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!