Tigers Looking For Complete Game in Rome

LIVINGSTON, Ala. – West Alabama heads to Rome, Ga., Thursday to play the Shorter Hawks looking for one thing – a complete football game.

"We have to find a way to put a complete game together offensively and defensively," UWA head coach Brett Gilliland said. "The frustration with our guys right now, from the coaches all the way down, is finding a way to play a full football game without having a bad quarter on either side of the ball."

West Alabama, the two-time defending Gulf South Conference champions, comes into the game 3-3 overall, on a two-game losing skid and looking for its first Gulf South Conference victory. Shorter is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the GSC. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CDT.

"We are in a situation coming off back-to-back conference championship where we have a bulls eye on us," Gilliland said. "Things have not gone as planned for us and our guys could have easily tanked it already, but our leadership on this team has kept us going and kept us together."

A couple of those leaders include quarterback Kyle Caldwell and running back Javae Swindle, who in addition to their leadership traits, are also nearing UWA career records.

Caldwell's 59 career touchdown passes are just one short of the record held by current Tiger tight ends coach Deon Williams, who threw for 60 between 2008-10. Swindle is just 201 yards shy of breaking the Tiger career rushing yards record midway through his junior season.

Fred Barnes took home GSC defensive player of the week honors despite the Tigers' last-second 33-32 setback to Florida Tech last week. The senior from College Park, Ga., recorded nine tackles and intercepted two passes against the Panthers. He is one of three Tiger defenders who share the team lead with 30 total tackles.

Barnes and company should be able to rely on a modicum of familiarity while trying to defend the Shorter option game. UWA defensive coordinator Nathan Burton held the same position at Shorter the last two seasons and Gilliland has been in systems that run the same offense for almost the last decade.

"The offense they run, I've been in it the last seven or eight years and I have seen it do some really good things, so that is a concern." Gilliland said. "When you play option teams you have to play disciplined football."

The game marks the first appearance this season as the GSC-TV Game of the Week on ESPN3 for the Tigers. Shorter will be playing in front of the cameras for the second consecutive week, having lost at Delta State last Thursday.

The game can be viewed on ESPN3 by going to http://es.pn/ZiX0Cm. The West Alabama radio broadcast will be live on ESPN 104.9 and http://mixlr.com/espn1049/, with Lee Tracey, Robert Upchurch and Rob Pearson on the call.

"We are a team that started out pretty well, but have lost the first two conference games," Gilliland said. "We had high expectations coming in here and we still do."

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Players Mentioned

#3 Fred Barnes: SS; 6' 0"; Senior

#4 Kyle Caldwell: QB; 5' 7"; Senior

#22 Javae Swindle: RB; 5' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#3 Fred Barnes
: 6' 0"; Senior
: SS

#4 Kyle Caldwell
: 5' 7"; Senior
: QB

#22 Javae Swindle
: 5' 4"; Junior
: RB

Players Mentioned

#3 Fred Barnes

#4 Kyle Caldwell

#22 Javae Swindle

Players Mentioned

#3 Fred Barnes

#4 Kyle Caldwell

#22 Javae Swindle