Jaguars Fall To UCLA 32-31 On Walk-Off Field Goal
South Alabama (2-1) botches a trick field goal play that led to UCLA (3-0) kicking a walk-off 24 yard field goal as time expired to fall 32-31 in Pasadena.
With about three minutes left in the game, the Jags faced 4th & 2 at the Bruins 22 yard line. USA sent the field goal unit onto the field with 3rd string quarterback Tanner McGee as the holder. They then shifted into an offensive formation with McGee at quarterback, unfortunately he couldn’t find anyone open before he was sacked for an 11 yard loss.
UCLA took over at the 33 yard line and proceeded to drive down the field bleeding the Jags of their final two time outs. With the ball sitting at the Jags 6 yard line with two seconds left, Nicholas Barr-Mira put the ball through the uprights as time expired for the win.
Quarterback Carter Bradley got off to a shaky start after throwing an interception on his second pass attempt of the game. The pass was returned 10 yards to the Jags 21 yard line. The defense would not yield and the Bruins had to settle for a 28 yard field goal to go up 3-0 at the 12:18 mark of the first quarter.
The Jags offense responded with a 10 play, 75 yard drive to take the lead. La’Damian Webb’s 47 yard run on 3rd & 8 set up Marco Lee for a 1 yard touchdown run to go up 7-3.
The Bruins and Jaguars traded field goals from 49 and 38 yards respectively on the next two possessions for a 10-6 advantage for South Alabama.
UCLA moved the ball down the field and appeared to score on a pass to Zach Carbonnet, but after review he was marked down at the one foot line. The Jags defense took advantage. The handoff from Dorian Thompson-Robinson wasn’t clean, CJ Rias was able to knock the ball loose and Zeke Chapman covered it up in the end zone to thwart the Bruins.
The offense took full advantage too. A false start at the 4 didn’t matter to Webb either, he took it in from 9 yards out to put the Jags up 17-6 at the 5:54 mark of the 2nd quarter.
It didn’t take long for UCLA to answer either, just six plays. A pass completion for 34 yards followed by a 25 yard run by Keegan Jones put them at the Jags 9 yard line. Then two plays later Thompson-Robinson found Jake Bobo for a 9 yard touchdown pass making it 17-13 at halftime.
UCLA made adjustments and came out strong in the second half.
The Bruins quickly marched down the field aided by a roughing the passer call on Jamie Sheriff. Thompson-Robinson capped it off with an 11 yard touchdown pass to Kam Brown to retake the lead 17-20 at the 13:22 mark of the 3rd quarter.
La’Damian Webb suffered his first fumble of the season when he was stretching for extra yards. While the replay looked like the Jags may keep possession, the officials saw it differently. They upheld the fumble but saw that the defender was on his knee when he recovered the ball which negated the touchdown return.
UCLA converted the turnover into a 28 yard field goal. The Jags had them stopped near mid field however Ricky Fletcher was flagged for defensive holding on a 3rd & 8 incomplete pass to give the Bruins new life.
Again South Alabama responded.
Marco Lee got his second touchdown of the game on a 1 yard run. But it was Caullin Lacy who set it up with a 37 yard reception to put USA in the red zone. The score gave USA a 24-23 lead at the 1:37 mark of the 3rd quarter.
UCLA’s ensuing possession started at their own 30. A fumble that a few players tried to scoop-and-score kept advancing the ball until Ed Smith finally covered it at the Bruins 6 yard line.
Caullin Lacy stretched out and had a fantastic aerobatic 4-yard touchdown catch to put the Jags up 31-23 at the :57 mark of the 3rd quarter.
The Bruins gashed the Jags as the defense struggled to pressure or contain Thompson-Robinson or stop the run. Thompson-Robinson set up a 4th & 4 at the Jags 8 yard line with a 5 yard run. Chip Kelly opted to go for it and it paid off with Thompson-Robinson connecting with Logan Loya for a touchdown. A failed 2-point conversion left the Lags in the lead 31-29 with 12:25 left in the game.
After a punt by both teams, the Jags had an opportunity to milk time off the clock.
A methodical 11 play drive stalled at the UCLA 22. Facing 4th and 2, coach Wommack sent on the field goal unit. However, instead of Jack Brooks as the holder, they sent in Tanner McGee. After lining up in field goal formation, they shifted into a normal offensive formation. It did not catch the Bruins off guard, McGee was pressured and sacked for an 11 yard loss as tried to move and find someone open to throw to.
UCLA took over possession with 2:52 left in the game with the Jags defense missing some key players.
Again the Jags just couldn’t muster any pass rush on Thompson-Robinson as they positioned themselves for the game winning field goal as time expired.
“We made some plays in big moments, but we were also an inconsistent football team today,” head coach Kane Wommack said after the game. When you go into big stadiums and have opportunities, you have to take care of the ball offensively and not shoot yourself in the foot from an execution standpoint… We have to step up on third downs. You have a fourth down in the red zone, you have to get off the field, [if you do] it changes the outcome of the game.”
“They adjusted well to it,” Wommack said about the failed fake field goal late in the game. “We thought we had them right there with the fake field goal. Would have been nice to get that one and iced the game. But we didn’t put ourselves in position in the plays prior to that moment to pull away…”
Wommack wasn’t wrong, they had a tight end in favorable coverage against a linebacker and coming open free on the left side. However the rush on McGee got to him before the tight end could get the separation he needed to throw it.
When asked about execution and responding when they needed to, he said “I thought so…our guys competed the entire game. It was just the execution. Physically we did some things on some plays, ran the football, it was just a couple of plays.”
“I told the guys they were going to have an opportunity to respond to this game and that is what we have to do against Louisiana Tech at home,” coach Wommack said.
Stats
South Alabama
The Jags had 399 yards of total offense, 237 passing and 162 rushing.
USA had 22 first downs while running 70 offensive plays. They held the time of possession advantage 32:57 to 27:03.
The Jags converted 9-of-14 3rd down attempts but was 0-for-1 on 4th down attempts. They scored on all 5 trips into the red zone, only one of them was a field goal.
La’Damian Webb finally got his 100 yard rushing game. He carried the ball 16 times for 124 yards and a touchdown. Terrion Avery added 29 yards on five carries. Marco Lee had two touchdowns on 4 carries for 6 yards.
Carter Bradley was 26-of-36 for 237 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Jalen Wayne finished with 7 catches for 76 yards. Devin Voisin caught seven passes for 64 yards. Webb caught all six of his targets for 42 yards. Lacy also caught all four of his targets for 49 yards and the only receiving touchdown.
Jalen Jordan led the defense with 7 stops, five solo. James Miller recorded the only tackle for loss in the game.
UCLA
The Bruins put up 407 total yards of offense, 263 through the air and 144 on the ground.
They had 23 first down while running 67 offensive plays.
The Jags defense held the Bruins to 7-of-13 on 3rd down attempts and allowed them to convert their only 4th down attempt in the game. They scored six of their 7 trips into the red zone, but only three of them were touchdowns.
Zach Charbonnet was held to 78 rushing yards on 13 carries. Keegan Jones added 65 yards on 14 carries. Thompson-Robinson had 27 yards on 7 carries.
Thompson-Robinson went 20-of-30 for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
Jake Bobo caught five passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. Charbonnet caught three passes for 51 yards. Logan Loya and Kam Brown both caught touchdown passes.
Darius Muassau led all defenders with 10 tackles, five solo. Carl Jones Jr had the only sack in the game for either team and the only tackle for loss for the Bruins. JonJon Vaughns had a pass breakup and the only interception of the game.
Who’s Up Next
The Jags return back home for their final non-conference game of the season against Louisiana Tech.
South Alabama has a week of events scheduled culminating with Jo Bonner’s inauguration as University President on Friday ahead of the Jags game against Bulldogs.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6pm on Saturday, September 24 at Hancock-Whitney Stadium. The game will be streamed online on ESPN+ and radio coverage on the Jaguar Radio Network including iHeartMedia app, and 99.5 fm in Mobile.
Preview: South Alabama Travels To Pasadena To Face UCLA
Kickoff: Saturday, September 17, 1PM Central
Venue: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
TV/Streaming: PAC12 Network
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: James Jackson (wearing #50 due to position jersey number rules)
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama is 2-0 to start the season for the second consecutive year. It also makes the second time since 2011 they’ve started the season undefeated to start the season.
The Jaguars completely dominated the first half against Central Michigan. Just looking at the 38-24 final score, it may not show how dominant the Jags actually were in the game.
They won the game on physicality and they beat them at their own game.
The offensive line probably made the most improvement from game one to game two. Coach Kane Wommack and his staff have played a number of offensive linemen over the first two games. They’re not only gaining game-time reps, they are building depth and experience with those players.
Pair that more talented and experienced offensive line with the running backs that Coach Wommack and his staff have assembled and you have a recipe for winning. Look at where the South Alabama program ranks nationally in time of possession and you can see the direct effects of that. They are second in the nation with an average time of possession of 37:00 per game. You don’t get that kind of time of possession without good offensive line play, efficient running back play, and staying on schedule offensively.
Next up is a trip to the west coast, Los Angeles to be exact, to square off against the UCLA Bruins in the famed Rose Bowl.
UCLA
Chip Kelly is in his fifth season at the helm of the UCLA football program. In that time he has a 20-25 record. His first season started off with five consecutive losses before finishing with a 3-9 record. Then a 4-8 record in 2019, a 3-4 record in the covid shortened 2020 season, then finally an 8-4 record last year however their appearance in the Holiday Bowl would not come to pass as the game was canceled just hours before the game due to Covid protocols within the UCLA program.
