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: South Alabama Looks To Rebound From Loss At Arkansas State
Kickoff: Saturday, October 29, 3:00pm
Venue: Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro, Arkansas
TV/Streaming: ESPNU
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Jack Brooks
The 10-6 Jags loss at home to Troy was a tough fought slugfest. The Jags offense went from 615 yards of offense the week before to just 246 against the Trojans. The Trojans front seven were in the backfield all night blowing up rushing attempts and pressuring and hitting Bradley. There were a few times that Bradley was a bit slow getting up after some punishing blows too.
The Jaguar defense was gritty and tough as well, holding the Trojans to 266 total yards of offense.
But some questionable officiating left many scratching their heads. But at the end of the day complaining about officiating will get you nowhere. You just have to elevate your play and leave do doubt who the better team is. Ultimately Troy was able to execute their gameplan to limit the Jags offensive plays and shortening the game.
Now the Jags Western division fate is partially out of their hands, yet they still control one aspect of their destiny: how they respond.
The remaining games on their schedule are still very winnable and they can still finish the regular season with 10 wins.
But head coach Kane Wommack’s process driven approach will have his team focusing on Arkansas State and only Arkansas State. They don’t set goals like getting to the conference championship game. Part of their approach is that, if they win, those things will take care of themself.
The Jags hold a 6-4 advantage over the Red Wolves, including winning the last three match-ups between the two programs. Jalen Tolbert was instrumental in those three wins.
Who will step up and fill those cleats in torching the Red Wolves secondary? Hopefully each of the big three have a great day on Saturday.
Arkansas State (2-6, 1-4 SBC)
The second season under Butch Jones isn’t going quite like the Red Wolves faithful had hoped. Just when it looked like Jones and his staff were getting things worked out and in order, the injury bug hits and it hit hard.
Jaguar fans can commiserate with them over the years too.
They have wins over Grambling State and ULM to their record. They had some close losses to Old Dominion (29-26) and Southern Miss (20-19). Their other losses have been to Ohio State, Memphis, James Madison and just last weekend Louisiana-Lafayette.
In all the Red Wolves were missing three cornerbacks, the starting quarterback, and the rotational running back at Lafayette. Jones went into the game playing the backup quarterback, but then he suffered an injury in the third quarter and had to turn to a true freshman. Not to mention one of their offensive linemen is playing with a broken foot.
Throw on top of the laundry list of injuries that their roster consists of about 70 freshmen and sophomores.
Unlike “It’s a Wonderful Life” where they say “every time a bell rings an angel gets it’s wings”, with the Red Wolves it’s “every time there’s an injury, another redshirt is burnt.” Not nearly as catchy.
According to Jones, quarterback James Blackman is expected to return to play. However this could be more gamesmanship to force the Jags to prepare for two different quarterbacks.
Offense
The Red Wolves are averaging 28.8 points, 349.3 total yards, 242.8 passing, 106.5 rushing, and 31:30 time of possession per game. They are converting 41-of-117 of their 3rd down attempts (35%) and 10-of-16 of their 4th down attempts (62.5%) on the year.
The Red Wolves have been in the red zone 28 times and have scored 25 of those trips, 18 of them being touchdowns though.
They’ve fumbled nine times and lost three of them and have only thrown two interceptions all season. They average 5.1 yards per play, which is a pretty good stat on paper. It just hasn’t translated well in the win/loss columns.
James Blackman leads the quarterbacks going 149-of-215 (69.3%) for 1,695 yards, 11 touchdowns and an interception. AJ Mayer is 18-of-38 for 213 yards and a touchdown. Jaxon Dailey is 5-of-9 for 34 yards in only two appearances this season.
Seydou Traore is the leading receiver with 31 catches for 474 yards and three touchdowns. Champ Flemings has 29 catches for 352 yards and a touchdown. Jeff Foreman has 16 catches for 321 yards and a team leading four touchdowns. Three other receivers have over 100 yards receiving on the season.
Johnnie Lang leads the running backs with 313 yards on 82 attempts with two touchdowns. Brian Snead has 277 yards on 74 carries with six touchdowns. Two other players have over 100 yards rushing, one of them is quarterback AJ Mayer.
Defense
They are allowing on average 31.1 points, 409 total yards, 260.8 passing, 148.3 rushing yards, and 28:30 time of possession per game. Opponents are converting 40-of-107 (37.4%) of their 3rd down attempts and 9-of-14 (64.3%) of their 4th down attempts. Of the 20 trips into the red zone, opponents have scored 18 times with only two of them being field goals.
They have forced 16 fumbles but have only recovered four of them while also gathering three interceptions.
Jordan Carmouche leads the team with 54 total stops, 21 of them solo and a tied for the team lead with 5.5 tackles for loss. Trevian Thomas is next with 46 total stops, 28 solo, and is co-leader in tackles for loss with Carmouche with 5.5. Dennard Flower leads the team with three sacks, followed by Kivon Bennett with 2.5 sacks. Safety Eddie Smith leads the team with two interceptions.
Special Teams
Dominic Zvada is a perfect 12-of-12 on the season with a long of 46 yards, and has made 23-of-24 extra point attempts. Ryan Hanson is averaging 44.1 yards per punt with 12 downed inside the 20, 7 of 50+ yards, 8 fair catches, 1 touchback and a long of 68 yards over his 32 punts this season.
Johnnie Lang has a kickoff return for a touchdown on the season and is averaging 26.6 yards per return.
South Alabama (5-2, 2-1 SBC)
The Jags got help from a couple of players that they were unsure would be able to go. La’Damian Webb was able to play but was unable to be effective in the game. DJ Thomas-Jones was able to return after collapsing on the sidelines earlier this season and having a battery of tests run to ensure he was healthy to return to play, but only managed one catch.
Quentin Wilfawn returned to play but seemed to have missed some time or possibly the remainder of the game after aggravating his shoulder injury.
Offense
At this point in the season the Jags are averaging 31.7 points, 431.4 total yards, 288.1 passing yards, 143.3 rushing yards, and 31:10 time of possession per game. They are converting 47-of-101 of their 3rd down attempts (46.5%) and 3-of-8 of their 4th down attempts (37.5%).
Of their 30 trips into the red zone, they have scored 25 times with 18 of them being touchdowns.
Jags players have fumbled only four times on the season and lost two of them. Only five passes have been intercepted on the season as well for a total of only seven turnovers.
Carter Bradley is 155-of-238 for 1,909 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions on the season as the leading signal caller.
Jalen Wayne leads the Jaguar trio of receivers with 559 receiving yards and five touchdowns on his 40 receptions. Caullin Lacy leads the trio in receptions with 42, for 553 yards and three touchdowns. Devin Voisin, who’s been clutch over the last few games, has 35 catches for 427 yards and a touchdown.
La’Damian Webb leads the team with 487 yards rushing on 100 carries with six touchdowns. Omni Wells has 156 yards on 34 carries. Marco Lee has 140 yards on 35 carries with four touchdowns. Braylon McReynolds has 104 yards on 18 attempts in the first five games of the season before missing the last couple of games with an injury.
Defense
The Jags are allowing an average of only 19.7 points, 314 total yards, 214.4 passing, 99.6 rushing yards, and 28:07 time of possession per game. Opposing teams are converting 27-of-93 of their 3rd down attempts (29%) and 9-of-15 of their 4th down attempts (60%).
