West Alabama (4-3, 4-1) vs #19 Florida Tech (5-1, 2-1)
Oct. 22, 2016 l Tiger Stadium | Livingston, Ala. | 2 p.m. l ESPN 104.9
 
THE SERIES
This is the fourth meeting between the Tigers and the Panthers, with Florida Tech holding a 2-1 lead in the series. FIT has won the last two meetings. The Tigers and Panthers have played every season since 2013.
 
Year                   Result               Location
2013                   UWA, 45-3        Melbourne, Fla.
2014                   FIT, 33-32         Livingston, Ala.
2015                   FIT, 24-13         Melbourne, Fla.
 
WEST ALABAMA
West Alabama is 4-3 overall, 4-1 in the GSC after a 31-7 win at No. 24 West Georgia last week.
 
FLORIDA TECH
No. 19 Florida Tech is 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the GSC after beating Fort Valley State last week.
 
BRIEFLY RECAPPING THE SERIES
Sept. 20, 2013
UWA rolled up 637 total yards on the way to a 45-3 victory over Florida Tech at Pirate Stadium. Quarterback Kyle Caldwell completed 19-of-26 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Javae Swindle ran for 170 yards and two scores on just 10 carries. Demetrus McNeal made eight tackles and Malcolm Butler broke up two passes for the Tigers.
 
Oct. 11, 2014
After trailing West Alabama for 55 minutes, Florida Tech scored a pair of touchdowns in the last 4:58, including the game-winner with two seconds left, to defeat UWA, 33-32 at Tiger Stadium. Mark Cato found tight end Gabe Hughes on a 5-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left to give Florida Tech its first-ever GSC road win. The Panthers drove 77 yards in 12 plays for the game winner after UWA had taken a 32-27 lead on a 17-yard pass from Kyle Caldwell to Daryl Collins with 1:41 to play.
 
Oct. 10, 2015
Mark Cato passed for 361 yards and two touchdowns to lead Florida Tech to a 24-13 win over West Alabama at Panther Stadium. Florida Tech rang up 474 total yards and West Alabama had 348, 213 of those in the second half.
 
THE COACHES
Brett Gilliland is 16-13 in his third season at UWA, his third as a head coach. Steve Englehart is 23-17 in his fourth season at FIT, 49-31 in his seventh year as a head coach.
 
COVERAGE
Radio:        ESPN 104.9 or www.espn1049.com
Twitter:     @UWAAthletics
 
THREE STRAIGHT, FOUR OF FIVE
West Alabama comes into the game riding a three-game winning streak and having won four of its last five games.
 
SECOND LONGEST
The three-game win streak is the second-longest for the Tigers under head coach Brett Gilliland. The Tigers won four straight to open the 2015 season on the way to a 7-4 mark.
 
TIGERS AT HOME
West Alabama is 1-1 at home this season, defeating Delta State and losing to North Alabama. The Tigers have opened the 2016 season by playing five of their first seven games on the road, winning three of those.
 
MAKING THE MOST OF OPPORTUNITIES
West Alabama has scored 78 points off opponents' turnovers this season, an average of 11.1 per game. Seven UWA opponents have scored just 35 points off Tiger turnovers, just 5.0 per game.
 
CAN LT GET 1,000?
Tiger running back Lakendric Thomas will have to go some to rush for 1,000 yards in the regular season. With four games left, LT has 562 yards and a solid 5.1 yards per carry average. At that pace he would finish with 882 yards. He will need to average 109.5 per game the rest of the way to get 1,000. Thomas' 80.3 yards per game is currently second in the GSC.
 
DARIUS NAMED GSC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK
UWA defensive end Darius Ellis has been named the GSC defensive player of the week for his performance in the Tigers' win over West Georgia. A sophomore from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Ellis recorded a season-high seven tackles, three and a half tackles for loss, and a pair of sacks. He now has seven sacks this year, which puts him in the top 15 in the NCAA Division II. He has recorded at least one sack in six of seven games. Florida Tech has allowed just seven sacks this season.
 
2016 UWA GSC Players of the Week
Jordan Jones, DE, FOW, 9/12/16
Austin Grammer, QB, OPOW, 10/8/16
Jordan Bennett, PK, STPOW, 10/8/16
Darius Ellis, DE, DPOW, 10/15/16
 
42 AGAINST 15
Over the last three games the West Alabama offense is scoring at a 42.7 points per game clip. Conversely, Florida Tech leads the GSC in scoring defense, allowing just 15.2 points per game, 18.7 over the last three games. The Panthers have authored two shutouts and allowed 14 points or less in four of six games.
 
LEADER BOARD
Florida Tech leads the GSC in both total offense and total defense. The Panthers average 492.0 yards per game and allow just 328.8. UWA is sixth in total offense at 408.9 and fifth in total defense at 365.7.
 
RUSHING TO JUDGEMENT
Florida Tech also leads the conference in rushing offense (205.2) and rushing defense (72.2). West Alabama runs for 154.1 per game and has allowed 124.0.
 
GRAMMER SCHOOL
Tiger QB Austin Grammer has taken the last three UWA opponents to school, passing for 967 of his 1,588 yards this season against Shorter, Delta State and West Georgia, an average of 322 yards per game. Eight of Grammer's 10 TD passes have come in the last three weeks.
 
DARIUS IN THE BACKFIELD
Defensive end Darius Ellis is the only UWA defender to record a tackle for loss in each of the Tigers' seven games, including a season-high 3.5 last week at West Georgia. His previous high was 3.0 at Stephen F. Austin. He has a sack in six of seven games.
 
COREY D SNAGGING FLY BALLS
After battling injuries early in the year, UWA receiver Corey Davis has made his presence felt in the last three UWA games, hauling in 24 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns. That's an average of eight grabs for 93.7 yards per game.
 
HUTCH AND BIRD MAN BATTLING FOR TOP
With defense end Jordan Jones out for the season with a leg injury, Tavarious Hutchinson and Terry Samuel have assumed the battle for top tackler on the Tiger defense. Hutchinson leads by half a stop after seven games at 26.5. Hutchinson and Darius Ellis lead Tiger solo tacklers with 20 each.
 
SIX COMBOS
After breaking out the black pants, white jersey combo at UWG last week, the Tigers have now worn six different uniform combinations. Below are the records in each of those combos.
 
UNIFORM COMBINATIONS RECORD
Red Jersey, Red Pants: 1-0
White Jersey, Red Pants: 0-1
White Jersey, White Pants: 1-1
Red Jersey, Black Pants: 1-0
Red Jersey, White Pants: 0-1
White Jersey, Black Pants: 1-0