Kelly is most notably remembered for this four year stint as Oregon’s head coach from 2009-2012, he went 46-7 during that stretch with an appearance in a BCS bowl game each season, but a loss in the BCS National Championship Game to Auburn in 2011. He was hired as head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL for three seasons (26-21 overall record) and then one season as the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers (2-14).
He is known for his prolific offenses utilizing the hurry up, no huddle with the zone-read option. He was one of the pioneers of this style of offense in FBS football. At it’s core this type of offense uses “zone” blocking up front with the quarterback giving or keeping the ball based on his “read” of the defensive end.
The trouble this offense presented way having to spend most of your defensive game plan on staying ready to stop two plays in one, because they can be used at any point during the game and you have to be prepared at all times. Spending all that time on that scheming would limit the capabilities of putting in pressure plays, which led to very vanilla defenses. When the defenses were too vanilla, they knew where the defenders were going to be and it made the rest of their playbook very dangerous.
What the Chip Kelly offense basically boiled down to was an innovative scheme utilizing speed, both player speed and pace of play, to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes and wear them out.
Now with that long exposition about Kelly over with, we can actually get to UCLA talk.
The Bruins have opened the season with two non-conference games so far. Both have not provided much opposition to them. They have a 45-17 win over Bowling Green and 45-7 win over Alabama State to their credit.
Offense
Through two games the Bruins have rolled up quite a bit of stats on the stats sheet. They have 1,111 total yards of offense, 622 passing yards and 489 rushing yards. They are averaging 555.5 total yards of offense, 311 passing yards and 244.5 rushing yards per game. They have only turned the ball over three times, two interceptions and a lost fumble.
They are converting 50% of their 3rd down attempts (14-of-28) and 66% of their 4th down attempts (2-of-3). They are scoring 83% of the time in the red zone (10-of-12) and are scoring a touchdown 67% of the time (8-of-12).
The Bruins leading passer is Dorian Thompson-Robinson, he is 41-of-54 for 399 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on the season. Ethan Garbers came in against Alabama State when Dorian exited with an injury. On the season Garbers is 17-of-22 for 223 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Allen Kazmeir is the leading receiver with 14 catches, 115 yards and a touchdown. Keegan Jones and Jake Bobo have very similar numbers, both have six catches for 87 and 79 yards respectively but Jones has a touchdown on his resume. There are five other receivers with at least four catches on the season.
Zach Charbonnet leads the ground game with 111 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown, however there’s some mystery around him as he did not play against Alabama State for undisclosed reasons.
Dorian is next with 87 rushing yards on 7 carries with two touchdowns. Garbers only has 7 rushing yards on two carries but both went for touchdowns. Three other backs have touchdowns on the season as well, including Keegan Jones.
After the game, Kelly was very coy about giving any updates on the status of Dorian and Charbonnet. When asked he simply said, “unavailable” in response. He was almost as secretive when asked if Charbonnet would be available to play this Saturday.
In Charbonnet’s absence, true freshman T.J. Harden led them with 56 yards and a touchdown on seven carries against Alabama State.
Defense
The Bruins defense is only allowing 236 total offensive yards, 174 passing yards and 62 rushing yards on average through their first two games under their new defensive coordinator. They have generated four turnovers on the season, two interceptions and recovered two fumbles while forcing five total fumbles.
Opponents are 1-of-2 when in the red zone, and none have been touchdowns.
Kenny Churchwell III leads the team with 10 total tackles, eight of them solo, with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. However Churchwell will have to sit out the first half against the Jags due to a targeting penalty last week. Coach Kelly appealed it but he was denied.
Grayson Murphy and Laiatu Latu both lead the team with two sacks each.
The Hornets found success against the Bruins secondary in the first half. They had open receivers to throw to as they put up 177 yards of offense by the midway mark of the second quarter. That was more offense than Bowling Green managed the entire game the week before.
The Bruins tightened up in the second half with two interceptions and only allowing 46 passing yards after halftime.
Special Teams
UCLA opened the season on very shaky ground in the special teams department. A blocked punt returned for a touchdown to open the scoring. A muffed punt at their 11 yard line led to a chip shot field goal. Kickers missed two of their three field goal attempts.
Nicholas Barr-Mira has punted three times with an average of 33.7 yards per punt, two fair catches and one downed inside the 20. Chase Barry has one punt to his record for 39 yards.
Barr-Mira is 2-of-4 on the season on field goals. His longest is 24 yards.
South Alabama
The Jags came home with another road win against a MAC team to begin the season. Last year they needed a last minute field goal, this time they dominated their opponent from early on.
Road wins have been rare over the last several years. Particularly so when air travel was involved. Since joining as a FBS team the Jags are a mere 10-40 in road games.
The Jags will get another chance at a road win after flying across the country this weekend. This time against a Power 5 opponent.
What stood out about the Jags against Central Michigan was their physicality. They were the more physical team on the field, which says a lot because CMU is known as a very physical team.
Offense
The offensive line got after the Chippewas from the start. They opened running lanes for La’Damian Webb and pass protected well for Carter Bradley the whole game.
The Jags offense is now averaging 505 total yards of offense, 343 passing yards and 162 rushing yards per game through the first two games of the 2022 season.
La’Damian Webb has yet to crack 100 yards in a game, but he has been oh so very close. He’s averaging 94.5 yards per game. He has 38 carries for 189 yards and four touchdowns. One of those was a 30 yarder against the Chippewas last weekend where he was barely touched at the line of scrimmage.
Webb is that typical running back where he seems to never lets the defenders hit his square, they always seem to have to try to bring him down from an angle.
Terrion Avery has added 53 yards on 16 carries as his backup.
Bradley is 43-of-67 for 614 yards and six touchdowns. However he threw his first interception of the season on an under thrown pass in the third quarter.
Jalen Wayne continues his march up the Jaguar history books in career receptions (6th) and receiving yards (6th). He has 13 catches on the season for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Ten of those receptions came against Central Michigan.
Caullin Lacy has 169 receiving yards on 11 catches. Devin Voisin has six catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. True freshman Braylon McReynolds has five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The Jags offense will have to keep up their pace against the Bruins. The Jags enter with the 32nd ranked scoring offense in FBS (43 points per game) but the Bruins are 17th (45 ppg).
Defense
Speaking of rankings, the Jaguar defense ranks 17th in total defense, 38th in scoring defense, 14th in rushing defense, 20th in 3rd down conversion percentage defense, 43rd in 1st down defense in the nation.
The defense is allowing an average of 251.5 total yards of offense, 181.5 passing yards and 70 rushing yards per game. Opposing running backs are rushing for only 2.6 yards per carry on average.
Opponents have only converted 7-of-28 of their 3rd down attempts (25%) and only 1-of-6 of their 4th down attempts.
Quentin Wilfawn’s name has been call quite often this season. He leads the team with 15 total tackles, 11 of them solo, with 1.5 tackles for loss and a qb hurry. Jaden Voisin is the only other Jag with double digit tackles at 11 with five of them solo with two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
AJ DeShazor is the only Jag with an interception so far on the season. James Miller, Wy’Kevious Thomas, and CJ Rias are the only Jags with sacks on the season, they each have one.
Special Teams
Jack Brooks continues to show why he’s on the Ray Guy watch list, he is averaging 42.8 yards per punt with one fair catch, two kicks of over 50 yards and five of his 11 punts have been downed inside the opponents 20.
Diego Guajardo is a perfect 3-for-3 on the season with a long of 48 yards in the field goal department. He has missed on one of his extra point attempts, this past Saturday he had one bang against the right upright, then hit the left upright before bouncing back into the field of play.
Caullin Lacy has 5 punt returns for 56 yards, an average of 11.2 yards per punt return, his longest was 38 yards against Nicholls to open the season.
The only notable change in the depth chart for this week is that Omni Wells has moved to the kick returner over McReynolds. However McReynolds continues to be the backup for both kick and punt return specialists.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Line Play
The Jags offensive line has played well. The first two weeks of the season they have been physical and controlled the line of scrimmage. They’ve been the driving force to allow the offense to roll up over 500 yards of offense the first two games of the season.
This week is another step up in competition.
UCLA is a Power 5 school in the PAC 12. Across their four man defensive front, they average 281.75 lbs per player. While the Jaguar offensive line is bigger on average across the line, their advantage is less than it was last week against Central Michigan.
If they play like they have been the last two week, the Jags offense will have a chance to match the prolific scoring that UCLA has put up the first two weeks of the season.
Sound Defense
When we discussed UCLA and Chip Kelly’s offense, we laid out how his offensive scheme takes advantage of the defense. While from 2009-2012 when he was at Oregon, it was new and caught lots of teams off guard. Now that the same scheme he helped pioneer at Oregon is in more widespread by lots of teams nationwide, defenses are more prepared for it in general.
But even then, Kelly isn’t using the same scheme he ran at Oregon either. He’s not running the all-gas, no brake style. He will utilize the hurry up, no huddle at opportune times but it’s not their over arching style.
What UCLA has going for them is their clout to recruit bigger and better talent. But as we saw last week across the college football landscape, the big teams don’t always win against those Group of 5 guys. Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Nebraska all fell to Sun Belt teams last weekend.
Either way, the Jags defense needs to stick to their fundamentals and not fall for “eye candy”. If the defense plays fundamentally sound and gives the offense a ball with good field position and generates some turnovers, the Jags have a chance.
