Preview: South Alabama Hosts Southern Miss Tuesday Night Nationally Televised Showdown
Kickoff: Tuesday, October 17, 6:30pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN2
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Wy’Kevious “Bubba” Thomas
Half of the regular season schedule is in the books. Through the first six games of the season we’ve seen some of the best play from the Jaguars, but we’ve also seen some of the worst. They’re record is an even split across the board: they are 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Sun Belt Conference play.
After back-to-back losses, South Alabama went to Louisiana-Monroe. They had never won in Monroe but this time they did in emphatic fashion. They took the Warhawks out behind the woodshed by the score of 55-7.
The next test for the Jags will be the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. In the three meetings between the two programs, the Jags have yet to lose to USM. They’ve won two in Hattiesburg and one in Mobile.
Both teams come into the game on Tuesday night with a little extra rest. Both teams last played on October 7th and have a semi-bye week. They don’t get a full two weeks between games, since they were picked up by ESPN to play a nationally televised mid-week game.
Southern Miss (1-5, 0-3 SBC)
Southern Miss head coach Will Hall are in the midst of a five-game losing streak in his third season at the helm. They opened with a 40-14 win over Alcorn State then dropped games to #4 Florida State, Tulane, Arkansas State, Texas State and Old Dominion.
They come to Mobile for only the fourth meeting between these two programs looking for their first conference win of the season and their first win against the Jags.
Offense
Despite the record, Southern Miss remains a team that you cannot take lightly. Frank Gore Jr is one of the best all-around backs in the country. He has 3,288 career rushing yards and 58 career receptions to go along with seven career touchdown passes.
The Golden Eagles average 23.7 points, 356 total yards of offense, 213.8 passing yards, and 142.2 rushing yards per game.
They are converting 36-of-94 (38.3%) on 3rd down attempts and are 7-of-16 (43.8%) on 4th down attempts. They hold a 33:16 to 26:44 advantage on average time of possession per game too.
Of their 25 trips into the red zone, they have scored 22 times, but 11 (50%) have been field goals.
Sophomore Billy Wiles is 107-of-200 (53.5%) passing for 1,254 yards with 7 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. His rushing stats don’t look so good because of sack yardage, but he has gained 122 yards on the ground yet he only has a net yardage of 14 for the season with a touchdown run. Quarterbacks have been sacked 14 times on the season.
Frank Gore Jr has only attempted one pass on the season and it was incomplete.
Jakarius Caston leads USM with 334 yards on 21 catches with three touchdowns. Latreal Jones leads the team with 23 catches with 324 yards and a touchdown. Tiaquelin Mims has 18 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown. Chandler Pittman adds 13 catches for 111 yards to round out the list of receivers with over 100 yards on the season.
Gore has 10 catches for 50 yards and a touchdown as the last player with double-digit receptions on the season. He leads the team rushing with 397 yards on 103 carries with four touchdowns. Gore has rushed for over 100 yards in two of his last three games.
Rodrigues Clark has 356 yards on 50 carries with two touchdowns.
Defense
The ‘Nasty Bunch’ defense has not been as nasty as their predecessors.
They have allowed an average of 35.3 points, 395.3 total yards of offense, 207.2 passing yards, and 188.2 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are only converting 26-of-71 (36.6%) of their 3rd down attempts and 4-of-7 (57.1%) on 4th down attempts.
They have 17 sacks on opposing quarterbacks on the season for a loss of 105 yards though.
Safety Dylan Lawrence leads the team with 36 total stops, 13 solo, with a sack. Fellow safety Jay Stanley is right behind him with 34 total stops, 18 solo, with ½ sack, a team leading two interceptions, 3 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Hayes Maples is third on the team in total stops with 24, 9 solo, with 1.5 sacks.
Linebacker Jalil Clemons leads the team with three sacks.
Special Teams
Placekicker Andrew Stein is 13-of-15 (86.7%) on the season with a long of 52. His only two misses have come in the 40 yard zone.
Bryce Lofton is averaging 38.5 yards per punt with 10 fair catches, 7 downed inside the 20, and a long of 50 yards.
South Alabama (3-3, 1-1 SBC)
The Jags put together a consistent game last time out. The offense consistently moved the ball and the defense didn’t allow any big plays to note.
Offense
The Jag offense is averaging 32.2 points, 414.8 total yards of offense, 257.1 passing yards, and 157.7 rushing yards per game.
They are converting on 39-of-83 (46.99%) on 3rd down and 7-of-12 (58.3%) on 4th down attempts. They hold a slight advantage in average time of passion with 30:36 to their opponents 29:23.
