Preview: R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – South Alabama vs Western Kentucky
Kickoff: Wednesday, December 21, 8:00pm
Venue: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
TV/Streaming: ESPN
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama’s march towards the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl is quickly reaching its end. The Jags will tee it off against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at 8pm on Wednesday, December 21st in the Big Easy.
Jaguar fans have been eager to earn a bowl invite since their last trip in 2016.
Six years is a long time to wait for another shot to win the schools first bowl game. While the Jags were favored to be bowl eligible in preseason prognostications, few outside of Jag Nation thought they would be rolling into the post season with a 10-2 record. Much less only losing their two games by a combined 5 points.
While playing in a bowl game is a huge accomplishment for the team, the extra practices leading up to the bowl game is huge in and of itself. It’s additional reps for the young players and keeps momentum going to bridge the football season into spring football.
Head coach Kane Wommack said in his press conference leading up to game week that the team has gone back to a fall camp practice schedule. They were doing fundamental drills that haven’t been run since August due to time. But they are still doing preparation for Western Kentucky at certain times throughout those practices. Once they got to game week, then they started their usual game-week preparation.
Western Kentucky
The Hilltoppers are no stranger to South Alabama. They were fellow members in the Sun Belt Conference from 1982 until their departure in 2014. The Jags and Hilltoppers had a particularly strong rivalry in men’s basketball over the years.
The one and only time the Jags and Hilltoppers met on the gridiron, the Jags won 31-24 back in the 2013 season.
Now the Hilltoppers come in representing Conference USA with an 8-5 record on the season. They were allowed to schedule a 13th regular season game by the NCAA as compensation for traveling to play at Hawaii. Some of their noteworthy games on the season: 33-30 loss at Indiana, 73-0 win over Florida International, 31-28 loss to CUSA Champ UTSA, and a 32-31 win over Florida Atlantic in overtime in the regular season finale.
Offense
Western Kentucky is the #2 ranked passing offense team in the nation, behind only Washington and ahead of #3 Tennessee and #4 Georgia Southern. Their rushing offense ranks 72nd in the nation. They rank 10th in total offense in the nation.
On the season Western Kentucky averaged 35.8 points (18th nationally), 483.5 total yards (9th nationally), 339.2 passing yards (2nd nationally), 144.3 rushing yards (72nd nationally), and 28:52 time of possession per game (92nd nationally).
They converted 72-of-175 (41%) of their 3rd down attempts (T46th nationally) and 15-of-37 (41%) of their 4th down attempts (105th nationally).
They possessed the ball in their opponents red zone 53 times, scoring on 44 of those possessions (83%) with 34 of them being touchdowns (64%) (71st nationally).
Austin Reed went 353-of-548 (64.4%) for 4,249 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions at quarterback. Two other players saw some playing time but neither one had any significant numbers for the season. Reed actually put his name in the transfer portal, but has since removed it to stay at WKU.
In total, WKU had seven receivers who had over 100 yards receiving on the season, four of them with over 500 yards on the season, and also seven receivers who caught touchdowns. Malachi Corley led the team with 1,181 yards on 90 catches with 9 touchdowns. Daewood Davis added 872 yards on 63 catches with 7 touchdowns in 12 games played. Jaylen Hall had 731 yards on 59 catches with 5 touchdowns. Michael Mathison added 580 yards on 49 catches with 3 touchdowns.
Kye Robichaux and Davion Ervin-Poindexter were the top two running backs on the season. Robichaux, a sophomore, rushed for 496 yards on 73 carries with three touchdowns in only eight games played, he suffered an injury against North Texas and saw action in only one other game the rest of the season. Robichaux is listed 3rd on the depth chart at running back. Ervin-Poindexter rushed for 492 yards on 107 carries with 3 touchdowns as well. Quarterback Reed has logged 199 yards on 87 attempts with eight touchdowns.
Defense
The Hilltopper defense is allowing an average of 23.5 points (44th nationally), 380.8 total yards (69th nationally), 225.2 passing yards (70th nationally), 155.6 rushing yards (75th nationally), and 31:08 time of possession per game this season.
Opponents are converting 68-of-194 (35%) of their 3rd down attempts (39th nationally) and 14-of-28 (50%) of their 4th down attempts on the season (T62nd nationally).
Opponents have scored on 36-of-41 (88%) of their trips into the red zone. With 24 (59%) of them result in touchdowns (98th nationally).
JaQues Evans leads the team with 100 total stops, 60 of them solo. Evens also leads the team with 11 tackles for loss, and sacks with 7.5, two fumble recoveries, and a blocked kick. Derrick Smith is next with 90 total stops, 56 solo with six tackles for loss and three sacks and an interception. Kahlef Hailassie has 65 total stops, 44 of them solo, 8 tackles for loss (2nd on team), three sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Kaleb Oliver and Upton Stout are the team co-leaders with three interceptions each. .