Penalties & Turnovers
With an average of 90 yards per game of penalty yards, the Jags really need to clean that up to play with a Power 5 school. Especially when those penalties set you back on offense or extend opponents drives on defense.
Both sides of the ball want to stay ahead of the down and distance.
I don’t want to jinx the team. Through two games the offense has only turned the ball over once. But what I’d like to see is the defense generating some more turnovers. Last season we generated 15 interceptions and recovered 10 fumbles. This week would be a very opportune time to start that trend again.
Prediction
It’s going to be a bit more difficult for South Alabama to sneak up on UCLA after the shockwaves sent out last weekend by fellow Sun Belt Conference members. Big shout outs to Appalachian State, Marshall, and Georgia Southern.
The Jags will still treat it as a business trip and UCLA may be more focused in than what they could have been. But maybe they’ll think its just round two against Alabama State and that will catch them off guard.
The spread has been steady all week favoring the Bruins by 15.5 points with an over/under of 60.5 points. I actually like what Odds Shark has, they believe the game will be under and the Jags will cover. They predict a 29-26 Bruins win.
I’ll also take the Jags to cover the spread but I feel the Bruins are going to pull this one out much to my disdain, 28-24.
USA is holding a free game watch party at the Mitchell Center with concessions available from 12pm – 6pm. Also the Alumni are having a watch party at Nexus Cinema Dining, tickets are required for that one.
Go Jags!
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.
Preview: South Alabama Host Nicholls State In Season Opener
Kickoff: Friday September 3, 4:00pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium – Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Keith Gallmon
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
Game one of the 2022 season is finally here. The time has come for me to dust off my notepad and get back to writing again. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write, or that I didn’t have ideas, but it’s just been a busy off-season for this member of the Thunderjags crew. So kick back and read through this rather lengthy preview. Because not only do I preview Nicholls State (I know they prefer to drop the “State” from their preferred reference, but that’s the name of your school), but basically introduce you to the fresh new faces that help to comprise the 2022 Jaguar football team. In an age where it’s encouraged to include a few photos, maybe a couple videos, an instagram reel or two, and the obligatory tiktok video, you the faithful Thunderjags reader will be treated to almost three thousand words of South Alabama football.
The Season Is Here
After a spirited 2021 season under first year head coach Kane Wommack, the Jaguar fans are looking forward to what the 2022 season has to offer. Last year was a marked improvement over the last few seasons.
It’s hard to point to last season and say there were disappointments.
The team improved their record to 5-7, the most by a South Alabama team since 2016. They had several opportunities throughout the season to win games but just came up on the short end of the scoreboard. A missed field goal in the waning minutes of the Ragin’ Cajun game. A four-overtime loss at Texas State. Then an overtime loss to Coastal Carolina in the season finale. The Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State games were decided by two points each. A seven point loss to Troy, which also an illegal hit on Jake Bentley that injured him and the team for the rest of the season, then a six point loss to Coastal Carolina (where Bentley returned but clearly wasn’t fully healthy) demonstrates how the Jags have closed the gap against some of the Sun Belt Conference foes.
I guess the feeling of having bowl eligibility within your control and not being able to grasp it can be a little disappointing, even if nagging injuries contributed to it. But the returning Jaguars have instead channeled that into motivation.
“Our best days are ahead of us,” is one mantra you will hear Coach Wommack say from time to time.
Season two of Coach Wommack’s tenure will start to display results on Saturday. The 2022 season really got into full gear after the final whistle of the Coastal Carolina game in 2021. He and his staff have put lots of hard work into what the program will be in 2022 and the next few years through recruiting, spring practice and preseason camp.
The staff had some great talent leave the program through graduation. A few of the most notable departures from the 2021 team are Jalen Tolbert, Jake Bentley, Tre Young, Devin Rockette, Chris Henderson, Kareem Walker, Jamal Brooks, Shawn Jennings, Christian Bell, and Ja’Chai Baker. The Jaguar staff brought in new faces to help fill those positions and to further bolster the roster in positions of need.
A mixture of true freshmen, junior college transfers, and players from the transfer portal joined the program this year. Carter Bradley, who was named the starting quarterback, transferred from Toledo.
DaMarcus Thomas (tight end), Jalen Jordan (cornerback), and Jamar Richardson (wide receiver) all transferred in from Ole Miss. Dontae Lucas, an offensive lineman, transferred from Florida State and will also start. James Miller, an inside linebacker, rejoins coach Wommack from Indiana to play for him again as a starter. Marvin Martin, a safety, transferred in from Kansas State and will start in place of the injured Keith Gallmon who was lost for the season due to a torn pectoral muscle requiring surgery. PJ Dixon, offensive lineman, from Jacksonville State will start. They also added Jacob Meeks, a placekicker, from Texas Tech.
The running back position has had an almost complete makeover. Terrion Avery and Bryan Hill are the only returners in the Jaguar backfield. They added La’Damian Webb from Jones (Miss.) College, Omni Wells from Mississippi State, and Marco Lee from Virginia Tech.
There were some surprises when the two-deep roster was released for the first game of the season. Webb will start at running back, Jalen Jordan will start over CJ Thompson, though Thompson took the majority of reps throughout the spring and preseason camp with the first-string. Former walk-on Reggie Smith will start at right guard with Anterrious Gray, who started at the same position last season, being listed as second-string at left guard. Diego Guajardo remains the starting placekicker, however Jacob Meeks will handle kickoff duties.
Nicholls
Nicholls State is an FCS team that the Jags have hosted three times previously, all Jaguar victories. However, the last time they visited Mobile they took USA to overtime before the home team could prevail 41-40.
The Colonels finished the 2021 season with a 6-5 record overall and a 5-3 record in conference play. They earned a 45-42 win over #15 ranked Southeastern Louisiana to cap off the season. Also, earlier in the season, they put some pressure on Louisiana-Lafayette however the Ragin’ Cajuns were able to eek out a 27-24 win.
Head coach Tim Rebowe has lead the Colonels to five consecutive winning seasons, which is a first in program history. They also made three consecutive appearances in the FCS playoffs from 2017-2019. In 2018, the led the Colonels to their fourth FBS win, and their first over a power 5 team, when they defeated Kansas.
Offense
Nicholls State returns one of their more explosive players this year. Julien Gums was named to the Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Watch List for his senior season. Over his career he has rushed for over 2,500 yards and 32 touchdowns. His 2021 season was cut short due to an injury in their second game. But he opened the season with a 139 yard, 19 carry performance against North Alabama, then had 105 yards on just six carries in the first quarter against Houston Baptist before his season ended unexpectedly. He is 1023 yards short of breaking the all-time rushing record and 3 touchdowns to break the all-time record for rushing touchdowns for the Colonels.
Colin Guggenheim also returns to the Colonels backfield. He rushed for 930 yards on 145 carries, to average 6.4 yards per carry, with 10 touchdowns. He finished the season with five consecutive 100-yard rushing performances while setting the schools single-season rushing record with 103.3 yards per game average. That includes three games where he had no carries, one single carry, and one game with only seven carries.
Offensively the Colonels had five players selected to the first-team All-Southland Conference preseason team, Guggenheim, tight end Lee Negrotto, receiver K.J. Franklin, center Evan Roussel, and placekicker Gavin Lesseigne. They also had two players named to the second team, quarterback Kohen Granier and offensive tackle Mark Barthelemy.
Franklin, a 5’9” junior receiver, enters the 2022 season 10th on the all-time receiving yardage list with 1,277 on 96 catches. He was the starting slot receiver and the primary punt returner.
Negrotto, a 6’3” 225lb sophomore tight end, finished his freshman season as a second-team member of the All-Southland Conference team. He was the primary receiving tight end and finished fourth on the team with 235 yards on 20 catches and had at least one catch in nine games in the fall.
Lasseigne, a junior placekicker, enters the season 12th on the all-time scoring list and is five extra points away from setting the all-time record. He also finished the 2021 season on the All-Southland Conference Second-Team after ranking 4th in the conference in scoring and leading the league with 11 field goals on 13 attempts. He make all three attempts in the season finale, including a career long 45-yarder in the win. He was also 46-of-47 for PATs on the season.
Granier, a senior, served as backup quarterback before starting the final two games of the 2021 season, but played in a total of eight games. He was 46-of-84 for 616 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. With Franklin, he has two other pass catchers returning who have caught 15 or more passes last season.
The Colonels averaged 33.4 points, 493.2 yards of total offense, 246.5 passing yards, and 246.7 rushing yards last season.
Defense
The Colonel defense only had one preseason All-Southland Conference first-team selection in defensive lineman Perry Ganci. Linebacker Hayden Shaheen and defensive back Jordan Jackson were second-team selections.
Ganci, a 6’2” 260lb junior, finished his sophomore season fifth in the conference with 9.5 tackles for loss and tying for fourth in sacks with 6. For the season he had 34 total tackles, 24 solo, with a season high of seven against North Alabama with 3 TFL’s and 2 sacks. He was named to the All-Southland First Team, All-Louisiana Second Team, and Southland All-Academic teams.
Shaheen, a 6’ 215lb sophomore, started all 11 games last season and finished second on the team with 56 total tackles, 36 solo, and 6.5 for loss (13th in the conference), with a fumble recovery and an interception. He finished the season with selections to the All-Southland Second Team, and Phil Steele FCS Freshman All-America Third Team.
Jackson, a 5’10” 170lb junior, played in all 11 games last season with 25 tackles (23 solo) with a career high five against Southeastern. He had two pass breakups and one interception, that he returned for a 44 yard touchdown.
