Football Preview |Game 7 | at Delta State | Oct. 19, 2019

WEST ALABAMA (4-2, 1-2) AT DELTA STATE (3-3, 2-2)
Oct. 19, 2019 l Parker Field-McCool Stadium | Cleveland, Miss. | 6:04 p.m. l ESPN 104.9 |ESPN Plus

THE SERIES
This is the 66th meeting between the Tigers and the Statesmen. DSU leads 35-27-3.

WEST ALABAMA
West Alabama is 4-2 overall, 1-2 in the GSC after a 41-0 win over Shorter last week at home.

DELTA STATE
Delta State is 3-3 overall, 2-2 in league play after losing to top-ranked Valdosta State last week at home.

THE COACHES
Brett Gilliland is 41-23 in his sixth season at UWA. Todd Cooley is 40-31 in his seventh year as a head coach, all at Delta State.

COVERAGE
Radio: ESPN 104.9: Robert Upchurch & Will Atkinson handle the Tigers call.
TV: ESPN Plus

NEXT WEEK
UWA is host to West Georgia in another ESPN3 game..

CHARTER MEMBERS
Both UWA and DSU are charter members of the Gulf South Conference. The first meeting was in 1940, when the Tigers and Statesmen played to a 0-0 tie on Sept. 20.

RECENT HISTORY
Although the Statesmen lead the overall series, West Alabama has won five straight and seven of the last 10 games between the two.

IN CLEVELAND
The Fighting Okra hold a 24-11-1 advantage in games played at Delta State. UWA won, 17-14, in Livingston last season. The Tigers won 29-26 in Cleveland on Oct. 7, 2017. in the last road meeting in the series for UWA.

NOBODY RANKED
Neither West Alabama nor Delta State are currently ranked in the NCAA Division II national polls.

QUA TO FIFTH ALL-TIME
Tiger tight end Qua Boyd has moved to fifth on the all-time UWA receptions list with 118, moving past Chad Toocheck (12-14) and Andrew Fields (83-85), both of whom had 116. Boyd is 70 catches shy of Gerald Gales (01-03), who caught 158 to remain in fourth place all-time.

BREAKOUT GAME FOR MR. SMITH
Running back James Smith rushed for a career-best 150 yards on 10 carries in the win over Shorter last week. Smith had one run of 55 yards and another for 60, the two longest runs of the season for UWA.

2019 GSC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK UWA
Sept. 7             Zach Gaines                 Special Teams
Sept, 14            Tyler Butler                   Special Teams

LAST YEAR IN LIVY: TIGERS 17, OKRA 14
West Alabama allowed Delta State to convert just 2-of-15 on third down and limited the Statesmen to just 55 yards in the third quarter as the Tigers defeated the Statesmen, 17-14, on Oct. 13 at Tiger Stadium. Christian Saulsberry hauled in a career-best 10 receptions for 122 yards, while Qua Boyd caught six for 86 yards.

SEASON HIGH ON THE GROUND
West Alabama ran for a season-best 229 yards in the win over Shorter last week, marking the first time UWA had run for over 200 this season. James Smith (150) and Demetrius Battle (70) combined for 220 of those yards.

SUB 100 FOR SECOND TIME
The UWA defense allowed Shorter just 73 yards rushing, marking the second-time this year to hold an opponent under the century mark. The Tigers are third in the league in rushing defense.

COULD BE STINGY NIGHT ON THE GROUND
Delta State and West Alabama are second and third, respectively, in the GSC in defense against the run. DSU allows just 139.0 and UWA 141.3.

JACK, MAKE IT NEAT
UWA quarterback Jack McDaniels leads the GSC in passing yards with 1,479.

IN THE ZONE
West Alabama has made the most of its opportunities in the red zone, scoring 26 times on 28 trips, 25 of those touchdowns, leaving UWA 11th in the nation in red zone offense.