Special Teams
Brayden Narveson converted all 59 of his extra point attempts on the season. He also went 15-of-21 on field goal attempts with a long of 51 yards.
Cory Munson has handled all but one punt on the season. Munson is averaging 61.1 yards per punt with 34 touchbacks and 3 kicked out of bounds. Narveson punted once on the season for 65 yards and a touchback.
Transfer Portal
Most of WKU’s student athletes entering the transfer portal are on the defensive side of the ball. Edge rusher and leading tackler JaQues Evans entered the transfer portal on 12/14. He joined fellow edge rusher Dante Walker who joined on 12/12. Safety Arthur Brathwaite entered on 12/7.
Offensive tackle Luke Slusher and wide receiver Joshua Simon both entered the portal on 12/6.
On 12/5 Wide receiver Barry Wagner, safety Talique Allen, quarterbck Darius Ocean, and offensive tackle Rusty Staats all entered the portal.
12/1 starting kicker Brayden Narveson entered his name into the transfer portal.
South Alabama
As has been already mentioned, this is the Jags first bowl appearance since 2016 and only the 3rd bowl appearance in program history.
Head coach Kane Wommack only needed two seasons to get the Jags into a bowl game and to record their best record as a FBS program. The New Orleans Bowl gives them the opportunity to add one more to their win column and to notch the programs first bowl win.
Offense
The Jags are averaging 31.9 points (T41st nationally), 423.8 total yards (40th nationally), 259.2 passing yards (42nd nationally), 164.6 (57th nationally) rushing yards, and 32:24 time of possession (18th nationally) per game this season.
They are converting 77-of-179 (43%, 35th nationally) of their 3rd down attempts, and 17-of-26 (65.4%, T21st nationally) of their 4th down attempts.
Of the Jags 49 trips into the red zone, they’ve scored on 41 of them (83.7%) and scored touchdowns on 30 (61.2%) of those trips. Those numbers rank them at T68 nationally in red zone offense.
Quarterback Carter Bradley, who came to South Alabama from Toledo, has gone 240-of-374 (64.2%) for 2,983 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during the regular season. Desmond Trotter appeared in four games going 14-of-18 for 127 yards.
South Alabama had a trio of receivers with over 50 receptions and 700-yards receiving on the season. Jalen Wayne led the trio with 793 yards and 9 touchdowns on 56 catches. Caullin Lacy led the trio with 58 catches for 759 yards and six touchdowns. Devin Voisin, who came on later in the season, caught 53 passes for 718 yards and four touchdowns.
Behind the three-headed beast of receivers, the next closest is Braylon McReynolds with 188 yards on 17 catches with a touchdown.
La’Damian Webb led the Jags backfield with 1,015 yards on 197 carries with 13 touchdowns. He missed one game due to an injury.
McReynolds finished his true freshman regular season with 311 yards on 55 carries as the second leading rusher. Marco Lee rushed for 247 yards and four touchdowns on 67 carries. Omni Wells rushed for 234 yards on 55 carries.
Defense
The Jags are allowing an average of 19.4 points (T14th nationally), 302.6 total yards (11th nationally), 215.0 passing yards (51st nationally), 87.6 rushing yards (4th nationally), and 27:11 time of possession per game.
Opponents converted 49-of-164 (29.9%, 11th nationally) of their 3rd down attempts, and 15-of-26 (57.7%, T105th nationally) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents have possessed the ball in the red zone 35 times during the regular season and scored on 28 of those trips (80%), with only 17 being touchdowns (48.6%) those numbers lands them at T36th nationally.
Jaden Voisin finished the regular season with 76 total stops, 42 of them solo, to lead the team. He added 6 tackles for loss, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Trey Kiser had 71 total stops, 53 solo, with four sacks and a forced fumble on the season. Kiser and CJ Rias are team co-leaders with 10 tackles for loss each. Jamie Sheriff leads the team with six sacks.
Yam Banks leads the team with 5 interceptions on the season while also leading with 10 pass breakups and five quarterback hurries.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks has 53 punts on the season with an average of 42.8 yards per kick with 16 kicks downed inside the 20, 11 fair catches, 10 punts of 50+ yards and only 3 touchbacks.
Diego Guajardo finished the season 17-of-18 on field goals with a long of 49 yards, and 44-of-45 on extra point attempts.
Transfer Portal
Only two Jaguars who have entered the portal have been Anterrious Gray, who left the team to enter his name into the portal during the season, and reserve quarterback Eli Gainey.
Keys to the Game
Pass Defense
Western Kentucky is a very prolific passing offense led by the most prolific quarterback the Jags will have faced all season. In addition, the Jags have had their share of injuries in the back end of the defense. Keith Gallmon Jr was lost in preseason camp, Marvin Martin was lost during the season with very serious hit in practice, Quentin Wilfawn was lost during the season due to a shoulder injury.