The defensive unit allowed an average of 28.6 points, 385.9 total offensive yards, 246.4 passing yards and 139.5 rushing yards per game last season.
Special Teams
As mentioned previously, Lasseigne was 11-of-13 on field goals and 46-of-47 on PATs last season. Though his career longest kick is 45 yards, he was 3-for-3 from 40-49 yards out and 2-for-2 from 30-39 yards out.
Punter Craig Walker, a junior, averaged 38.1 yards per punt. In his 33 kicks last season he had 14 fair catches, 10 downed inside the 20 and one kick of 50+ yards.
Walker handled 67 of the 70 kickoffs with 15 touchbacks but he also had 5 kicks go out of bounds. Lasseigne appears to only handle onsides kicks.
USA
Offense
Beginning with the offensive line, the Jags have lots of new faces slated to start for the Jags, with three of the five listed at over 300lbs. James Jackson, who started 7 of the eight games he appeared is back at center. Trey Simpson, who started all 12 games last season in multiple positions on the offensive line, is listed as the 2nd string center.
Antawn Lewis, who started in all 11 games he appeared in, is slated to start at right tackle with Josh McCulloch, who started in one game and appeared in four, as his backup.
PJ Mixon (left tackle, Jacksonville State), Dontae Lucas (left guard and Florida State) are all newcomers to the program. Reggie Smith (right guard, walk-on) only previously saw action on field goal and PATs in 2020 and played in three games on the offensive line in 2021.
Anterrious Gray played in 11 contests, starting 10 of them last year, is listed as the second-string left guard. True freshman Adrien Strickland is listed as the second-string left tackle to start the season.
Moving out from the offensive line, the Jags have two sets of tight ends listed. Lincoln Sefcik is listed as one starter with DJ Thomas-Jones as his backup. They tend to be more of the big, pass catching type of tight ends the Jags have had success with over the years. Brandon Crum is listed as the starter with Jacob Hopper as his backup on the other list. They tend to be more of the blocking type of tight ends that came to be part of the offense over the Campbell era.
Sefcik earned third-team all-Sun Belt Conference, second-team all-league by Pro Football Network, and third-team all-conference by Phil Steele, and honorable mention all-SBC from Pro Football Focus last season. He caught 32 passes for 218 yards and five touchdowns to lead his position group in all three categories. He ranked in the top 10 in the conference in total touchdown catches by a tight end and had the most since Gerald Everett’s eight in 2015.
Crum caught nine passes for 95 yards and a touchdown. He saw action in 10 games, with four consecutive starts in October. He posted a career high three catches and 31 yards against Arkansas State with his lone touchdown.
The starting receiver are Jalen Wayne at the X and Devin Voisin at the Z receiver positions and Caullin Lacy at the H, or as some will call the slot receiver. Wayne was honored with a number of accolades in 2021, honorable mention all-Sun Belt Conference selection, second-team all-SBC from Pro Football Network, fourth-team all-conference by Phil Steele Publications. Last season he had 53 catches for 630 yards and two touchdowns. The sixth-year “super senior” will look to make his name as the Jags #1 receiver this season. Voisin played in four games last season but did not record a catch. Lacy played in 11 games last season, he started six of them including the first two games of the season, he caught 41 passes for 291 yards and added 26 yards rushing on 10 carries.
La’Damian Webb beat out Terrion Avery as the starting running back on the depth chart. Webb had been healing some injuries in the spring and preseason camp but looks to be ready to go now. Webb rushed 221 times for 1,399 yards and 14 touchdowns. He averaged over six yards per carry and just under 140 yards per game and just over six yards per carry.
Carter Bradley was named the starting quarterback over Desmond Trotter. Bradley spent the previous four seasons with the Toledo Rockets. In 2021 he played in eight games as they posted a 7-5 record. He went 77-of-130 for 972 yards and four touchdowns. He went 18-of-28 for 221 yards and a touchdown against #7 Notre Dame in a three point loss.
The Jaguar offense only averaged 24.9 points per game last season, something the staff look to improve upon this season. In doing so they averaged 367.4 total yards, 256 passing yards, and 111.4 rushing yards per game.
Defense
Similarly, the Jaguar defense returns several from last year.
Starting up front, Jamie Sheriff is back from injury and starting at Bandit end with Brock Higdon as his backup. Nose guard Wy’kevious Thomas , who started all 12 games last year, is also back as a starter with Brock Higdon as his backup. Charles Coleman, who started nine of the 12 games last season, is set to start at defensive tackle this season with Ed Smith listed as his backup.
At Wolf linebacker CJ Rias is starting with DK Bonhomme or Lamondre Brooks listed as backups. Rias played in 11 games last season. Transfer James Miller is starting at Mike linebacker with Ke’Shun Brown listed as backup. Quentin Wilfawn is starting at Stinger linebacker with Trey Kiser listed as backup.
Husky (nickel) safety is Yam Banks with Tremel States-Jones listed as backup. Jamar Richardson is starting field corner with Ricky Fletcher as backup. Darrell Luter is the starting Boundary corner with Marquise Robinson as his backup. Transfer Jalen Jordan is starting at Rover with CJ Thompson as his backup. Transfer Marvin Martin is starting at Free safety in place of the injured Keith Gallmon, with Jaden Voisin listed as backup.
The defense allowed an average of 26.4 points per game, which included the 60 points that Tennessee put up on the Jags in Knoxville. That breaks down to 354.7 total yards, 208.4 passing yards, and 146.3 rushing yards per game on average.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo and Jack Brooks return at the starting placekicker and punter. Transfer Jacob Meeks will handle kickoff duties over Diego this year.
Caullin Lacy and true freshman Braylon McReynolds are listed as the kick returners for the Jags.
Keys to the game
Control the game
The Jags need to come out and take control of the game from the opening kickoff until the final whistle. They need to prove that they are an FBS team playing against an FCS team.
The Colonels under coach Rebowe have played FBS teams very tough. They defeated Kansas a few years ago, they put a scare into Louisiana-Lafayette and defeated #15 Southeastern Louisiana in the season finale.
Stop the Run
Nicholls State have two talented running backs on their roster and they will look to use them. It’ll be up to the defensive front to keep them contained. Their offense is very balanced, but if they can take away two of their big playmakers at running back then the Jags can upset their offensive balance and get them off their rhythm.
Establish the Run
Last season the Jags did not particularly run the ball well. With an average of 111.4 yards per game over the season, it’s pretty obvious. With a new running back room, the Jags intend to change that. Nicholls will be a good test to see how well they do behind a rebuilt offensive line.
Prediction
Nicholls State is a good FCS team that South Alabama should defeat. Should. But the last two meetings between the two schools have been much closer than anticipated and for comfort. Going to overtime in 2016 and needing to stop a game-winning two-point conversion attempt twice was anything but comfortable.
They have risen to the occasion when facing FBS and strong FCS opponents. They would like nothing else but to start the 2022 season with an upset win over an FBS team. Let them get that next Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe if they want it so bad.
I think the Jags will play this game close to their vest and try not to show a lot on film for Central Michigan and UCLA to see in preparation.
Vegas Insider has South Alabama favored by 10 points. I think the final score will be a little closer. I’m thinking 34-27.
If you made it all the way through, I hope you enjoyed this read. I’ll make sure to be more concise going forward. You can blame my editor.
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Hosts Coastal Carolina For Regular Season Finale With Bowl-Eligibility On The Line
Kickoff: Friday November 26, 2:30pm
Venue: Hancock Whitney Stadium – Mobile, AL
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Chris Henderson
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
It’s down to a one game season for the South Alabama Jaguar football team.
After dropping the last three games, all on the road, the Jags (5-6, 2-5 SBC) have one final shot to get bowl-eligible this season. The last time the program was bowl eligible and went to a bowl game was 2016.
Last weeks trip to Knoxville did not go as hoped. Tennessee used their athletic advantage and had their way with South Alabama from the opening kick. The Vols cruised to a 60-14 win to earn bowl eligibility themselves.
To even be talking about bowl eligibility in year 1 under head coach Kane Wommack is something fans should be celebrating. The last three seasons the Jags compiled only 9 wins and were no where near bowl eligibility.
Much less above .500 at any point either.
A meteoric 3-0 start to the season slowly came back to earth as the schedule progressively got more difficult. Combine the schedule difficulty with the number of injuries the Jags have suffered and you can see why some celebration is warranted.
Coastal Carolina
The Chanticleers (9-2, 5-2 SBC) were one of the 2020 darling teams. They finished undefeated in the regular season and ranked 9th in the nation however their scheduled game against then #17 Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference Championship had to be cancelled due to positive Covid-19 tests and contact tracing within the program.
They fell in over time to #23 Liberty 37-34 in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl.
The Chants lost to Appalachian State in Boone, NC 30-27. Then after losing their starting quarterback, they lost to Georgia State 42-40 and will miss earning consecutive Sun Belt Conference East Division Championships.
Last week their quarterback and 2020 SBC Player of the Year Grayson McCall returned to field and picked up where he left off. McCall threw for 319 yards and five touchdowns in their 35-21 win over Texas State.
Offense
The Chanticleer offense is best described as a spread option or a speed option but they also use triple option plays too.
As you’ll see by the stats, they run their offense very well.
For the season they are averaging 41.6 points, 493.3 total offensive yards, 223.6 rushing yards, and 269.6 passing yards per game.
