Game 3
South Alabama Jaguars (0-2, 0-0 Sun Belt)
vs. Alabama A&M Bulldogs (0-2, 0-0 Southwestern Athletic)

Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 • 6 pm CDT
Ladd-Peebles Stadium (33,471 capacity/Field/Turf)
Mobile, Ala.

Media Information
Television
ESPN3
Matt Stewart (pxp)
Doug Graber (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/186984    
• Live audio available at:
http://www.iheart.com/live/995-the-jag-mobile-7117/

Game/Promotions Information
• Special: Empowering Change (The Empowering Change Mobile committee invites everyone to join our family community day in JagCity before the game. There will be giveaways, inflatables and other rides for children, food and more. For more information, go to EmpoweringChangeMobile.com)
• 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 3 pm; live music and free food samples from vendors including Raising Cane's, Sonny's BBQ and Moes Southwest Grill
• Jag Prowl: Begins at 3:35 pm from the Southwest 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 — 48-44 (9th season)
Career record — 51-51 (10th season)
Career Sun Belt record — 15-24
Record vs. AAMU — 0-0
Record vs. current SWAC members — 1-0
• 1-0 vs. Mississippi Valley State

Alabama A&M
James Spady (Texas-El Paso '95)
Record at AAMU — 11-25 (4th season)
Career Record — same
Record vs. USA — 0-0

The Rankings
South Alabama
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 117th

Alabama A&M
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 245th

Series History
Overall: First meeting
In Mobile: n/a
In Normal: n/a
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: n/a
First Meeting: n/a
Last Meeting: n/a

Opening Kick
• South Alabama looks to avoid the first 0-3 start in program history in its final contest prior to the start of Sun Belt Conference play.
• This will mark the first time since Nov. 3, 2011 — when the Jaguars defeated Mississippi Valley State 35-0 — that USA will take on a school from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• The Jags haven't dropped consecutive home games in the same season since falling to North Carolina State and Arkansas State during the 2015 campaign.
• South is 4-3 all-time against in-state opposition, going 2-3 against league rival Troy while defeating Huntingdon and West Alabama in its only meeting with the latter two programs.
• This is the start of a five-year stretch in which the Jaguars will play host to a SWAC school with future schedules including Alabama State (2018), Jackson State ('19), Grambling ('20) and Alcorn State ('21).
• Bulldog defensive coordinator Travis Pearson was a member of the Jag coaching staff from 2013-15, serving in the same role for USA his last two years.

Notes From The SWAC Meeting
• The Jaguars had just under 12 minutes time of possession and 147 yards of total offense in the opening half against the Delta Devils, but scored on their only three possessions to take a 21-0 advantage at the intermission.
• South held a 252-166 advantage in total offense, the fewest yards it has gained in a win over an NCAA Division I opponent.
• MVSU's 166 total yards are the sixth fewest the Jags have allowed in any game and third-lowest total surrendered to a Division I school.
• Kendall Houston scored on a pair of one-yard runs in the first half for the sixth multi-touchdown game of his career to lead USA offensively.
• J.J. Keels contributed a total of 145 yards on returns, which included the first 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in program history.

Bad Breaks
The Jaguar offense has put together its longest drive of each of the first two contests this fall on USA's final possession of the second quarter, including a seven-and-a-half minute march that led to a field-goal attempt in the last minute-and-a-half last time out against Oklahoma State.  That momentum has not carried over to the second half, however, as the Jags have been outscored 48-3 by the opposition in the third period thus far this fall.  If that pace continues it will be the fourth season in a row that opponents have posted more third-quarter points than the Jaguars.

Tough On The Run
Despite surrendering over 1,000 yards combined to Ole Miss and OSU the opening two weeks of the season, one area the Jag defense has performed well in is against the run.  After the Cowboys gained 163 yards on the ground, South remains ranked among the top five in the Sun Belt surrendering 132.5 yards per outing rushing.  If USA can maintain that pace, it would be the program's best performance against the run since moving up the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012 — the 2013 squad allowed 159.7 yards per game rushing — as well as the lowest average per carry (4.0) during that stretch.

Penalties Not a Problem
USA was called for three penalties in last weekend's game, matching the total number of flags thrown against the Jaguars in their season debut at Ole Miss.  Not only is South the least-penalized team in the league after two weeks, it's the fewest fouls committed by the Jaguars in back-to-back contests since they were flagged five times at Texas State (2) and against Arkansas State (3) on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, 2013.

Second Straight Strong Outing
For the second time in as games USA punter Corliss Waitman recorded a career-high average with a 48.4-yard mark on seven punts; that included three efforts of 50-plus yards, with a career-best two ending up inside the OSU-20.  The performance equaled the fifth-highest average (with a minimum of four punts) on the school's game record list, and it has the junior ranked first in the Sun Belt and eighth nationally with a 47.6 figure after the opening two weeks of the season.

Safety First
Jeremy Reaves matched his tackle total from the Jags' season-opening contest at Ole Miss last time out to share the team lead in the category for the second straight outing.  It's the seventh time since the start of his sophomore year that the safety has accomplished the feat, and the first since pacing South in stops against San Diego State and North Carolina State on Sept. 19 and 26, 2015, that Reaves has done so in back-to-back outings. 

Barging In
LB Bull Barge — who shared game-high tackle honors with Reaves against the Cowboys — fell one stop shy of equaling his career-high total recorded last season against Georgia Southern.  Not only was it the first time the junior has led all players in tackles, the figure was one more than he had recorded in the previous three contests combined going back to the Jaguars' regular-season finale a year ago.

Cole Calling
Fellow LB Riley Cole posted six stops in the OSU game, marking the second week in a row that the redshirt freshman has been credited with five or more stops after failing to reach that plateau in any of his three appearances last season.  That total against the Cowboys included a tackle for a 13-yard loss, the first of his career behind the line of scrimmage, as he enters play second on the squad with 14 stops.

Leading The Way
Junior-college transfer Jamarius Way shared game-high honors after catching five passes in his home debut for the Jaguars, recording a team-best 66 yards in the process.  It was the first time since Sept. 24 last fall — when Tyrone Williams finished with six for 64 yards in a 41-40 overtime victory over Nicholls — that a USA first-year wideout has collected five or more receptions.

Reaching Milestones
In the OSU contest senior Xavier Johnson became the second individual in USA history to surpass 3,500 all-purpose yards after leading the Jaguars with 36 on five rushes while adding 60 more returning kicks.  The senior needs only 29 yards to pass T.J. Glover (2010, '12-14) and become the all-time leader in the category while with the effort he also became just the second player in the school's record books to record more than 1,000 yards running backkickoffs.