Teams have been in the red zone 21 times on this defense and came away with points on 15 of those trips with only 10 of them being touchdowns.
James Miller and Jaden Voisin are the co-leaders on defense with 36 stops each, both of them with 21 solo. Trey Kiser is next in line with 35 stops, 25 solo.
CJ Rias leads the team with 5 tackles for loss and also with tree sacks on the season.
Yam Banks added a fourth interception against the Trojans to extend his team lead. Jaden Voisin, AJ DeShazor, Ke’Shun Brown, Darrell Luter Jr and CJ Thompson all have one pick each.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo is a perfect 11-of-11 on the season with a long of 48 on field goals. He also has only missed one of his 26 extra point attempts on the season.
Jack Brooks is averaging 41.7 yards per punt across his 33 kicks this season. He has 12 downed inside the 20, 8 fair caught, 6 kicks of 50+ yards and two touchbacks. Brooks, who is the oldest Jaguar on the squad at 29, will be recognized for his contributions to the team by wearing the honorary #5 jersey. The Wagga Wagga, Australia native is in his fourth season with the Jags. Thanks to covid eligibility rules changes, he will be eligible to return and play a fifth season if he wants.
Keys to the Game
Responding to Adversity
The biggest game is always the next one.
The Jags responded well after their only other loss this season. They came out with a vengeance and earned a 38-14 win over Louisiana Tech. But Arkansas State will be looking to turn their ship around and break their losing streak to the Jags now that their nemesis, Jalen Tolbert, is gone.
Injuries
The Jags have been plagued by injuries to some key contributors this season. No one wants to be bitten by the dreaded injury bug, and so far the Jags have managed to avoid an injury bug infestation (knock on wood). Hopefully the players will be able to return sooner rather than later.
But staying healthy is key for a physical team like the Jags.
Attrition in the running back corps led the Jags to have only two running backs available against ULM. Terrion Avery left the team, McReynolds has not been able to play the last couple of games, then Webb was injured on the first possession against ULM.
Webb managed to return last week and Brian Hill suited up from the practice squad to provide extra depth in case Webb was unable to go. McReynolds may be able to return this week, we probably won’t know until pregame warmups if he made the trip with the team and if he’s suiting up.
Offensive Line
The offensive line was pushed around by Troy. The Jags couldn’t get their running game going and they couldn’t protect Bradley consistently. They’ve played great early in the season and especially against UCLA.
The team needs them to return to early season form. They’ll have a good opportunity against Arkansas State with their injury situation.
Prediction
Can Jalen Wayne be the next Jalen that induces a years worth of nightmares like his departed brethren Jalen Tolbert had for the previous three years? Will the next monster of the Red Wolves nightmares be Caullin Lacy or Devin Voisin? This game will be on Halloween weekend, you know.
The spread opened around 9.5 points in favor of South Alabama and has gone up to 12.5 points in favor of the Jags.
The Jags are 0-3 against the spread over the last three games against Lafayette, Monroe, and Troy.
This is another nationally televised game, the third consecutive actually, and the Jags will be looking to make a statement after falling to Troy. I think the Jags win and cover the spread in this one.
We’ll know Saturday night if and who the Red Wolves will have nightmares about until the next meeting.
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!
South Alabama Downs The Cajuns On 44-Yard Walk-Off Field Goal To Win 20-17
Diego Guajardo waited a year for an opportunity for redemption and he made good at Cajun Field. After missing what is normally an easy kick for him, but complicated by a wet field last year, he drilled the 44 yard attempt like a dagger through the Cajuns heart to win 20-17.
South Alabama’s Carter Bradley ran the ball in from 3 yards out to put the Jags up 17-7 and looked like they may have the game in hand. But the Cajuns made adjustments and put the Jags on their heels. A 4th down conversion at their own 36 yard line kept the drive alive but they had to settle for a 51 yard field goal with 7:43 left in the game.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Cajuns were back in business at their own 18. They proceeded to march 82 yards and used 6:17 off the clock, they converted on 3rd down four times on the drive to tie the game at 17 with :42 left. They only converted 6 3rd downs in the entire game.
But the Cajuns left too much time on the clock.
After a pair of incompletions, La’Damian Webb kept the drive alive with a 21 yard run on 3rd and 10 from the Jags 25 yard line. Another pair of incompletions set up Caullin Lacy for an 11 yard catch to again move the chains and keep the drive alive with :09 left. Bradley saw Jalen Wayne in single coverage and got the ball to him for a 17 yard completion with :04 left to set up Guajardo for the walk-off redemption kick from 44 yards out.
Louisiana-Lafayette were the first to put points on the board. The offense went three-and-out and the Cajuns avoided a potential block in the back penalty on the 69-yard punt return touchdown by Eric Garror at the 7:53 mark of the first quarter.
South Alabama tied it up shortly before halftime when La’Damian Webb plunged over the offensive line from two yards out with 2:54 left before halftime.
Diego gave the Jags the lead at the 8:29 mark of the 3rd quarter on a 38 yard field goal.
Stats
South Alabama out-gained the Cajuns 361 to 276 in total offensive yards and 245 to 115 in passing yards. The Cajuns out gained the Jags on the ground 161 to 116.
At one point early in the fourth quarter the Jags held a time of possession advantage of about 10 minutes. By the end of the game the Jags only held a time of possession advantage of 30:18 to 29:42.
The Jags were flagged eight times for 60 penalty yards, the Cajuns were flagged seven times for 65 yards.
The Jags were 12-of-21 on 3rd down and was 1-of-3 on fourth down attempts. The Cajuns did not convert a 3rd down attempt until the fourth quarter and ended the game 6-of-16 on 3rd down and converted their only 4th down attempt.
Carter Bradley finished 18-of-41 for 245 yards and an interception.
Caullin Lacy led the receivers with 5 catches for 112 yards. Wayne caught 4 passes for 55 yards, including 17 yard catch to set up the game winning kick. Devin Voisin added 41 yards on three catches.
La’Damian Webb rushed for 75 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. Braylon McReynolds ran for 25 yards on three carries. Marco Lee had 6 yards on three carries.
James Miller led the defense with eight tackles, so solo and half a tackle for loss. Trey Kiser added seven tackle, four solo, and a key sack.
Jaden Voisin and Darrell Luter Jr both recorded interceptions in the game.
Ben Woolridge led the Cajun quarterback rotation going 18-of-29 for 90 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Chandler Fields was 4-of-7 for 25 yards with an interception.
Running back Chris Smith was the leading pass catcher for the Cajuns with 5 catches for 16 yards. Peter LeBlanc led the way with 23 yards on three catches.
Smith led all rushers with 107 yards on 12 carries. Woolridge added 36 rushing yards on 9 attempts.
Next
The win put the Jags at 4-1 on the season, 1-0 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Cajuns fall to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
South Alabama has next Saturday off and will return to play on Saturday, October 15 when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 4pm kickoff at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Preview: South Alabama Opens Conference Play At Louisiana
Kickoff: Saturday October 1, 4:00pm
Venue: Cajun Field, Lafayette, LA
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Desmond Trotter
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama (3-1) took another big step forward last Saturday against Louisiana Tech (1-3). Though they opened the game with a big play, it was called back due to a penalty. But they didn’t let the adversity affect them.