They are converting 70-of-124 (56%) of their 3rd down attempts and 7-of-9 (78%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
They’ve scored on 39 of their 44 red zone trips, of those 39 scores, and incredible 36 of them have been touchdowns.
Their quarterbacks have been sacked only 16 times this season.
McCall is 138-of-186 (74.2%) on the season with 2.382 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and only two interceptions in 9 games played. Bryce Carpenter, who started in place of McCall in two games, is 41-of-69 for 483 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
Jaivon Heiligh is the teams leading receiver with 53 catches for 947 yards and six touchdowns. Isaiah Likely has 49 catches for 795 yards and 10 touchdowns. Kameron Brown has caught 30 passes for 533 yards and five touchdowns. Braydon Bennett is the last receiver with either double-digit catches or in triple digits in receiving yards, he has 19 catches for 246 yards and one touchdown.
Shermari Jones leads the Chanticleer rushing attack with 128 carries for 777 yards and 12 touchdowns. Reese White has 71 carries for 516 yards and seven touchdowns. Bennett adds 62 carries for 485 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Carpenter adds 215 rushing yards on 53 carries with two touchdowns. McCall rounds out the triple-digit yardage club with 191 yards on 67 carries with three touchdowns.
Defense
The Chanticleer defense is fairly stingy.
They allow an average of 19.9 points, 322.6 total offensive yards, 176.3 passing yards and 146.4 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are only converting 53-of-145 (37%) of their 3rd down attempts and 8-of-20 (40%) of their 4th down attempts.
They have 26 sacks and 69 tackles for loss on the season.
Opponents have reached the red zone 29 times and came away with points 23 of them with 19 of those scores being touchdowns.
Silas Kelly leads the team with 88 total stops, 35 solo with 7 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. The next closest is Teddy Gallagher with 67 stops, 30 solo with 7 TFLs and 2 sacks.
Josaiah Stewart leads the team in both tackles for loss with 12 and sacks with 10. They have three players with one interception each. They’ve recovered six fumbles on the season too.
Special Teams
Biscardi Massimo is 5-of-6 in field goal attempts with his longest being 50 yards and is a perfect 40-of-40 in extra points. Liam Gray is 12-of-13 on extra points and has made one of this two field goal attempts on the season with it being a 46 yard kick. Kieran Colahan is 7-of-7 on extra points and made a 39 yard field goal, the only attempt of the season.
Charles Ouverson has punted 34 times on the season with an average of 37.85 yards per kick with 13 fair catches, 11 downed inside the 20 and one kick traveling over 50 yards.
South Alabama
Since the injury to quarterback Jake Bentley the offense has struggled.
Desmond Trotter took a couple series to settle in after taking over against Troy. His comeback attempt fell one score short unfortunately.
But in the two game he has started for the Jags they have scored a grand total of 21 points.
But injuries to the offensive line and a number of defensive players have really piled up and taken their toll.
Offense
For the season now the Jags are averaging 25.3 points, 369.1 total offensive yards, 247.1 rushing yards, and 122 rushing yards per game.
The 3rd down conversion rate has fallen to 51-of-163 (31%) while their 4th down conversion rate is now 26-of-41 (63%).
The Jags red zone efficiency had dropped some. They’ve had the ball in the red zone 45 times and come away with points on 34 of those trips (76%) and 29 times they have been touchdowns (64%).
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 25 times. They’ve had eight passes intercepted and 9 fumbles lost.
Trotter is 61-of-104 (58.7%) for 596 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Prior to his injury, Bentley was 184-of-262 for 2,122 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert got to showcase his skills on national television with an impressive one-handed catch against the Volunteers and fresh off of accepting an invitation to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl. He leads the team with 72 catches for 1,283 yards with seven touchdowns (including the 68 yard touchdown against Tennessee).
Jalen Wayne has 44 catches for 519 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 38 catches for 273 yards. Lincoln Sefcik has 29 catches for 205 yards and four touchdowns.
Terrion Avery continues to lead the running back corps with 497 yards on 132 carries with one touchdown. Bryan Hill has 85 carries for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Kareem Walker has 286 yards on 77 carries with four touchdowns.
Defense
The defense was picked apart last Saturday in Knoxville. The big Tennessee offensive line and the breakneck speed at which the offense operates just keep the Jags on their heels.
As of now the Jags defense is allowing an average of 26.4 points, 342.3 total offensive yards, 211.4 passing yards, and 130.9 rushing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 52-of-150 (35%) of their 3rd down attempts and 12-of-20 (60%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents red zone efficiency now stands at 29-of-39 (74%) for red zone scoring and 22-of-39 (56%) for red zone touchdowns.
The Jags have sacked opposing quarterbacks 27 times and they have 62 total tackles for loss. They have collected 14 interceptions and recovered 8 fumbles.
Keith Gallmon now leads the team in total stops with 51, 31 of them solo, with an interceptions and a fumble recovery. He’s also ran the ball twice on two fake punts and have converted both of them into first downs.
AJ DeShazor is right behind him with 50 total stops, 24 solo, with two tackles for loss and 1/2 sack.
Wy’Kevious Thomas and Jamal Brooks continue to lead the team with 5.5 tackles for loss each. Charles Coleman and CJ Rias share the team lead with 3 sacks each. Darrell Luter leads the team with four interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made both of this extra point attempts to run his season record to 32-of-34. He’s also still 10-of-15 on his field goal attempts, but he didn’t attempt any against Tennessee.
Jack Brooks is averaging 42.5 yards per kick over this 51 punts. He’s had 16 fair caught, 13 downed inside the 20 and 12 have gone 50+ yards with his longest traveling 54 yards.
Keys to the Game
Offensive Line Play
The last two weeks the offensive line has gone up against some strong defenses and had problems. Against App State losing Anterrious Gray from an already thin position group didn’t help. The incident that led to Gray being disqualified from the game was inexcusable, but when a player swings at another player it is now in the hands of the officials.
Tennessee also had their way with the Jags offense for most of the night.
In order to win they’ll need to play at the level they’re capable of and the level they’ve shown earlier in the season.
Defensive Discipline
Coastal Carolina executes their offense very efficiently. Their offensive scheme gives defenses problems every week.
Defensive coordinator Corey Batoon faced the Chanticleers just last season with Liberty. That recent experience will definitely aid in preparing for them.
The Jags defense bottled up the usually potent Georgia Southern option offense. However Georgia Southern was not nearly as prolific through the air as the Chanticleers.
The defenders will have to stick to their assignments and fill their gaps. When the Chants get opponents out of position they are quick to take advantage.
Seizing an Opportunity
Only two people on the roster has ever been a part of a bowl game at South Alabama. One is head coach Kane Wommack, who was defensive coordinator in 2016.
The other is Chris Henderson, who was a freshman at the time. He’s a “super” senior, what they call a 6th year senior with the additional eligibility to play afforded to them due to Covid-19.
Chris’ father Terry is a huge supporter of his son and South Alabama. He’s a prolific tweeter and a master of choosing the perfect gif response. Read this article about Chris and Terry. (Jag Nation needs more Terry’s!)
There are other players who may be suiting up for the final time in a South Alabama Jaguar uniform.
But they have a chance to earn a shot at one more game.
With a win they would put the Jaguars in the category of bowl-eligible teams. While not a guarantee they will receive an invite, but without a 6th win it’s a certainty they won’t.
The Jags defeated the Chanticleers in Mobile in 2018 then lost last season in Conway, SC. A win and a bowl invite would give the team a chance at the first bowl win in program history. And a chance at the first winning record since joining the ranks of FBS.
Prediction
The Jags are a 14.5 point underdog at home against Coastal Carolina.
Head coach Kane Wommack did not rule out any chance of Jake Bentley being able to play. He did warm up with the quarterbacks in Tennessee. Was all that some coaching game to make your opponent have to prepare for two quarterbacks?
I believe the coaches and players will be ready. They’ve played road games the last three weeks, it’s senior day, and if you didn’t know they could get bowl eligible.
I believe the Jags not only cover but they win outright and get bowl eligible. They get the upset and they get a chance at a bowl invite.
Encourage your friends and family to come out to Hancock Whitney Stadium. The Jags need the fans in the stands. They need to be loud when the Chanticleers are on offense. Hancock Whitney needs to be rocking Friday afternoon!
Go Jags!
Preview: South Alabama Travels To Rocky Top To Face The Tennessee Volunteers
Kickoff: Saturday November 20, 6:30pm
Venue: Neyland Stadium – Knoxville, TN
TV/Streaming: ESPNU
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey: Wy’Kevious “Bubba” Thomas
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
The South Alabama Jaguars may have lost to Appalachian State 31-7 but the final score did not show how close the game actually was. But there’s no consolation for that.
The Jags (5-5, 2-5 SBC) have found a more difficult time after starting the season 3-0. But they’ve also had a laundry list of injuries this season. One position that’s been hit particularly hard has been the offensive line.
Center James Jackson returned after missing four games with a knee injury but left a few plays after returning. Hadon Merchant and Josh McColloch have both been sideline with injuries lately. Then Anterrious Gray was ejected for a flagrant foul after an App State player reportedly spit in his face and used “racially charged” language.
Walk-on Reggie Smith filled in for Gray at right guard. The offense only managed 58 rushing yards on 33 carries against the Mountaineer defense.
The ‘Swarm D’ defense forced three turnovers and picked up another one on special teams. However the offense could not convert any of those opportunities into points on the scoreboard.
App State forced the Jags into two turnovers and converted both into points. The final one was a 100 yard interception return of a tipped pass for a touchdown.
