Preview: South Alabama Hosts Louisiana Tech In Finals Non-Conference Game Of 2022
Kickoff: Saturday September 24, 6:00pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium – Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Jalen Wayne
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama went to Pasadena to the Rose Bowl and narrowly missed out on coming home with a win.
They held a 17-6 advantage late in the first half when UCLA closed the gap to four points at halftime. They also held a 31-23 lead at the end of the third quarter after a pair of touchdowns only :17 seconds apart. But the Bruins pulled out the game on a walk-off field goal with :02 left.
Now the Jags return home after two long distance away games to host their final non-conference opponent of the 2022 campaign: Louisiana Tech.
Louisiana Tech is under the direction of first year head coach Sonny Cumbie. Cumbie has spent the past 12 years as an assistant coach in the Big 12. He started out his college coaching career with Texas Tech as a graduate assistant then as wide receivers coach, then co-offensive coordinator and outside receivers coach. He then went to TCU where he was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for three seasons then the next three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He then went back to Texas Tech in 2021 as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach but ended up being named the interim head coach.
Cumbie is known for his air-raid style of offense. He started his college coaching career under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, who known for the same style of offense. Gary Patterson hired Cumbie to implement his offense over the pro-style offense that had been in use by Patterson for a long time. His first two seasons at TCU he helped the Horned Frogs to finish in the top 3 offensively. His final two seasons saw the offense struggle to replicate the success of the first two.
The Bulldogs (1-2) will make their second visit to Mobile but their first to Hancock Whitney Stadium. The two teams have squared off against each other twice before with the Bulldogs coming out on top both times. The Jags went to Ruston in 2017 and fell 34-16 then they came to Mobile and came away with a 30-26 win at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Both teams are quite different than when they last met each other on the gridiron.
This season, under new coach Cumbie, the Bulldogs opened the season with a 52-24 loss at Missouri. They won at home against FCS Steven F Austin 52-17. Then traveled to #5 Clemson for a 48-20 loss.
Louisiana Tech
Offense
Cumbie’s offense is known for its air raid style, so they like to spread the field and throw the ball.
They will run 10 personnel and 11 personnel but will line up like 5 wide receivers.
So, for those of you reading who don’t know what 10 and 11 personnel means, here you go. When they say 10 personnel it means they have 1 running back and 0 tight ends (and 4 receivers), hence the 1 and 0. Similarly 11 personnel means 1 running back and 1 tight end (with 3 receivers). What is 12 personnel then? Right, 1 running back and 2 tight ends (with 2 receivers). What is 21 personnel? Right again, 2 running backs and 1 tight end (and 2 receivers), this is also the common grouping for pro-style offenses. There are more variations (22, 13, and 00) but we won’t go over them here today but you know what the personnel groupings are by what we have covered today.
The Bulldogs have a tight end, #5 Griffin Herbert, who leads the team in receiving yard. He’s a good-sized guy who can play like a receiver or block like a tight end is known to do. So it doesn’t really matter if he is attached to the line or out in the formation wide, he is a threat at all times.
I guess this is as good a time as any to present their stats on the season so far.
As a team they are averaging 32 points per game with 392.3 total yards of offense, 287.7 passing yards and 104.7 rushing yards per game.
Their leading quarterback is Parker McNeil who is 41-of-76 on the season for 650 yards with 6 touchdowns and three interceptions. Matthew Downing has played in two games and gone 21-of-38 for 197 yards with one touchdown to three interceptions.
As mentioned, Hebert leads the team with 278 receiving yards on 9 catches with 2 touchdowns. He is averaging almost 93 yards per game receiving. Tre Harris’ 14 catches leads the team in that category, with 165 yards and two touchdowns. Two other receivers have 10 or more catches on the season.
Marquis Crosby is by far the leading rusher with 227 yards on 35 carries with three touchdowns. Only three other players have double-digit rushing yards. Charvis Thornton leads that group with 74 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.
In the Bulldogs’ two losses they have rushed for a combined 14 yards (8 against Missouri and 6 against Clemson). They ran for 300 yards against Steven F Austin in their only win.
