GULF SOUTH CONFERENCE FOOTBALL WEEKLY RELEASE Week Nine Preview | October 26, 2016
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GULF SOUTH CONFERENCE FOOTBALL WEEKLY RELEASE Week Nine Preview | October 26, 2016 Contact: Nick Moeller, Assistant Commissioner for Sports Information | [email protected] Phone: (205) 991-9880 | Fax: (205) 437-0505 | Twitter: @GulfSouth | Facebook: The Gulf South Conference | Instagram: gscsports GSC STANDINGS (through 10/26/16) Conference Overall A/D2/R Team W L Pct. PF PA W L Pct PF PA Home Away Neutral *Streak 7/3/1 North Alabama 4 0 1.000 158 49 5 1 .833 222 101 4-0 1-1 0-0 W-5 RV/--/7 West Alabama 5 1 .833 218 170 5 3 .625 265 224 2-1 3-2 0-0 W-4 14/15/2 Valdosta State 4 1 .800 195 167 6 1 .857 259 184 4-0 1-1 1-0 W-5 West Florida 3 2 .600 199 162 5 3 .625 317 225 3-0 2-3 0-0 W-1 RV/--/9 Florida Tech 2 2 .500 155 87 5 2 .714 273 136 2-0 3-2 0-0 L-1 Delta State 3 3 .500 256 233 4 4 .500 334 302 4-1 0-3 0-0 L-1 --/--/8 West Georgia 2 3 .400 122 140 5 3 .625 201 166 3-1 2-2 0-0 W-1 Mississippi College 0 6 .000 136 255 2 6 .250 191 297 2-3 0-3 0-0 L-4 Shorter 0 5 .000 35 211 0 8 .000 79 332 0-3 0-5 0-0 L-14 A--AFCA Division II Coaches’ Poll (released every Monday); D2--D2Football.com Poll (released every Tuesday); R--Super Region 2 Rankings (released every Monday) *--Streaks carried over from 2015 LAST WEEK’S GAMES WEEK EIGHT RECAP North Alabama, West Alabama, and Valdosta State all added another victory to their impres- October 22 (Saturday) sive winning streaks in week eight of the season, and they remain at the top of the league *Shorter 0 @ West Florida 36 standings. UNA remains the only undefeated team in conference play, while UWA and VSU *Mississippi College 23 @ West Georgia 31 are the only other teams with less than two league losses. *Florida Tech 35 @ West Alabama 45 Despite a strong defensive effort from Shorter in the first half of last weekend’s matchup, *Delta State 27 @ Valdosta State 56 West Florida proved to be too potent offensively for the Hawks. The Argonauts outscored SU North Greenville 21 @ North Alabama 52 26-0 in the second half to propel themselves into the top half of the conference standings. West Georgia got back to its winning ways with a 31-23 victory over a dangerous Mississippi College team. UWG made a change at quarterback, starting freshman Willie Candler in the THIS WEEK’S GAMES contest. Candler threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions on his way to GSC Fresh- October 29 (Saturday) man of the Week honors. *West Alabama @ West Florida 12:00 pm *West Georgia @ Shorter 1:30 pm West Alabama extended its winning streak with a victory over Florida Tech. Austin Grammer continued his recent offensive tear, throwing for four touchdowns. Corey Davis caught three *North Alabama @ Delta State 2:00 pm of those four touchdowns and is now tied atop the GSC statistical rankings with eight TD *Valdosta State @ Florida Tech 7:00 pm grabs on the year. With the game tied 21-21, Valdosta State when onto score 28 unanswered points and defeat NEXT WEEK’S GAMES Delta State. The Blazers got a pair of special teams touchdowns, returning a blocked field November 5 (Saturday) goal and a punt for scores. DSU’s Chris Robinson continued to pace the nation in touch- downs, scoring the first three Statesmen touchdowns of the game. *Mississippi College @ Shorter 12:30 pm *West Florida @ North Alabama 1:30 pm In non-conference action, UNA impressed, soundly defeating North Greenville, 52-21. North *Florida Tech @ West Georgia 2:00 pm Alabama is currently atop the Super Regional 2 rankings and have yet to lose a Division II game this season. Jacob Tucker was named the GSC Offensive Player of the Week after *Valdosta State @ West Alabama 2:00 pm recording 510 yards of total offense and scoring five touchdowns in the game. The 510 yards is the most in the league in 2016. All Times are Local; GSC teams in BOLD; *Conference game WEEK NINE PREVIEW West Alabama will take its four game winning streak into Pensacola, facing off with West Florida. This game will feature the top two quarterbacks in the league in passing yards per game: UWA’s Austin Grammer and UWF’s Kaleb Nobles. West Georgia is looking for its second straight win, while Shorter continues to look for its first in a Peach State showdown. UWG defensive end Dylan Donahue is two sacks away from tying the GSC single season record. The top scoring defense in the league will square off with the top scoring offense in the league on Saturday afternoon, as Delta State will welcome North Alabama to town. DSU running back Chris Robinson is just one touchdown away from tying the league’s single season record. Two regionally ranked teams will meet Saturday night in Melbourne, as