BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Coming off of win number one of the season, the West Alabama football team will stay in the state of Alabama this Saturday when they travel just down the road to Birmingham to face Miles College with a 6 p.m. kickoff.

Make sure to tune into SLY 104.9 for all of 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. Fans can purchase tickets here.

UWA opened the season with a win for the sixth straight season after defeating Morehouse by a score of 24-16 in Atlanta. The Maroon Tigers opened the scoring just over five minutes in with a field goal, just to watch UWA score 21 unanswered points.

It got interesting from there as Morehouse was able to outscore UWA 13-3 the rest of the way to pull to within eight points. The Maroon Tigers had the final drive into the red zone before Trevon Stanford made the tackle at the five-yard line to end the game and send UWA to the 24-16 victory.

Tucker Melton made his debut at quarterback for the Tigers completing 22-38 for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Nine different receivers caught a pass with Darius Nalls bringing in seven for 57 yards. John Hilbert added four catches for 31 yards. Khris Binion, Bry Webb, Georgan Pollard and Owen Harper all had two catches each. Demetrius Battle tallied 67 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Webb tallied 63 all-purpose yards with 40 coming on the ground. He also had a receiving touchdown.

Shamar Lewis and Lamar Gray led the defense with seven tackles apiece. All of Gray's tackles were solo stops. Eleven players had at least a half-tackle for loss, with Trevonte Carter breaking loose for three tackles for loss and a pair of sacks. Michael Anderson, TJ Newell and Austen Cosby all added sacks. Newell forced a fumble near the end zone that later turned into a Battle rushing touchdown and De Mays tallied an interception in the end zone.

Gabriel Dunkle went 3-for-3 on extra point tries and added a 40-yard field goal.

UWA won only once in 2021 when they didn't score first and already started the 2022 season with a comeback win after trailing 3-0 early in the first quarter.

Through the first week, UWA ranks in the top-50 nationally in several categories as a team:

• 40th in third down conversion percentage (44.4)
• 19th in third down conversion percentage on defense (21.4)
• 45th in fourth down conversion percentage (50)
• 38th in fewest penalties (5)
• 37th in fewest penalties per game (5.0)
• 8th in fumble recoveries (2)
• 48th in passes intercepted (1)
• 49th in passing yards allowed (160)
• 27th in red zone defense percentage (50)
• 1st in red zone offense (1.000)
• 50th in scoring defense points allowed per game (16)
• 9th in team sacks (5)
• 5th in team tackles for loss (12)
• 38th in total defense (254)
• 20th in turnovers gained (3)

Individually, Melton is 22nd nationally and leads the GSC in completions per game (22). Dunkle is tied for the NCAA and GSC lead in field goal percentage and is 29th nationally in field goals per game (1). Nalls is 27th nationally and leads the GSC in receptions per game (7). Carter is ninth in the nation and leads the GSC in sacks (2). Gray is 29th in the nation and leads the GSC in solo tackles (7) and Carter ranks 13th nationally and leads the GSC in tackles for loss (3).

This will be the fourth meeting against Miles College since 2012 and the first since 2018. UWA has gone 2-0 in Livingston and 1-0 in Birmingham during that time. In the overall series since 1980, UWA has posted an 11-1 record in the series.

Miles College came close in their opener against Division I Alabama State, making a late push before falling by a score of 21-13 in Montgomery. Miles outscored Alabama State 13-0 over the final three quarters after ASU opened the first quarter with a 21-0 burst.

The Golden Bears compiled 225 total yards of offense, with 119 coming on the ground. Three quarterbacks all attempted a pass in the game. Jacob Millhouse went 6-11 for 64 yards and the only touchdown. Claude Newell went 5-9 for 31 yards and Jalen Parker completed 3-12 for 11 yards. Millhouse showed his versatility rushing for 42 yards to lead the ground attack. Zarious Keyes added seven carries for 32 yards. Jaih Andrews caught seven passes for 34 yards.

On defense, Roosevelt Thompson, Jarius Grayson and Chris Ware all tallied six tackles. Austin Brundidge had a pair of sacks, a forced fumble and interception to go along with five tackles.

Miles went 6-5 last year, defeating a couple of common opponents that UWA also went against last year in Morehouse and Tuskegee.

Following the road trip to Birmingham, the Tigers will get used to playing in Livingston for the next several weeks. The home opener arrives on Sep. 17 against Tuskegee starting at 2 p.m. West Georgia arrives the following week on Sep. 24 for a 2 p.m. kickoff to open conference play. The final game of the three-game home stand will be against Shorter on Oct. 1 with another 2 p.m. kickoff.

Game 2 Notes

• Stretched road winning streak to seven with victory last week over Morehouse
• This will be the first meeting against Miles College since 2018
• UWA is 3-0 in the series since 2012, going 2-0 in Livingston and 1-0 in Birmingham
• In the overall series since 1980, UWA is 11-1 in the series
• UWA won two meetings by double-digits back in 2012 (41-7) in Livingston and the most recent meeting in 2018, also in Livingston (37-21)
• The meeting between in 2015 took place in Birmingham with UWA winning by three (13-10)
• UWA played just one team from the state of Alabama last year, defeating Tuskegee (33-7)
• Dating back to the 2017 season, UWA has won four straight games against in-state opponents (Miles, Tuskegee (twice) and North Alabama). Last lost was to Samford that same season
• First time since 2017 UWA has started the season with two straight road games
• Demetrius Battle is now at 1,329 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns for his career and is 374 yards away from breaking into the top-10 all-time in rushing yards. He is one touchdown away from tying for 10th on the all-time touchdowns list
• With Tucker Melton's 186 passing yards, UWA now has a streak of 32 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 116 rushing yards against Morehouse, UWA has run for at least 100 yards in 11 of their last 12 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 12 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 two of the games. The only game over the last 12 in which neither occurred was against Mississippi College on Nov. 13, 2021.
• Blocked kicks have become a theme as well. With the blocked extra point against Morehouse, UWA now has a blocked kick in six of the last 12 games
• UWA won only once in 2021 when they didn't score first and already started the 2022 season with a comeback win after trailing 3-0 early in the first quarter.
• UWA is receiving votes for the second straight week in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Poll, after being ranked as high as 10th last year