Defense
Defensive coordinator Scott Power comes to the Bulldogs from Steven F Austin, where he was the defensive coordinator since 2018. They signed back-to-back top 5 FCS recruiting classes including the #1 overall recruit in FCS both years. Prior to DC at SFA, he was also DC at Texas A&M-Commerce, Central Washington, and Marian University.
A big focus of Powers’ defense is strong defensive line play to allow linebackers and defensive backs to focus on their assignments. Through the first three games his defense has generated five turnovers (3 fumble recoveries and 2 interceptions), 15 tackles for loss, and four sacks. Linebacker Hugh Davis and defensive back Jaiden Cole leads the team with 1.5 sacks each, Cole also has an interception.
La Tech allows an average of 39 points, 461.3 total offensive yards, 212.3 passing yards, and 249 rushing yards per game. Missouri put up 558 total yards of offense, 323 of them on the ground to start the season. Clemson put up 521 total yards of offense, 280 of them on the ground.
Steven F Austin, the only win and an FCS school, put up 305 yards of total offense, 144 of them on the ground.
Special Teams
Austin McCready has handled the majority of punts, his 12 kicks average 42.3 yards with a long of 51 yards. He’s had 5 fair catches, 4 kicks of 50+ yards, 2 downed inside the 20 and one touchback.
Patrick Rea has punted four times for an average of 34.8 yards per punt, his longest is 39 yards.
Jacob Barnes has kicked all but one of the teams six field goal attempt. He is 4-of-5 but his longest kick is from 35 yards. Buck Buchanan had his only attempted blocked from 50+ yards out.
South Alabama
The Jags could be entering this game 3-0. For the majority of the game the Jags outplayed the Bruins. It wasn’t until the end of the game that they overtook the Jags statistically, as well as on the scoreboard. While the UCLA, PAC 12, and national Power 5 fans all expected UCLA to win, they were quick to troll the Bruins for their post-game celebration.
South Alabama will have to regroup and respond to their first loss of the season this week. In the meantime, they need to get some players back healthy. Quentin Wilfawn, Jamar Richardson, Brandon Crum, and Lincoln Sefcik were some we mentioned on twitter as missing time in the game due to injury. Trey Kiser and Ed Smith both left the game but returned.
Offense
The Jags offensive line played the game as a unit in recent memory, and possibly the best since joining the FBS ranks. They helped La’Damian Webb to his first 100 yard rushing game and protected Carter Bradley so well he avoided any sacks in the game and completed 72% of his passes for 237 yards.
Overall, the Jags offense is ranked 40th in the nation in total offense, 33rd in scoring offense, 64th in rushing offense, tied for 23rd in passing offense, 49th in 3rd down conversions, 36th in the nation in turnover margin.
One of our keys to the game last week was offensive line play and they delivered.
As mentioned, Webb rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries with an average of 7.8 yards per carry. Bradley was 26-of-36 for 237 yards a touchdown and an interception, his second of the season. Jalen Wayne once again led the receivers with 76 yards on seven catches, and for his hard work this season Wayne will be wearing the honorary #5 jersey against the Bulldogs.
USA is averaging 39 points, 469.7 total yards of offense, 307.7 passing yards and 162.0 rushing yards per game this season.
Caullin Lacy has continued to improve as a receiver, he is second on the team in receptions (15) and yards (218). But Devin Voisin is a player on the rise in the receiving corps as well. He’s third on the team in receptions (13) and yards (125) and recorded his first career touchdown against Central Michigan.
So far this season the tight ends haven’t made much noise. Sefcik and DJ Thomas-Jones each two catches each for 28 yards each.
Defense
The Jags defense is allowing an average of 21 points, 303.3 total offensive yards, 208.7 passing yards and 94.7 rushing yards per game.
The defense is ranked 34th in the nation in total defense, 32nd in rushing defense, tied for 52nd in scoring defense, 61st in 3rd down conversion percentage defense, tied for 59th in 1st down defense, tied for 63rd in pass defense, and tied for 7th in fumbles recovered.