If anything, they used it as motivation.
They took the opening possession and marched 80 yards over six plays in just over two minutes to put the points back on the board. Then after the defense held La. Tech to a 3-and-out, Caullin Lacy returned the punt 57 yards for a touchdown. He was also named the Sun Belt Conference Specials Teams Player of the week for that. From there, they mostly cruised to a 38-14 win.
Yet the game was still full of adversity.
The Jags were flagged for 14 penalties, totaling 131 penalty yards. It also saw a targeting penalty called down from the press box when Brock Higdon was seemingly pushed into the quarterback. Head coach Kane Wommack appealed the subsequent disqualification in the first half of the next game, however his appeal was denied.
That game is now behind them, as is their non-conference slate of game. Now they face the next test of their season: conference play.
What better way to start your conference schedule than to begin with the perennial powerhouse in your division. The Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns have won the Sun Belt Conference Western Division championship the last four years (2018-2021), they shared the 2020 conference championship with Coastal Carolina due to Covid cancellation of the championship game, and they won the 2021 conference championship game versus Appalachian State in Billy Napier’s final game as head coach before leaving for the University of Florida.
Louisiana-Lafayette (2-2, 0-1 SBC)
The Ragin’ Cajuns are led by first year head coach Michael Desormeaux. He played college football for the Cajuns before a short-lived career with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Calgary Stampeders. He spent six seasons in the high school coaching ranks, three of them as a head coach, before making the jump to collegiate coaching.
He joins the Cajuns in 2016 as running backs coach, then served as tight ends coach for four seasons. Last year he was co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach before being selected as head coach.
The Cajuns opened the season with a pair of wins over Southeastern Louisiana (24-7) and Eastern Michigan (49-21), both at home. However, they’ve come up short the last two contests against Rice (21-33) and Louisiana-Monroe (17-21), both on the road.
Offense
The Cajuns aren’t the Cajuns of the last few years. Quarterback Levi Lewis is gone and they return only one major contributing running back from a year ago. Chris Smith led the team rushing last season with 855 yards on 153 attempts. He had a career outing against Arkansas State when he ran for 238 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns.
After Smith, they only return one other running back who saw action last season. He only had eight carries for 14 yards though.
As a team the Cajuns are averaging 27.75 points, 340.5 total yards, 233.25 passing yards, and only 107.3 rushing yards and 27:48 time of possession per game.
They are converting 40% of their 3rd down attempts (22-of-55) and 25% of their 4th down attempts (2-of-8). They are winning big in the turnover margin so far with a +9 turnover margin (3 turnovers to 12 takeaways). They have already logged nine interceptions through four games this season.
Of their 13 trips into opponents red zone, they have scored on 10 of those trips, with eight of them being touchdowns.
Chandler Fields leads the quarterback duo going 50-of-88 for seven touchdowns, and two interceptions. Ben Wooldridge is 30-of-45 for 350 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Michael Jefferson leads the receiving corps with 17 catches for 259 yards and two touchdowns. Johnny Lumpkin and Chris Smith are the only other players to log double digit receptions (10). Lumpkin has 99 yards and three touchdowns while Smith has 91 yards. John Stephens Jr is the only other receiver with over 100 yards receiving (103 to be exact) with one touchdown.
Chris Smith leads the rushing attack with 157 yards on 35 carries with two touchdowns. Terrence Williams is the only other rusher over the century mark with 104 yards on 29 carries. Three other players have double-digit carries, Jocob Kibodi (19 for 96 yards), Dre’lyn Washington (17 for 65 yards and a touchdown), and Chandler Fields with 16.
Defense
Opponents are averaging 20.5 points, 372.3 total yards of offense, 241 passing yards, 131.3 rushing yards and 31:58 time of possession per game against the Cajuns.
They are converting just over 44% of their 3rd down attempts (26-of-59) and just under 43% of their 4th down attempts (3-of-7). The defense has taken the ball away from their opponents 12 times, nine of them interceptions and three fumbles.
Opponents have been in the red zone 13 times and came away with scores 12 of those trips, ten of them coming as touchdowns.
Jourdan Quibodeaux is the leading tackler with 31 total stops, 12 of them solo from his linebacker position. Kam Pedescleaux is right behind him with 30 total stops, 18 solo with a forced fumble and an interception. No player on defense has more than one interception on the season.
Special Teams
Preston Safford is 2-of-4 on the season on field goals, his longest make is 36 yards. His two missing came from a 50+ yard attempt and a 40+ yard attempt.
Rhys Byrns has punted 19 times with an average of 45.3 yards per punt with two touchbacks, five fair catches, 6 downed inside the 20 and four kicks of 50+ yards.
Eric Garror has returned 9 punts, one of them for a touchdown.
South Alabama (3-1, 0-0 SBC)
For the second-consecutive season the Jags have started the year 3-1. However the one loss last season was to the very opponent they face this weekend, Louisiana-Lafayette.
In that game the Cajuns jumped out to a 20-0 lead before the Jags began their rally. They shut out the Cajuns in the second half. Diego Guajardo has his worst outing at a Jag that night with a blocked extra point, missing a second extra point, and missing a 37-yard field goal with 1:06 left in the game to take the lead and possibly win.
The Jags may have lost 18-20, but they made a statement to the Cajuns and to the Sun Belt Conference that they were ready to play.
Offense
In only his second season at the helm, coach Wommack and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite have transformed the Jaguar offense into something powerful.
The Jags rank 44th nationally in total offense, 61st nationally in rushing offense, and 35th in passing offense. But most of all they are tied for 29th nationally in scoring offense, something that Jag fans would not have believe two years ago.
On the season the Jags are averaging 38.75 points, 449.5 total yards, 284.25 passing yards, and 165.3 rushing yards, and 33:39 time of possession per game.
They are converting just over 46% of their 3rd down attempts (25-of-54) and 33% of their 4th down attempts (1-of-3). They have turned the ball over 4 times, three of them interceptions and only one fumble, which places them at +6 turnover margin on the season.
Of their 19 trips into the red zone, the offense has scored 16 times, only three of them being field goals.
Carter Bradley is 83-of-124 for 1,029 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions on the season. Desmond Trotter, in only two games of action, is 12-of-14 for 108 yards.
Jalen Wayne leads the receiving corps with 22 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns after being held mostly in check by Louisiana Tech last week. Caullin Lacy has 18 catches for 258 yards and two touchdowns. Devin Voisin, who has come on of late, has 16 catches for 152 yards and a touchdown. La’Damian Webb has 11 catches for 118 yards and a touchdown, some of those come by a jet sweep like play that counts as a forward pass.
Webb leads the rushing attack with 388 yards on 68 carries with five touchdowns. Terrion Avery currently resides as second on the team in rushing with 82 yards on 21 carries. Braylon McReynolds has 79 yards on 15 carries. Omni Wells has 46 yards on 12 carries. Marco Lee adds 39 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns.
However it was released this week that Avery is no longer on the team. Additionally offensive linemen Antawn Lewis and Anterrious Gray are both no longer with the team. How much that affect the team down the stretch will remain to be seen. Both Lewis and Gray both have experience as starters in 2021 but were beat out at their positions to begin the season. Both came to USA as Division I transfers and are fifth-year seniors.
But the offensive line group started the season with 21 players, so they should have enough bodies but will the loss of experience come back to haunt them some? We’ll have to wait and see.