Head coach Kane Wommack chose to keep the offense on the field on a 4th and 3 at the App State 5 yard line. They failed to convert and the Mountaineer actually drove down the field and a field goal to go up 17-7.
They attempted to convert five 4th down attempts in the game and converted two of them. On Monday’s radio show Coach Wommack said that their thoughts going into the game was that they were on the road against a good team and needed big plays. He also said they needed to score touchdowns to win, not field goals.
Diego Guajardo missed his fifth field goal of the season. However the snap was high and to the opposite side of the holder. The ball was placed on the left hashmark and the kick ended up hitting the left upright.
The Jaguars are now onto their next game. They now travel Tennessee to face them for the first time since the 2013 near upset.
Tennessee
Tennessee (5-5, 3-4 SEC) is under the direction of first year head coach Josh Heupel. He took over a team that finished 3-7 last season and a program which has struggled with more downs than ups for the last several years.
Last Saturday they hosted #1 Georgia and played them tough for part of the game. However the Bulldogs eventually separated themselves from the Volunteers, 41-17.
Offense
When Heupel came in he immediately implemented his style of offense. The simple way to describe his offense is that it’s similar to the Baylor offense from the early 2010’s or Arkansas State in the mid to late 2010’s.
It begins with a quick diagnosis of pre-snap positioning then is executed with a power run game inside or one-on-one vertical shots outside.
When a defense shows them a single-high safety, it tends to mean they are going to have access to a vertical shot on the outside down the sideline.
When a defense shows them a two-high safety look then the slot receiver is the one playing in space.
At UCF, when they faced off against one-high safety they threw the ball 63% of the time.
It’s the quarterbacks job to keep the safety in the middle of the field using his eyes or via play action then throws down the sideline with receivers running vertical option routes.
The vertical option route for the receiver is if they are at least even with the defender so many yards down the field, then they will stay on the vertical route, but if they can’t beat their defender off the snap or by so many yards downfield they will choke it down and hook.
They are simple reads for the quarterback with a reliance on downfield shots, high screen pass usage, and a high RPO rate which means there’s not much for the quarterback to mess up.
Basically they take young quarterbacks and make them into repetitive, robot-like players. Why would they do that? Because they produce explosive offenses and explosive offenses win games.
The Volunteer offense averages 36.1 points, 450.6 total yards of offense, 200.9 rushing yards, and 249.7 passing yards per game.
They are converting 63-of-139 (45.3%) 3rd down attempts and 10-of-21 (47.6%) of their 4th down attempts.
Out of 41 total trips into opponents red zone they have scored 35 times. Of those 35 scores, 27 of them have been touchdowns.
They have 11 turnovers on the season, eight of them have been fumbles and they have only three interceptions on the season.
Tiyon Evans is the teams leading rusher with 525 yards on 81 carries with six touchdowns in seven games played. Quarterback Hendon Hooker is next with 465 yards on 130 attempts with four touchdowns. Jabari Small has 436 yards on 88 carries for four touchdowns in eight games played.
Hooker is 153-of-223 for 2,138 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions on the season.
Cedric Tillman is the teams leading receiver with 46 catches for 725 yards and six touchdowns. Velus Jones Jr is next with 597 yards on 44 catches with six touchdowns. JaVonta Payton has 373 yards on 15 catches for six touchdowns.
The offense prides itself on quick strikes so their time of possession isn’t very good with 24:23 to the opponents 35:37 average time of possession.
Defense
Tennessee runs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme, which is gaining prevalence in college football these days.
Tim Banks is the defensive coordinator. He spent the previous five seasons as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Penn State.
On average the Volunteer defense allows 29.5 points, 424.9 total yards of offense, 165.4 rushing yards, and 259.5 passing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 80-of-167 (47.9%) of their 3rd down attempts and 9-of-20 (45%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
The defense has allowed opponents in the red zone 39 times this season and they have come away with points on 37 of those trips. Out of those 37 scores, 31 of them have been touchdowns.
The defense has forced 12 turnovers on the season, nine of them have been interceptions while the other three were fumbles.
Jeremy Banks leads the Vols with 89 total stops, 44 of them solo, with 9 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and an interception.
Byron Young leads the team with 8 tackles for loss and is co-leader with Jeremy Banks with 4.5 sacks.
Jaylen McCullough has the team lead with 3 interceptions.
Special Teams
Chase McGrath has made all 46 of his extra point attempts. He is 10-of-13 in field goal attempts with a long of 48 yards.
Paxton Brooks had punted 36 times and is averaging 44.8 yards per punt with three touchbacks, 23 have been fair caught, 13 downed inside the 20, 11 have gone 50+ yard with a long punt of 64 yards.
South Alabama
Offense
The Jags offense is averaging 26.4 points, 377.5 total yards of offense, 127.3 rushing yards, and 250.2 passing yards per game.
They are converting 50-of-147 (34%) of their 3rd down attempts and 21-of-33 (64%) of their 4th down attempts on the season.
Out of 42 red zone trips they have scored on 33 of them with 28 of those being touchdowns.
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 21 times on the season. Defenses have forced 17 turnovers, eight of them being interceptions and nine of them fumbles.
Terrion Avery leads the running attack with 498 yards on 129 carries with a touchdown. Bryan Hill has 308 yards on 75 carries with three touchdowns in eight games. Kareem Walker has 257 yards on 70 carries with four touchdowns in only six games.
Desmond Trotter is 42-of-72 for 380 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s playing in place of Jake Bentley who suffered a partially torn MCL against Troy a couple weeks ago.
However Bentley was seen dressed and going through some workouts earlier in the week. While it’s still a long shot that he could play at Tennessee (he is 3-0 in his career against the Vols) it’s more likely he would see the field against Coastal Carolina for the regular season finale.
Jalen Tolbert leads the receiving corps with 65 catches for 1,140 yards and six touchdowns. Jalen Wayne has 42 catches for 464 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 36 catches for 274 yards. Lincoln Sefcik has 27 catches for 200 yards and three touchdowns.
They are winning the time of possession 32:22 to 27:38.
Defense
The Jaguar defense is allowing an average of 23 points, 320.4 total yards of offense, 119 rushing yards and 201.4 passing yards per game.
Opponents are converting 44-of-139 (32%) of their 3rd down attempts and 12-of-19 (63%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opponents have been in the red zone 34 times on the season and came away with points only 24 times. Of those 24 scores, 17 have been touchdowns.
The Jags defense has 24 sacks on the season. They’ve forced 22 turnovers on the season with 14 of them being interceptions and eight being fumbles.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made his only extra point attempt against App State to make his season 30-of-32. However he missed a 40 yard field goal attempt to drop his season to 10-of-15.
Jack Brooks has punted 45 times on the season with an average 42.8 yards per punt with a long of 54 yards. He’s had 15 kicks fair caught, 11 downed inside the 20 and 11 have gone 50+ yards.
Keys to the Game
Play Keep Away
Control the time of possession and shorten the game by limiting Tennessee’s possession of the ball. When the offense has the ball they need to put together long, time consuming drives like the 19 play, 9+ minute drive they had against Troy. The offense cannot score if they don’t possess the ball.
Put points on the Board
After putting together long, time consuming drive you have to put points on the board. Preferably touchdowns but you have to come away with points.
No matter how good the defense is playing, there’s a high likelihood that the Vol offense is going to strike at some point so you’ve got to put points on the board.
If you can get and maintain a lead then you can quiet down Neyland Stadium, which can be quite loud.
Don’t let receivers get behind the secondary
The defense has to keep the receivers in front of them. If they get behind the secondary they’re going to put the ball up toward the sidelines.
If they do hit on a long pass, they are going to go full-speed, up-tempo. Tennessee is definitely one of the most up-tempo offenses I’ve seen. That’s not to say they won’t go up-tempo any other time, but they really like to do that after a big play. They try to either hit it again or just take advantage of the defense as they try to recover from allowing a big play.
Fans going to the game: Watch out for Mustard Bottles
See the final few minutes of the Ole Miss game. Thankfully we don’t have Lane Kiffin on staff.
Prediction
This is going to be a tough game. The offensive line is banged up and very thin. The defense may be without a couple of players too.
SEC schools usually have some of the first choices in college recruiting. But any team can win on any given day. Just like the Jags did in 2016 at Mississippi State and had an opportunity against UT in 2013.
The Jags could use this game for bowl eligibility. But a win would do much more than that for the program. It would help in recruiting foremost.
The Jags are a 28.5 point underdog when they take the field in Knoxville. It’s hard to know how the game could turn out.
Do the Jags fall behind early and Tennessee just piles on the points after the loss to Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss losses in the last four weeks? Does the Swarm D come out and cause havoc from the beginning and help keep the game close? Do we see Jake Bentley play?
As much as I hate it, I think the Jags fall to below .500 this week. But I hope they cover the spread on Tennessee. But I’ll gladly have them prove me wrong and get that big W I N in Knoxville (the one they so nearly had in 2013).
Go Jags!
South Alabama Falls To Appalachian State 31-7
South Alabama held Appalachian State in check for most of the game, including on the scoreboard, but fall 31-7 to the Mountaineers in a cold, brisk game in Boone, NC.
The Jags (5-5, 2-5 SBC) went down 14-0 before offsetting flagrant fouls cost South Alabama a starting offensive lineman.
The teams came up to the line and a dispute erupted between the two teams. Apparently Mountaineer defensive lineman spit in Anterrious Gray’s face, who responded by throwing a punch. Two plays later Desmond Trotter connected with Jacob Hopper for a 27 yard touchdown.
