Preview: West Division Showdown Against ULM
Kickoff: Saturday, October 26, 4pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
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Homecoming is a special tradition that dates back to the early 20th century. A number of schools claim they started the tradition as early at 1909, but a few sources have given the honor to the University of Missouri in 1911 when they faced Kansas and encouraged alumni to attend.
What does this have to do with South Alabama? Nothing really, other than this is homecoming week for the Jags.
Schools have started scheduling “easy” games for homecoming if they have the ability. With Sun Belt schools, they are…encouraged… to schedule all of their non-conference games in the first four weeks of the season. With schools who adhere to that scheduling “suggestion” that leaves scheduling your homecoming game against a conference foe.
That’s where we are now.
South Alabama (3-4, 2-1 Sun Belt Conference) will host their annual homecoming game this Saturday with the ULM Warhawks (5-1, 3-0 SBC).
Yes, you read that right! A Saturday game at Hancock Whitney Stadium! The Jags last played a Saturday home game in the season opener on August 31st.
Scheduling a conference opponent as your homecoming foe can be bulletin board material. Which ULM head coach Bryant Vincent has already alluded to this in his weekly press conference. They also enter the game after a full bye week, they last played on October 12th.
The Warhawks are out to a 5-1 start on the season for the first time ever as a FBS team and the first since 1987 when they played in Division I-AA (now known as FCS). Their 3-0 start in conference play is their first since 2017.
ULM has made a very quick turnaround since the hiring of Vincent. They were picked to finish last in the conference in the SBC Preseason poll but are currently tied atop the SBC West Division standings with Louisiana-Lafayette. Two of their three conference wins have been against teams that aren’t very good. Troy, which we previewed last week, has been plagued by injuries, loss of talent, and a coaching change. Last time out they defeated a downtrodden and dejected Southern Miss team who just fired their head coach after their latest loss. But in between those two games they defeated a James Madison team that has also seen a coaching change after last season’s magical run.
USA enters the game after a long rest from their Tuesday night win over Troy. The 25-9 victory broke a six-game losing streak to the in-state rival and hopefully propels them toward a strong finish down the stretch. They need at least three wins in their final five games to get bowl eligible for the third consecutive season, which would be another milestone for the rather young program.
South Alabama has an opportunity to knock off one of the top teams in the conference and the western division. While the Jags don’t completely control their destiny after the loss to Arkansas State, they have the remainder of the western division on their schedule to round out the season. If they win out, they still need a little help with Arkansas State.
But for that scenario to play out, they need to win on Saturday.
Louisiana-Monroe
Bryant Vincent was named the head coach in December of 2023 after ULM had only won 10 games in the previous three seasons under Tery Bowden.
Vincent has the Warhawks sitting at 5-1 and just one game away from bowl eligibility, which would be the first time since the 2018 season the Warhawks has won six games in a season.
Vincent was the offensive coordinator at the University of New Mexico for the 2023 season. He helped lead the Lobos to a top-20 ranking in red zone offense and rushing offense.
Prior to New Mexico, he was at UAB from 2018 to 2022 where he served as the offensive coordinator and interim head coach in 2022 when Bill Clark retired due to health reasons. He led the Blazers to a 7-6 record and a win the 2022 Bahamas Bowl. UAB’s offense averaged 30.1 points per game and 438.2 yards per game, which was in the top 35 of the nation. Also, during his tenure at UAB the Blazers set a FBS-program record for wins in a season (11-3), as they went 48-27 overall in his six seasons there. In the 2018 season alone the offense set new records for total points (418), total touchdowns (53), rushing touchdowns (32), total yards (5,680), and rushing yards (2,818).
Prior to UAB, Vincent was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South Alabama. He helped lead the Jags to the 2016 Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl and record setting quarterback Dallas Davis, who at the time, threw for a school record 2,706 yards.
Before USA for the second time, he was hired at UAB as the offensive coordinator for a season in 2014 before the program was shut down. Before that he was at USA as tight ends coach in 2011 and then quarterbacks in 2012.
He was an accomplished high school football coach before jumping ranks to the college game. He was the 5A coach of the year at Greenville in 2006 and then went 39-13 at Spanish Fort High School from 2007-2010 winning a state title in his final season with the Toros.
Offense
In the press release announcing the finalization of Vincent’s staff it had Jamaal Fobbs as offensive coordinator, whoever it’s not on his official title. Before ULM he was assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Mile College. Before that he spent six seasons as the running backs coach for Tulane.
