LIVINGSTON, Ala. - After 21 days without a game, the University of West Alabama Football team makes their return on Saturday when they travel to Clinton, Mississippi for a 2:00 p.m. matchup against the Mississippi College Choctaws.
Even while being idle the past two weeks, No. 11 West Alabama (4-0, 1-0 GSC) continues to soar up the rankings, entering this weekend's play as the 11th ranked team in the nation. We last saw the Tigers in Pensacola, Florida on September 21 when they defeated West Florida, 35-33, in a double overtime thriller. As for Mississippi College (0-5,0-3), they come into Saturday's game in search of their first win of the year.
"We are excited to get to play a game again," said head coach
Brett Gilliland. "It feels like Week One all over again after having a 21-day break between games. I have never experienced this long of a gap between games. We feel our players have handled it well and we are looking forward to hopefully continuing to build on what we had going after four games."
A major reason for UWA's perfect record thus far is their stout defense. West Alabama is strong at every level on that side of the ball, beginning with their front seven that has accumulated 13 sacks through the first four games which ranks eighth in the country.
Trevon Lambert leads that group as the senior holds the team lead with 5.5 sacks, routinely causing havoc in the backfield. Lambert's 5.5 sacks also ranks third in the entire country as he continues his All-American type season on Saturday. As for the Tigers' Linebacker core,
Ishmael Naylor and
Trevon Stanford carry the load. Naylor leads UWA in tackles with 29 while Stanford sits in third with 23 along with 5.0 tackles for loss. Lastly, a ball hawking DB group consists of
Lamar Gray,
Uriah Ratliff,
Issac Williams, and
Devonte Harris. The quartet has already recorded a total of seven interceptions this season, still ranking 19th in the nation, even with the Tigers missing two straight weeks of action.
With Quarterback
Spencer Arceneaux at the helm, West Alabama's offense has registered 32.2 points per game, ranking third in the GSC. The junior has done a solid job of playing mistake free football as he's only turned the ball over once while scoring seven touchdowns and accumulating a total of 731 yards. While Arceneaux has impressed at Quarterback, he's also surrounded with an abundance of offensive weapons. UWA's trio at Running Back, consisting of
Brayden Jenkins,
Devontae Causey, and
Bry Webb has combined for 431 yards this season while Krhis Binion leads the group of wideouts with 16 catches, 248 yards, and two touchdowns.
Caeleb Bass has also emerged as one of Arceneaux's favorite red zone targets as the Tight End now leads the team in receiving touchdowns with three after catching a pair in West Alabama's win over the Argos.
Five games into the season, Mississippi College has yet to find any kind of offensive rhythm. The Choctaws are currently averaging 8.8 points per game on 235 yards per game which ranks last and second to last in the conference. The problems on the offensive end begin at the Quarterback position for the Choctaws. First year head coach Mike Kershaw has used three different QBs this season and they've combined to throw 12 interceptions and only two touchdowns. It's unclear who will get the start for MC on Saturday but Eli Anderson has received a bulk of the snaps this season, carrying a statline of 450 passing yards, zero touchdowns, and five interceptions.
The Choctaws inability to move the ball puts pressure on their defense which has allowed 29 points per game. MC has a couple of standouts on that side of the ball such as Jason Betz, who leads the team in tackles with 30, and Defensive Lineman, Blennan Blake, who's registered a conference-high 7.5 tackles for loss.
Saturday's game between the Tigers and Choctaws is set for 2:00 p.m. from Robinson-Hale Stadium in Clinton, Mississippi.
