23 West Alabama (7-2, 6-1) at Valdosta State (4-3, 4-2)
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#23 WEST ALABAMA (7-2, 6-1) AT VALDOSTA STATE (4-3, 4-2) Nov. 4, 2017 l Bazemore-Hyder Stadium | Valdosta, Ga. | 2 p.m. CT | ESPN3 | ESPN 104.9 THE SERIES This is the 37th meeting between the Tigers and the Blazers. VSU leads 32-4. UWA Schedule/Results WEST ALABAMA Date Opponent Result/Time 8/31 at Lenoir-Rhyne W, 46-7 West Alabama is 7-2, 6-1 in 9/7 at Samford$ L, 49-41 GSC play, after a 35-18 in 9/16 Mississippi College* W, 42-13 over West Florida last week. 9/23 at North Alabama* W, 38-17 VALDOSTA STATE 9/30 Shorter* W, 62-0 10/7 at Delta State* W 29-26. Valdosta State is 4-3, 4-2 in 10/14 West Georgia* W, 34-31 GSC play, after beating 10/21 at Florida Tech*$ L, 41-39 Florida Tech 42-14 last 10/28 West Florida*$ (HC) W, 35-18 weekend. 11/4 at Valdosta State* 2 p.m. 11/11 North Greenville 2 p.m. THE COACHES *GSC Game $ ESPN3 Brett Gilliland is 26-16 in his TIGERS CLINCH A SHARE OF GSC TITLE fourth season at UWA, his With its 35-18 win over West Florida last week West Alabama fourth as a head coach. clinched at least a tie for the 2017 Gulf South Conference title. A Kerwin Bell is 12-6 in his victory at Valdosta State would give the Tigers the outright second year at VSU, 78-41 in championship. his 11th year as a college head coach. LAST OUTRIGHT TITLE West Alabama’s last outright GSC championship came in 2012. The COVERAGE Tigers shared the title with North Alabama in 2013. Live Stream | ESPN3 | ESPN App TIGERS IN NCAA SUPER REGION TWO Radio: | ESPN1049 App West Alabama remained second in this week’s NCAA Division II ESPN 104.9, Kyle Beede & Football Super Region Two Rankings. The Tigers are 7-1 against both Robert Upchurch on the call. Division II and region opponents, 7-2 overall. Wingate (8-0) remains on top of the region. The top seven teams at the end of the season Twitter: @UWAAthletics earn a berth in the NCAA Division II Football Playoffs. UWA Record SUPER REGION TWO STANDINGS Region D2 Breakdown Wingate 8-0 8-0 West Alabama 7-1 7-1 Overall: 7-2 GSC: 6-1 Virginia State 7-0 7-0 West Georgia 7-2 7-2 Home: 4-0 Road: 3-2 Bowie State 8-1 8-1 Day: 2-1 Night: 5-1 Catawba 6-2 6-2 Delta State 6-3 6-3 Sept: 4-1 Oct: 3-1 Miles College 6-2 6-2 Virginia Union 6-2 6-3 Nov: 0-0 Score First: 4-1 Carson-Newman 5-3 5-3 Lead After 1st Quarter: 5-1 TIGERS CLIMB IN NATIONAL POLL Trail After 1st Quarter: 1-1 West Alabama climbed two spots in the AFCA Division II poll to No. 23 after a convincing 35-18 win over West Tied After 1st Quarter: 1-0 Florida. Lead At Half: 6-0 BLACKWELL GSC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK Trail At Half: 1-2 Tiger DB Jamal Blackwell earned GSC defensive player of Tied At Half: 0-0 the week honors for his performance in the Tigers win over West Florida. Blackwell led West Alabama defenders with Lead After 3rd Quarter: 6-0 12 tackles, eight solo. He also intercepted a pass and had a tackle for loss. Trail After 3rd Quarter: 1-2 NOT SINCE 2013 Tied After 3rd Quarter: 0-0 West Alabama’s last win against Valdosta State came on Oct. 10, Lead After 4th Quarter: 7-0 2013, 49-30, in Livingston. VSU was ranked No.1 in the nation coming into the game. UWA’s four victories in the series that Trail After 4th Quarter: 0-2 dates back to 1982 came in 1985, 2010, 2012 and 2013. The Blazers won 24 straight in the series between 1986 and 2009. 1-5 Points: 2-1 6-10 Points: 0-1 11-19 Points: 1-0 20-29 Points: 2-0 UNIFORM COMBINATIONS RECORD 30 or More Points: 2-0 Red Jersey, Red Pants: 0-0 White Jersey, Red Pants: 0-1 Overtime: 0-0 White Jersey, White Pants: 0-1 Red Jersey, Black Pants: 1-0 GSC Home: 4-0 Red Jersey, White Pants: 3-0 GSC Road: 2-1 White Jersey, Black Pants: 3-0 ONCE A BLAZER UWA COACHING RECORDS BY WINS UWA running backs coach and former Tiger record-setting quarterback Deon Williams Coach Years W-L-T played at Valdosta State before coming to Frank North 1979-84 31-29 West Alabama. Williams lettered as a Blazer Jim King 1973-76 29-14-1 running back in 2006. Brett Gilliland 2014-Present 26-16 Bobby Wallace 2006-10 26-30 Will Hall 2011-13 25-11 DONTA 4TH ON ALL-TIME RECEPTION LIST Sam McCorkle 1985-90, 04-05 24-62-1 In less than two full seasons, Donta Micky Andrews 1970-72 23-7-2 