His experience building Tulane’s rushing attack into the top rush game in the AAC in 2020 with an average of 217.1 yards per game and 32 touchdowns (2nd nationally).
| Stat | Average per game |
| Points | 22.8 |
| Total Offense | 279.8 |
| Passing Offense | 123.5 |
| Rushing Offense | 156.3 |
| Time of Possession | 31:23 |
| Penalty Yards | 56.5 |
| Stat | Cumulative for Season |
| 3rd Downs | 29 of 80 (36.3%) |
| 4th Downs | 6 of 8 (75%) |
| Red Zone Scoring Attempts | 14 of 14 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns | 8 of 14 |
| Penalties – Yards | 47 – 339 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 3 – 1 |
Aidan Armenta is the Warhawks leading passer going 37 of 62 (59.7%) for 481 yards, 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. General Booty is 28 of 53 (52.8%) for 241 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Jake Godfrey is the teams leading receiver by yardage with 191 on 13 catches with a touchdown. Davon Wells is the teams leading pass catcher with 16 receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown. Three other receivers each have caught one touchdown each.
Ahmad Hardy leads the team rushing with 500 yards on 99 carries with 6 touchdowns. James Jones has 172 yards on 43 carries with a touchdown.
Defense
Earnest Hill came to ULM from UAB after two seasons at UAB as the Stars/Nickels coach. Before UAB he was the running backs coach at South Alabama during the 2021 season.
Prior to USA he was head coach at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School where he went 40-8 overall with a state championship game appearance in his first season at the helm.
Through the first half of the season the defense has played very strong. If you take out the 51-3 loss to #1 Texas, the Warhawks are allowing an average of 13.8 points per game and will be an interesting matchup against the South Alabama offense.
| Stat | Average per game |
| Points | 20 |
| Total Offense | 341.3 |
| Passing Offense | 189.8 |
| Rushing Offense | 151.5 |
| Time of Possession | 28:37 |
| Penalty Yards | 66.2 |
| Stat | Cumulative for Season |
| 3rd Downs | 30 of 79 (38%) |
| 4th Downs | 4 of 15 (26.7%) |
| Red Zone Scoring Attempts | 16 of 17 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns | 10 of 17 |
| Penalties – Yards | 56 – 397 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 8 – 4 |
Carl Glass Jr leads the team in stops with 48, 20 solo, with a half sack, two quarterback hurries, and a forced fumble. Wydett Williams Jr leads the team in interceptions with 3 but is also second on the team with 47 total stops, 20 solo, with a sack, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
Billy Pullen leads the team with 4 sacks. Tristan Shorter is right behind him with 3 sacks.
Kevontay Wells leads the Warhawks with 7.5 tackles for loss with Pullen in line behind him with 5.5 TFLs.
Special Teams
Makenzie Ryan is averaging 39.6 yards per punt on his 31 kicks, with 15 downed inside the 20, nine fair catches, 3 touchbacks and 2 kicks of 50+ with his longest going 59 yards.
Max Larson is 8-of-10 on field goals with both of his misses coming from 40+ yards via blocks. His season long is 47 yards. He is also 14-of-15 on extra point attempts.
Davon Wells is averaging 7.4 yards per punt return across his 5 returns.
South Alabama
Thankfully the Jags had a long rest after the last game to prepare for this week. It also allowed them extra time to let the emotional high to wear off from the rivalry game win over Troy. Also to allow some extra time for players to heal from a very physical game.
While the defense played very good against Troy, the offense struggled against what is still a very strong defensive unit for the Trojans. The offensive line and the Troy defensive front were battling hard every down and made the Jags earn every yard they gained.
Defensively the Jags held the Trojans under 100 yards of total offense until late in the third quarter.
Offense
| Stat | Average per game |
| Points | 34.9 |
| Total Offense | 445 |
| Passing Offense | 248.6 |
| Rushing Offense | 196.4 |
| Time of Possession | 31:56 |
| Penalty Yards | 70.6 |
Gio Lopez is 110-for-170 (64.7%) for 1,464 yards, 13 touchdowns and 1 interception in the six games he’s played this season.
Jamaal Pritchett leads the team with 39 catches for 573 yards and 6 touchdowns. Jeremiah Webb is coming up the list and is second on the team in receiving yards with 253 on 15 catches with 2 touchdowns. Devin Voisin has 224 yards on 19 catches.
