Game 1
South Alabama Jaguars (0-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) at #24 Nebraska Cornhuskers (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)

Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019 • 11 am CDT • Memorial Stadium/Tom Osborne Field (86,047 capacity/FieldTurf)
Lincoln, Neb.

Media Information
Television
ESPN
Beth Mowins (pxp)
Anthony Becht (analysis)
Rocky Boiman (sidelines)

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: https://admin.huskers.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
• 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 — 162nd
Nebraska
Associated Press — 24th
Coaches — RV (26th)
Sagarin — 21st

Series History
Overall: NU leads 1-0
In Mobile: n/a
In Lincoln: NU leads 1-0
Neutral: n/a
Series Streak: NU — 1
First Meeting: NU, 48-9, on Sept. 12, 2015, in Lincoln
Last Meeting: NU, 48-9, on Sept. 12, 2015, in Lincoln

The Coaches
South Alabama
Steve Campbell (Troy '88)
Record at USA — 3-9 (2nd season)
Career Sun Belt record — 2-6
Career NCAA record — 63-32 (9th season)
Career record — 162-62 (21st season)
Record vs. NU — 0-0

Nebraska
Scott Frost (Nebraska '97)
Record at NU — 4-8 (2nd season)
Career Record — 23-15 (4th season)
Record vs. USA — 0-0

Opening Kick
• The Jaguars will open the season on the road against an opponent from a Power Five conference for the third time in the last four years.
• This is just the fourth time since the program's inception in 2009 that South will take on a nationally-ranked opponent.
• USA is 1-2 all-time against top-25 foes, with the results including:

• L, 10-30 at #23 Mississippi State, 9/22/12
• W, 42-24 vs. #19 San Diego State, 10/1/16
• L, 7-44 vs. #10 Oklahoma State, 9/8/17

• The Cornhuskers are the only team the Jags have faced from the Big Ten Conference, with the two schools previously meeting in Lincoln during the 2015 season.
• It marks the first time South will kick off prior to noon since visiting Mississippi State at 11 a.m. (CDT) on Sept. 3, 2016.
• Jaguar redshirt freshman cornerback Tyrone Legette's father, also named Tyrone, was a three-year letterwinner at Nebraska as a cornerback from 1989-91.

Notes From The Last Nebraska Meeting
• Only two current members of the Jaguar program — Jalen Thompson and Tyree Turner — played in the previous match-up with the Cornhuskers.
• Thompson was credited with five stops and a pass defensed in his first-ever start on the road at the collegiate level.
• South managed just 19 yards on the ground, the third-lowest total in program history.
• The 313 yards passing for the Jags that day is the most ever recorded against a Power Five conference opponent.
• Nebraska's 561 yards of total offense set an opponent game record at the time and remain the sixth-highest total surrendered by the Jaguars in the team's 10 years of competition.

Notes On Campbell's Coaching/Playing Career
• Campbell's 162-62 mark as a head coach includes going 33-15 over four years at Central Arkansas from 204-17, 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.

Notes To "Open" With
• The Jaguars are 6-4 in season openers overall, which includes a 2-1 mark when starting the year on the road.
• South has a 4-5 record in their first road game of the season (the Jags played all seven contests at home their inaugural year).
• USA has split its two previous season openers at Power Five members, defeating Mississippi State, 21-20, to begin the 2016 campaign while dropping a 47-27 decision at Ole Miss the following fall.
• The win in Starkville marked the last time the Jaguars have begun the season with a victory.
• This marks only the second time in program history the Jags will open the year in August, as South fell 22-21 to Southern Utah at home on Aug. 29, 2013.

Start Me Up
South returns just 10 starters from last year's squad, the fewest since only seven came back from the program's first-ever bowl team in 2015; that fall, the Jaguars actually began the campaign with wins in three of their first five contests before falling one victory shy of returning to postseason action.  Entering Campbell's first season in charge of the program only one Jag offensive lineman had ever started a contest at the collegiate level, but this year USA is bringing back four-fifths of the group that opened the final six outings of 2018 including three individuals — Brian Ankerson, Hadon Merchant and Troy Thingstad — who started all 12 contests last year.

Mighty Minter
With over 1,000 yards rushing the last two years rising senior Tra Minter enters the fall expected to carry the workload in the Jaguars' offensive backfield, but it's his versatility that has earned him more recognition — making three preseason watch lists and a trio of magazine's preseason all-Sun Belt Conference teams — than any other member of the program this summer.  In addition to closing in on 1,000 yards in kickoff returns in his career, Minter is the only USA running back to catch more than 20 passes since the program's inception, a feat he has accomplished each of the last two seasons after posting 23 for 201 yards last fall.

Turner's Time
Perhaps no Jag is more respected in the Sun Belt this fall than Turner, who is coming off a year that saw him set career highs for tackles (51), stops for loss (10) and sacks (four) as he was a second-team all-league selection.  The rising senior was the top-rated individual from the program on SouthernPigskin.com's list of the top 100 players in the conference, coming in at No. 18 overall, as he enters his final season at the collegiate level needing just an assist behind the line of scrimmage and one sack to move into the top five in both categories in USA's career record book.

Double The Fun
Kawaan Baker has reached the end zone on 14 occasions over the last two seasons, which is not only most on the team during that span but the sixth-highest total on South's all-time list in the category.  Baker, however, holds the distinction of being the only individual in program history to rank among the top 10 on the career record list in both rushing touchdowns (sixth with nine)and touchdown receptions (tied for eighth with five).

Tested Thompson
Arguably the most decorated high school recruit in the first 10-plus years of the program's existence, Thompson has lived up to those expectations in some regard as he begins his senior campaign already tied for the school's career record with eight interceptions and the lone individual to ever return multiple picks for scores.  After sitting out 2017, he came back last fall to set career highs with 34 total tackles and eight passes defensed.

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—