Jaden Voisin, Devin’s twin brother, along with Quentin Wilfawn leads the defense with 17 stops on the season. Jaden has nine solo and two tackles for loss while Quentin has 12 solo and 1.5 TFL.
They’ve only generated three sacks so far this season with James Miller, Wy’Kevious Thomas, and CJ Rias each with one sack each. AJ DeShazor is the only Jag with an interception while four Jags each have one fumble recovery each.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks did not see much action against UCLA, he’s punted 13 times on the season with an average of 43.6 yards per kick with a long of 58 yards, 3 traveling 50+ yards, and five downed inside the 20.
Diego Guajardo is a perfect 4-of-4 on the season with his longest being 48 yards.
Keys to the Game
Health
The physicality of the Jaguars lends itself to some injuries throughout the season. Last week against UCLA a few notable Jaguars missed playing time due to injuries. Quentin Wilfawn and Jamal Richardson were two notable defenders who missed game time.
And it showed.
As the game wore on in the second half, the Bruins were more able to move the ball on the Jags defense. While some of it can be attributed to halftime adjustments by coach Kelly and his staff, some could be attributed to the additional depth a Power 5 team may have over a Group of 5 team. But I think the Jags were missing some key components of their defense that at least aided UCLA’s ability to move the ball more in the second half.
This week the Jags have the luxury of playing at home instead of being on the road. But they need to stay healthy, not only to win this game, but for the conference schedule that is coming fast.
Defense
Which Bulldogs offense is going to show up? They are not a particularly good rushing team in their losses. As noted in the offensive scouting report, they have rushed for a total of 14 yards in their two losses. However, they were playing Missouri from the SEC and #5 Clemson from the ACC. When they faced off against Steven F Austin, an FCS school, they rushed for 300 yards.
Are Missouri and Clemson that much better on rush defense? Is Steven F Austin that bad on rush defense? Were the gameplans just that tilted one way or the other in the gameplans?
Either way, the Jags must be ready for whichever Bulldogs team shows up at Hancock Whitney Stadium on Saturday. UCLA was the first team to rush for over 100 yards on the Jags defense. I feel confident in the Jags ability to contain the Bulldog rushing attack, but how will they do against the air-raid scheme?
It goes back to health, if Richardson and Wilfawn are healthy and ready to go it’s a big help for the defense.
Get the run game going
Back in the scouting report, we noted that the La Tech defense was allowing an average of nearly 250 yards per game rushing. If the Webb and company can get that ground game going, that will set the tone for the Jags offense.
Coach Powers’ defense likes to free the linebackers and the defensive backs to do their thing while the defensive line does the attacking. Making those linebackers and defensive backs have to move up and provide run support will obviously lead some man coverage and opportunities down the field.
It would also be nice to get some other running backs going too. So far Webb is by far the top running back on the roster, but the drop off in production to some of the other backs is very pronounced at times. If coach Wommack and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite can get another back going to form a formidable one-two punch out of the backfield that will lay the groundwork for what could be a very successful season in conference play.
But most importantly, help them get a win against La Tech first.
Prediction
The oddsmaking websites all favor South Alabama in the matchup this Saturday. Most of them like the Jags by 13 points.
So far this season by predictions have been right about outright win or loss. I may not get the scores correct, but hey what can you say.
At the beginning of the week I didn’t think the Jags would cover the spread. My thoughts were about the injuries and how I thought Coach Wommack and his staff would probably take the opportunity to play reserves later in the game which would keep the Jags score down some and I thought possibly a late score would allow the Bulldogs to cover.
However the Jags have covered the spread in all of their last five home games, which is among if not leading the nation right now. Also looking at Louisiana Tech, they are a good team but Coach Wommack and staff have shown that few teams will out gameplan or out prepare them.
All that explanation to say, I think the Jags cover 38-23 and the reserves still get some playing time late.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Dominates First Half, Cruises To 38-24 Win Over Central Michigan
What a difference having a running game can make.