Fluff Bothwell leads the team with 461 yards on 68 carries with 6 touchdowns. Kentrel Bullock has 364 yards on 67 carries with three touchdowns. Gio is third on the team with 325 yards on 52 carries with three touchdowns.
| Stat | Cumulative for Season |
| 3rd Downs | 36 of 89 (40.5%) |
| 4th Downs | 6 of 10 (60%) |
| Red Zone Scoring Attempts | 27 of 32 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns | 19 of 32 |
| Penalties – Yards | 57 – 494 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 6 – 2 |
Defense
| Stat | Average per game |
| Points | 24.6 |
| Total Offense | 403.7 |
| Passing Offense | 285.4 |
| Rushing Offense | 118.3 |
| Time of Possession | 28:04 |
| Penalty Yards | 52.6 |
| Stat | Cumulative for Season |
| 3rd Downs | 36 of 92 (39.1%) |
| 4th Downs | 2 of 7 (28.6%) |
| Red Zone Scoring Attempts | 21 of 26 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns | 12 of 26 |
| Penalties – Yards | 40 – 368 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 7 – 3 |
Blayne Myrick leads the defense with 51 total tops, 20 solo, with 4 TFLs, two pass breakups and a forced fumble. Jordan Scruggs is next with 36 total stops, 17 solo, with 2.5 TFLs, an interception and a pass breakup.
Jaden Voisin leads the team with three interceptions, and is tied for the career record at South Alabama. Lardarius Webb Jr has two interceptions. Scruggs and three other players have one interception each.
Courtney McBride Jr leads the team with 3 sacks. Tyler Thomas has two sacks.
Special Teams
Aleksi Pulkkinen is averaging 40.5 yards per kick across his 24 punts with 11 downed inside the 20, 10 fair caught and 1 kick of 50 yards.
Laith Marjan is 10-of-11 on the season with the only miss coming from a 52-yard attempt. His longest made attempt was from 49 yards. He is also 21-of-22 on extra point attempts.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Identity
The Jags offense needs to find its identity again. After putting up 135 points in the two games against Northwestern State and Appalachian State, the Jags are averaging only 17 points per game over their last three. Or if you want to toss aside the LSU game, the Jags are averaging 20.5 points per game over their last two outings against Sun Belt opponents.
Either way you stack it, their offense isn’t running with the same effectiveness as it did over the first few games of the season. Some of it can be blamed on injuries. Reed Buys, arguably the best offensive lineman, has missed some playing time. Gio Lopez suffered a turf toe injury in the season opener and sat out the second game. But that injury will continue to plague him the rest of the season until he can rest it for an extended amount of time.
The Warhawks defense has been a scrappy, stingy bunch and they will do whatever they can to disrupt the Jags offense and keep them off the scoreboard. So, they need to find what their identity going forward is going to be and quick.
Penalties
The Jags had 100 yards assessed in penalty yardage against the Trojans. There were only nine flags on them too. That’s a lot of yardage to give back. That’s over half of the Trojans offensive yardage total for the game in just penalties for the Jags.
The worst were the offensive procedure penalties that kept putting the Jags behind the down and distance schedule.
Cleaning up these issues with recurring procedure penalties need to be a high priority.
Stopping the Run
This is a strength of the Jags defense, but ULM’s offense is predicated on the run game. If they have problems stopping the run, it could be a long night for South Alabama.
But the linebacker corps, which was already thin, lost one of their most experienced players for the season last week. Gavin Forsha suffered a knee injury against Troy and sounds like he is out for the season.
How will this affect the defense? We’ll soon see.
Prediction
The Jags entered at a 7.5-point favorite and it’s been shown that my predictions against the spread with USA has not been the best. But let’s do this again.
ULM seems to be playing well but if you look closer at their schedule so far, you really don’t get a sense of the team. The Texas game went about as expected honestly. The overall record of their opponents so far is 17-24 with three opponents with only one win on their resumes and all three of them being wins over FCS programs.
The win over UAB was more satisfactory in a revenge storyline, but you cannot count it as a quality win when their record is 1-6 with their only win over FCS Alcorn State.
The quality win of the season so far is James Madison (5-2), who’s only other loss is Georgia Southern.
Similar to the last two wins, the Jags need to jump on the Warhawks early and force ULM to play from behind. Their offense really doesn’t lend itself to play from multi-score deficit. Their identity on offense is to run the ball and chew the clock. Coaches on both sides have been saying that possessions will be at a premium in the game.
So, a bonus Key to the Game will be turnovers. Both teams are good at forcing turnovers. The Jags are +9 for the season and ULM is +4. If possessions are at a premium as the coaches alluded to, a turnover that leads to points would be a huge advantage to the benefiting team.
I think the Jags win, but I don’t think they cover the 7.5.
Go Jags!