Defense
The Jags defense is picking up from where they left off last season. They rank 27th nationally in total defense, 67th nationally in passing yards allowed, and 17th nationally in rushing defense, and are tied for 37th nationally in scoring defense.
Jaden Voisin leads the defense with 20 total stops, 11 solo, with three tackles for loss, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry. Jalen Jordan is right behind him with 19 stops, 10 solo. Trey Kiser is next with 18 stops, 14 solo, a sack and a fumble recovery. Quentin Wilfawn, who missed last weeks game due to injury, comes in 4th with 17 stops, 13 solo, with 1.5 tackles for loss. CJ Rias leads the team with two sacks.
Despite only recording one tackle last week, Yam Banks was a huge force for the defense against La. Tech. He accounted for three of the five takeaways. He picked off two passes, returning one for a touchdown, and recovered a fumble.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo is a perfect 5-for-5 on field goal attempts on the season with a season long 48 yarder, has only missed one of his 19 extra point attempts.
Jack Brooks has punted 17 times this season with an average of 43.4 yards per kick. He has a long of 58 yards, four punts of 50+ yards, one touchback, one fair catch, seven downed inside the 20 yard line.
Braylon McReynolds has returned 6 kickoffs for an average of 21.5 yards per return.
Lacy has fielded six punts with one returned 57 yards for a touchdown last week against La. Tech.
Keys to the Game
Establishing the run
The Cajuns have had a lot of success making teams lean towards the pass over the run. They have been able to pick off nine passes through four games, which is worth noting for sure.
The Jags have had a lot of success this season running the ball. This has really helped the offense be more balanced and more efficient in across the board.
It all starts with the offensive line though. But it also helps a lot to have a dynamic running back like La’Damian Webb who manages to seemingly never go down on the first hit.
Cleaning up the mistakes
Last week the Jags were hit with 14 penalties. They were flagged for 10 against Nicholls to start the season and they had nine against Central Michigan the week after that. But then two weeks ago in their last second loss to UCLA the Jags only committed four penalties.
In a close game, penalties can mean a win or a loss. A poorly timed flag can move you out of field goal range or make a 3rd or 4th and short into a 3rd or 4th and long for the offense. A 3rd and long can turn into a 3rd and short, or a 3rd down stop can turn into a 1st down for your opponent, all by the drop of a yellow hanky.
I tend to think of penalties in four categories: strategy, mental mistakes, aggressive play, and frustration. Strategic penalties are like taking a delay of game before a punt or a defender committing pass interference when they would have been beat for a touchdown.
Sometimes you’re going to get a penalty from aggressive play, they just happen sometimes. You don’t want them to, but sometimes they come with the game. Mental mistakes, or lack of good execution, should only happen occasionally but they can and should be worked on and corrected. Penalties out of frustration are the worst in my book. They are overly aggressive play, they are taking pot shots when its just not needed. These can escalate quickly and can rob you of your players and lead to a string of penalties.
In the end, you strive to commit zero penalties but you particularly want to avoid penalties in key situations. When you are averaging almost 10 flags per game, at some point it’s going to bite you in the rear if you don’t get it cleaned up.
Winning On the Road
Last year the Jags were 1-5 on the road. From 2018 through 2020 the Jags road records were 0-6, 0-6, and 2-3. South Alabama has not won three games on the road in a single season since 2014.
It’s time to get that monkey off the back.
This team has the feel of something special. They’ve already gone on the road once and won against a fellow Group of 5 school in Central Michigan. They also went across the country and went toe-to-toe with a Power 5 school in UCLA and outplayed them for the majority of the game only to lose on a field goal as time expired.
The culture is different. The play is different.
It takes a different mentality to win on the road. You’re out of your normal routine and out of your comfort zone. You’re in a stadium with mostly fans cheering against you. It takes extra focus to tune out all of the distractions and to focus on the fundamentals of your assignments each play.
It seems that this team has that about them. They have the talent, they have the focus, and they have the preparation and gameplan each and every week.
But they also have a swagger about them too. Not a pompous air, but they exude that they know they have a winning gameplan, that they feel that they have out worked their opponent all week and are ready to execute at a high level each and every play. They have an air about them that they are ready for that next step.
Now is the time to take that next step forward for the program.
Prediction
This Jags team has a different feel about them. They don’t let their emotions get too high and they don’t let them get too low. They know they have business to take care of and winning one game is not the goal.
They wanted to win against UCLA but they didn’t let the loss affect them. They came back the next week and was quick to jump on La Tech from the opening kick.
But there’s more to Louisiana-Lafayette. It’s a big personal. They have been the western division champ for the last four seasons. They are the bar in the West, even if coach Napier is no longer there.
The Cajuns lead the series 8-2 with wins in the last six consecutive meetings. The Jags are also 0-5 at Cajun Field in Lafayette.
What better way to signal to the west and the entire Sun Belt Conference that the Jaguars of South Alabama are here and ready to play. This could be the win that, when we write the season retrospective to close the book on the 2022 season, we point to this game and say “that was the changing of the guard.”
Last season was very nearly a Jags win. Some unfortunate plays on special teams in wet conditions was the difference between a loss and a win.
Cajun fans have their hands hovering over the panic button after dropping games to Rice and Louisiana-Monroe. As we have seen many times the scripted quarterback rotation just doesn’t seem to work as well as some coaches tend to think it will.
I think the Cajuns will compete hard to keep from dropping three consecutive games. The loss to Rice ended the national longest active winning streak. The loss to ULM snapped a 16-game winning streak against Sun Belt Conference West Division opponents and the back-to-back losses are the first since the final two games of the 2018 season. Plus it’s their homecoming game.
The Jags are an 8.5 point favorite on the road against the Cajuns. I think South Alabama will win and cover, 31-21.
Go Jags!
Jags Use Fast Start And Five Turnovers To Down Louisiana Tech 38-14
The Louisiana Tech’s quarterback, Parker McNeil, will have nightmares this week and the antagonist will be Yam Banks after he accounted for three take-aways and a touchdown as South Alabama wins 38-14.
The Jags improve to 3-1 on the season, half way to bowl eligibility and their non-conference slate complete. Louisiana Tech falls to 1-3 on the season.
South Alabama came out quick. It looked like Braylon McReynolds had taken the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, but a personal foul for an illegal backside block negated the score
But the Jags had already seized the momentum.
It only took the Jags six plays to cover 80 yards and put up the opening score of the game. Jalen Wayne caught back-to-back passes for 19 and 18 yards. Then La’Damian Webb reeled off a 25 yard run to put South Alabama in the red zone. A couple plays later Carter Bradley found Lincoln Sefcik for a 3 yard touchdown pass to go up 7-0.
The defense held the Bulldogs to a three-and-out and no offensive yards.
Then the special teams came up with a big play, and this one counted. Caullin Lacy caught the put on the right side of the field, weaved his way through the Bulldog coverage, and took it to the house to put the Jags up 14-0 after only 3:50 off the clock.
Louisiana Tech finally got on the scoreboard early in the second quarter on a 52 yard touchdown pass to Smoke Harris after he got behind a Jaguar defender to make it 14-7.
The South Alabama defense took the Bulldog score personally. On the next four possession the Jags would force turnovers.
