UCLA Football Preview: South Alabama Will Look for Yardage Through the Air
Expect the Jaguars to use the run to setup the pass.
The offensive depth chart for the South Alabama Jaguars is interesting. Of course, it lists the usual five interior linemen, one running back and a quarterback but, after that, it gets interesting. That’s due to the fact that it lists two tight ends and three receivers. Yes, that’s 12 starters total.
So, who exactly will offensive coordinator Major Applewhite start on Saturday? Your guess is as good as mine.
The offensive depth chart has remained the same through the first three games of the season. So, who did the Jaguars actually start each week?
In Week 1, they started junior receiver Devin Voisin, who’s listed as the Z receiver rather than a second tight end. However, in Week 2, the depth chart basically went out the window as the team opted to start tight end DJ Thomas-Jones. He got the start even though Thomas-Jones is listed as the second string TE1, rather than the first string TE2.
Either way, South Alabama looks to be a balanced offense with 85 rushing attempts and 77 pass attempts in their first two games. They have scored six touchdowns on passes and five on rushes.
Quarterback
The Jaguars are led by transfer Carter Bradley. Bradley previously played for Toledo. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 260 yards against Nicholls before being replaced by junior Desmond Trotter. Against Central Michigan, Bradley threw for 354 yards and completed 26 of 42 attempts.
To his credit, Trotter completed 9 of 10 pass attempts for 72 yards in Week 1. So, he appears to be a suitable backup if Bradley should leave the game.
Bradley doesn’t appear to be much of a threat to run. So far this season, he’s run ten times and, while he’s gained 51 yards, he also lost 33 yards. That’s a net of just 18 yards total. He is one of just two Jaguars to score a touchdown on the ground.
Running Game
La’Damian Webb is the Jaguars’ primary running back. He’s carried on 38 of South Alabama’s 85 rush attempts. He has scored four touchdowns on the ground. While he is the other Jaguar to score a rushing touchdown, he has yet to break the century mark in a game, rushing for 98 yards against Nicholls and 91 against Central Michigan.
Senior Terrion Avery will be the back most likely to sub in for Webb. Avery has carried 16 times for a net of 53 yards. Overall, though, Avery doesn’t appear to be much of a threat unless Webb is unavailable to play.
Three other running backs have earned time so far. Omni Wells, Braylon McReynolds and Marco Lee have had such little impact that if any of them is in the game, the Bruins will probably be better to be thinking pass before run.
Passing Game
Jalen Wayne and Caullin Lacy are South Alabama’s biggest receiving threats. The pair have caught 24 of the 52 passes the Jaguars have completed. Wayne is a bigger scoring threat than Lacy. He has caught three touchdown passes so far this year. While he only caught three passes against Nicholls, two of them were touchdown passes including a 52-yarder. Last week against Central Michigan, Wayne pulled in ten receptions with one touchdown.
While Lacy hasn’t found the end zone yet, he managed to make six catches against Nicholls for 72 yards and five more against Central Michigan for 97 yards.
Eleven other Jaguars have caught passes and three of them have caught touchdown passes. So, it looks like Bradley likes to move the ball around quite a bit.
Overall, the South Alabama passing game looks to be effective. Ten of the 13 Jaguars who have caught passes are averaging more than 10 yards per reception. That would appear to show Bradley’s maturation as a quarterback.
Analysis
It seems like offensive coordinator Major Applewhite will use the run to set up the pass and they will use the pass to effective move down the field rather than relying on the run for big gains.
This game looks to be a good early test to see whether the Bruin pass defense has improved under new defensive coordinator Bill McGovern. So far, the Bruin defense has been giving up some big plays while managing to keep opponents out of the end zone. If they cannot stop the pass weekend, it’s possible that there could be an upset.
It’s also worth nothing that, after the Bruins were a 50.5-point favorite last weekend, they are only a 15.5-point favorite this weekend. If UCLA wants to keep the Jaguars off the scoreboard, the Bruins will need to avoid giving up big yardage through the air.
Go Bruins!!!
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I seem to recall that the last time Major Applewhite played at the Roae Bowl didn't go so well for him. Think he was a quarterback for Tennessee and we're back in the early '90s. And he got clobbered. The Bruins went up big early. A freshman named Peyton Manning came in to relieve him, but the game was too far gone for Peyton to have any effect on the outcome. I'm hoping that major has a repeat experience.