La’Damian Webb carried the ball 20 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Jags rushing attack. The Jags put rushed for 148 yards in their 38-24 win over Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
South Alabama struck paydirt first in the matchup when Carter Bradley connected with DJ Thomas-Jones for a 16 yard touchdown, his first as a Jaguar. However Diego Guajardo’s extra point kick hit off the top of the right upright, bounces over and off of the left upright and careened back into play. But it was Bradley finding Caullin Lacy for a 40 yard pass that really got the Jags going. USA led 6-0 at the 8:51 mark.
Central Michigan would take their only lead of the game when Lew Nichols ran the ball in for a 5 yard touchdown at the 5:08 mark of the first quarter.
The Jags regained the lead when La’Damian Webb punched the ball in from 3 yards out. Guajardo converted to make it 13-7 with 1:29 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Irone Jackson brought the ball out of the end zone and Ke’Shun Brown knocked the ball loose and Trey Kiser recovered it at the Chippewas 22 yard line. On 3rd & 10 Bradley hooked up with Devin Voisin for a 22 yard touchdown, the first of his career. That put the Jags up 20-7 at the 1:05 mark of the first quarter.
The first quarter ended with a failed 4th down conversion by Central Michigan giving South Alabama the ball at the 50. Webb took a touch pass 26 yards to get the offense in gear. Bradley hooked up with Jalen Wayne for a 10 yard touchdown. Head coach Kane Wommack opted to go for the two-point conversion. Bradley found Voisin open for the conversion to go up 28-7 at the 12:14 mark of the 2nd quarter.
Both teams would add field goals before halftime. South Alabama’s Guajardo connected on a 38 yard kick with 5:47 left. Central Michigan added a 48 yard kick with 1:21 left to snap the Jags 25 point unanswered run.
No one scored in the third quarter. It felt like Central Michigan played better but it was because the Jags had handled them so thoroughly in the first half. The stats were almost dead even in the quarter, but Bradley under-threw a pass for his first interception of the season.
The Jags added to their lead with their first possession of the fourth quarter when La’Damian Webb broke free for a 30 yard touchdown off right tackle. Only one Chippewa even laid a hand on him. That put the Jags up 38-10 with 10:53 left in the game.
Some thought the game was over at that point, but you cannot sleep on Central Michigan.
The Chippewas answered back with a touchdown drive capped off by a 12 yard touchdown run by Marion Lukes. The Chippewas lined up for a 2-point conversion and was flagged for delay of game. They kept the offense on the field from the 8 yard line but failed to convert leaving the score 38-16 with 8:43 left in the game. The Jags successfully recovered the onside kick.
The Jags went three-and-out to give the ball back to Central Michigan with 6:39 left. The Jags had them 4th & 1 at the Jaguar 47 but Myles Bailey found a hole on the left side of the defense for 10 yards to keep the drive alive. A couple of plays later Daniel Richardson connected with Joel Wilson for a 21 yard touchdown. The Chippewas converted the 2-point attempt to cut the Jags lead to 38-24 with 4:30 left in the game.
CMU attempted another onside kick but this time the ball went out of bounds at the Jags 49 yard line.
Caullin Lacy took a pair of touch passes for 18 and 19 yards respectively to convert first downs and allow the Jags to simply run out the clock.
Team Stats
In addition to winning on the scoreboard, the Jags had a good win on the stat sheet too.
They out-gained the Chippewas 502 to 338 in total yardage, through the air 354 to 257, and on the ground 148 to 81. Both teams had a turnover in the game, CMU fumbled on a kickoff return and Bradley threw an interception.
South Alabama dominated the time of possession 38:00 to 22:00.
USA’s 3rd down efficiency improved with an 8-for-17 outing for a 47% conversion rate. CMU only converted 5-of-15 against the Jaguar defense.
The Jags were plagued with penalties again. They were flagged nine times for 100 yards. Central Michigan had eight for 85 yards themselves.
Individual Stats
Carter Bradley finished 26-of-42 for 354 yards, 3 touchdowns and an interception. He also gained 35 yards running the ball but after subtracting sack yardage he finished with only 8 net yards.