The Jags answered with a 24 yard Diego Guajardo field goal for a 17-7 lead which would hold up till halftime. Ke’Shun Brown helped to preserve it with one of the Bulldogs four interceptions in the game.
The Jags were back on the scoreboard less than a minute into the second half.
On 2nd and 6, McNeil threw a pass toward the right sideline but Yam Banks was in position for the interception and was able to return it 24 yards for a touchdown to go up 24-7.
On the third play of the ensuing possession, Jamie Sheriff got a 14 yard sack on quarterback Matthew Downing and jarred the ball loose. Yam Banks covered it up for the recovery.
On 3rd & 8, Bradley tossed the ball to Caullin Lacy who took it in from 19 yards out to extend the Jags lead to 31-7 at the 11:06 mark in the third quarter.
The Jags would get on the board one last time to start the fourth quarter. After driving down to the Bulldogs 28 yard line as the third quarter expired, Bradley tossed the ball to Webb on the first play of the final stanza and he found pay dirt for a 38-7 with 14:42 left in the game.
La Tech put together an 8 play, 80 yard drive to put their final points of the game on the scoreboard with 10:59 left in the game.
The Jaguar reserves nearly added a score with seconds left in the game but a flag for holding kept them off the scoreboard one last time.
“That was a statement game in my mind,” head coach Kane Wommack said after the game. “I’m really pleased with where we are to the point. We’ve got to continue to work the momentum and build the consistency in our program that we’re looking for.”
“Are their plenty of things to get better off from this game,” Wommack asked. “Absolutely,” he answered.
On the drive that yielded the final points for Louisiana Tech, a very questionable call was made by the officials. Defensive end Brock Higdon beat his man and as he was running around the blocker, was seemingly shoved towards the quarterback. McNeil just got the ball away before Higdon’s shoulderpads hit his derriere from behind. After the play was over the officials stopped the game to review the play and eventually ejected Higdon for targeting on the third down play.
When the official announced the penalty, coach Wommack let loose with a barrage of words towards the officials. He had only said a couple words when they tossed a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct on the coach.
“There are times where you’ve got to send a message to your football team, that their head coach is going to stand up for them when they’re playing their tails off at the end of the game,” Wommack explained. “The call was the call. They had their reasons for the call and I’m not going to argue it, but my job is to stand up for my football team when our guys are playing hard, and that’s exactly what I did. Not going to apologize for that. However, certainly I recognize that that’s unprofessional, but a message had to be sent.”
Due to the targeting ejection occurring in the second half, Higdon will have to sit out the first half of the Jags next game at Louisiana-Lafayette. However Wommack indicated that he will use the NCAA’s new appeal process for targeting suspensions if, after they review the game film, they believe it is warranted.
After the game Yam Banks said that, after the UCLA loss, they were locked in all week during practice. “Coaches told us we’re too good not to be taking the ball away from people,” Banks explained. “That was our main focus this week.”
South Alabama
The Jags put up 389 total yards of offense, 214 through the air and 175 on the ground. They had 23 first downs and went 5-of-10 on 3rd down situations. They were 3-of-4 on scoring in the red zone, the only time they didn’t score was the final possession of the game.
South Alabama came out on the short side in time of possession with only 28:51 of possession time.
Bradley Carter went 14-of-21 for 178 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Desmond Trotter was 3-of-4 for 36 yards in relief late in the game.
La’Damian Webb rushed for 75 yards on 14 carries. Braylon McReynolds added 51 on seven carries.
Caullin Lacy led the Jags receiving corps with 3 catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. Wayne had two receptions for 37 yards, he caught two passes in the first possession of the game and would not catch another pass for the rest of the game.
Webb and Sefcik both caught one pass in the game but both went for touchdowns.
Jamie Sheriff led the defense with 5 total tackles, two solo, with 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Trey Kiser had five tackles, all solo, with 1 tackle for loss which was a sack.
Yam Banks finished the game with only one tackle but collected a pair of interceptions, one ran back for a touchdown, and a fumble recovery and three pass break-ups.
South Alabama finished the game with 14 penalties, eight of them in the first half, for 131 penalty yards.
La Tech
The Jags defense allowed 308 total yards of offense, 251 yards passing and 57 yards rushing. The Bulldogs had 17 first downs, went 3-of-12 on 3rd down and 2-of-3 on 4th down attempts. The Bulldogs only scored on one of their three trips into the red zone.
Parker McNeil went 19-of-34 for 251 yards, two touchdown, two sacks and four interceptions.
Tre Harris led all receivers with six catches for 85 yards. Smoke Harris had four catches for 84 yards and a touchdown. Griffin Hebert caught five passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Greg Garner rushed seven times for 51 yards. Marquis Crosby had 10 carries for 21 yards.
Next Game
South Alabama will travel to Lafayette to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns to open Sun Belt Conference play. Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm on Saturday, October 1 at Cajun Field.
Preview: South Alabama Travels To Pasadena To Face UCLA
Kickoff: Saturday, September 17, 1PM Central
Venue: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
TV/Streaming: PAC12 Network
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: James Jackson (wearing #50 due to position jersey number rules)
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama is 2-0 to start the season for the second consecutive year. It also makes the second time since 2011 they’ve started the season undefeated to start the season.
The Jaguars completely dominated the first half against Central Michigan. Just looking at the 38-24 final score, it may not show how dominant the Jags actually were in the game.
They won the game on physicality and they beat them at their own game.
The offensive line probably made the most improvement from game one to game two. Coach Kane Wommack and his staff have played a number of offensive linemen over the first two games. They’re not only gaining game-time reps, they are building depth and experience with those players.
Pair that more talented and experienced offensive line with the running backs that Coach Wommack and his staff have assembled and you have a recipe for winning. Look at where the South Alabama program ranks nationally in time of possession and you can see the direct effects of that. They are second in the nation with an average time of possession of 37:00 per game. You don’t get that kind of time of possession without good offensive line play, efficient running back play, and staying on schedule offensively.
Next up is a trip to the west coast, Los Angeles to be exact, to square off against the UCLA Bruins in the famed Rose Bowl.
UCLA
Chip Kelly is in his fifth season at the helm of the UCLA football program. In that time he has a 20-25 record. His first season started off with five consecutive losses before finishing with a 3-9 record. Then a 4-8 record in 2019, a 3-4 record in the covid shortened 2020 season, then finally an 8-4 record last year however their appearance in the Holiday Bowl would not come to pass as the game was canceled just hours before the game due to Covid protocols within the UCLA program.
Kelly is most notably remembered for this four year stint as Oregon’s head coach from 2009-2012, he went 46-7 during that stretch with an appearance in a BCS bowl game each season, but a loss in the BCS National Championship Game to Auburn in 2011. He was hired as head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL for three seasons (26-21 overall record) and then one season as the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers (2-14).
He is known for his prolific offenses utilizing the hurry up, no huddle with the zone-read option. He was one of the pioneers of this style of offense in FBS football. At it’s core this type of offense uses “zone” blocking up front with the quarterback giving or keeping the ball based on his “read” of the defensive end.
The trouble this offense presented way having to spend most of your defensive game plan on staying ready to stop two plays in one, because they can be used at any point during the game and you have to be prepared at all times. Spending all that time on that scheming would limit the capabilities of putting in pressure plays, which led to very vanilla defenses. When the defenses were too vanilla, they knew where the defenders were going to be and it made the rest of their playbook very dangerous.