However the loss of Gray meant that a walk-on freshman had to step up to replace him.
The Jags offense was getting something going but then began struggling again.
Darrell Luter got an interception late in the second quarter to give the Jags a chance before halftime. Passing completions of 24, 7, 4, and 22 moved the Jags into App State territory. The drive stalled and Diego Guajardo’s 40 yard field goal attempt hit the left upright no good.
USA had the ball 4th and Goal at the 3 yard line and went for it. Desmond Trotter connected with Lincoln Sefcik out in the flat but he was dropped for a one yard loss to turn the ball over on downs.
The Mountaineers took that possession and padded their lead with a field goal to go up 17-7.
Approaching midway through the 4th quarter App State was facing 4th and 3 at the USA 14, instead of settling for the field goal, Chase Brice tossed the ball up to his left and Thomas Hennigan was able to run under it and take it into the end zone to go up 24-7 with 8:23 left in the game.
After trading three-and-out punts, Trotter used his arm to get the Jags down the field. Passes of 7, 1, 15, 20 and 15 yards on the drive got the Jags down to the 9 yard line. But disaster struck when a defender blitzed off the right edge and hit Trotter just as he was throwing the ball. It left his hand and fluttered to the goal line where it was intercepted and returned the length of the field for the final score of the game.
Stats
The Jags put up 284 yards of total offense, 226 of them came through the air and the remaining 58 came on the ground.
The Jags converted only 3-of-16 (19%) of their 3rd down attempts. They converted 2-of-5 (40%) 4th down attempts.
The Jags forced three turnovers but could not get any scores off of them.
Desmond Trotter went 21-of-38 for 226 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Jalen Tolbert was targeted 12 times and caught 7 passes for 108 yards. Jalen Wayne was targeted 11 times and caught 5 of them for 50 yards. Hopper had two catches for 42 yards and the only Jaguar touchdown.
Terrion Avery had 11 carries for 24 yards. Kareem Walker had 7 for 20 yards.
AJ Deshazor led the team with 10 stops, 5 solo. Jamall Hickbottom recorded the only tackle for loss in the game.
Darrell Luter and Devin Rockette both came away with interceptions in the game.
Shawn Jennings and Hickbottom both forced fumbles.
Appalachian State put up 330 yards of total offense, 195 passing and 135 rushing. They were 5-of-14 (36%) of their 3rd down attempts and all three of their 4th down attempts.
The Mountaineers forced two turnovers and scored 14 points off of them.
Case Brice went 14-of-26 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Thomas Hennigan caught 5 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Corey Sutton caught three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown as well.
Camerun People carried the ball 23 times for 90 yards. Nate Noel had 7 carries for 22 yards. Brice had the only rushing touchdown.
Next Game
South Alabama will finish out their three game road swing and their road schedule for the season against Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, November 20. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30pm CDT at Neyland Stadium.
The Jags need one win in the last two games to get bowl eligible for the first time since 2016.
Preview: South Alabama Visits Appalachian State For Final Conference Road Game Of Season
Kickoff: Saturday November 13, 1:30pm
Venue: Kidd Brewer Stadium – Boone, NC
TV/Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 96.1 fm The Rocket, Sports Talk 99.5 fm, iHeartRadio App
#5 Jersey (wearing 55 for an offensive lineman): Trey Simpson
Thunderjags Twitter: @USAThunderjags
South Alabama didn’t get the result they were hoping for at Troy last weekend.
It looked like the Jags had a good gameplan from the start. However losing your starting quarterback on the opening possession tends to throw a monkeywrench into your plans. Then having a pair of mistakes by the next man up leading to two easy scores definitely doesn’t help matters.
Quarterback Jake Bentley, on only his second pass attempt of the game, stepped into the throw on a play-action pass and was hit low, below the knee, causing his knee to flex laterally. He was in visible pain on the ground after the play. After being attended to by the trainers, he jogged off the field but could still be seen favoring his left knee.
Desmond Trotter finished off the opening drive with a four yard touchdown run. On the next offensive possession, with the Jags at their own 24 yard line, a botched hand off resulted in the a fumble that was recovered by Troy. That turnover led to a field goal.
With the Jags trailing 24-7 Trotter was pressured and threw the ball in an attempt to prevent a sack, however Troy intercepted it and took it 32 yards for a touchdown. While it was their last points of the game, it would be all Troy would need for the win.
Bentley has a partially torn MCL and at the very least will miss this weeks game at Appalachian State. What his status will be going forward is still very much unknown. Team doctors will be involved as to any likelihood that he could suit up again for any of the remaining games. The concern is some “looseness” with his ACL.
The Jaguars still need to get one more win to bowl eligible with just three games left. The next chance is Appalachian State on the road this weekend. So let’s get started with the breakdown.
Appalachian State
The Mountaineers (7-2, 4-1 SBC) went to Arkansas State and earned a 48-14 win over the Red Wolves.
Arkansas State scored twice in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-all. But it was all App State after that with 34-unanswered points to close out the game. Among those 34 unanswered were two interceptions returned for touchdowns by the defense.
App State’s two losses came to #22 Miami 24-23 on September 11 and on October 12 at Louisiana-Lafayette 41-13.
They rebounded from the Louisiana loss on a Tuesday to defeat #14 Coastal Carolina on a nationally televised Wednesday night game on October 20.
Boone, NC is always a difficult place to play. But with with a forecast of a high of 41 degrees and winds between 10 to 20 MPH it doesn’t make it any more welcoming.
The Mountaineers are in their second season under the direction of head football coach Shawn Clark. He was named the head coach after Eliah Drinkwitz left after one season to take the head coaching position at Missouri.
Eight days after taking the reigns, Clark led the Mountaineers to a 31-17 win over UAB in the 2019 New Orleans Bowl.
In his first season as a head coach the Mountaineers went 9-3 and 6-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. They finished 2nd in the east division with a 56-28 win over North Texas in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
Offense
Here is the offense by the numbers.
They average 36.9 points, 200.8 yards rushing, 263.3 passing yards, and 464.1 total offensive yards per game. They average 24.4 first downs per game.
They are converting 44-of-116 (38%) of their 3rd down attempts. They are also converting 11-of-20 (55%) of their 4th down attempts.
Their red zone efficiency is very high. Of their 34 red zone trips they have scored 31 times (91%) and of those scores 21 of them have been touchdowns.
Their offensive line has only allowed 9 sacks on the season.
They have 14 turnovers on the season. Six interceptions and out of 14 total fumbles, they’ve failed to recover eight of them.
Quarterback Chase Brice is 172-of-264 for 2,261 yards, 15 touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Corey Sutton and Malik Williams are the top two receivers with almost identical numbers. Sutton has 47 catches for 711 yards and 5 touchdowns with an average of 15.1 yards per reception. Williams has 45 catches for 678 yards and 5 touchdowns with an average of 15.1 yards per catch.
The receiving numbers drop off pretty substantially after those two. Thomas Hennigan is third on the team with 34 catches for 472 yards and two touchdowns. No other receiver has more than nine catches after him.
The rushing statistics are similarly dominated by two individuals. Nate Noel leads the way with 153 carries for 889 yards and three touchdowns. Camerun Peoples is next with 105 carries for 609 yards and 13 touchdowns (double checks the number…wow) in seven games. Both average 5.8 yards per carry.
Chase Brice is next in line with 43 carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Followed by Anderson Castle with 24 carries for 120 yards and two touchdowns. No other ball carrier has over 59 yards rushing on the season after those four.
Defense
The App State defense is allowing an average of 23.3 points, 133.9 rushing yards, 226 passing yards, and 359.9 total yards per game.
Opponents are converting 46-of-129 (36%) 3rd down attempts and 4-of-10 (40%) of their 4th down attempts.
Opposing offenses have had 31 trips into the red zone, they have scored 25 times (81%), but only 16 of them have been touchdowns (52%).
They have an eye-opeing 66 tackles for loss and have sacked opposing quarterbacks 24 times on the season. They’ve collected 17 turnovers on the season, forcing 13 interceptions and recovering 4 fumbles.
D’Marco Jackson leads the Mountaineer defense with a whopping 84 total stops, 42 of them solo, with 12 tackles for loss, five sacks, and seven quarterback hurries from his linebacker position.
The next closest defender is Nick Hampton with 48 total stops, 27 solo, with a team leading 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.
Steven Jones leads the team with six interceptions.
This is another case where the Jags offensve will have to be able to operate behind the down and distance schedule. The Mountaineers will get negative plays.
As with any game, South Alabama must protect the ball, but against a ball-hawking defense like App State they will be out to pick off Trotter if he makes an errant throw.
Special Teams
Chandler Staton is perfect on the season. He’s made all 38 extra point attempts and all 14 field goal attempts. His longest is a 48 yard attempt against Georgia State.
Xavier Subotsch has punted 29 times on the season with an average of 39.6 yards per kick, 17 of them have been downed inside the 20 yard line and one went 51 yards, the only one to go over 50 yards for him this season. While his average yards isn’t high, he’s hasn’t needed to be. He’s been very effective with over half of his punts being downed inside the 20 yard line.
South Alabama
The loss of Bentley came as he was playing some of his best football. The offense struggled when Trotter took over but eventually started to find their rhythm and had a chance at a tying drive late in the game.
With a week of practice, Trotter should be well prepared to take back over the role he had previously. Trotter completed 64.5% of his passes last season for 1,917 yards and 11 touchdowns.