USA continues to hold a perfect record when getting into the red zone. They have scored on all 20 trips, with 16 of them coming as touchdowns.
Carter Bradley is 117-of-178 (65.7%) passing for 1,456 yards, 11 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Gio Lopez is 8-of-11 for 87 yards and a touchdown, with most of that work coming last time out against ULM.
Caullin Lacy has stepped up as the Jaguars leading receiver. He has 39 catches for 723 yards with 6 touchdowns. He is averaging just over 18.5 yards per catch. He is third nationally in receiving yards. He has a five-game streak of 100+ receiving yard games entering this game.
Jamaal Pritchett is next with 19 catches for 251 yards and a touchdown. Tight end DJ Thomas-Jones has 9 catches for 103 yards. Fellow tight end Lincoln Sefcik has 12 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Kentrel Bullock has 84 yards on 10 catches with a touchdown while fellow running back La’Damian Webb has 12 catches for 66 yards.
Webb leads the team with 476 yards rushing on 83 carries with 8 touchdowns. His eight rushing touchdowns has him tied for 3rd in the national rankings, while his yards ranks him 33rd.
Bullock has 285 yards on 59 carries with two touchdowns. Marco Lee Jr has 160 yards on 33 carries with two touchdowns as well.
Defense
The Jag defense is allowing an average of 22.2 points, 339.7 total offensive yards, 223.5 passing yards, and 116.2 rushing yards per game. Opponents are converting 31-of-79 (39.2%) of their 3rd down attempts and 2-of-6 (33.3%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents have scored on 14 of their 19 trips into the Jags red zone, with only 9 of them scoring a touchdown.
Trey Kiser leads the defense with 39 total stops, 18 solo. He also leads the team with 6 tackles for loss too.
James Miller is second on the team with 37 total stops, 13 solo, with 1.5 sacks. Jaden Voisin has 34 total stops, 13 solo, with a team-leading two interceptions.
Brock Higdon leads the team with 2.5 sacks.
Yam Banks, Wesley Miller, and Marquise Robinson all have one interception each.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo is 7-of-9 on the season with a long of 46. He missed a 52 yard attempt in the season opener against Tulane and a 43 yard attempt last time out against ULM.
Jack Martin is averaging 40.7 yards per punt with 10 fair catches, 7 downed inside the 20, two kicks of 50+ yards and a long of 53.
Injuries
Outside of the players that were lost for the season, head coach Kane Wommack anticipates that the players that are banged up will potentially be available against USM. Josh McCulloch has missed the last four games with a knee injury. Safety Mike Harris didn’t play against ULM due to an undisclosed injury.
Braylon McReynolds, Devin Voisin, Keith Gallmon Jr and Ed Smith are all considered out for the season. McReynolds has an outside chance to return late in the regular season and/or potentially for post-season play.
Keys to the Game
Consistency
The Jags have only played consistent ball for all four quarters in two games this season. Both were big wins (33-7 over Oklahoma State and 55-7 over ULM). When they play with consistency, the Jags are a powerhouse. They can beat any team in the conference.
But they have yet to play consistent ball in back-to-back games. This is an opportunity to do just that on national television.
Offensive Line
This is one of the keys to the game for at least the last two games. Even though Southern Miss haven’t shown it on the scoreboard, their defense has caused a bit of havoc on the season. They’ve collected 17 sacks of opposing quarterbacks and 32 tackles for loss.
They know that they have to attack at the line of scrimmage. They also know that the Jags have had some games where the offensive line hasn’t played very well either.
They’ll try to draw up some schemes to limit the Jaguar rushing attack and apply pressure on Carter Bradley.
Composure on the National Stage
The Jags have a somewhat bad history with nationally televised games. They have played flat and haven’t brought the same energy that they’ve had in other games not broadcast on a national platform.
I don’t know if it’s something to do with preparing to be seen nationally or just that the extra pressure has resulted in them playing tight historically.
This could be one of those games that, if the Jags don’t come to play for all 60 minutes, they could be on the bad end of an upset.
Prediction
Coach Wommack said that he and his staff spent a lot of time before the season planning out how they would navigate their two mid-week games. Getting off the usual Saturday game cadence and adjusting the schedule for a Tuesday night game with a couple extra days between can disrupt the rhythm of a team.
Hopefully the attention to detail helps the team play to their standard and ability.
South Alabama is a 15.5 point favorite against the Golden Eagles.