It seems the Jags have been particularly susceptible to inside slants. But when they are able to shut down their opponents rushing attack and are able to get pressure on the quarterback with their defensive front, they have been able to drop a linebacker and take away that play.
The Hilltoppers rank above Georgia Southern (4th ranks passing offense nationally), which the Jags were able to defeat in Statesboro. The Jags held them to almost 50 yards below their season average and only allowed seven points in the second half.
Turnovers
Turnovers as a “key to the game” is pretty obvious. It’s always a key to the game.
An interesting college football stat is that, if your team averages a turnover margin of +1 per game, you should expect them to win 8 or 9 games if all other things are equal (but they never are).
However teams often have more turnovers in bowl games, possibly due to the time between their final regular season game and the bowl game. Call it rust, or just a long layoff, but teams often suffer from the “turnover bug” in postseason play.
It’s a no-brainer that if you get more turnovers than you give away, your chance of winning is higher.
The Jags offense has been very good all season protecting the ball. They’ve had 10 fumbles all season but lost only 4 of them to their opponents. Bradley has thrown 10 interceptions but he threw half of them in the final four games of the season, three in the last two while he was nursing an injured non-throwing shoulder.
Run The D*mn Ball
RTDB has become a mantra for the Jags. It was mentioned that Director of Football Athletic Performance, Matt Shadeed, printed “RTDB” on a sheet of paper and taped it to his shirt for a practice and that was when they adopted it as their mantra. Now they have actually printed shirts that have been worn by coaches in practices.
La’Damian Webb has shouldered the workload in a few games and basically willed the team to a win. The offensive line opened a crease and Webb would explode through them to grind out first down and melt the clock. That has helped him to be only the second 1,000 yard rusher in Jaguar history.
He scored the final three touchdowns against Georgia Southern in the Jags come-from-behind win and ate clock while doing it. He even did that after having the flu during the week leading up to the game.
A strong run game will minimize opponent’s possessions and shorten the game. Braylon McReynolds showed he can fill in for Webb in the final two games of the season when Webb was hampered by a foot injury. Marco Lee and Omni Wells also had a huge game filling in for Webb and McReynolds when they both missed a game early in the season.
Prediction
South Alabama opened at a 7.5-point favorite but the spread has shrunk to only a 4.5 point favorite for the Jags.
Coach Wommack and his staff are great and preparing for games as well as master motivators. I expect the Jags to come out fast. The team, especially the seniors, will be highly motivated to earn the first bowl win in program history. Excluding players who have transferred from other programs, there’s no one on the team who have been to a bowl game before.
I think the Jags win but I think it will be a close, hard-fought game where they don’t cover the spread. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Jags having to mount a game winning drive late in the game.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Falls To Troy In Season Finale 29-0
South Alabama dropped their third consecutive ‘Battle For The Belt’ to Troy 29-0. The Jaguars (4-7, 3-5 Sun Belt Conference) was stymied in the first half, particularly in the second quarter, by the Trojans (5-5, 3-3 SBC).
In the end the “battle” felt more like a flailing or a flogging depending on which side you were on.
Despite coming into the game missing a few players and with a few players banged up, the Jags expected to compete in the game. Missing linebacker Christian Bell, tight end Brandon Crum, and wide receiver Kawaan Baker the Jags were missing some key contributors. But they also had player banged up such as Riley Cole, Desmond Trotter, and backup quarterback Tanner McGee.
It was the first time in program history that the Jags have been held scoreless at home, in either Ladd-Peebles Stadium and in the first season at Hancock Whitney stadium. It’s also the first time in the series that a school has won three consecutive games.
It is only the second time in school history that the Jags have been shut out in a game. The only other time was a 52-0 loss at Georgia Southern that effectively ended Joey Jones’ tenure at head coach.
The first points of the game were not scored until there was 6:02 left in the opening quarter. Troy had converted all five 3rd down attempts prior to the failing to convert on 3rd and goal at the Jaguar 1 yard line. The Trojans settled for a 22 yard field goal for the early 3-0 lead.
It was the second quarter where the Trojans did their most damage and pretty much put the game away.
The Jags opened the second quarter with a punt and Troy converted both 3rd down attempts on the drive and finished the touchdown drive with a 15 yard pass from Gunnar Watson to Khalil McClain to grow their lead to 10-0 with 11:06 left in the second quarter.
After connecting with Jalen Wayne for 11 yards on 3rd down, Trotter would get sacked and fumble the ball which Troy would recover at the Jaguar 28 yard line. Three plays later the Trojans would score again on a 15 yard pass from Watson to Kaylon Geiger with 9:26 left in the first half.
South Alabama drove down to the Troy 37 before facing 4th and 5, instead of letting Diego Gujardo try to match this career long head coach Steve Campbell opted to leave the offense on the field down three scores. Trotter threw low and behind his intended receiver and TJ Harris picked him of on a diving catch to take over at the Troy 32.
