Game 9
South Alabama Jaguars (1-7, 0-4 Sun Belt) at Texas State Bobcats (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt)

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 • 2 pm CDT • Bobcat Stadium • 30,000 capacity/FieldTurf
San Marcos, Texas

Media Information
Television
ESPN+
Brant Freeman (pxp)
Joplo Bartu (analysis)
Brooke Shoemaker (sidelines)

Radio
USA Football Radio Network
(flagship 96.1 FM/99.5 FM The Jag in Mobile)
JT Crabtree (pxp)
Chris May (analysis)
Tommy Hicks (sidelines)

On the web
• Live Twitter updates available at: @WeAreSouth_FB
• Live stats available at: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=275319
• 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 — 176th
Texas State
Associated Press — n/a
Coaches — n/a
Sagarin — 140th

Series History
Overall: Tied 2-2
In Mobile: USA leads 2-0
In San Marcos: TXST leads 2-0
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: USA — 1
First Meeting: TXST, 33-31, on Oct. 16, 2013, in San Marcos
Last Meeting: USA, 41-31, on Sept. 15, 2018, in Mobile

The Coaches
South Alabama
Steve Campbell (Troy '88)
Record at USA — 4-16 (2nd season)
Career Sun Belt record — 2-10
Career NCAA record — 64-39 (9th season)
Career record — 163-69 (21st season)
Record vs. TXST — 1-0

Texas State
Jake Spavital (Missouri State '08)
Record at TXST — 2-6 (1st season)
Career Record — same
Record vs. TXST — 0-0

Opening Kick
• South opens the final month of the regular season with a trip to San Marcos to take on the Bobcats.
• This will be the Jaguars' first trip to the Lone Star State since visiting Texas State on Oct. 24, 2015.
• It is the first of three match-ups with Sun Belt Conference West Division opponents over the next four weeks.
• The Jags' last league win on the road in November came in a 38-17 decision at Georgia State on Nov. 30, 2013.
• It's the third straight contest the Jaguars will play with at least 10 days to prepare.

South Alabama-Texas State Series Notes
• The home team has won each of the last for match-ups in the series following USA's win a year ago.
• After the first two contests were decided by four points or less the last two have featured a double-digit margin of victory.
• The winning team has recorded 30 or more points on three occasions, with the loser scoring that many in two of those games.
• With their first victory in the series in 2014, the Jaguars claimed their sixth win on the year to make the program eligible to compete in a postseason bowl for the first time in school history.
• Senior CB Jalen Thompson is the only member of South's program to play in the last meeting between the two school in San Marcos during the 2015 campaign; in that game, he recorded his first career interception to go along with a then-career-high five stops.

Notes From The Last Texas State Meeting
• The win was Steve Campbell's first leading the Jaguar program.
• Down by 15 points after the Bobcats scored on their opening possession of the second half, USA posted 25 points in the final 21 minutes and 10 seconds to close the contest out.
• It was the last time South has both won a game when behind at the end of three quarters as well as when trailing by 10 or more points.
• Jag WR Jamarius Way was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week after catching a school game-record 11 passes for 173 yards and a score.
• The Jaguars set a school record with 143 penalty yards while their 15 penalties were one shy of matching the current mark (which was set at Texas State in 2015).

Notes On Campbell's Coaching/Playing Career
• Campbell's 163-69 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).
• Campbell and Jaguar coordinators Kenny Edenfield and Greg Stewart were teammates on Troy's 1987 NCAA Division II national championship squad.

Another In Double Figures
Keith Gallmon tied his previous career high with nine tackles in the opening half of the Jaguars' last outing against then-No. 21 Appalachian State, going on to reach double digits in the category for the first time as he finished with a game-high 10.  It's the second time that the sophomore safety has led the team in stops after accomplished the feat first Memphis on Sept. 14.  With the effort, Gallmon became the fifth member of the Jaguar defense to post 10 or more tackles in a game this fall.

Minter Movin' On Up
Senior Tra Minter moved up to second on the school's all-time list in all-purpose yards after leading all players with 159 in the match-up with the Mountaineers, as with 3,663 over the last two-plus years he passed T.J. Glover.  It marked the first time since the opening two games of the season that the running back has recorded 100 or more all-purpose yards in back-to-back contests — he had 200 at Troy on Oct. 16 as well — while it marked the fifth occasion this year that he has reached triple digits in the category.

Cause of Confusion
LB Riley Cole equaled his career high in tackles for loss first set in the opener against Nebraska with a game-best two against App State, with that total including his second sack of the season.  Coming into the campaign the redshirt junior had been credited with 2½ stops behind the line of scrimmage in 18 appearances over the last three years, a total he surpassed with three in the Jaguars' three games last month.

Fisher Finding His Groove
After being limited by an injury suffered during preseason camp, Sterrling Fisher has seen extensive action in each of South's last two contests.  Against the Mountaineers last time out, the junior was credited with a season-best four tackles — all solo — highlighted by a stop for a loss of six yards that forced App State to settle for a field goal after reaching the red zone in the final two minutes of the opening half.  Fisher posted three stops in his first four games this fall, a total he reached in each of the last two outings (he finished with three against Troy in the annual "Battle For The Belt").

Trotter's Time
South recorded 116 of its offensive yards after Desmond Trotter entered the contest in the second half, with the redshirt freshman completing his first passes as a Jag including a 30-yard strike to Cade Sutherland late in the third quarter.  It marked the first time since the 2014 season — when Brandon Bridge, Matt Floyd and Hunter Vaughn all turned the trick — that three different Jaguars quarterbacks have paced the team in passing yards in a game.

Fun Without Flags
The Jaguars have been flagged for four or fewer penalties in five of the last six contests after being called for a season-high 11 in a Sept. 7 win over Jackson State, including recording only 75 yards on 12 total fouls in three October games.  USA is ranked 13th in the country with an average of 41.38 penalty yards per outing, a pace that would see the program record its lowest total in the category since moving up to the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2012.

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).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—