LIVINGSTON, Ala. – Two road games, two road wins. The West Alabama football team is off to a strong start to the season and will now enjoy playing three straight home games starting this Saturday against Tuskegee with a 2 p.m. kickoff inside Tiger Stadium.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $30 for reserved, $5 for youth/student, while five and under are free. Purchase your tickets ahead of time on the Hometown Fan App. All forms of funds will be accepted on game day for tickets including cash, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Credit cards will incur a small processing fee. Make sure to find out all of the game day information by clicking here, which includes parking and other information.

Make sure to tune into SLY 104.9 at 30 minutes before kickoff for the game day coverage with Will Atkinson and Rob Pearson on the call. Click here to listen to SLY 104.9 online. There will also be a live stream that can be found here and live stats that can be found here.

Tucker Melton took home Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Week following the top passing game in the conference so far this season in leading UWA to the 31-0 win at Miles College. He passed for 400 yards, completing 22-39, along with four touchdowns. Melton connected with 10 different receivers, with John Hilbert breaking out with six catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Both of his scores were long ones breaking free for the opening 50-yard touchdown and then closed the scoring with a 69-yard touchdown.

Melton ranks high nationally in multiple categories following the second week of the season:

• -          21^st in completions per game (22)
• -          41^st in passing efficiency (141.6)
• -          8^th in passing touchdowns (6)
• -          10^th in passing yards (586)
• -          12^th in passing yards per game (293)
• -          42^nd in passing yards per completion (13.32)
• -          15^th in points responsible for (36)
• -          17^th in points responsible for per game (18)
• -          17^th in total offense per game (290.5)

Melton leads the GSC in passing yards, and passing yards per game. Overall on the season, he has completed 44-77 for 586 yards and six touchdowns.

Following Hilbert's big game at Miles College, he now has 10 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. He ranks in the top-50 nationally in receiving touchdowns (19^th), receiving yards (35^th) and receiving yards per game (38^th).

Geordan Pollard is also over 100 receiving yards on the season at 103 yards on eight catches, along with a touchdown. Caeleb Bass has four catches for 65 yards and a score, while Darius Nalls has seven catches for 57 yards.

Demetrius Battle continues to approach the top-10 career list in program history for both rushing yards and touchdowns. He enters this week just 320 yards away from the top-10 and one touchdown away from tying for the top-10 spot. On the season, Battle has rushed 33 times for 121 yards and a touchdown. Antonio Brown and Bry Webb help for a tough trio in the backfield as Brown has rushed 15 times for 83 yards, while Webb has 21 carries for 76 yards.

The UWA defense has been on fire this season holding opponents to just a 4-30 (13.3) clip on third down conversions. Teams are just 1-3 in the red zone, only allowing a field goal. The shutout win at Miles was the third straight season for the Tiger defense to come away with a clean sheet, having also throttled North American (80-0) last year and then posted a 41-0 win over Shorter in 2019.

Opponents have picked up just 16 first downs on the season and are averaging 124.5 yards per game. Trevon Stanford leads the way with 11 tackles (eight solo), along with 1.5 tackles for loss, a half sack and a pass breakup. Lamar Gray adds 10 tackles (all solo), with a tackle for loss. Michael Anderson and Trevonte Carter have been piling up tackles for loss and sacks this season. Anderson has three tackles for loss (with two sacks), while Carter has 3.5 tackles for loss (2.5 sacks). Carter is 19^th nationally in sacks and is tied for the conference lead, while Anderson is 34^th nationally. Shamar Lewis adds nine tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. Jamal Ellis and Davonchae Bryant each have two tackles for loss. De Mays has an interception this year and both Terrance Monroe and Khris Binion have fumble recoveries.

UWA ranks in the top-50 nationally in multiple categories:

• -          2^nd in third down conversion-defense (13.3)
• -          42^nd in third down conversion percentage-offense (42.4)
• -          39^th in fewest penalties (10)
• -          34^th in fewest penalties per game (5)
• -          47^th in fewest penalty yards (91)
• -          42^nd in fewest penalty yards per game (45.5)
• -          26^th in first downs allowed on defense (27)
• -          31^st in first downs picked up on offense (43)
• -          11^th in passing offense per game (315)
• -          22^nd in passing yards allowed on defense per game (124.5)
• -          42^nd in passing yards per completion (14)
• -          35^th in punt return yards allowed per game (1)
• -          6^th in red zone defense percentage (33.3)
• -          Tied for first in red zone percentage on offense (100)
• -          28^th in rushing defense allowed per game (83)
• -          14^th in scoring defense points per game (8)
• -          39^th in team passing efficiency (145.79)
• -          20^th in team passing efficiency on defense (87.9)
• -          6^th in team sacks per game (5)
• -          9^th in team tackles for loss (10.5)
• -          13^th in total defense (207.5)
• -          25^th in total offense (446)

