MOBILE, Ala. — The University of South Alabama football program will look to celebrate Homecoming weekend by snapping a four-game losing streak when Florida Atlantic visits Mobile Saturday in the Jaguars’ only home game in October.

While the Jags enter play 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the Sun Belt Conference after falling 36-29 on the road to defending league champion Arkansas State last weekend, the Owls have dropped five games in a row — they are 1-5, 0-3 in the SBC — following a 35-14 loss at Louisiana-Monroe.

The game will start at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

“We are making progress and moving forward, this is not a team that is getting down because we’ve lost a few games,” stated Jaguar head coach Joey Jones.  “The players understand where we are and have taken that challenge every week, and I think that is why we are getting better.  And the staff has done a good job of motivating on both sides of the ball and with special teams.”

Entering play, the USA defense is second in the Sun Belt allowing 344.5 yards per contest after limiting the Red Wolves to just 316, 155 below their season average entering the game.  Inside linebackers Jake Johnson and Enrique Williams pace the unit with 60 and 53 tackles, respectively, as both stand among the top 10 in the conference in the category.  Johnson is second in the SBC with 1.33 stops behind the line of scrimmage per outing, as he has been credited with at least one assist for loss in every game this season.

B.J. Scott has added 31 stops — two of his five at ASU were behind the line — Terrell Brigham has supplied 29 and Tyrell Pearson 28.  Pearson leads USA with two interceptions and four passes broken up, while Brigham has defended three passes, intercepted another and has recovered a pair of fumbles.  Darrius Morrow and Alex Page have been credited with 25 stops apiece, with the latter among the league leads with five tackles for loss and four sacks.

The Jaguars are second in the conference with 14 sacks, a total that is one shy of matching the unit’s output in 10 games last fall.

Offensively, USA is coming off an outing in which it recorded season-high totals with 373 yards, 24 first downs and 35 minutes and 39 seconds of possession time; the 29 points produced by the unit was the most the Jags have scored since facing Texas-San Antonio the opening weekend of the year.

“Let’s face it, offensively we have been struggling and we played better that day so that certainly encourages our team; not that the offense is there yet or we are not going to work anymore,” explained Jones.  “But we moved the ball and did some good things offensively, and when you have that it encourages the rest of the team that this thing can get rolling if we get going.  We have played pretty well in the other two phases of the game, we just need to get going offensively.

“I kept waiting for us to break out and have a good game, which we did the other night.  Of course, we have to do that week to week, but we did some good things that we can hang our hat on.”

Ross Metheny — who is completing 59.8 percent (58-of-97) of his attempts this season — posted a USA season-best 263 yards of total offense at ASU, going 24-of-38 passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 22 yards.  Bryant Lavender paces the Jaguars with 16 catches on the year, though four other individuals have each caught 15 balls.  Jeremé Jones leads that group with 204 yards and three touchdowns, while Corey Besteda has accounted for 189 yards and Greg Hollinger 165; Hollinger also reached the end zone against the Red Wolves.

T.J. Glover is in that group as well with 137 receiving yards, and he also ranks among the top three in the league in kickoff (28.8 ypr) and punt (9.3 ypr) returns; his 469 all-purpose yards lead the squad.

After going three games without a rushing attempt, redshirt freshman Terrance Timmons carried 13 times for 43 yards at ASU, and Kendall Houston — making his first start of the season — rushed 18 times for another 36.

Senior placekicker Michel Chapuseaux was selected the Sun Belt Special Teams Player of the Week after making three field goals and both extra-point attempts last time out, as he has converted 9-of-13 field-goal tries on the season while leading the squad with 36 points.  Scott Garber is averaging 40.6 yards per punt, and has had seven kicks downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

FAU enters the weekend last in the SBC in rushing (114.3 ypg), total (288.2 ypg) and scoring (13.2 ppg) offense, and they are also 10th against the run (211.7 ypg) while allowing 429 yards and 30.8 points per contest.

“FAU is a very physical football team, I’ve watched them on film where they have faced Alabama and Georgia and they banged with those teams,” Jones observed.  “Defensively, their front seven are very physical guys.  They have great athletes and a fifth-year senior quarterback, we understand going into this game that this is another good football team we are facing.

“Both of our records are alike, but they have been fighting against some very tough teams as well.  They are used to winning too, they won the Sun Belt a few years back, so they understand how to do it.”

Leading tackler David Hinds and free safety Jeremy McKnight are both among the top 10 in the league in tackles, having recorded 50 and 43, respectively.  The former has been credited with four stops for loss and forced two fumbles this year.

Adarius Glanton has three tackles behind the line of scrimmage among his 38 total stops, and he has also intercepted one pass and broken up another.  D’Joun Smith has accounted for five of the Owls’ 15 passes defended this season.

Graham Wilbert guides the FAU offense, having completed 107-of-164 (65.2 percent) of his passes for 1,006 yards and six scores.  Damian Fortner has rushed for 255 yards and two touchdowns, while Jonathan Wallace has added 194 yards and a score on the ground.  Williams Dukes’ 23 catches and 320 receiving yards pace the team in both categories, with Daniel McKinney posting 17 receptions for 143 yards and Byron Hankerson supplying 15 catches for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Sean Kelly is averaging 41 yards per punt — he has eight kicks that have travelled at least 50 yards — but Owl placekickers have combined to make just 1-of-3 field-goal attempts.

Tickets, starting as low as $10, can be purchased in advance by either ordering online at www.usajaguars.com or calling (251) 461-1USA (1872) before noon on Friday.  They will also be available on site Saturday when the Ladd-Peebles Stadium ticket office opens at 9:30 a.m.

The stadium parking lot will open at 8 a.m. Saturday for tailgating, and gates will open at 12:30 p.m.  The Jaguar Prowl, the team’s entrance to the stadium, will start at 12:10 p.m. and go through the south parking lot.

For $2.50 per person, round-trip shuttles will be running from the Bel Air Mall parking lot south of Target and J.C. Penney.  Shuttle service wil begin at 10:30 a.m. and provide continuous loop service to and from the stadium until 90 minutes after the end of the contest.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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