What the Chip Kelly offense basically boiled down to was an innovative scheme utilizing speed, both player speed and pace of play, to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes and wear them out.
Now with that long exposition about Kelly over with, we can actually get to UCLA talk.
The Bruins have opened the season with two non-conference games so far. Both have not provided much opposition to them. They have a 45-17 win over Bowling Green and 45-7 win over Alabama State to their credit.
Offense
Through two games the Bruins have rolled up quite a bit of stats on the stats sheet. They have 1,111 total yards of offense, 622 passing yards and 489 rushing yards. They are averaging 555.5 total yards of offense, 311 passing yards and 244.5 rushing yards per game. They have only turned the ball over three times, two interceptions and a lost fumble.
They are converting 50% of their 3rd down attempts (14-of-28) and 66% of their 4th down attempts (2-of-3). They are scoring 83% of the time in the red zone (10-of-12) and are scoring a touchdown 67% of the time (8-of-12).
The Bruins leading passer is Dorian Thompson-Robinson, he is 41-of-54 for 399 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on the season. Ethan Garbers came in against Alabama State when Dorian exited with an injury. On the season Garbers is 17-of-22 for 223 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Allen Kazmeir is the leading receiver with 14 catches, 115 yards and a touchdown. Keegan Jones and Jake Bobo have very similar numbers, both have six catches for 87 and 79 yards respectively but Jones has a touchdown on his resume. There are five other receivers with at least four catches on the season.
Zach Charbonnet leads the ground game with 111 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown, however there’s some mystery around him as he did not play against Alabama State for undisclosed reasons.
Dorian is next with 87 rushing yards on 7 carries with two touchdowns. Garbers only has 7 rushing yards on two carries but both went for touchdowns. Three other backs have touchdowns on the season as well, including Keegan Jones.
After the game, Kelly was very coy about giving any updates on the status of Dorian and Charbonnet. When asked he simply said, “unavailable” in response. He was almost as secretive when asked if Charbonnet would be available to play this Saturday.
In Charbonnet’s absence, true freshman T.J. Harden led them with 56 yards and a touchdown on seven carries against Alabama State.
Defense
The Bruins defense is only allowing 236 total offensive yards, 174 passing yards and 62 rushing yards on average through their first two games under their new defensive coordinator. They have generated four turnovers on the season, two interceptions and recovered two fumbles while forcing five total fumbles.
Opponents are 1-of-2 when in the red zone, and none have been touchdowns.
Kenny Churchwell III leads the team with 10 total tackles, eight of them solo, with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. However Churchwell will have to sit out the first half against the Jags due to a targeting penalty last week. Coach Kelly appealed it but he was denied.
Grayson Murphy and Laiatu Latu both lead the team with two sacks each.
The Hornets found success against the Bruins secondary in the first half. They had open receivers to throw to as they put up 177 yards of offense by the midway mark of the second quarter. That was more offense than Bowling Green managed the entire game the week before.
The Bruins tightened up in the second half with two interceptions and only allowing 46 passing yards after halftime.
Special Teams
UCLA opened the season on very shaky ground in the special teams department. A blocked punt returned for a touchdown to open the scoring. A muffed punt at their 11 yard line led to a chip shot field goal. Kickers missed two of their three field goal attempts.
Nicholas Barr-Mira has punted three times with an average of 33.7 yards per punt, two fair catches and one downed inside the 20. Chase Barry has one punt to his record for 39 yards.
Barr-Mira is 2-of-4 on the season on field goals. His longest is 24 yards.
South Alabama
The Jags came home with another road win against a MAC team to begin the season. Last year they needed a last minute field goal, this time they dominated their opponent from early on.
Road wins have been rare over the last several years. Particularly so when air travel was involved. Since joining as a FBS team the Jags are a mere 10-40 in road games.
The Jags will get another chance at a road win after flying across the country this weekend. This time against a Power 5 opponent.
What stood out about the Jags against Central Michigan was their physicality. They were the more physical team on the field, which says a lot because CMU is known as a very physical team.
Offense
The offensive line got after the Chippewas from the start. They opened running lanes for La’Damian Webb and pass protected well for Carter Bradley the whole game.
The Jags offense is now averaging 505 total yards of offense, 343 passing yards and 162 rushing yards per game through the first two games of the 2022 season.
La’Damian Webb has yet to crack 100 yards in a game, but he has been oh so very close. He’s averaging 94.5 yards per game. He has 38 carries for 189 yards and four touchdowns. One of those was a 30 yarder against the Chippewas last weekend where he was barely touched at the line of scrimmage.
Webb is that typical running back where he seems to never lets the defenders hit his square, they always seem to have to try to bring him down from an angle.
Terrion Avery has added 53 yards on 16 carries as his backup.
Bradley is 43-of-67 for 614 yards and six touchdowns. However he threw his first interception of the season on an under thrown pass in the third quarter.
Jalen Wayne continues his march up the Jaguar history books in career receptions (6th) and receiving yards (6th). He has 13 catches on the season for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Ten of those receptions came against Central Michigan.
Caullin Lacy has 169 receiving yards on 11 catches. Devin Voisin has six catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. True freshman Braylon McReynolds has five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The Jags offense will have to keep up their pace against the Bruins. The Jags enter with the 32nd ranked scoring offense in FBS (43 points per game) but the Bruins are 17th (45 ppg).
Defense
Speaking of rankings, the Jaguar defense ranks 17th in total defense, 38th in scoring defense, 14th in rushing defense, 20th in 3rd down conversion percentage defense, 43rd in 1st down defense in the nation.
The defense is allowing an average of 251.5 total yards of offense, 181.5 passing yards and 70 rushing yards per game. Opposing running backs are rushing for only 2.6 yards per carry on average.
Opponents have only converted 7-of-28 of their 3rd down attempts (25%) and only 1-of-6 of their 4th down attempts.
Quentin Wilfawn’s name has been call quite often this season. He leads the team with 15 total tackles, 11 of them solo, with 1.5 tackles for loss and a qb hurry. Jaden Voisin is the only other Jag with double digit tackles at 11 with five of them solo with two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
AJ DeShazor is the only Jag with an interception so far on the season. James Miller, Wy’Kevious Thomas, and CJ Rias are the only Jags with sacks on the season, they each have one.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks continues to show why he’s on the Ray Guy watch list, he is averaging 42.8 yards per punt with one fair catch, two kicks of over 50 yards and five of his 11 punts have been downed inside the opponents 20.
Diego Guajardo is a perfect 3-for-3 on the season with a long of 48 yards in the field goal department. He has missed on one of his extra point attempts, this past Saturday he had one bang against the right upright, then hit the left upright before bouncing back into the field of play.
Caullin Lacy has 5 punt returns for 56 yards, an average of 11.2 yards per punt return, his longest was 38 yards against Nicholls to open the season.
The only notable change in the depth chart for this week is that Omni Wells has moved to the kick returner over McReynolds. However McReynolds continues to be the backup for both kick and punt return specialists.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Line Play
The Jags offensive line has played well. The first two weeks of the season they have been physical and controlled the line of scrimmage. They’ve been the driving force to allow the offense to roll up over 500 yards of offense the first two games of the season.
This week is another step up in competition.
