To call South Alabama’s 2024 season up-and-down is certainly accurate, though “down-and-up” might be even closer to correct.
The Jaguars are 4-4 overall and 3-1 in Sun Belt Conference play entering Saturday’s home game with Georgia Southern (5-3, 3-1). And South Alabama got to that record using four “mini-streaks” of two games each.
The Jaguars lost their first two games vs. North Texas and Ohio, then beat Northwestern State and Appalachian State to get to 2-2. Consecutive losses vs. LSU and Arkansas State followed, then came wins over Troy and Louisiana-Monroe.
The two-up, two-trend was also present in 2023, when the Jaguars went 6-6 during the regular season and then won the 68 Ventures Bowl. South Alabama hasn’t a three-game winning streak since the end of the 2022 season, something it will be trying to reverse when the Eagles visit Hancock Whitney Stadium on Saturday.
“This is about as much prosperity as we can handle, so everybody brace themselves,” first-year South Alabama coach Major Applewhite said with a laugh. “It’s time to go win three in a row.”
South Alabama is coming off one of its better performances of the season, and certainly its best second half. The Jaguars beat ULM 46-17, outscoring the Warhawks 34-0 over the final two quarters.
South Alabama won that game by running the ball, piling up 355 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. It was the Jaguars’ third 300-yard rushing performance this season (Northwestern State and App State were the others), while the yardage total was the most in program history vs. an FBS opponent.
“It’s really a blast,” offensive guard Reed Buys said. “It’s kind of what you dream of doing, getting lined up and running every play. It’s what we thrive off of, and it was good to be able to do that.”
Pending the outcome of Tuesday’s game between Louisiana (3-0 in conference play) and Texas State (2-1), South Alabama could be part of a 5-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt West Division heading into the weekend. ULM and Arkansas State are also 2-1 in the Sun Belt, so the Jaguars would be no worse than a game back should the Ragin’ Cajuns beat the Bobcats.
But to stay at or near the top of the division, the Jaguars will have to show a consistency they rarely have throughout the program’s 16-year history. South Alabama has played in just four bowl games, and recorded its first back-to-back winning seasons in 2022 and 2023.
“We definitely have some momentum,” Buys said. “It’s all mentality. You’ve got to stay consistent and I think that’s going to (show up) in the work that we put in this week. You can’t dial it back, you can’t get comfortable, so it’s the same approach every day. A 1-0 mindset. You can’t get complacent.
“It’s November, so maybe the saying is ‘November to Remember.’ We’re dialed in, we’re locked in and we’re still hungry.”
Georgia Southern comes in tied for first in the Sun Belt East, albeit with Old Dominion, which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker based on a 47-19 win last Thursday. Clay Helton’s team also recorded a wild 24-23 victory over Marshall on Oct. 12, a game in which the Eagles trailed 23-3 midway through the fourth quarter.
Georgia Southern once again has a prolific passing offense behind quarterback JC French, averaging better than 250 yards per game through the air. But the Eagles are porous on defense, allowing more than 30 points and a league-worst 457.6 yards per game.
“It’s a different type of game this week as opposed to everything being (focused) on the run from a defensive standpoint,” Applewhite said. “They’ve got three really good backs that can run the ball, but they want to throw the football.
“We’re gonna have to be able to communicate on the back end, disguise things, be safe at times, be aggressive at times. Sometimes you want to play on top of things, sometimes you want to be really ‘matchy’ on things. We have to do a great job of understanding formations, splits, concepts, from a passing game standpoint. It’s just gonna be a different approach this week.”
Kickoff Saturday is set for 6:30 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The game will be televised live via ESPNU.
