Game 7
South Alabama Jaguars (2-4, 1-1 Sun Belt)
vs. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (3-3, 3-1 Sun Belt)

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 • 4 pm CDT
Ladd-Peebles Stadium (33,471 capacity/FieldTurf)
Mobile, Ala.

Media Information
Television
ESPN3
Brock Bowling (pxp)
Watson Brown (analysis)
Radio
USA Football Radio Network
(flagship 96.1 FM/99.5 FM The Jag in Mobile)
J.D. Byars (pxp)
Pat Greenwood (analysis)
Tommy Hicks (sidelines)
On the web
• Live Twitter updates available at:
@USAJaguarSports
• Live stats available at:
http://statb.us/b/186986
• Live audio available at:
http://www.iheart.com/live/995-the-jag-mobile-7117/

Game/Promotions Information
• Special: Homecoming; First 5,000 fans will receive pink rally towels courtesy of the Mitchell Cancer Institute
• Clear Bag/Water Policy: Click http://jaguarathleticfund.com/clear for all information
• Tickets: $25 sideline, $20 end zone ticket price; available online at www.usajaguars.com or by phone by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872)
• Shuttles: The Wave shuttle service starts from Shoppes at Bel Air (pick up from JCPenney/Target parking area) 4 hours prior to kick; $2.50 round trip; continuous service until 90 minutes after game
• Parking: Opens at 8 am
• FanFest: Begins at 1 pm; live music and free food samples from vendors including Raising Cane's, Sonny's BBQ and Texas Roadhouse; come by the iHeartRadio tent and register to win a 3 day stay from Laura's Vacation Rentals; pick up free hand mister fans from Hansen's Heating & Air; join JT Crabtree during the pre-game radio show at the Tuff Shed Tailgate Party
• Jag Prowl: Begins at 1:40 pm from the Southeast corner of the Ladd-Peebles Stadium parking lot
• Gates: Open two hours prior to kickoff

The Coaches
South Alabama
Joey Jones (Alabama '89)
Record at USA — 50-46 (9th season)
Career record — 53-53 (10th season)
Career Sun Belt record — 16-25
Record vs. ULM — 1-2

Louisiana-Monroe
Matt Viator (McNeese State '86)
Record at ULM — 7-11 (2nd season)
Career Record — 86-47 (12th season)
Record vs. USA — 1-0

The Rankings
South Alabama
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 113th

Louisiana-Monroe
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 130th

Series History
Overall: Louisiana-Monroe leads 2-1
In Mobile: USA leads 1-0
In Troy: ULM leads 2-0
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: ULM — 1
First Meeting: ULM, 38-24, on Oct. 27, 2012, in Monroe
Last Meeting: ULM, 42-35 (ot), on Nov. 5, 2016, in Monroe

Opening Kick
• South Alabama plays host to Louisiana-Monroe on Homecoming weekend in its only home contest of October.
• The Jaguars have claimed each of their eight previous Homecoming games, winning the last three — all against Sun Belt Conference opponents — by a seven-point margin or less.
• South enters the game 6-0 in previous matchups with Louisiana schools at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, which includes a 36-14 defeat of ULM in the Warhawks' only visit to the venue on Nov. 23, 2013.
• The home team has won all three meetings in the series after ULM earned a 42-35 victory in Monroe last fall.
• While the Jaguars are 20-9 all-time — with a 7-8 mark in league games — in October they have posted a 14-2 record at home in the month.

Notes From The Last UL-Monroe Meeting
• The Jaguars had 516 yards of total offense in the contest, its highest output at the time last fall and the most the unit had recorded since gaining 582 yards in a win at Appalachian State on Oct. 4, 2014.
• ULM's 42 points were the most allowed by the South defense during the regular season last fall, while no opponent ran more plays against the Jags in 2016 than the Warhawks (85).
• USA's Josh Magee tied school season (2) and career (4) records for 100-yard receiving games after leading all players with 138 on seven receptions.
• It was the second time last year that the Jaguars had three defenders — Devon Earl (13), Roman Buchanan (11) and Darrell Songy (11) — with 10-plus tackles in the same outing.
• South QB Dallas Davis (23-of-37 for 307 yds) surpassed the 2,000-yard passing mark in the contest while also becoming the first Jag at the position to record multiple games in a season with 300 or more yards through the air.

Defense Does The Job
In claiming the "Battle For The Belt" matchup with Troy last week, the Jaguar defense allowed 299 total yards in the contest with 120 of those coming in the final 15 minutes as the Trojans attempted to rally from a 19-0 deficit.  That included surrendering only 30 yards on 20 carries (25 of those came on one run early in the second quarter), which tied for the sixth-fewest yards on the ground against USA by all opponents and the third-fewest recorded by an NCAA Division I foe.  In two Sun Belt games, the Jags rank are giving up just 88 rushing yards per game.