PUNTER TRAP
This game features the GSC's top two punters at dropping the ball inside an opponents' 20 yards line. UWA's Zach Gaines has 15 such punts and DSU's Sam Barge has 10.

GILLILAND AGIANST COOLEY
Tiger head coach Brett Gilliland is 5-1 in six meetings against DSU head coach Todd Cooley, winning the last five meetings.

BLOCKED KICKS
West Alabama is ninth nationally with four blocked kicks, two field goals and two punts.

SEEING YELLOW
West Alabama is ranked 159th of 166 nationally in yards penalized with 569 total yards.

TFL
UWA is tied for 13th nationally with Valdosta State, averaging 4.17 tackles for loss allowed per game. UWA's defense is 39th at 7.7 TFLs per game, while DSU is 25th at 8.2 per game.

MILEAGE CHECK
In a season that will have the West Alabama football team traveling 1,859 miles for five road games, this weekend's trip to Delta State is the second shortest on the 2019 docket at 218 miles. Listed below are travel distances between Livingston, Alabama and games played on the road this season:

Tusculum: 443 miles
Valdosta State: 363 miles
Delta State: 218 miles
Florida Tech: 643 miles
West Florida: 189 miles

UWA FOOTBALL HISTORY
First Year of Football:                1938
All-Time Record:                       324-428-18
All-Time GSC Record:               235-283-6
GSC Titles:                               1971, 2012, 2013, 2017
NCAA Playoff Appearances:      6
NCAA Playoff Record:               4-6
Last Playoff Appearance:           2018 Lost at Bowie State, 1st Round
National Titles Won:                  1 (NAIA '71)
TV Game of the Week Record: 20-17

UNIFORM COMBINATIONS RECORDS
Red Jersey, Red Pants: 1-0
Red Jersey, White Pants: 2-0
Red Jersey, Black Pants: 0-1
White Jersey, Red Pants: 0-0
White Jersey, White Pants: 0-1
White Jersey, Black Pants: 1-0

UWA Record Breakdown
Overall: 4-2
GSC: 1-2
Home: 3-1
Road: 1-1
Day: 1-1
Night: 3-1
Sept: 3-1
Oct: 1-1
Nov: 0-0
Score First: 4-1
Lead After 1st Quarter: 3-0
Trail After 1st Quarter: 1-2
Tied After 1st Quarter: 0-0
Lead At Half: 3-0
Trail At Half: 1-2
Tied At Half: 0-0
Lead After 3rd Quarter: 4-1
Trail After 3rd Quarter: 0-1
Tied After 3rd Quarter: 0-0
1-5 Points: 0-1
6-10 Points: 0-0
11-19 Points: 1-1
20-29 Points: 1-0
30 or More Points: 2-0
Overtime: 0-0
GSC Home: 1-1
GSC Road: 0-1
TV Games: 0-2

UWA FOOTBALL ASSISTANT COACHES

Assoc. HC /Receivers/Special Teams
Lamont Seward (Western Carolina 2003)
5th Year at UWA

Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Steve Sisa (Virginia Tech 2001)
3rd Year at UWA

Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Don Bailey (Portland State 1991)
4th Year at UWA

Tight Ends
David Thornton, (UAB 1995)
8th Year at UWA

Defensive Line
Roberto Pinilla, (West Georgia 1997)
6th Year at UWA

Defensive Backs
Ervin Jackson (Ohio 2008)
8th Year at UWA

Running Backs
Will Furlong (UNA 2012)
1st Year at UWA

Offensive Line
Devin Myers (UWA 2016)
5th Year at UWA

ST/Defensive Graduate Assistant
Robert Belle (UWA 2015)
2nd Year at UWA

Defensive Graduate Assistant
Jared Boddie (Taylor University 2013)
2nd Year at UWA

Offensive Graduate Assistant
Harry Satterwhite (UWA 2018)
1^st Year at UWA

Hype Coach
Ryan Cram (School of Hype 2015)
5^th Year at UWA

HEAD COACH BRETT GILLILAND

Record setting quarterback and University of West Alabama Athletic Hall of Fame member Brett Gilliland is the 21^st head football coach at his alma mater. The winningest coach in school history, Gilliland is 41-23 in charge of the Tiger program and showing no signs of slowing down.?
Now entering his sixth season as the Tigers head coach, Gilliland returned to West Alabama from Kennesaw State, where he was coaching quarterbacks. Previous coaching stops include Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern.?

