Preview: UAB At South Alabama
Kickoff: 6:30 pm CDT Thursday, September 24th
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium
Television: ESPN2
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag, 96.1 FM The Rocket, iHeartRadio App
The South Alabama Jaguars now have two games under their belt for the 2020 season. They upset Southern Miss to open the season in Hattisburg as a double-digit underdog. Then gave up 21 unanswered points in the final quarter and a half of play against Tulane to open Hancock Whitney Stadium with a loss.
Desmond Trotter injured his shoulder against Southern Miss, which gave Chance Lovertich an opportunity to show what he can do. Lovertich got another chance against Tulane when the offense needed a spark and helped lead the Jags to a 24-6 advantage before the offense ground to a halt in the second half.
Trotter returned early in the fourth quarter, but left the game after re-injuring his shoulder. Subsequently head coach Steve Campbell announced on Monday that Lovertich will start on against UAB.
During the open date last week, Campbell also indicated that both quarterbacks will continue to get playing time, “I thought both of them did some good things. Desmond did some good things early and Chance came in and gave us a lift. … We’ve got two good quarterbacks and I think it’s going to take both of them playing well and staying healthy.”
Trotter has started the first two games of the season going 20-of-35 for 373 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions (both against Southern Miss). Lovertich has gone 20-for-32 for 311 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, but he was sacked five times and pressured numerous other times by Tulane.
With the announcement of Thursday’s starter, we’ll get to see what the offense looks like with Chance as the starter. It’s unknown if Trotter will be available if needed or if Tanner McGee would be the next man up should anything happen.
Speaking of quarterbacks, last week UAB head coach, and former South Alabama defensive coordinator, Bill Clark announced that Tyler Johnston III will be out indefinitely with a injury to his non-throwing shoulder. Johnston, a redshirt junior from Spanish Fort, was set to play basically in his back yard against the Jaguars.
The only other Blazer quarterback to have seen playing time other than Johnston this season has been Bryson Lucero who has gone 11-of-21 for 138 yards and a touchdown in two games played this season.
Probably one of the biggest concerns for South Alabama coming into the 2020 season, only slightly ahead of the quarterback position (which is always the most talked about position leading up to the season), was the offensive line.
Campbell, an offensive line guru, has struggled to get the Jaguar offensive line to play up to what is necessary to win week-in and week-out.
The offensive line played great against Southern Miss, though the Golden Eagle defensive front looked undersized compared to the Jags. But that was flipped when they took on Tulane. The Jag line looked good in the first half before the Tulane talent and size took over in the second half allowing five sacks and numerous pressures.
The Green Wave shut down the Jaguar rushing game to a tune of just 13 yards which allowed them to tee off on the 5’10” Lovertich. Potential returns of Hadon Merchant and Josh McCulloch may help the line against UAB.
One of my keys to the game against Tulane was turnovers. Last season the Green Wave forced lots of turnovers. The Jags only committed only one turnover in the game, but it was costly. Trotter fumbled on a QB keeper at the 2 yard line early in the game. Nether team would score any points in the first quarter. The Jags defense forced three fumbles, but only recovered one of them.
Meanwhile penalties became a problem again for the Jaguars. Tulane defensive end Cameron Sample drew a pair of holding penalties from veteran center Brian Ankerson, which hamstrung a potential scoring drive before halftime. A pass interference call aided the Green Wave to a touchdown in the third quarter. Roughing the quarterback in the fourth quarter allowed Tulane a second-chance at their two-point conversion attempt that put them up by three points.
However the penalty that hurt the most came with just over 1:30 left in the game. The Jags defense forced the Green Wave to punt. D.J. Exilhomme was flagged for leaping, which on the field at game speed it probably looked like that and may have met the letter of the rules, but in review it looked accidental. Either way the only penalty that is reviewable is targeting.
Another one of the keys to the game from last week was special teams. The place kicking improved with no issues on snaps or holds for extra-point or field goal attempts. Diego Guajardo even made a career-best 49-yard field goal in the third quarter.
While the return game was non-existent, there were some better decisions made on kickoff returns that did not pin the Jaguars inside their own 15 yard line.
The punting game was hit or miss. Jack Brooks had a 57 yard punt that rolled to the 1 yard line and another one that went inside the 15 yard line. But punts of 22 and 33 yards were the flip side of the coin. The punt coverage allowed a 19-yard return as well.