UCLA is a Power 5 school in the PAC 12. Across their four man defensive front, they average 281.75 lbs per player. While the Jaguar offensive line is bigger on average across the line, their advantage is less than it was last week against Central Michigan.
If they play like they have been the last two week, the Jags offense will have a chance to match the prolific scoring that UCLA has put up the first two weeks of the season.
Sound Defense
When we discussed UCLA and Chip Kelly’s offense, we laid out how his offensive scheme takes advantage of the defense. While from 2009-2012 when he was at Oregon, it was new and caught lots of teams off guard. Now that the same scheme he helped pioneer at Oregon is in more widespread by lots of teams nationwide, defenses are more prepared for it in general.
But even then, Kelly isn’t using the same scheme he ran at Oregon either. He’s not running the all-gas, no brake style. He will utilize the hurry up, no huddle at opportune times but it’s not their over arching style.
What UCLA has going for them is their clout to recruit bigger and better talent. But as we saw last week across the college football landscape, the big teams don’t always win against those Group of 5 guys. Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Nebraska all fell to Sun Belt teams last weekend.
Either way, the Jags defense needs to stick to their fundamentals and not fall for “eye candy”. If the defense plays fundamentally sound and gives the offense a ball with good field position and generates some turnovers, the Jags have a chance.
Penalties & Turnovers
With an average of 90 yards per game of penalty yards, the Jags really need to clean that up to play with a Power 5 school. Especially when those penalties set you back on offense or extend opponents drives on defense.
Both sides of the ball want to stay ahead of the down and distance.
I don’t want to jinx the team. Through two games the offense has only turned the ball over once. But what I’d like to see is the defense generating some more turnovers. Last season we generated 15 interceptions and recovered 10 fumbles. This week would be a very opportune time to start that trend again.
Prediction
It’s going to be a bit more difficult for South Alabama to sneak up on UCLA after the shockwaves sent out last weekend by fellow Sun Belt Conference members. Big shout outs to Appalachian State, Marshall, and Georgia Southern.
The Jags will still treat it as a business trip and UCLA may be more focused in than what they could have been. But maybe they’ll think its just round two against Alabama State and that will catch them off guard.
The spread has been steady all week favoring the Bruins by 15.5 points with an over/under of 60.5 points. I actually like what Odds Shark has, they believe the game will be under and the Jags will cover. They predict a 29-26 Bruins win.
I’ll also take the Jags to cover the spread but I feel the Bruins are going to pull this one out much to my disdain, 28-24.
USA is holding a free game watch party at the Mitchell Center with concessions available from 12pm – 6pm. Also the Alumni are having a watch party at Nexus Cinema Dining, tickets are required for that one.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Faces First Road Test Of 2022 At Central Michigan
Kickoff: Saturday, September 10, 12PM
Venue: Kelly/Shorts Stadium, Mt. Pleasant, MI
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Darrel Luter Jr.
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama (1-0) hits the road this week for their first road test of the season. They travel to Mount Pleasant, Michigan for their date with the Central Michigan Chippewas (0-1) of the Mid-American Conference.
This will be the Jags third MAC foe, previously the Jags have faced Bowling Green and Kent State. Overall the Jags are 3-2 against MAC opponents with a 2-1 edge over Kent State and splitting the pair of match-up against Bowling Green, the Jags fell to the Eagles in their first ever bowl game appearance in the 2014 Camellia Bowl then got revenge with a last minute field goal to win 22-19 last year in Bowling Green, Ohio.
This will be the first time South Alabama and Central Michigan have faced each other.
South Alabama came out and dominated Nicholls State last Saturday in the 2022 season opener. They were a 10 point favorite and had that covered in the first quarter as they cruised to a 48-7 win.
USA’s rebuilt offensive line and running back stable made their presence known. The line opened holes for La’Damian Webb and company to take advantage of. Speaking of Webb, he showed why the coaches spoke so highly of him all off-season. He finished two yards shy of 100 yards for the game on 18 carries with two touchdowns. But on all 18 of his carries, the first guy to touch him did not bring him down.
Quarterback Carter Bradley made good decisions in his first start for the Jags. He was 17-of-25 (68%) for 260 and three touchdowns. Two of his strikes were to Jalen Wayne, who has stepped up to fill the #1 receiver role after Jalen Tolbert went to the NFL after last season. Wayne recorded 98 yards on three catches, including a 52 yard touchdown reception in the first half.
Caullin Lacy stepped up with six catches for 72 yards. True freshman Braylon McReynolds, the McGill-Toolen standout, showed his versatility with some good runs as well as a few catches, with one catch going for an 18 yard touchdown in his debut.
Central Michigan
Central Michigan is coached by Jim McElwain. If you live in Alabama or have followed the University of Alabama football over the Nick Saban era, McElwain is a familiar name. He was the offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide for four seasons and helped lead them to two national titles and the 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram.
Since his time in Tuscaloosa, he has had stops as head coach at Colorado State (22-15) where he turned the program from a 4-8 team his first season to a 10-2 team in his 3rd. He was then the head coach at Florida and compiled a 22-12 record, his first season he went 10-4 then was relieved of his duties in his third season when his team was 3-4 on the season and just lost to Georgia 42-7. He served one season as wide receivers coach at Michigan in 2018 before being named the head coach at Central Michigan. So far at CMU he has a 20-14 record, including a 9-4 record last year with a win over Washington State in the Sun Bowl.
Paul Petrino serves as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at CMU. Petrino had a very short (six week) stint at USA as an offensive analyst. Petrino was also head coach at Idaho during their four year stint in the Sun Belt Conference before they moved down to the FCS ranks. He was an even 2-2 against USA during that time. So it’s obvious he has some familiarity with the South Alabama program, both old and new.
The Chippewas started the 2022 season with a 58-44 loss to #12 ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater, OK. They were behind 37-7 late in the second quarter and put up 22 points in the fourth quarter, including the last two touchdowns while converting both 2-point attempts.
Offense
The Chippewa offense actually out-gained Oklahoma State last week. They put up 546 total yards of offense, 424 yards passing and 122 rushing. Quarterback Daniel Richardson slung the ball around and finished 36-of-49 for 424 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
The Chippewas had nine receivers catch at least one pass last week. Jalen McGaughy led the receivers with six catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Carlos Carriere caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. Two other receivers caught six passes and one other caught five in the loss. This was after they sent two receivers to the NFL in the 2022 draft.
Lew Nichols led the backfield with 72 yards rushing on 26 carries with two touchdowns. Myles Bailey added 51 yards on nine carries. Bailey added three pass receptions for 28 yards and a touchdown, while Nichols added six catches for 26 yards.
In 2021, Nichols led the nation in rushing yards (1,848), yards per game (142.2), and carries (341) while tying for ninth nationally in rushing touchdowns (16) and 11th in total touchdowns (18). He ranked first in all-purpose yards (2,186) and all-purpose yards per game (168.2) as he was named MAC offensive player of the year and first team all-MAC honors among his other accolades.
In the preseason, Petrino and McElwain said they want to get the ball into the hands of their best playmakers: Nichols, Bailey, Marion Lukes, and Kobe Lewis. Lewis was a 1,000 yard rusher in 2019 who missed all of 2021 with a knee injury however he transferred to Purdue over the summer. But McGaughy and Carriere, a graduate transfer from Maryland, showed they were players to watch.
