Game 7
South Alabama Jaguars (1-5, 0-2 Sun Belt) at Troy Trojans (2-3, 0-1 Sun Belt)

Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019 • 7 pm CDT • Veterans Memorial Stadium • 30,000 capacity/ Matrix Helix Real Fill
Troy, Ala.

Media Information
Television
ESPN2
Chris Cotter (pxp)
Ray Bentley (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: @WeAreSouth_FB
• Live stats available at: http://statb.us/v/sala/268600
• Live audio available at: http://www.iheart.com/live/995-the-jag-mobile-7117/

The Rankings
South Alabama
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 172nd
Troy
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 97th

Series History
Overall: Troy leads 4-3
In Mobile: Troy leads 3-1
In Troy: USA leads 2-1
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: Troy — 1
First Meeting: Troy, 31-10, on Sept. 29, 2012, in Mobile
Last Meeting: Troy, 38-17, on Oct. 12, 2018, in Mobile

The Coaches
South Alabama
Steve Campbell (Troy '88)
Record at USA — 4-14 (2nd season)
Career Sun Belt record — 2-8
Career NCAA record — 64-37 (9th season)
Career record — 163-67 (21st season)
Record vs. Troy — 0-1

Troy
Chip Lindsey (Alabama '97)
Record at Troy — 2-3 (1st season)
Career Record — same
Record vs. USA — 0-0

Opening Kick
• The Jaguars and Trojans meet in the annual "Battle for the Belt" in Troy, South's lone road game of the month.
• The Jags are looking for their first win away from home since defeating the Trojans on Oct. 11, 2017.
• USA is also looking to avoid its first 0-3 start in Sun Belt Conference play since the 2016 season, when the Jaguars dropped their first four league outings.
• Jaguar S Tré Young originally committed to Troy before playing two seasons at East Central (Miss.) C.C.
• In addition to South head coach Steve Campbell and coordinators Kenny Edenfield and Greg Stewart playing on the Trojans' 1987 NCAA Division II national championship team, the Jags have the following ties to Troy:
* Edenfield; assistant coach, 2008-17
* DL coach Harland Bower; graduate assistant, 2013
* Graduate assistant KD Edenfield; WR, 2012-15 and graduate assistant, 2016-17

South Alabama-Troy Series Notes
• The visiting team has claimed the "Belt" in each of the last four years, and on five of seven occasions overall since the series began in 2012.
• USA is the last school in the series to win consecutive contests, accomplishing the feat in 2014 and '15.
• After playing four straight games decided by one score from 2013-16, the last two match-ups have been won by a double-digit margin.
• The winning team has allowed an average of 17.1 points per game, allowing fewer than 20 in five of seven contests.
• The 28 combined points scored by the two teams in the last meeting in Troy were the fewest in the series, and the fourth-lowest total in South's record books.

Notes From The Last Troy Meeting
• The Jaguars finished with 23 first downs, the most the offense had recorded at that point of the season.
• Troy averaged 8.0 yards per play, the best average posted against South's defense in 2018.
• The Trojans intercepted an opponent-high three passes, including one at the goal line that prevented the Jags from closing to within one score just before the half and another that was returned 88 yards to set up the only points scored by either team after the intermission.
• RB Tra Minter rushed for 99 yards as part of an effort that saw him record 174 all-purpose yards, going over the 1,000-yard mark in the latter category in the process.
• Making his first career start at the collegiate level, Sterrling Fisher nabbed his first interception as a Jag — the team's first takeaway in two-plus games — to go along with a tackle for loss for the second week in a row.

Notes On Campbell's Coaching/Playing Career
• Campbell's 163-67 mark as a head coach includes going 33-15 over four years at Central Arkansas from 2014-17, where he guided the Bears to back-to-back NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances before taking over at South Alabama.
• He has led two programs to national championships — Delta (Miss.) State in 2000 at the NCAA Division II level and Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. to the 2007 National Junior College Athletic Association crown.
• In 20 seasons no team coached by Campbell finished below .500 prior to the 2018 campaign.
• Campbell has coached on the staffs of Pat Dye (Auburn graduate assistant, 1988-89) and Jackie Sherrill (Mississippi State assistant, 2003).

Mobley Making The Most Plays
Sophomore Nick Mobley paced all players with a career-best 14 tackles against Georgia Southern, the third time this fall he has posted a double-digit total in the category.  With the effort, he became the first individual to lead the team in stops in three straight games — he had 10 at UAB and 9 at ULM the previous two weeks — since Jeremy Reaves accomplished the feat in three consecutive contests from Oct. 21-Nov. 4, 2017.  At the midway point of the season, the linebacker needs just one tackle to match his 12-game total from 2018.

Baker Has Two Triple-Digit Milestones
Kawaan Baker led all players last time out with four catches for 126 yards to post the first 100-yard game of his career, which included a 75-yard touchdown reception on South's initial offensive play of the second quarter that was the team's first covering 75 or more yards since Cole Garvin found Jamarius Way for an 81-yard score at Louisiana on Nov. 4, 2017.  That reception made the junior the eighth individual in program history to surpass 100 points scored in a career, while he also moved into a tie for fourth on the school's all-time list with 17 total touchdowns.

Trio Total Ten-Plus Tackles
DJ Daniels and Kelvin Johnson also posted career-high totals after finishing the GS contest with 10 stops apiece, marking the first time since Nov. 11, 2017 — when Bull Barge (13), Reaves (12) and Darrell Songy (10) turned the trick — that USA has had three individuals record 10 or more tackles in the same game.  Daniels has now been credited with five or more stops in all but one outing this year, while Johnson (who was making his first start since joining the program in the fall) has recorded 25 tackles the last four contests after posting four in South's first two games combined.

Brooks Displays Big Leg
Jack Brooks punted eight times for an average of 44.6 yards last time out against Georgia Southern, which included matching a career high with three kicks ending up inside the GS-20 yard line.  The effort included five punts of 50-plus yards — the most ever by a Jaguar — with a career-best 64-yard kick that is the longest in the Sun Belt this fall.  After having two of nine punts end inside the opposition's 20-yard line in South's first two games this year, the freshman has accomplished the feat multiple times in each of the last four outings.

Passing Fancy
Sophomore Cephus Johnson threw for 194 yards and a pair of touchdown passes while completing 8-of-15 attempts in the match-up with the Eagles to post a pass efficiency rating of 205.97; that's the second-highest figure ever recorded by a Jaguar quarterback (minimum 10 attempts) against an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision opponent.  His 12.93 yards per pass attempt was also the highest average ever in a matchup with an NCAA FBS school (minimum 10 attempts), surpassing the mark set by Ross Metheny — who finished with 193 yards on 15 passes in a victory over Western Kentucky on Sept. 14, 2013 — while he ended the contest with both multiple touchdown throws and over 200 yards of total offense for the first time since the season opener at Nebraska.

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

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—USA—