Game 6
South Alabama Jaguars (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt)
at Troy Trojans (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt)

Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017 • 7 pm CDT
Veterans Memorial Stadium (30,000 capacity/AstroPlay)
Troy, Ala.

Media Information
Television
ESPN2
Kevin Negandhi (pxp)
Rocky Boiman (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/186821
• Live audio available at:
http://www.iheart.com/live/995-the-jag-mobile-7117/

The Coaches
South Alabama
Joey Jones (Alabama '89)
Record at USA — 49-46 (9th season)
Career record — 52-53 (10th season)
Career Sun Belt record — 15-25
Record vs. Troy — 2-3

Troy
Neal Brown (Massachusetts '02)
Record at Troy — 18-12 (3rd season)
Career Record — same
Record vs. USA — 1-1

The Rankings
South Alabama
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 131st

Troy
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — RV (33rd)
Sagarin — 77th

Series History
Overall: Troy leads 3-2
In Mobile: Troy leads 2-1
In Troy: Tied 1-1
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: Troy — 1
First Meeting: Troy, 31-10, on Sept. 29, 2012, in Mobile
Last Meeting: Troy, 28-21, on Oct. 20, 2016, in Mobile

Opening Kick
• The Jaguars will play seven straight Sun Belt Conference games beginning with this visit to Troy.
• In the two years the schools have met in the "Battle for The Belt" the road team has claimed the trophy in a match-up decided by a touchdown or less.
• Both games in the series in Troy have been won by six or fewer points.
• South set school records that still stand in yards passing (471) and total offense (630) in its first visit to Troy on Oct., 5, 2013, a game the Trojans won 34-33 with a touchdown pass with seven seconds left in regulation.
• USA DL Jeffery Whatley and Troy RB Jamarius Henderson — who originally signed with Memphis over South in 2015 — helped Dale County High to a 14-1 record and a berth in the state 3A championship game for the first time in school history as seniors.
• Trojan WR Tevaris McCormick was a member of the Jaguars' 2013 signing class, but never enrolled at South and instead attended Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C.
• Jaguar co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Brian Turner is a 2000 graduate of Troy, and he worked under former Trojan head coach Larry Blakeney as a graduate (1999-01) and full-time (2003-07) assistant.
• Turner was also a player at Troy from 1993-95, and was part of teams that went 31-6-1 (82.9%) during that span.

Notes From The Last Troy Meeting
• The Trojans became the first team in more than a year to earn a victory over the Jags when trailing at the end of three quarters, scoring two touchdowns in the final 11-plus minutes to end a two-game series losing streak.
• Troy's 585 yards of total offense is the second-highest total ever recorded against South, one less than North Carolina State gained on Sept. 26, 2015.
• Brandon Silvers completed 28-of-42 attempts while throwing for an opponent-record 395 yards.
• The Jaguars held a 14-0 advantage in the first quarter with both scores coming from Xavier Johnson, who had 58 yards rushing on six attempts before departing due to injury; USA gained 78 yards on the ground in the opening period but managed just 67 after his departure.
• Devon Earl led the Jags with nine stops while Tyree Turner posted eight tackles, which is still the most in his career.

Patterson Climbs Points List
PK Gavin Patterson recorded the Jaguars' last nine points in the contest with a career-high-tying three field goals after converting all three of his attempts on the night.  It was the third time in five games this season that the junior has connected on multiple field goals, a feat he accomplished on three occasions all last year, while it marked the first time in his career that Patterson has scored 10 or more points in back-to-back outings.  With the effort, he also moved into the top five on the school's all-time scoring list with 112 points over the last season-plus.

Lawrence Leads The Jaguar Defense
One week after collecting a season-best 11 stops Nigel Lawrence paced USA with eight tackles, marking the first time in his career that the junior has accomplished the feat.  The safety also had a hand in the Jags' lone takeaway of the game, forcing a fumble that Malcolm Buggs recovered on the USA-16 to end LA Tech's initial possession; it was the third forced fumble of Lawrence's career, helping the junior safety enter the top 10 on USA's all-time list in the category.

Long Time Coming
Jimmie Gipson III's third-quarter sack — the first of three, all in the third quarter, recorded by the Jaguars in the contest — was his first since he collected one in a win over Texas State on Nov. 15, 2014, a victory that helped South earn the program's first-ever postseason bowl bid at the end of the year.  Not only did the senior's effort aid in the Jaguar defense surrendering just 45 yards in the period, it set up USA's offense to start consecutive drives in Bulldog territory down just one point at the time.

Closing In
Xavier Johnson led South's rushing attack for the second straight outing with 89 yards on 12 carries, including a 47-yard run on the play prior to the Jags taking a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into play that was the longest by a South player this year.  Johnson — who became only the second individual in program history to gain more than 2,500 yards rushing in a career in the contest — needs just 18 yards on the ground to surpass Kendall Houston as the school's all-time leader in the category while with another 123 all-purpose yards he will be the first player in USA history with 4,000 in a career.

Breaking Up Isn't Hard To Do
Although Jeremy Reaves did not lead USA in tackles for the first time this season, he was credited with multiple passes broken up for the second time in as many games after finishing the night with two.  Not only did the performance move the senior safety into the top 10 on the season record list in the category, he became the first Jaguar ever to break up 20 passes in a career.

Buggs Puts Up Big Numbers
In addition to recording the Jaguars' only takeaway of the night with fumble recovery that ended LA Tech's opening possession, Buggs had a career-high six tackles and also broke up a pass.  The junior's 11 stops in the last two outings are two more than he was credited with in the first three games of the year.

At A Loss For Yards
DE Finessé Middleton was one stop shy of equaling his career-high total set last week against Idaho after posting five against the Bulldogs, with two of those assists behind the line of scrimmage.  The senior, who has been credited with at least one tackle for loss in four of South's first five contests this fall, stands second in the Sun Belt with 3½ sacks through the opening month of the campaign, which is one fewer than he posted in 13 appearances a year ago.

Top Catching Trio
Juniors Jamarius Way and Sam Harris shared the team lead in the LA Tech contest with five receptions apiece, with the former tying a career high first set against nationally-ranked Oklahoma State on Sept. 8 while topping the squad with 67 receiving yards.  The latter chipped in with 59 yards to record career highs in both categories, with fellow junior Malik Stanley also accomplishing the feat after adding four catches for 38 yards.  Their efforts helped Cole Garvin complete a USA season-high 21 passes against the Bulldogs, one more than the team had in the previous two outings combined, in his first game back since being injured in the OSU game.