Continuing to use their very up-tempo offense, the Trojans marched right down the field gashing the defense. On the eighth and final play of the drive, Watson found Tray Eafford for a 21 yard touchdown pass to go up 24-0 with 3:56 left in first half.
After starting at their own 35 yard line from a kickoff out of bounds, the Jags drove down to the Trojans 36 yard line. Facing 4th and 9, Trotter would hold onto the ball too long and get sacked to turn the ball over on downs at the Troy 44 with only 31 seconds left until halftime.
Yet Troy was still not done.
Watson connected on two quick passes for 12 and 11 yards before calling time out at the Jaguar 33 yard line with 15 seconds left in the half. Then Watson connected with Vidal again but for only 6 yards forcing the Trojans to use their final time out with 10 seconds left. Troy head coach Chip Lindsey opted to kick to try for the points with a 44 yard field goal. Coach Campbell called a time out just prior to the snap, but Evan Legassey went ahead and kicked it, missing it wide right. The following snap he would split the uprights to go up 27-0 with 8 seconds left.
When the teams finally headed to the locker room, Troy had put up 24 points in the quarter.
The second half was mostly just running the clock out for Troy. South Alabama moved the ball better but never could hit paydirt.
The Jags Devin Rockette blocked the only scoring attempt in the second half by the Trojans. However Troy also blocked Jack Brooks punt attempt a short time later. The ball went out of the back of the end zone for the only points in the second half, a safety, for the final score of 29-0.
Desmond Trotter went 15 of 28 for 144 yards and an interception. Freshman Eli Gainey lead the final possession and went 6 of 9 for 38 yards. Redshirt freshman Tanner McGee, who finished out last weeks win was unavailable to play due to a shoulder injury.
Caullin Lacy led the Jaguar rushers, I wouldn’t call it an attack, with 38 yards on four carries. Jared Wilson added 33 on eight carries. Carlos Davis was held to a single yard on four carries.
Jalen Tolbert caught 5 passes for 92 yards and because the first Jaguar to break 1,000 receiving yards in a season, ending the year with 1,085 yards. Jalen Wayne caught four passes for 32 yards.
Jaguar linebacker Riley Cole recorded 10 total tackles in his final game as a Jaguar. In a pre-game ceremony to honor seniors on Senior Day, he was surprised with his official invitation to the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl. Cole will get to play at Hancock Whitney Stadium once more on January 30.
Gunnar Watson went 34 of 41 for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Kaylon Geiger caught seven passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. Former Blound standout Reggie Todd caught six for 49 yards. Kimani Vidal caught five passes for 29 yards.
Vidal led all rushers with 76 yards on 22 attempts.
Linebacker Carlton Martial, a fellow Mobile native and McGill-Toolen standout, recorded a game-high 14 tackles.
The Trojans won every statistically category. Total yards: 414 to 239. Passing yards: 297 to 182. Rushing Yards: 117 to 57. First downs: 25 to 17. Third down conversions: 10 of 15 to 5 of 15. Sacks: Troy had 5, Jags recorded one sack. Turnovers: Troy recovered two turnovers, the Jags came away with just one. Time of possession: 31:47 to 28:13.
“It got away from us in the second quarter,” head coach Steve Campbell said. “They got on a little run and we had a hard time stopping them. We didn’t generate what we needed to offensively at all.”
“I’m very disappointed in the way it wound up,” Campbell said about ending the season with a loss. “I thought we had gotten over a little bit of a hump, but we didn’t play very well at all today. We didn’t play the way that we needed to, to finish up. We had a chance to finish strong. But I give Troy a ton of respect, they are a good football team. I thought we practiced well this week and the guys worked hard though a bunch of stuff. I thought we would come out and play better than we did today, and we didn’t.”
“It’s an ongoing problem, but it can be either side of the ball,” Jalen Tolbert said. “We should be able to pick each other up when one side is playing off, and today neither side was able to pick it up. Offense nor defense was doing good, it was just a poor performance by us today so we have to get that fixed.”
With the regular season over and the program shifting into post-season mode, there will be talks about the staff.
Through three seasons the Jags are 9-26 under Campbell.
After a 3-2 start the Jags limped to a 1-5 finish. The programs four wins this season came against teams with a cumulative 8-34 record.
Finally Campbell is now 0-3 against Troy which is one of South Alabama’s most competitive recruiting foe in the area. In those three losses, the Trojans have outscored the Jags 104-30 with the closest margin of defeat coming in 2018 in a 38-17 loss.
Campbell has one more season left in his 4 year contract with a buyout of $350,000. Campbell and Athletics Directory Joel Erdmann will be meeting in the coming days, as he always do with coaches at the conclusion of their seasons.
