson and has allowed a number of 3rd and long conversions all season long, that will be a tall order.
Arkansas State enters the game as an 11 point favorite. Last week I thought the Jags would win outright against Georgia State. I was quite positive. This week I feel very pessimistic. I feel Arkansas State is going to win and cover to close out South Alabama’s history at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Prove me wrong Jags!
The Jags (1-10, 0-7 SBC) and the Red Wolves are scheduled to kick off at 4pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Friday, November 29th. Pregame radio coverage starts at 2pm on 99.5 FM The Jag and 96.1 FM both locally in Mobile as well as world wide on iHeartMedia app. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.