Tuskegee enters with an overall record of 0-2 having been defeated by Fort Valley State (21-6) and Hampton (42-10). Ryan Nettles has completed 24-40 for 186 yards and a touchdown. Donte Edwards has rushed 34 times for 117 yards. Keynon Webb has caught 10 passes for 103 yards with a touchdown. Jordan Ogletree also has a receiving touchdown. On defense, Vincent Hill has 16 tackles, Jeremy Dees has 14 and Antonio Kennon Jr., adds 11 tackles.

Tuskegee has averaged 192 yards of offense, while allowing 390.5. Passing has accounted for a majority of the offense at 140 yards per game.

UWA is 8-3 in the series against Tuskegee since 1975 and dominated the most recent meeting which was last season in Tuskegee. The Tigers jumped out to the 10-0 lead after the first quarter on their way to claiming the 33-7 win.

Following the home opener this Saturday, UWA will look forward to two more home games coming up. They will kickoff the GSC portion of the schedule on Sep. 24 against West Georgia and then face Shorter on Oct. 1. Both games will start at 2 p.m. inside Tiger Stadium.

Game 3 Notes

• -          With the win at Miles College, UWA stretched the road winning streak to eight games
• -          UWA is 7-1 in their last eight games in which they have scored first and are 1-0 this season
• -          UWA is 8-3 against Tuskegee since the first meeting in 1975, winning the past two meetings in 2021 and 2019
• -          The longest winning streak in the series is four, as UWA won four straight from 1977-80
• -          During the last meeting in Livingston in 2019, Tuskegee held a 16-15 lead midway through the third quarter before the Tigers stormed back reeling off 21 unanswered for the 36-16 victory
• -          UWA dominated the most recent meeting in 2021 in Tuskegee, jumping out to the 10-0 lead after the first quarter on their way to claiming the 33-7 win
• -          Dating back to the 2017 season, UWA has won five straight games against in-state opponents (Miles (twice), Tuskegee (twice) and North Alabama). The last loss was to Samford that same season
• -          Latest home opener in a season since the 2017 season when UWA hosted Mississippi College on Sep. 16 after playing two on the road
• -          Demetrius Battle is now at 1,383 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns for his career and is 320 yards away from breaking into the top-10 all-time in rushing yards. He is one touchdown away from tying for 10^th on the all-time touchdowns list
• -          Tucker Melton's 400 yard passing game against Miles College was the first 400 yard passing game by a UWA quarterback since 2017 against Samford when Harry Satterwhite threw for 401 yards
• -          Melton was named the GSC Offensive Player of the Week after completing 22-39 for 400 yards and four touchdowns. He found 10 different receivers and John Hilbert had a big game with six catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns
• -          With Melton's 400 passing yards, UWA now has a streak of 33 straight games in which they have passed for at least 100 yards in a game. Last occurrence of under 100 yards was against North Greenville on Sep. 30, 2018 (88 yards)
• -          With the 146 rushing yards against Miles College, UWA has run for at least 100 yards in 12 of their 13 games dating back to last season. The only game in 2021 in which the Tigers were under 100 was versus West Florida on Nov. 6, 2021 (35 yards)
• -          Defense has posted a sack and an interception in nine of the last 13 games dating back to last season. In the games in which they didn't have one or the other, UWA had an interception or a sack in three of the games. The only game over the last 13 in which neither occurred was against Mississippi College on Nov. 13, 2021
• -          UWA continued to gain more attention in the national polls this past week. The Tigers garnered 43 votes and would be ranked 32^nd if the poll extended past the top-25. UWA was ranked as high as 10^th last season. The Gulf South Conference has two teams ranked in the top-10 in West Florida (6^th) and West Georgia (8^th). Valdosta State is ranked 15^th this week
• -          The UWA defense has kept teams from scoring touchdowns in the red zone this season. In three trips inside the 20 this year, only a field goal has been given up. On the flip side of that, the Tigers' offense is 5-5 in the red zone, scoring touchdowns on four of those trips