Jalen Wayne caught 10 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown. Lacy added 5 catches for 97 yards. Devin Voisin caught 4 for 56 yards and a touchdown. DJ Thomas-Jones added three for 38 yards and a touchdown. In all seven Jaguars caught passes in the game.
Webb led the running back contingent with 91 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns. Avery added 30 yards on 11 carries. Marcos Lee had 16 yards on five carries.
Daniel Richardson finished 23-of-47 for 257 yards and a touchdown.
Joel Wilson led the Chippewas receiving with seven catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. Seven players in total caught at least one pass.
Marion Lukes led the Chippewa backfield with 36 yards on three carries with a touchdown. Bailey added 24 yards on four carries. Lew Nichols, the 2021 rushing leader, carried the ball 15 times for 20 yards and a touchdown.
Jalen Wayne passed Shavarez Smith for 6th on the all-time receptions list with 107 for his career. Also his 97 receiving yards moves him into 6th place in the career receiving yards list as well, which moves his past Gerald Everett, Bryant Lavender, and Josh Magee.
Next
The Jags will travel to the west coast to play UCLA in the historic Rose Bowl Stadium on Saturday, September 17. Kickoff is scheduled for 1pm Central time. The game can be seen on the PAC12 Network.
South Alabama Dominates Nicholls State 48-7 In Season Opener
The South Alabama Jaguars put in a dominant effort in their season opener against the Nicholls State Colonels to start their 2022 campaign with a 48-7 win.
Carter Bradley threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in his debut as the Jaguars signal caller. Jalen Wayne caught two of them for touchdowns. La’Damian Webb, also making his debut with the Jaguars, ran for two scores while finishing just shy of 100 yards. Mobile native and true freshman Braylon McReynolds added a receiving touchdown in his collegiate debut.
The Jaguar defense did not allow the Colonels to score until the fourth quarter when they had started letting reserves sub in for game experience.
South Alabama opened the scoring on their second possession of the game. On 2nd and 1 Bradley connected with Caullin Lacy for 35 yards to the Nicholls 36 to get the Jags offense in gear. Webb capped it off when he rushed off right tackle, barely untouched, for a 15 yard touchdown.
On the second snap of the Colonels ensuing possession, Brock Higdon recovered a fumbled snap to put the Jaguars back in business at the Nicholls State 24. The offense couldn’t get anything going and settled for a 39 yard field goal from Diego Guajardo for a 10-0 lead with 1:54 left in the opening quarter.
Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon’s squad forced a three-and-out. Starting at their own 17 yard line, it would only take Bradley and the offense three plays to put more points on the board. A pass to Terrion Avery on the left side for 14 yards, followed by a pass to DJ Thomas-Jones for 15 yards on the right side. Brandley would cap off the drive with a beautiful touchdown pass to Jalen Wayne just inside the left hash on a go route to put the Jags up 17-0 early in the second quarter.
The Jags defense forced a pair of three-and-outs but on the second punt from deep in their own territory, a poorly handled snap led to a 13 yard loss by the punter setting up the Jags offense at the 4 yard line. Bradley rolled right, tucked the ball and scampered in for the touchdown to put the Jags up 24-0 about midway through the second quarter.
Guajardo would add a 48 yard field goal with 1:30 left in the half for the halftime score of 27-0.
Both teams started out slow in the second half before a failed 4th down conversion by the Colonels gave the Jags the ball at their own 34 yard line. Three plays later Bradley connected with Wayne for this second touchdown of the game, this time from 37 yards out to put the Jags ahead 34-0 at the 6:58 mark in the 3rd quarter.
Another three-and-out by the Jags defense and a poor punt put the Jags in great field position at their 40 yard line. McReynolds converted back-to-back first downs on runs of 9 and 15 yards before Bradley connected with him on a pass out of the backfield, McReynolds cut back inside and took the ball in for an 18 yard touchdown to put the Jags ahead 41-0 at the 3:52 mark in the 3rd quarter.
Nicholls would break the shutout on their ensuing possession, a 9 play 75 yard drive consuming 4:28 off the clock. The drive was capped off by Gums’ 10 yard touchdown run up the middle.