Despite the reduction in attendance, the fans were loud and a full Hancock Whitney Stadium will definitely be impressive in the future. Easy to navigate concourses, hand rails on the stairways, and much improved concessions made quite the impressions on fans. And that video board is the envy of the conference.
I could only find two things to “gripe” about with the new stadium. The first was a lack of airflow that made it feel much warmer than it was. But the enclosed endzones kept the sound in, which made 25% attendance sound louder than expected. You can’t really have it both ways unfortunately.
The other gripe was with the only speakers for the sound system seeming to be in the video board structure. The fans in the North end zone are BLASTED with sound. My advice is to bring some ear plugs if that is where your seats are located.
But if those are your only two complaints, I think you’ve done a pretty good job.
But seriously, those speakers can be REALLY loud in the end zone and as a proponent of proper hearing health, I cannot stress enough that a good pair of ear plugs is an invaluable investment.
Previewing UAB
So far this UAB Blazer team does not look like the same Blazer team you’ve seen over the last couple of years on the surface. Or is it?
Allowing 35 points to an FCS team is not the start to the season you really want. However not all FCS teams are alike.
Central Arkansas has one of the best offenses in the nation on their level. While they did load up on the points, the Blazers only allowed 293 offensive yards while forcing three turnovers and recording two sacks and five tackles for loss.
On the other hand, the Bears took advantage of three Blazer turnovers in the first half and, with the short fields, they cashed them in for points. Two of those turnovers were an interception that was returned to the 4 yard line and a mishandled fair catch that was recovered at the 15 yard line.
Against Miami, the Blazer defense was gashed by Miami’s run game. After taking a 7-0 lead, the Blazer defense forced a 4th & 1 at the Miami 34 yard line, then gave up a 66 yard touchdown run. Then an ineffectual offense led to a gassed defense that gave up 337 rushing yards in all.
Blazer running back Spenser Brown looks like he is already in mid-season form. Against Central Arkansas, he carried the ball 24 times for 127 and a touchdown.
He looked like he was going to have another good game against Miami before the yellow flags started flying. A 20-yard gain on the second play of the second drive was negated by an illegal motion penalty. He finished the game with 74 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown.
Behind Brown the Blazers have two more backs that look capable of getting playing time without too much of a production dropoff. Though they did not put up good numbers against the hurricanes.
With the announcement of Johnston’s injury, Bryson Lucero looks to be the starter for the Blazers. However, Dylan Hopkins started five games in 2018 for the Blazers and led them to a 3-2 record and a west-conference division title. But Hopkins is listed as 3rd on the depth chart. Is this some gamesmanship in game preparation?
Both teams are coming into the game after an off week. Though UAB has had a couple extra days since they played on a Thursday.
The Jags have what is considered one of the best group of wide receivers in the nation. Both Jalen Tolbert and Kawaan Baker are in the top five in the nation currently. However their rushing game just has not solidified yet.
The Jags defense has allowed 150.5 yards per game rushing with an average of 4.1 yards per carry. With wet and rainy conditions and UAB’s stable of running backs, the ground game may be the one of the deciding factors in the game.
Keys to the Game
Rushing defense
As mentioned previously, with wet and rainy conditions predicted up until kickoff and thunderstorms possible during the game while missing Tyler Johnston III at quarterback, look for UAB to lean heavily on Spencer Brown and the running back corps to grind it out on the ground.
That will put a lot of pressure on the Jaguar defense to stop the run. Brown may be one of the best running backs the team faces all season.
Turnovers
In wet conditions turnovers are always a huge concern. Hopefully the Jags have done their share of wet ball drills and then some.
Special teams
Against Southern Miss the Jags had issues in place kicking and some in kickoff returns. Against Tulane the Jags had issues punting.
What will the third game bring?
I keep going back to the weather conditions because it could play a huge role in the game. A kicker could slip, a punter shank one, a returner could fumble a return or muff a catch. Any one of those could make or break the game. The Jags need to be solid in all aspects of special teams.
Spread and Prediction
UAB is a 7 point favorite in Mobile. The Jags have been underdogs in 12 consecutive football games and are 8-2 against the spread in the last 10 overall. This includes the two games this season that the Jags have covered in both, winning outright against Southern Miss.
I think the trend continues with the Jags covering the spread but, again, I don’t think they win outright.
Go Jags!