747191 SOUTH Alabama

By Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com
It’s a coincidence, but perhaps still notable.
South Alabama ended the 2022 season in New Orleans and will begin 2023 there as well. In between, Jaguars head coach and two of his top players appeared in the Crescent City Tuesday for Sun Belt Conference Media Days.
South Alabama will be back in town in five weeks to face Tulane at Yulman Stadium on Sept. 2. The Jaguars will face the Green Wave with their 44-23 loss to Western Kentucky in December’s New Orleans Bowl — a rough ending to a 10-3 season — still fresh on their minds.
“Those 10 wins, were huge for our program’s history, but I feel like those three losses speak more value to us as players and our coaching staff,” quarterback Carter Bradley said. “Just looking back at last year, how can we be better in our details? How can we change the game when we’re in a little rut? How can we get out of it? Any way possible where we can eliminate some of those mistakes that we made in all those losses or even the games that we played well, I think that was our goal going into this new season. But New Orleans definitely sticks with us, just like the other losses.”
Said safety Yam Banks, “Like Carter said, the three losses, we think about that more than the 10 wins. And coming off the bowl game, I feel like we have a lot of energy and ‘want to’ coming back for the 2023 season.”
Likewise, both the New Orleans Bowl loss and the 2023 season-opener at Tulane have both worked as motivating factors for the Jaguars during the offseason. The Green Wave went 12-2 last season and beat USC in the Cotton Bowl, a breakthrough win for Group of 5 program on the whole.
Both South Alabama and Tulane are projected to contend for their conference championships in 2023, the Jaguars in the Sun Belt and the Green Wave in the American. The game’s winner is likely to secure a Top 25 rankings and will have a good shot to be the G5 representative in the New Year’s Six bowls.
“The group of 5 needs these great matchups,” Wommack said. “I think it helps in the landscape of the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six games. You have to be able to play great opponents like this. It’s a matchup that our fan base can be excited about, Tulane’s fanbase can be excited about, and an environment that all of our players on both sides of the field are going to work their tail off to be able to maximize their opportunity in week 1.”
South Alabama also faces a major obstacle in its own conference. The Jaguars were picked to finish second in the West Division behind defending league champion Troy, which won 10-6 in Mobile last October.
The Trojans have won the “Battle of the Belt” six straight years, with this season’s game set for Nov. 2 in Troy. South Alabama also suffered a narrow loss to UCLA last season, yet another learning experience for Wommack and his team.
“We left some opportunities on the table,” Wommack said. “We can look back on some of those things and we should. Great competitors find ways to better themselves. If we’ll all strive to become the best versions of ourselves in everything we do on and off the field, we’re going to get the results that we want in terms of wins and losses.”
South Alabama opens fall football practice on Aug. 4, a Friday. The Jaguars’ game at Tulane kicks off at 7 p.m. Sept. 2 on ESPNU.