MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off a loss in the final seconds last weekend — its third such defeat this season — members of the University of South Alabama football program see just one option.  To move forward.

"All I know to do is fight.  That's just the way I am, and that's the way our players are too," stated Jaguar head coach Joey Jones.  "It's something we have to fight through mentally.  We have played well this year; we've done a lot of good things.  We are a much better team, but all of that doesn't matter.  What matters is wins and losses.

"But we are a better team, and I think we can bank on the fact that we are better and continue to improve."

"It's very hard to come back from a loss like that, but the biggest thing we have to do is move on to the next week and have a great week of practice," junior offensive lineman Ucambre Williams added.  "That's the only thing we can do — not think about it and move on to Arkansas State."

The Jags (3-4, 1-2 Sun Belt) will look to do that Saturday, when they play host to the two-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion Red Wolves (3-4, 1-1 SBC) at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.  The contest — which is set to be broadcast nationally on ESPN3 — will start at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for as low as $10 can be purchased on-line at www.tickets.southalabama.edu — with no service charge included — or in person at Mitchell Center Ticket Office on campus from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. through Friday.  They can also be obtained on the day of the game at the stadium ticket office beginning at 3:30 p.m.

The Lott Street entrance of the parking lot will be opened at 8 a.m. to allow interested individuals to tailgate, and shuttles will run from the South parking lot at the Bel Air Mall to the stadium beginning at 2:30 p.m.; the cost for round-trip service — which runs until 90 minutes after the game — is $2.50 per person.  The Jaguar Prowl is set for 4:10 p.m. when the team arrives at the stadium, and stadium gates will open 20 minutes after.

This is the Jaguars' annual Hall of Fame Game, with the Class of 2013 — former women's soccer goalie Amber Angermeier, women's basketball guard Stephanie Richardson and men's track and field/cross country standout Vincent Rono — set to be honored on the field at halftime.

USA enters the game averaging 31.3 points and 446.6 yards per contest while the Red Wolves are posting 27.6 points and 435.1 yards per outing.  The two schools are also among the best in the league holding on to the ball, with ASU committing a Sun Belt-low seven turnovers and the Jaguars standing third with 10.  Defensively both are allowing over 400 yards per game — with USA surrendering 416 yards on average, ASU 444.4 — but the Red Wolves have the league's second-ranked unit in the red zone allowing the opposition to score 77.1 percent of the time it advances inside the 20-yard line.

Ross Metheny leads the conference with 267.3 total yards per outing — he's also among the top five in passing yards and pass efficiency — while his counterpart, Adam Kennedy, stands third with an average of 261.1 per game.  Red Wolves receivers J.D. McKissic (40-347, 2 TDs) and Julian Jones (39-476, 3 TDs) rank first and second, respectively, in the SBC in receptions per contest, but the Jaguars counter with three of the top 10 in the conference in receiving yards per game; Shavarez Smith (26-474, 2 TDs), Wes Saxton (35-447) and Danny Woodson II (24-385, 4 TDs).  Jeremé Jones has caught 26 passes for 327 yards as well for USA.

In the Jags' last game, Woodson finished with five catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns — he had 103 yards and both scores in the final quarter, when USA posted 239 yards and 21 points — while Saxton tied the school game record with 10 receptions for 89 yards.

David Oku paces the ASU rushing attack, having carried 107 times for 411 yards and five scores, while Jay Jones has run for 393 yards and three scores to lead the Jaguars.  Metheny is second on the team with 282 yards and eight touchdowns — he's reached the end zone in each of the last six outings — and Cris Dinham has supplied 232 more after leading the team with 50 on just four carries Saturday against the Bobcats.  The Red Wolves are third in the conference with 192.4 yards per game on the ground, as Michael Gordon is averaging 9.2 per attempt while running for 257 yards and Sirgregory Thornton has added 227.

"They are probably the most talented bunch on offense that I have seen on film as far as the skill positions are concerned," Joey Jones observed.  "They have a couple of great receivers, and a really good quarterback transferred in from Utah State.  And their running backs are great.  They are very explosive on that side of the ball."

"[The key] Defensively, it's tackling," observed senior defensive lineman Montavious Williams.  "I think Coach said we missed 14 tackles, as opposed to a game where we win and it's five missed tackles or seven missed tackles.  We have to put more emphasis on that and get back to the basics."

The Red Wolves' Qushaun Lee ranks second in the Sun Belt with nearly 10 tackles per game having posted 67 in seven contests, while Enrique Williams (56 TT) and Qudarius Ford (51 TT) are among the top 10 in the conference while pacing the Jaguars in the category; the former regained the team lead after finishing with a game- and career-high 13 at TSU.  Four Jags — Alex Page (8), Maleki Harris (7½), Romelle Jones (7) and Pat Moore (6½) — stand in the top 10 in the SBC in stops for loss, with Jones and Page ranking second and third, respectively, in sacks.  For ASU, Ryan Carrethers is the reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week after posting 16 tackles a week ago, giving him 54 on the season including 3½ sacks.

The teams are tops in the conference returning kicks, with the Red Wolves averaging 28.4 yards to lead the league and USA recording an average of 23.6.  They are separated by a yard-and-a-half in net punting — ASU (36.6) is fourth in the Sun Belt, the Jags (35.1) seventh — with both making just over a field goal per game.

Both teams have dropped their last outing, with the Jaguars falling 33-31 at Texas State when the Bobcats connected on a 41-yard field goal with four seconds to go and ASU dropping a 23-7 decision at home to Louisiana-Lafayette.  It was the third time this season that USA has lost when the opposition has scored in the final seconds of the game, and the sixth contest for the program that has been decided in the last two minutes of regulation.

But there is little time for the Jags to dwell on recent results.  "They are the defending Sun Belt champions.  They've won it the last two years," Joey Jones said.  "They know how to win, and understand what it takes to win.  We know it is a great challenge for us."

One that can be met by moving in only one direction — forward.

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

—USA—