Turnover Takeaway
Between their defensive and special teams units — both accounted for two apiece — the Jags finished the "Battle For The Belt" with a season-best four takeaways.  That total was one shy of equaling the most turnovers USA has forced in a SBC outing in school history — the Jaguars created five in their league debut against Troy on Sept. 29, 2012 — and the most it has recorded on the road since finishing with five on Nov. 22, 2014, at South Carolina.

Test Of Time
Although South Alabama gained 224 yards on the night, its lowest total in a win since the program's inception in 2009, the Jaguars held the ball for a season-high 35 minutes and 59 seconds in the victory over the Trojans.  Only twice in its previous 40 conference contests — both wins over Georgia State, in 2010 and '13 — had USA controlled the clock for that length of time.  The unit was 0-of-7 on third-down conversions in the opening half but successful on 5-of-9 attempts after the intermission, leading to 20 minutes and 40 seconds of possession in the final two quarters.

McDonald Makes Most Of Opportunity
One of the standouts for the Jag defense last time out was sophomore Khalil McDonald, who wasn't designated to make his first career start until the end of pregame warm ups 20 minutes prior to kickoff.  Filling in for an injured Malcolm Buggs at the "Husky" safety slot, McDonald posted a career-best five tackles including an assisted stop of Jordan Chunn — the Sun Belt's leading rusher entering play — on fourth-and-one at the USA-23 to end the Trojans' opening drive.  He later added his first-ever tackle for loss, which resulted in a safety and a 9-0 lead with just over four minutes to go in the opening half, when he took down Chunn in the end zone while his stop on Troy's final offensive snap prior to the break at the USA-10 led to a failed field-goal attempt as the Jaguars shut out the Trojans over the game's first 30 minutes.

Rock Solid
DL Rocel McWilliams was credited with the first two sacks of his career while collecting a career-high five total tackles in the defeat of the Trojans, with the performance coming after the junior had recorded six stops in his first five games as a Jag combined.  It was the first time this season that a member of the USA defense posted two sacks in a contest (fellow junior Chason Milner was the last to do so at the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl last year).

Another Day, Another Record
Not only did senior S Jeremy Reaves finish with six stops in the "Battle For The Belt," he collected his first interception of the season with a second-quarter pick — the first for Trojan QB Brandon Silvers in 155 pass attempts — after Troy had advanced to the red zone.  It was Reaves' sixth in three-plus seasons with the program, tying him for first with Tyrell Pearson on South's all-time record list; he also owns USA's career marks with eight forced fumbles and 20 passes broken up.

A Weapon In Waitman
Corliss Waitman punted a career-high eight times in the Troy contest, averaging 47.5 yards per kick with three efforts of more than 50 yards.  The performance included a pair of punts inside the Trojan 20-yard line (two others were caught inside the Troy-15, with one advancing past the 20 after a penalty on the Jaguars), his fifth straight game with at least two which is the longest streak put together by a Jaguar punter in school history.  On Monday, Waitman was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List.

Making Plays Out Of The Backfield
RB Tra Minter surpassed 100 all-purpose yards for the first time in his career at Troy, posting a game-best 116 with 83 of those coming on three catches; that included South's two longest plays from scrimmage on the night, a 49-yard reception in the fourth quarter and another that covered 32 yards on the Jags' first scoring drive of the contest.  It's the first time a Jaguar running back has led the team in receiving yards since T.J. Glover finished with 78 on five receptions in a win over Henderson (Ark.) State on Nov. 6, 2010.

Stan The Man
USA's receiving corps was paced by Malik Stanley in the victory over the Trojans as he matched a career high with four catches and set another with 53 yards receiving, with the effort including the first touchdown catch of his career in the third quarter to extend the Jaguar lead to 16-0.  Initially a candidate to redshirt this fall — his first with the program after transferring from Coffeyville (Kan.) C.C. — the junior caught one ball for 17 yards in his first two appearances but has eight receptions in the last two outings.

Davis Gets It Done
The Jaguar offense received a spark last time out from Davis, who came off the bench to lead South's final drive of the opening half and would end the night 7-of-10 passing for 120 yards with a touchdown.  The performance not only moved the junior back to the top of the school's all-time passing efficiency list (he now has a 126.52 rating) but into second place in the career record books with 3,421 yards passing since the start of the 2015 campaign.