In just his fourth year as head coach at UWA he led the Tigers to a 10-3 record and the 2017 Gulf South Conference championship and a third round trip in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. Under Gilliland, the Tigers became just the third team in school history to win at least 10 games and the first since 1975. He followed that with an 8-4 mark in 2018 and another playoff trip.?

Following his playing days at UWA, Gilliland began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech before moving on to the offensive staff Georgia Southern. While at Georgia Tech, Gilliland was a part of three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Coastal Division Championships (2006, 2008 and 2009).?

In 2007, Gilliland worked with Yellow Jacket quarterbacks after assisting with the receiving corps in 2006, including Biletnikoff Award winner and current Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson. Gilliland coached the running backs for two seasons at Tech, a group that included Doak Walker semi-finalist Jonathan Dwyer. Dwyer was the ACC rushing leader and player of the year in 2008.?

In three seasons at Georgia Southern, Gilliland worked with the running backs (2010), tight ends and tackles (2011) and wide receivers (2012). He took over the recruiting coordinator duties following the conclusion of the 2011 season. With Gilliland on staff, Georgia Southern posted a 31-12 (.721) overall record, won two Southern Conference titles (2011, 2012) and made three consecutive NCAA Football Championship Series (FCS) semifinal appearances during Gilliland's time as an Eagle.?

Gilliland was a regional finalist for the Harlon Hill trophy in 2003. He earned all-region recognition from the Football Gazette (2002). He concluded his career as the Tigers' single-season (3,213) and career passing yards (6,689) record holder.?

In 2012, he was inducted into the UWA Athletic Hall of Fame. At the conclusion of his playing career, Gilliland had posted four of the top 10 single game passing performances in school history, including a then school-record 470 yards against Valdosta State in 2002.?

A two-time member of the All-Gulf South Conference Academic list, he was a two-time winner of the Asa Green Scholar-Athlete Award, an award presented to the UWA student-athlete with the highest grade-point average on the football team, winning it in 2001 and 2003. A 2003 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District IV selection, he also was honored twice with a Gulf South Conference "Top Eight" award before graduating magna cum laude from UWA in 2004.?

Gilliland and his wife, Amanda, are the parents of a son, Rece (8), and a daughter, Ella Kate (3). His father, Ronnie, was a member of the UWA 1971 National Championship Football team.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Harry Satterwhite: QB; 6' 1"; Senior

#5 Demetrius Battle: RB; 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman

#18 Qua Boyd: TE; 6' 5"; Senior

#14 Tyler Butler: TE; 6' 2"; Junior

#17 Zach Gaines: P; 6' 1"; Senior

#2 Christian Saulsberry: WR; 5' 8"; Senior

#7 Jack McDaniels: QB; 6' 2"; Junior

#28 James Smith, III: RB; 5' 8"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#15 Harry Satterwhite
: 6' 1"; Senior
: QB

#5 Demetrius Battle
: 6' 2"; Redshirt Freshman
: RB

#18 Qua Boyd
: 6' 5"; Senior
: TE

#14 Tyler Butler
: 6' 2"; Junior
: TE

#17 Zach Gaines
: 6' 1"; Senior
: P

#2 Christian Saulsberry
: 5' 8"; Senior
: WR

#7 Jack McDaniels
: 6' 2"; Junior
: QB

#28 James Smith, III
: 5' 8"; Junior
: RB