Armstrong has moved to fourth on the UWA James Garner 1960-66 22-39-1 career receptions list with 137. Gerald Morris Higginbotham 1967-69 19-9-2 Worsham (08-11) leads the list with 241. Vaughn Mancha 1949-51 18-10-2 Armstrong’s 46 receptions and 597 yards Lloyd Sisco 1991-93 13-16-1 currently leads the GSC. Paul Tubb 1939-41 11-10-1 Bobby Johns 1997-2000 11-31 COACH G TIED FOR THIRD ALL-TIME Randy Pippen 2001-03 8-25 F.G. McCollum 1942 6-3 Brett Gilliland comes into the game tied for third Todd Stroud 1994-96 6-25 on the UWA all-time wins list with 26 (see chart to Jack Crowe 1977-78 5-15 right). Gilliland needs six wins to become the all- Bob Willams 1952 4-6 time winningest coach in UWA football history. Ray Richeson 1953-56 4-30-1 C.A. Douglas 1947-48 3-13-1 LT SNIFFING RUSHING TOP 10 Robert Cire 1957-59 2-22 Tiger running back Lakenderic Thomas has 1,416 career yards on 290 carries since HARRY HANGING AT THE TOP transferring from East Mississippi Community UWA QB Harry Satterwhite leads the GSC in total College in 2016. Currently 12th on the career total offense (2,354), passing yards (2,320), list, he needs 167 rushing yards to break into passing yards per game (257.8), completions the UWA career top 10. (226) and attempts (337). TOUGH ON 4TH SAMUEL’S 73 UWA leads the GSC on both sides of the football Linebacker Terry Samuel’s 73 tackles is tied for in fourth-down conversions. The Tiger offense has first in the GSC. converted 5-of-8 (.625). UWA’s defense is tied for first with Delta State, allowing just 4-of-16 (.250) on SHUTDOWN CORNER fourth down. Tevin Madison is making the most of his only year as a Tiger after transferring from Texas Tech. ONLY 10 SACKS He leads the league in passes broken up with 18 UWA leads the GSC in sacks allowed. The Tigers’ and is tied for first in interceptions with five and veteran offensive line has allowed just 10 sacks this fumble recoveries with three. season, a mere 1.1 per game. ZACH BOOMING WANT SCORING? Tiger punter Zach Gaines leads the league at We have it for you. UWA is the top scoring team in 43.3 yards per punt and has a GSC-best 14 punts the GSC with 366 points, 40.7 per game. of 50+ yards. HEAD COACH BRETT GILLILAND Record setting quarterback and University of West Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame member Brett Gilliland came home on Dec. 9, 2013 to be named the 21st head football coach at his alma mater. Now entering his fourth season as the Tigers head coach, Gilliland returned to West Alabama from Kennesaw State, where he was coaching quarterbacks. Previous coaching stops include Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern. Gilliland led the Tigers to a 5-6 record in 2014, his first year back at his alma mater and his first season as a collegiate head coach. He followed the initial campaign with 7-4 records in both years two and three. Following his playing days at UWA, Gilliland began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech before moving on to the offensive staff Georgia Southern. While at Georgia Tech, Gilliland was a part of three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Coastal Division Championships (2006, 2008 and 2009). In 2007, Gilliland worked with Yellow Jacket quarterbacks after assisting with the receiving corps in 2006, including Biletnikoff Award winner and current Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson. Gilliland coached the running backs for two seasons at Tech, a group that included Doak Walker semi-finalist Jonathan Dwyer. Dwyer was the ACC rushing leader and player of the year in 2008. In three seasons at Georgia Southern, Gilliland worked with the running backs (2010), tight ends and tackles (2011) and wide receivers (2012). He took over the recruiting coordinator duties following the conclusion of the 2011 season. With Gilliland on staff, Georgia Southern posted a 31-12 (.721) overall record, won two Southern Conference titles (2011, 2012) and made three consecutive NCAA Football Championship Series (FCS) semifinal appearances. Gilliland was a regional finalist for the Harlon Hill trophy in 2003. He earned all-region recognition from the Football Gazette (2002). He concluded his career as the Tigers’ single-season (3,213) and career passing yards (6,689) record holder.