I think coach Hall and Southern Miss will throw everything they have at the Jags in order to find that first elusive conference win of the season. They’d also love to break that winless streak against the Jags too.
I think the Jags win, but I also think that Southern Miss will fight and cover the spread as their window to bowl eligibility is closing quickly. A loss to the Jags leaves them needing to win out with games against Mississippi State and Troy to close out the regular season.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Hosts Central Michigan For Homecoming, Final Non-Conference Game
Kickoff: Saturday, September 23, 4pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
Thunderjags on X (formerly known as Twitter): @USAThunderjags
#5 Jersey: Desmond Trotter
This is an important game for the South Alabama Jaguars.
No, it’s not a flashy game against another Power-5 program. It’s not a conference game. It may be homecoming, but that’s not the reason either.
It’s an important game for two reasons: one, it’s next game on the schedule, and two, we get to see how the team responds after the last game.
You may be reading this thinking “man, you make it sound like they lost last week. But they won arguably the biggest game in program history last week against Oklahoma State.” But that’s exactly it. They won the biggest game in program history, now how do they respond?
The Greek philosopher Epictetus wrote, “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
Head Coach Kane Wommack took over the program in 2021 and he has consistently spoken about getting his players to have a neutral mindset. You cannot get too high on emotion, but you cannot get to low either. This week will be a big test for his team to see if they have that neutral mindset nailed down, at least from the emotional high that was last week.
The Jags (2-1) earned a program-defining win last Saturday in dominating fashion. They took a 23-0 lead into halftime and by the time the final whistle blew, they posted a stunning 33-7 beat-down of a Power-5 program in their own stadium. One of the intriguing stats we noted was that the Jags rushed for more yards (248) than Oklahoma State gained in total offense (208) for the entire game.
South Alabama has been showered with praise since the game ended. They were named the Cheez-It’s team of the week (which brought them a big delivery of assorted boxes of Cheez-It’s on Monday). They were honorably mentioned in Matt Mitchell’s “SEC Roll Call”, a weekly comedy sketch he does recapping the previous weeks performances. But they also have Homecoming festivities this coming week.
How they turn around and respond in this game could really define the remainder of the season.
This paragraph may induce PTSD, so be warned. In 2016, South Alabama traveled to Starkville, MS and earned their first win over a Power-5 and SEC program with a 21-20 win. Coincidentally, it happened to be coach Wommack’s first game with the Jaguars as defensive coordinator too. However the Jags lost the following week to Georgia Southern 24-9 as well as the next week at Louisiana-Lafayette 28-23. Then they needed overtime to survive an upset bid by Nicholls 41-40. Similarly in the 2016 season, they were able to defeat the then #19 ranked San Diego State Aztecs 42-24, but lost back-to-back games to Arkansas State (17-7) and Troy (28-21) afterwards.
Coach Wommack keeps stressing “consistency.” This game will be a big measuring stick for how much consistency the coaching staff has been able to instill into this program.
South Alabama (2-1)
In a way the Oklahoma State game was a carry-over from the second half of the Southeastern Louisiana game. The Jaguar offense scored on their first three possessions and four of their six first-half possessions, not counting the last possession with a mere 18 seconds left before halftime.
The defense kept the Cowboys off the scoreboard until early in the fourth quarter, and the longest plays from scrimmage was a 21 yard quarterback run and a 15 yard pass completion.
The Jags are +1 in turnover margin for the season. They have thrown three interceptions and lost three of the four fumbles they’ve committed. Defensively the Jags have forced five fumbles and recovered all of them while also collecting a pair of interceptions.
Offense
South Alabama’s mantra ‘Run The Damn Ball’ was on full display in Stillwater. La’Damian Webb, even on a play-count, rolled up an impressive 151 yards rushing on 18 carries with a pair of touchdowns. It was highlighted by a 65 yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the final dagger in the Cowboy’s heart.
Kentrel Bullock also had 18 carries for 71 yards and Marco Lee Jr had 6 carries for 30 yards.
Carter Bradley was 10-of-16 for 152 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautify placed 57-yard strike to Caullin Lacy.
Lacy led the Jags receivers with 5 catches for 104 yards and both of Bradley’s touchdown passes. Lincoln Sefcik had three catches for 21 yards. Javon Ivory and Bullock had one catch each for 17 and 10 yards respectively.
Lacy has really elevated his play after Devin Voisin was lost for the season to a knee injury last week. He was already a big-time playmaker before!