The coaching staff spent time in the spring scheming ways to get more than two running backs on the field in a one back formation when they were expecting to have Lewis back.
CMU sent two offensive linemen to the NFL from last season and lost one of their returning starters for the season with a knee injury in preseason camp.
The Chippewas will look to take advantage of whatever the defense gives them. They’ll look to spread the ball around the field then lean on Nichols to run the ball. They will present a challenge to the Jaguar defense.
Defense
Central Michigan uses a more traditional 4-3 base defense. Many schools are moving to more 4-2-5 defenses with the increase of hurry up, no huddle pass-heavy offenses in college football.
The Chipppewa defense had a tough outing against Oklahoma State. They allowed 531 total offensive yards, 406 yards through the air and 125 on the ground in the 58-44 loss.
Though the OSU quarterback was only 28-of-41 for the game, he did throw four touchdowns without an interception and only taking one sack.
OSU had 11 receivers who caught at least one pass in the game, four different receivers caught touchdown passes, and three receivers had over 70 yards for the game. But the Big 10 is known for slinging the ball around quite a bit.
CMU had to rebuild their secondary from a year ago. With the loss of two of their key defenders, they have turned to Trey Jones, a sophomore from Wetumpka, AL, who led the team with 9 total tackles, eight of them solo. They also brought in Junior College transfer Jayden Davis from Diabo Valley CC where he had 47 total tackles, 28 solo, with two interceptions in their six game 2021-22 season. They also started a standout freshmen at corner in Donte Kent.
Special Teams
CMU punted five time with an average of 39.4 yards per punt. They had one downed inside the 20. They missed their only field goal attempt of the game from 50 yards and was 2-for-2 on extra point attempts. They attempted a number of 2-point conversions as they were playing catch-up with the Cowboys.
South Alabama
The Jags imposed their will on Nicholls all game long, from the opening whistle to the final play. That’s what Jaguar fans have been wanting to see a South Alabama team do for a while now. The last time Nicholls visited Mobile, they took it to overtime and the Jags had to stop two 2-point attempts to notch the victory.
Central Michigan is no Nicholls.
This is when the rubber meets the road. What some would call a ‘tune up’ is over and their first FBS opponent awaits them.
But we learned a lot in the first game.
Head coach Kane Wommack praised his team in the Monday press conference with their identity showing up and winning the “double positives.” The double positives, creating explosive plays and ball security, was something offensive coordinator Major Applewhite studied over an eight year period as a graduate assistant at Texas. Every time Texas won the “double positives” they won the game.
Offense
Hold the presses, the Jags have a legit running attack.
But it starts with the offensive line. Coach Wommack had to dig a little deep on the depth chart at right tackle to start the season. They aren’t necessarily thin at offensive line, they have 21 on the roster at that position this season. But Starter Antawn Lewis and his backup Josh McCulloch were both out due to injury which led to redshirt freshman Adrein Strickland making his first career start. The Jags expect to get at least one, and hopefully both, back before facing the Chippewas.
Two things the team has worked on this week have been penalties (10 for 80 yards) and third down conversions (3-of-13, 23.1%). They had some situations where they didn’t execute and it put them off-schedule and in third-and-long situations.
On the plus side, the Jags had zero turnovers and only took two sacks.
In the Jags first game they put up 508 yards of total offense, 332 of it through the air and 176 on the ground. Those rushing yardage numbers is the most the Jags have rushed for since they put up 236 on September 18th in the third game of the 2021 season against Alcorn State.
The Jags will face a defense that is trying to find itself and recover from their play against Oklahoma State, particularly in the secondary. There will be plays to be made against CMU, the team will just have to execute.
Defense
The Jaguars Swarm D got after Nicholls from the get go. The Colonels didn’t scrimmage in Jaguar territory until about half way through the third quarter. They held the Colonels to 2-of-13 on third downs and forced two turnovers with opportunities for a couple more in the game.
Defensively the Jags only allowed 165 total yards of offense, 106 of that through the air and 59 on the ground.
Quite the dominant performance.
This week it will be a little bit different. Petrino was on the Jaguar staff for about six weeks in January and February. Not a very long time but definitely long enough to get familiar with the offense. Especially since he was an offensive analyst.
Will that help the Chippewas? Who know, but it sure can’t hurt.
The Chippewas have a tough offense to defend. If you stack the box to stop Nichols, then you have multiple receivers that they can throw to. If you drop back into coverage then you may open some running lanes for Nichols to exploit. They will have to play fundamentally sound on defense.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks punted six times with an average of 41 yards per kick. He had four downed inside the 20 and one kick of 50+ yards.
Diego Guajardo was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts, his longest was 48 yards. He also made all six extra point attempts.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Line Play
We all know the difference offensive line play means to the offense. Just look at 2018-2020 for some examples.
The offensive line played a little better last season. They were plagued with injuries and the unit became a patchwork for a period down the stretch. I mean at one point they were down to the slimmest of margins with the same player listed as backup for multiple OL positions.
The offensive line has been retooled and the OL unit is the largest on the team (21) with some experienced starters who have come in to help. The Jags average about 37 lbs more per player on the offensive line vs the defensive line they will be facing.
This week will show a couple of things. How much they have gelled as a starting, cohesive unit, and also how good they are against a team more on their talent level.
If they can continue to protect Bradley and open holes for Webb and Co, the Jags will have a good chance to get their offense going early.
Generating Pressure With Defensive Front
With the offensive talent that the Chippewas have, it’s important that the defensive front gets pressure on the quarterback on passing plays and are able to contain the run.
Quarterback Daniel Richardson isn’t the most mobile quarterback but as evidenced against Oklahoma State, the can sling the ball around. If the Jags defense can make him move and throw on the run, perhaps that will be enough to throw him off of his rhythm without having to commit extra guys to the rush.
But they can’t let Nichols and Bailey run wild either.
Run The Ball Effectively
This goes back to the first point, but the Jags running game needs to get in gear early.
While Oklahoma State exposed the Chippewa secondary and linebackers vulnerability, you better believe that McElwain and company have put in their work in this week to prepare for South Alabama. But if the Jaguar backfield can consistently average good yardage, help keep the offense on schedule, and convert first downs, they will force the defense to respect the run game and give Bradley and his receivers favorable coverage downfield.
You may see Bradley and Applewhite throw a home run ball or two early in the game before they open up the run.
Prediction
It’s a huge step up in class this week. The Jags handled what has been a very good FCS team last week handily.
This week will be different.
Central Michigan opened at a 6.5 point favorite, the line dropped to 4.5 points at on point. But it seems to have leveled out at 5.5 points, so 5.5 is what we are going with here.
I think the Jags cover and I’m going out on a line and saying the Jags win outright. I think the Jags special teams is the difference. Brooks looked great with his directional kicks pinning Nicholls inside their 20. He also can boom a kick to flip field position. Diego has been a model of consistency throughout his career. Jacob Meeks has done well on kickoff duty.
But what may be the special teams difference maker is Caullin Lacy.
Lacy has pumped life back into the return game that has been lacking for a few years now, particularly the punt return game. His 38 yard punt return against Nicholls is the fourth-longest return in program history. Tra Minter holds the record for the longest with a 75 yard touchdown return in 2016. Last season the Jags longest punt return was only 16 yards.
I say Jags win 38-37
Go Jags!