#20 WEST ALABAMA (1-0) AT TUSCULUM (0-1) Sept. 14, 2019 l Pioneer Field | Greenville, Tenn. | 6 p.m. EDT l ESPN 104.9 THE SERIES This is the first meeting between the Pioneers and Tigers. WEST ALABAMA 2019 UWA Schedule/Results West Alabama is 1-0 after a Date Opponent Time season opening 35-18 win over Limestone. 9/7 Limestone W, 35-18 9/14 at Tusculum 5 p.m. TUSCULUM 9/21 at Valdosta State* (CFDS TV) 6 p.m. 9/28 Tuskegee (HOF) 6 p.m. Tusculum is 0-1 after losing 10/5 North Greenville* (ESPN3) 1 p.m. 24-10 at Delta State to open 10/12 Shorter* (HC) 4 p.m. the season. 10/19 at Delta State*(ESPN+) 6 p.m. THE COACHES 10/26 West Georgia* 1 p.m. 11/2 at Florida Tech* 1 p.m. Brett Gilliland is 38-21 in his 11/9 Mississippi College*(ESPN3) Noon sixth season at UWA. Jerry 11/16 at West Florida* 4 p.m. Odom is 14-18 in his fourth season at Tusculum. *GSC Game COVERAGE ON THE ROAD Radio: ESPN 104.9: Robert This is the road opener for the Tigers. West Alabama was 3-3 on Upchurch & Will Atkinson the road last season. handle the call. Live video is available on the Tusculum ROAD OPENERS UNDER GILLILAND Athletics YouTube page. West Alabama is 5-1 in road openers under head coach Brett Gilliland. NEXT WEEK 2014 won at Stillman 44-20 2015 won at Miles College 13-10 UWA opens GSC play at Valdosta State on Sept. 2016 lost at North Greenville 24-23 21.Kickoff is at 6 p.m. CDT. 2017 won at Lenoir-Rhyne 46-7 The game will be televised 2018 won at Limestone 16-13 regionally on College Football 2019 Tigers at Tusculum Down South. UWA Record Breakdown QUA 8TH WITH 100 OR MORE With three receptions last week against Limestone, Tiger All- Overall: 1-0 GSC: 0-0 American tight end Qua Boyd became just the eighth player Home: 1-0 in UWA football history have more than 100 career catches. His 1,276 receiving yards is seventh all-time. Road: 0-0 Day: 0-0 GAINES GSC & D2FOOTBALL.COM SPECIALIST OF THE WEEK West Alabama punter Zach Gaines earned GSC and Night: 1-0 D2Football.com special teams player of the week for his Sept: 1-0 performance in the Tigers 35-18 victory over Limestone College to open the season. He punted 10 times, averaging Oct: 0-0 46.7 yards per punt, which leads the conference after one week. He had three punts of 50 or more yards and dropped Nov: 0-0 four punts inside the Limestone 20-yard line. This is the first Score First: 1-0 GSC weekly honor for Gaines, who is a two-time All-GSC selection. Lead After 1st Quarter: 1-0 Trail After 1st Quarter: 0-0 GAINES ON THE CAREER BOARD One game into his senior season Tiger punter Zach Gaines is first Tied After 1st Quarter: 0-0 on the UWA career list for total punts (142) and average yards per Lead At Half: 1-0 punt (42.71). He is second all-time in total yards punted with 6,065. Trail At Half: 0-0 Tied At Half: 0-0 CLIMB TO 20 & 24 IN POLLS The Tigers jumped four spots to No.20 in the American Lead After 3rd Quarter: 1-0 Football Coaches Association poll after last week’s win over Trail After 3rd Quarter: 0-0 Limestone. D2Football.com has UWA at No. 24. Tied After 3rd Quarter: 0-0 HOF HONORS SEPT. 28 AT TUSKEGEE GAME 1-5 Points: 0-0 Michael Flynn, Jerry Smith and Gerald Worsham have been selected for induction into the University of West Alabama 6-10 Points: 0-0 Athletic Hall of Fame. Flynn played basketball, Worsham 11-19 Points: 1-0 football and Smith is credited with starting the UWA track/ cross country programs. The trio will be officially inducted 20-29 Points: 0-0 into the Hall of Fame at the Annual National Alumni 30 or More Points: 0-0 UNIFORM COMBINATIONS RECORD Overtime: 0-0 GSC Home: 0-0 Red Jersey, Red Pants: 0-0 Red Jersey, White Pants: 1-0 GSC Road: 0-0 Red Jersey, Black Pants: 0-0 White Jersey, Red Pants: 0-0 TV Games: 0-0 White Jersey, White Pants: 0-0 PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF AFCA Top 25 Junior receiver Bayley Blanchard picked up where 1. Valdosta St. (Ga.) (31) 1-0 2. Ferris St. (Mich.) 1-0 he left off in his All-GSC sophomore season with a 3. Minnesota St. 1-0 pair of TD catches against Limestone last week. 4. Notre Dame (Ohio) 1-0 Blanchard, along with Miles Kelly of Florida Tech 5. Tarleton St. (Texas) 1-0 and John Hurst of West Georgia are tied for the 6. Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 1-0 league lead after one game with five receptions. 7. Northwest Missouri St. (1) 1-0 8. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) 1-0 9. Colorado St.-Pueblo 1-0 POINTS FOR 89 10. Grand Valley St. (Mich.) 1-0 Bayley Blanchard also is tied for the league lead in 11. Slippery Rock (Pa.) 1-0 points scored per game at 12.0 and touchdowns 12. Texas A&M-Commerce 1-0 with two. 13. Minnesota-Duluth 1-0 14. West Georgia 1-0 15. Indianapolis (Ind.) 1-0 FIVE TV/DIGITAL PLATFORM EXPOSURES 16. Midwestern St. (Texas) 1-0 West Alabama is slated to play on TV/digital video 17. Colorado School of Mines 1-0 format five times this season. The Tigers will be on 18. Wingate (N.C.) 1-0 ESPN3 three times, twice on the GSC-TV Game of the 19. West Chester (Pa.) 1-0 Week and once on the Division II National Game of 20. West Alabama 1-0 the week. The Tigers will also play on ESPN+ at Delta 21. Central Missouri 1-0 State as part of the GSC package. The game at 22. Harding (Ark.) 0-1 23. Pittsburg St. (Kan.) 1-0 Valdosta State next week will be a regional broadcast 24. Indiana (Pa.) 1-0 as part of College Football Down South. 25. Fort Hays St. (Kan.) 0-1 THE LEGEND D2Football.Com Top 25 Tiger cornerback Jordan “Legend” Graddy is tied 1 Valdosta State (Ga.) 1-0 for fourth in the GSC with nine total tackles. The last 2 Ferris State (Mich.) 1-0 name is pronounced Graydee, but you can call him 3 Minnesota State 1-0 4 Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) 1-0 Legend. 5 Tarleton State (Texas) 1-0 6 Northwest Missouri 1-0 JACK AND CHRISTIAN 7 CSU-Pueblo 1-0 Tiger QB Jack McDaniels comes into week two 8 Minnesota Duluth 1-0 second in the GSC in total offense at 277.0 yards, 9 Grand Valley (Mich.) 1-0 10 Notre Dame (Ohio) 1-0 while receiver/kick returner Christian Saulsberry is 11 Indianapolis (Ind.) 1-0 seconding in all-purpose yards at 139.0. 12 Texas A&M-Commerce 1-0 13 West Georgia 1-0 WHITE ON WHITE? 14 Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) 1-0 15 Colorado School of Mines1-0 Good chance the Tigers are suiting up this 16 Midwestern State (Texas) 1-0 weekend in white jerseys and white pants. 2019 17 Slippery Rock (Pa.) 1-0 record in white on white — 0-1. Maybe rethink the 18 West Chester (Pa.) 1-0 decision … 2-0 in white on black. 19 Wingate (N.C.) 1-0 20 Central Missouri 1-0 21 Harding (Ark.) 0-1 SOCIALLY SPEAKING 22 Fort Hays (Kan.) 0-1 Twitter: @UWAathletics 23 Pittsburg State (Kan.) 1-0 Facebook: UWAAthletics 24 West Alabama 1-0 Instagram: uwaathletics 25 Ashland (Ohio) 0-1 ! HEAD COACH BRETT GILLILAND Record setting quarterback and University of West Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame member Brett Gilliland is the 21st head football coach at his alma mater. The winningest coach in school history, Gilliland is 38-21 in charge of the Tiger program and showing no signs of slowing down. Now entering his sixth 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. In just his fourth year as head coach at UWA he led the Tigers to a 10-3 record and the 2017 Gulf South Conference championship and a third round trip in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. Under Gilliland, the Tigers became just the third team in school history to win at least 10 games and the first since 1975. He followed that with an 8-4 mark in 2018 and another playoff trip. 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).