Josh McColloch suffered a knee injury mid-week and did not play, however the offensive line had their best outing so far this season with Jordan Davis stepping up and starting in McCulloch’s place.
The Jags are averaging 389.7 total yards of offense, 201 yards passing and 188.7 yards rushing per game. The running back corps are averaging 5 yards per attempt through three games.
The offense is converting 20-of-39 (51%) of their 3rd down attempts and 3-of-4 (75%) of their 4th down attempts. In the red zone they have scored on all 9 of their trips, with seven of them being touchdowns.
However, Bradley has been sacked 7 times on the season for 50 yards, but only twice last week by the Cowboys.
Defense
Coach Wommack, defensive coordinator Corey Batoon, and assistant coach Jay Hopson seemed to have really turned around the secondary after Tulane exploited them for several explosive plays. They only allowed 208 total yards of offense, 114 passing yards and 94 rushing yards to the Cowboys.
Through three games the defense is allowing an average of 352 yards of total offense, 252.7 passing yards and 99.3 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting just 13-of-34 (38%) of their 3rd down attempts. Of the 11 trips into the red zone for opponents, they have scored on 8 of them with only 4 coming as touchdowns.
James Miller leads the defense with 19 total stops, 10 solo, with a fumble recovery. Jaden Voisin is next behind him with 16 total stops, nine solo, with a forced fumble. Trey Kiser is third with 15 total stops, eight solo, with a tackle for loss, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry.
Brock Higdon leads the defense with 2 sacks on the season. Jamie Sheriff, Quentin Wilfawn, Khalil Jacobs, and Maurice Strong Jr have one sack each.
Yam Banks and Marquise Robinson both have one interception each.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made good on both of his attempts against OSU last weekend and is 3-of-4 on the season with a long of 42. His only miss was from 52 in the season-opener against Tulane.
Jack Martin is averaging 43.4 yards per attempt, with a long of 53 yards. He has four fair catches, four downed inside the 20.
Central Michigan (1-2)
Despite the Chippewa’s record, they have been playing some pretty good football on the season. Both of their two losses come at the hands of Power-5 programs. The season opener was a 31-7 loss at Michigan State and last week they kept it close in the first half at Notre Dame before the Fighting Irish pulled away in the second half for a 41-17 win.
Between the two losses, the Chippewas earned a win against #11 ranked FCS New Hampshire 45-42 on a field goal as time expired. They led 42-28 with under six minutes left in the game. New Hampshire tied the game with a 71-yard catch-and-run with just over three-minutes left in the game.
Last week against Notre Dame, the Chippewas cut the lead to 7 before halftime before the Irish pulled away in the second half. The Irish, who put up 578 yards of total offense, took back any momentum with a 74 yard touchdown drive in only 7 plays to start the third quarter and never looked back.
Overall they are -1 on turnover margin. Offensively they have fumbled three times but recovered them all, however they have thrown three interceptions. Defensively they have one interception and a forced fumble that they’ve recovered.
Offense
The Chippewa offense is averaging 23 points, 309 yards of total offense, 145.7 passing yards, and 163.3 rushing yards per game. They are only converting 11-of-44 (25%) of their 3rd down attempts but they have converted 4-of-5 (80%) of their 4th down attempts.
Quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr missed the Notre Dame game with an illness but is expected to return and presumably start on Saturday. He is 18-of-36 (50%) for 280 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in those two games. Jase Bauer is 13-of-29 (44.9%) for 157 yards.
The top two receivers both have five catches. Chris Parker has 142 yards on his 5 catches with a touchdown. Tyson Davis has 92 yards with his five catches.
They have five players with three catches each. Jesse Prewitt III has 91 yards and a touchdown, Mitchel Collier has 30 yards, Marion Lukes has 28 yards, Myles Bailey has 11 yards, and Sam Hicks has 7 yards.
Myles Bailey leads the Central Michigan rushing attack with 186 yards on 38 carries with two touchdowns. Emanuel Jr is the next leading rusher, even with sack-adjusted yardage figured in, with 142 yards on 38 carries with two touchdowns in two games played. Marion Lukes has 75 yards on 19 carries. Quarterback Jase Bauer has 43 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. BJ Harris has 11 carries for 32 yards, the last back with double-digit carries on the team.
Defense
Central Michigan runs multiple fronts. They will switch between 3 and 4 down linemen which give an even and odd look to the offensive line. So the Jaguar offensive line will need to stay on the same for their protection schemes. They have played pretty well against the run, but have been quite susceptible to explosive passing plays.