There are things that Bentley does that elevated himself over Trotter and earned the starting position. However there are things that Trotter does better than Bentley. One of the major things is his legs. He can run and he can extend plays.
We saw him use his legs on the first snap he took in place of Bentley.
Troy took away the deep threat of Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Wayne. Trotter and company found success underneath with one of his favorite targets being Lincoln Sefcik.
In the second half offensive coordinator Major Applewhite and Trotter pieced together a 19 play, 76 yard drive for a touchdown that drained 9:52 off the clock.
Offense
Let’s get the stats out of the way.
On average the Jags are scoring 28.6 points per game. They are rushing for an average of 135 yards, throwing for an average of 252.9 yards, and putting up an average of 387.9 total yards per game.
They are converting 47-of-131 (36%) of their 3rd down attempts and 19-of-28 (68%) of their 4th down attempts.
Their red zone trips have resulted in points on 33-of-39 (85%) times, with 28 of them being touchdowns.
Jaguar quarterbacks have been sacked 19 times on the season.
With the interception and fumble against Troy the offense has now had 15 turnovers, six have been interceptions along with nine lost fumbles out of 12 total fumbles.
Jake Bentley currently stands at 184-of-262 passing which is a 70.2% completion rate for 2,122 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Trotter is 21-of-34 (61.8%) for 154 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Jalen Tolbert has caught 58 passes for 1,032 yards and six touchdowns, for back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons for the Jags.
Jalen Wayne has 37 catches for 414 yards and two touchdowns. Caullin Lacy has 34 catches for 269 yards and Lincoln Sefcik has 26 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Avery is the last player with double-digit catches with 17 for 92 yards and three touchdowns.
Terrion Avery has hit triple digit carries on the season now with 118 for 474 yards with one touchdown. Bryan Hill has 67 carries for 297 and three touchdowns. Kareem Walker, who didn’t see any playing time last week, has 63 carries for 237 yards and four touchdowns.
Defense
The defense played quite a good game outside of a pair of touchdown drives late in the first quarter and early second. The other two touchdown came on a very short field after a fumbled handoff attempt and a pick-six.
On to the numbers.
The defense is allowing an average of 22.1 points per game, 117.2 rushing yards, 202.1 passing yards, and 319.3 total offensive yards per game.
Opponents are converting 39-of-125 (31%) of their third down attempts and 9-of-16 (56%) of their 4th down attempts. Opponents have scored on 20-of-30 (67%) of their red zone trips, out of those 20 scores only 14 have been touchdowns.
The Jags defense have taken the ball away from opponents 18 times, 12 have been by interception and six have been fumbles. They’ve also sacked opposing quarterbacks 24 times on the season.
Quentin Wilfawn leads the defense with 45 total stops, 18 solo with 1 sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. Trey Young is not far behind with 41 total stops, 24 solo, with 1.5 tackels for loss and tied for the team lead with three interceptions.
Charles Coleman III and CJ Rias are tied for the team’s sack lead with three each. Christian Bell is next in line with 2.5 sacks. Then Wy’Kevious Thomas, Chris Henderson, Shawn Jennings, and Jamall Hickbottom all have two sacks each.
Jamal Brooks leads the team with 5.5 tackles for loss. Wy’Kevious Thomas right behind him with five tackles for loss.
Darrell Luter is tied with Young with three interceptions.
Special Teams
Diego Guajardo made all four extra points and his only field goal attempt against the Trojans. He is now 29-of-31 on extra points and 10-of-14 on field goals, with a long of 48.
Jack Brooks has punted 38 times with an average of 42.5 yards per attempt with 11 downed inside the 20 and nine have traveled over 50 yards.
Keys to the Game
Establishing the Run
The coaches will probably ease Trotter into the game. Look for them to probably lean on the run quite a bit and use short, high percentage throws to make sure he is comfortable and get him going, especially against a ball-hawking secondary like the Mountaineers field.
With Trotters dual threat ability you’ll likely see more zone read looks than what they call with Bentley. If that is successful then that could open up Wayne and Tolbert for some big plays down field.
Stopping the Run
App State thrives on running the ball. The Jags defense loves to shut down the run.
Who wins that battle could determine the game.
App State runs the ball to open up the pass. When they can open up the pass they are a very hard team to beat.
The Elements
Weather forecasts are calling for a cold and breezy game in Boone. It may not snow but it may feel like it should when they are playing.
The training staff will have to ensure that all the players warm up properly in pre-game and stay warm throughout the game.
Cold weather tends to make skin and extremity injuries more painful due to the cold’s effect on the sensory nerves. Players also tend to be an increased risk of muscle strains and tears, usually to the hamstring, quadriceps and calf muscles. But with winds over 5 mph and temperatures around 40 or below you can experience hypothermia or cold-induced asthma.
Special teams players are usually at a heightened risk as they only play intermittently and are expected to go “all out” without significant warm up time.
Skill players also need to keep their hands warm or risk fumbles or dropped balls as well.
Prediction
It’s not like the Jaguars are having to prep and start a quarterback who’s never started before. Trotter has 14 starts in his career at South Alabama.
But the Jags will also be getting some players back from injury. James Jackson looks to be ready to suit up, but it’s not a certainty he will start or play. If an injury happens to occur, Trey Simpson could move back over to guard and Jackson could potentially play at center. Wilfawn and CJ Rias may both be able to play as well. Having any or all of these will help tremendously.
Will it be enough?
The Jags are a 21.5 point underdog on the road against the Mountaineers. With that number I’ll definitely take the Jags and the points.
Can the Jags win outright?
They’ve responded to losses like Texas State and ULM with some big wins. They need at least one more this season to get bowl eligible.
It won’t be easy on the road. Boone is a tough place to enter and leave with a win and the elements may not be the most favorable. But I think the Jags can do just that. It’ll be a bit of a statement win on the road against a conference foe.
Go Jags!
South Alabama Rally Falls Short At Troy, 31-24
South Alabama attempted to rally back from a 24-point deficit, but couldn’t find the tying touchdown as they fall at Troy 31-24.
The Jags (5-4, 2-4 SBC) took the opening kickoff down the field to open the game with a statement touchdown. However, one play before the touchdown, starting quarterback Jake Bentley was forced out of the game after a hit below the knee.
Troy (5-4, 3-4 SBC) went three and out and was forced to punt back to the Jags. But the first handoff exchange between Desmond Trotter and Terrion Avery wasn’t clean and ended up on the turf with a Trojan covering.
The Trojans put up 31 unanswered points with the last seven coming via a pick-six when Trotter threw an ill-advised pass in an attempt to evade a sack.
South Alabama got the ball back with 1:41 left before halftime with good field position at the Troy 47 yard line after a personal foul on the Trojans on the punt return. The Jags patched together a 9 play drive, with a 4th down conversion, to put seven on the board with only 9 seconds left befor halftime.
The Jags ended the Trojan’s first possession of the second half when Tre Young picked off Taylor Powell at the Jags 24 yard line.
A 19 play, 76 yard drive with three 4th down conversions ended with a three yard touchdown pass by Trotter to Terrion Avery to make it a 10 point game.
Early in the 4th quarter a 31 yard punt gave the Jags the ball at their own 35 yard line with 12:53 left in the game.
They drove down to the Troy 10 yard line but a sack on 3rd and 9 at the 10 yard line forced the Jags to settle for a field goal with 6:45.
Troy was backed up to their 9 yard line after a mishap on the kickoff but hit on a 34 yard pass to get out of the shadow of their own end zone. Three plays later the Swarm D force a punt.
The Jags had the ball 1st and 10 at their own 10 yard line with 4:14 left in the game. They converted one 4th down to extend the drive. But the second one, a 4th and 3 at the Jags own 33 could not be converted. Trotter had an open Avery but an overthrown pass hit the turf to give the ball back to try who were able to ice the game.
Stats
Jake Bentley was a perfect 3-for-3 for 49 yards before having to leave the game with a knee injury. Desmond Trotter went 20-of-32 for 138 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Lincoln Sefcik caught nine passes for 55 yards. Tolbert caught four passes for 65 yards. Avery caught four for 31 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Wayne caught three for 29 yards.
Avery led the Jags rushing attack with 75 yards on 23 carries. Trotter had 11 carries for 43 yards and a touchdown. Bryan Hill added 26 yards on nine carries.
Gunnar Watson was 11-of-14 for 121 yards before leaving the game himself. Taylor Powell was 6-of-11 for 80 yards and a touchdown in relief.
Tez Johnson led the Trojans with 4 catches for 46 yards. Luke Whittemore added three catches for 59 yards.
BJ Smith led the Trojans rushing attack with 49 yards on 12 carries. Tez Johnson had one carry for 31 yards and a touchdown. Kimani Vidal only had 5 carries for 29 yards. Jamontez Woods had 5 carries for 7 yards for two touchdowns.
South Alabama had a 335 to 308 advantage in total yardage. They were outgained 187 to 201 through the air, but out gained the Trojans 148 to 107 on the ground.
The Jags converted 5 of 16 3rd down attempts in the game and were 5-of-8 on 4th down attempts. Troy was 6-of-12 on 3rd down and didn’t attempted a 4th down conversion against the Jags.
The Jags gave the ball away twice, a fumble and an interception, which led to 10 points for the opponents. The Jags defense got one interception and turned it into a touchdown.
Next Game
The Jags travel to Appalachian State for a 1:30pm kickoff against the Mountaineers in Boone, NC on Saturday, November 13. They defeated Arkansas State 48-14 in Jonesboro, Arkansas earlier today