Valdosta State will face Florida Tech in the GSC Game of the Week. FIT is looking for the first win in program history over VSU. 2016 GSC Football Weekly Release 1 www.gscsports.org GSC FOOTBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK North Alabama QB Jacob Tucker Tucker rushed for 132 yards on 14 carries and scored twice, while also throwing for 378 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-21 non-conference win over North Greenville. His 510 total yards of offense is the most in a single game in the GSC this year, and Tucker was able to achieve the feat in just three quarters. The rushing and passing totals were also career highs for Tucker. The UNA quarterback has led the Lions to an undefeated record in conference play, and he currently ranks fourth in the league in rush- ing yards per game (73.7) and fifth in passing yards per game (211.7). DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK West Georgia S Jeff Fulwood Fulwood was integral in the win for the Wolves, leading the team with nine tackles and intercepting a pass as time ticked down in the fourth quarter that stopped the Choctaws’ comeback attempt. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK Valdosta State PR Gary Simon Valdosta State won its fifth straight game, defeating Delta State 56-27. With the game tied 21-21 in the second quarter, Simon took a DSU punt back 70 yards for a touchdown. This was the first score of a 28-0 run for VSU, who would not trail again for the remainder of the contest. FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK West Georgia QB Willie Candler Candler wins GSC Freshman of the Week honors after his first collegiate start. In the Wolves’ win over Mississippi College, Candler threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions. He led UWG to a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, hitting Qa Walker with a 10-yard TD pass. Also nominated for Offensive Player of the Week: Corey Davis (West Alabama, WR); Travis Custis (West Georgia, RB); Mark Cato (Florida Tech, QB); Kaleb Nobles (West Florida, QB) Also nominated for Defensive Player of the Week: Se’quan Steele (West Alabama, CB); JaQarius Scott (Mississippi College, DL); Raymond Palmer (Valdosta State, CB); John Williamson (West Florida, DE) Also nominated for Special Teams Player of the Week: Marcel Newson (Mississippi College, KR/P) Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Buck Watkins (Florida Tech, WR); Tate Lehtio (West Florida, WR/K); Cedric Hollingshed (Valdosta State, RB) 2016 GSC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Week OFFENSE DEFENSE SPECIAL TEAMS FRESHMAN 09/05/16 RB-Chris Robinson, DSU LB-Dante Robinson, VSU P-Thomas Boone, DSU RB-Tim Bellinger, UWF 09/12/16 QB-Kaleb Nobles, UWF DL-Adonis Davis, FIT K-Austin Peffers, UWF QB-Tyler Pullum, SU 09/19/16 WR-Anas Hasic, UWF DL-Dylan Donahue, UWG CB-Marcus Sayles, UWG LB-Jordan Jones, UWA 09/26/16 QB-Jacob Tucker, UNA DB-Jo Jackson, FIT KR-Devontae Jackson, UWG RB-Cedric Hollingshed, VSU 10/03/16 RB-Chris Robinson, DSU CB-Marvin Conley, UWF P-Andrew Bogaenko, UWF QB-Tyler Pullum, SU 10/10/16 QB-Austin Grammer, UWA DB-Trent Archie, UWF K-Jordan Bennett, UWA RB-Cedric Hollingshed, VSU 10/17/16 RB-Chris Robinson, DSU DE-Darius Ellis, UWA KR-Marcel Newson, MC RB-Cedric Hollingshed, VSU 10/24/16 QB-Jacob Tucker, UNA S-Jeff Fulwood, UWG PR-Gary Simon, VSU QB-Willie Candler, UWG 2016 GSC Football Weekly Release 2 www.gscsports.org 2016 GSC FOOTBALL--THE WEEK AHEAD West Alabama Tigers (5-3, 5-1 Gulf South) West Georgia Wolves (5-3, 2-3 Gulf South) at West Florida Argonauts (5-3, 3-2 Gulf South) at Shorter Hawks (0-8, 0-5 Gulf South) Saturday, October 22 | 12:00 p.m. CT Saturday, October 22 | 1:30 p.m. ET Blue Wahoos Stadium | Pensacola, Fla. Barron Stadium | Rome, Ga. Series Record: ........................................................................First Meeting Series Record: ....................................................................UWG leads 3-1 Last Meeting: .........................................................................................N/A Last Meeting: ...................................................................@UWG 35, SU 9 West Alabama’s Last Game: ........................Defeated Florida Tech, 45-35 West Georgia’s Last Game: ��������������Defeated Mississippi College, 31-23 West Florida’s Last Game:.....................................Defeated Shorter, 36-0 Shorter’s Last Game: ���������������������������������������� Lost to West Florida, 36-0 Game Breakdown Game Breakdown West Alabama is one of the hottest teams in the GSC and will roll into Prior to last week’s win over Mississippi College, West Georgia had Pensacola on a four game winning streak.