They are allowing an average of 38 points, 507.3 total yards of offense, 371.3 passing yards, and 136 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 16-of-39 (41%) of their 3rd down attempts and 3-of-6 (50%) of their 4th down attempts.
Donte Kent leads the defense with 26 total stops, 18 of them solo, with a tackle for loss (TFL) from the secondary. Kyle Moretti is right behind him with 25 total stops, 14 solo, with two TFLs from his linebacker position. It drops off to 16 total, 7 solo, stops for Trey Jones from the secondary. Then Justin Whiteside has 13 total stops, 11 solo, for the highest ranking defensive lineman.
Jacques Bristol leads the team with three TFL’s with a sack, as part of his 11 total tackles. He is tied with Michael Heldman and Maurice White for sack leader. Heldman leads the team with 4 quarterback hurries.
Elijah Rikard is the only player on the defense with an interception.
Special Teams
Tristan Mattson, a redshirt-junior transfer from Arkansas State, is 2-of-3 on the season. His long is 47 yards, which was his first attempt of the season and came against New Hampshire as time expired. He also handles kickoff duty and has nine touchbacks on his 13 kickoff attempts.
Jake Walrath is averaging 45.1 yards across his 21 punt attempts. His longest kick was 63 yards. He has two touchbacks, five fair catches, five downed inside the 20 and seven kicks of 50+ yards. He can really flip field position in a hurry.
Keys to the Game
Neutral Mindset
The Jags will be coming off a big win over a Power-5 opponent. It’s also Homecoming week. This is a textbook upset script for the Chippawa’s. It also doesn’t help that they want revenge for last season and to get back to .500 on the season.
Coach Wommack speaks about having a neutral mindset. There are several keys to the neutral mindset. He doesn’t want players to get too emotionally high nor too emotionally low after a game, or even after a play. The players need to approach each play as its own entity, when the play is over it’s time for the next play. It doesn’t matter if the previous play was a big loss or a huge gain; you have to line up for the next play just the same. Each time you line up for a play, just do your job and trust your teammate to do his.
Taking what the defense gives
The Chippewa defense has been quite good against the run. While their passing numbers aren’t that good to observe, they haven’t been that bad against the pass either. Their biggest problem is explosive plays through the air, similar to what the Jags had trouble with against Tulane. They will be working to make similar adjustments this week and hope they show on the field when they arrive in Mobile on Saturday.
Carter Bradley may have to put the ball in the air more than he did against Oklahoma State for the Jags to win. If the Chippewa’s continue to be susceptible to the pass, that’s what the Jags need to exploit.
But a productive running game will also help loosen up the secondary too.
Offensive Line
Last Saturday, the Jags offensive line played arguably the best game of football in program history. They opened running lanes for the Jaguar running backs and they were pretty good in pass protection. Bradley was sacked twice in the game, but did not have a single quarterback hurry on the stat sheet.
Consistency is stacking one good game after another. They could really use another outing like that this week.
Not to keep repeating it, but Central Michigan has been good against the run. If they are able to get success stopping the Jags rushing game, they will turn up the pressure on Bradley and try to get him to force the ball downfield. Two of his three interceptions this season can be contributed to him trying to force the ball under pressure.
Injuries
Reggie Smith was injured late in fall camp and will miss the season. Braylon McReynolds suffered a broken collarbone against Tulane and will likely miss the entire regular season.
Before the game last Saturday, we found out that both Devin Voisin and Keith Gallmon Jr will also miss the rest of the season as well.
Gallmon Jr suffered a torn pectoral muscle early in the game against Southeastern Louisiana. This is the second time in as many seasons he has suffered the same injury and missed an entire season. However this time it’s the opposite pectoral as the one injured in 2022.
Voisin suffered a knee injury in the second half against SLU.
Thankfully, the Jags stayed pretty healthy against Oklahoma State last week.
Prediction
The Jags are pretty much a 14.5 point favorite across the board on most odd-maker sites. I was glad my prediction last week was completely wrong. When I pick against the Jags, I’m more than happy to be wrong.
It may be early for the Chippewa’s to circle the wagons, but I’m sure they feel an urgency for a win before they start conference play. They had 12 players out with Covid last Saturday and was within one score of Notre Dame at halftime (21-14). Thankfully the game will be at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
The Jags offensive strengths play into some of the strengths of Central Michigan’s defense. It will be interesting to watch how it plays out.
I’m going with the Jags to win, but maybe they don’t cover the 14.5 spread but barely. I think a strong second half leads to a Jags win 31-17, just under the spread.
Go Jags!