South Alabama would answer right back though.
Desmond Trotter led the drive in relief of Bradley and on the second snap he connected with Lincoln Sefcik for a 24 yard gain on the right side. Webb capped off the drive with back-to-back carries for 7 and 2 yards to put the final score on the board.
The defense wasn’t quite done yet though. AJ DeShazor picked off a pass at the Colonels 29 yard line with 6:24 left in the game.
Stats
The Jags offense rolled up 508 total yards of offense, 332 came through the air and 176 came on the ground. The Jags rushing yardage was more than the Colonels total offensive yardage (165). USA had 24 first downs and averaged 6.9 yards per play on offense.
The Jaguar defense only allowed 165 total yards, 106 came through the air and only 59 rushing yards to the Colonels. They had 10 first downs and averaged only 3 yards per offensive play.
South Alabama played a pretty clean first half, but the second half saw the Jags commit a number of penalties. They were flagged 10 times for 80 yards. Nicholls State was only flagged twice for 9 yards in the game.
Bradley finished the game 17-of25 for 260 yards, three touchdowns and only suffered one sack. Trotter was 9-of-10 for 72 yards and also took one sack.
Webb led the Jaguar backfield with 98 yards on 18 carries with the two touchdowns. McReynolds added 25 yards rushing on three carries. Avery and Omni Wells both had 23 yards on five carries.
Caullin Lacy led the Jags receivers with 6 catches for 72 yards. Wayne had 3 receptions for a game high 98 yards with two touchdowns. McReynolds caught all four of his targets for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Jack Brooks punted six times with four of them downed inside the opponents’ 20 yard line with a long of 58 yards.
The Colonels duo of Julien Gums and Collin Guggenheim combined for a total of 45 yards, Gums earned the only score of the game for Nicholls.
Kohen Granier finished the game 15-of-27 for 106 yards with an interception. KJ Franklin was also kept in check with only three catches for 14 yards. Neno Lemay led the Colonels with 40 receiving yards on three catches.
This breakout win was the most points scored by the Jags since posting 52 against Idaho in 2015. The margin of victory was the largest since the 45-0 win over Alabama A&M in 2017, and the most points scored in a season opener since the Jags put up 56 points against Pikeville in 2010.
“It was the momentum you want to build the first game of the season with,” said Jaguar head coach Kane Wommack. “We saw some of the things that we had talked about all offseason long: physicality, being able to establish things in the running game.”
“You saw some of the dynamic talent we have in your backfield,” coach Wommack continued.
“La’Damian did a tremendous job of getting his body back and getting ready to go,” Wommack said of the former Mr. Football who suffered a broken foot in spring practice and a broken hand over the offseason. “We had a short time frame to get him to the point where he could be rolling. I’ve said this before, but a tremendous job by our training staff and our strength staff. There was talk at one point about him being limited all the way up until the fifth or sixth game of the season, and he was full-go going into our first game.”
“He’s a back, that as he gets going and starts feeling it, and as our offensive line improves, I think his best football is ahead of him.”
“I thought Carter did a pretty good job of taking care of the football,” Wommack said. “He made some pretty good choices with the ball. He did a good job seeing what the defense was giving us and taking advantage of that. Obviously, you can see his arm talent, some of the things he was able to do down the field.”
“It took me and Carter a minute to jell and get our chemistry right, but we’ve been working as hard as we could this past summer to make sure we could come out clicking,” Jalen Wayne said. “Nowadays, it’s almost like catching a handoff from him. He puts it right in my stomach. It’s easy. He can throw it, though.”
“Defensively, I thought we did a tremendous job of keeping the main thing the main thing: stopping the run. We established the line of scrimmage,” Wommack observed of the defense.
“We talk about playing the ‘Swarm D’ mentality,” Wommack observed. “Our linebackers did a great job of being physical and tracking the ball all night. And when the ball was in the air, there was never a time we didn’t have somebody right there after them.”
Next Game
South Alabama travels to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to take on Central Michigan. Kickoff is set for 12pm central with TV coverage on ESPN+ and radio coverage on the Jaguar Radio Network.
