WESTERN KENTUCKY HILLTOPPERS NOTES:

OPENING KICKOFF

SERIES HISTORY
The Hilltoppers and Jaguars have only met one time in the history of both schools. WKU visited South Alabama in Mobile in 2013 and narrowly fell to the Jags by a score of 31-24.

OLD CONFERENCE RIVALS
Before Western Kentucky’s move to Conference USA in 2014, the Tops and Jags were league rivals in the Sun Belt Conference. South Alabama joined the Sun Belt in 2012, and would only face the Hilltoppers one time in the 2013 matchup.

END OF AN ERA
The New Orleans Bowl will mark the final game of senoir Juwuan Jones’ career at WKU. Jones has been a Hilltoppers staple since he stepped on campus in 2017. Wednesday will mark the 65th game of Jones’ career, the most all-time by any player in program history. He is also on track to make his 60th career start and 56th consecutive start.

WALK OFF WINNER
In the regular season finale at Florida Atlantic, the Hilltoppers and Owls went to overtime to decide the game. Rather than kicking an extra poing to send the game to a second overtime, Tyson Helton elected to go for two for the win. Austin Reed hit Joshua Simon for the game-winning play, lifting the Tops to a 32-31 victory. It was the first two-point conversion of the season for WKU, and it marked the first overtime victory in Helton’s career.

BACK TO THE BAYOU
The New Orleans Bowl will mark WKU’s first trip to the state of Louisiana since 2018 when the Hilltoppers visited Louisiana Tech in Ruston. That game served as the regular-season finale for WKU, and the Hilltoppers ended the year with a 30-15 victory.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY
With a win over South Alabama, Western Kentucky would match its 9-5 record from 2021. Last season, WKU also entered its bowl game with an 8-5 record and faced a team from the Sun Belt Conference.

FINISH STRONG
Since joining Conference USA in 2014, Western Kentucky has finished the season with a victory six out of eight seasons. Of those six season-ending victories, four were in bowl games.

SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS NOTES:

GAMEDAY STORYLINES
RETURN TRIP TO A BOWL GAME
South Alabama returns to a bowl game for the first time since 2016 and just the third time overall when they hit the field for the first time at the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. The year started in New Orleans with Media Day and ends in the same city.

JAGS WILL RETURN TO NOLA NEXT YEAR
South Alabama will kick off the 2023 season back in New Orleans with the season opener a Yuleman Stadium against Tulane. The meeting is the first of four non-conference games to kick off the season with two at home and two on the road (Oklahoma State).

MAGICAL SEASON FOR THE JAGS
South Alabama set school records for overall FBS wins (10) and conference wins (seven) this season, losing just two games by a combined five points. The win total is actually one more than the 2020 and 2021 seasons combined as the Jags won nine games, including five under Wommack in ‘21.

Last Time vs. WKU (9/14/13)
MOBILE, Ala. | Tyrell Pearson had not set foot on the playing field prior to the University of South Alabama football program’s match-up against Western Kentucky on Saturday. He didn’t see action in any of the first three quarters against the Hilltoppers, either. But the senior cornerback made two plays in the final two-plus minutes that helped determine the outcome of the contest.

Pearson intercepted a pass and ran it back 49 yards to set up Trey Fetner’s game-winning touchdown, then sealed the victory with an interception in the end zone on the Toppers’ final play from scrimmage in the Jaguars’ 31-24 Sun Belt Conference victory over WKU at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. With the game tied at 24 and 10-and-a-half minutes remaining in the contest, USA (2-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) took over on downs just shy of midfield after getting a stop on fourth-and-two. Ross Metheny connected with Shavarez Smith for a 50-yard gain to the WKU-3 on the first snap of the possession, but after the Toppers (1-2, 0-1 SBC) allowed two yards on the next three plays they saw a 17-yard field-goal attempt sail wide right.

WKU crossed midfield on its ensuing possession, but on its first snap in Jag territory Pat Moore pressured Brandon Doughty with the result an Alex Page interception that gave USA the ball back. But the Hilltoppers answered with their own takeaway after Jonathan Dowling forced a fumble following a completion that Cam Thomas recovered at the WKU-17.

On third-and-10 Doughty found Nicholas Norris for a gain of 29 yards, but on the very next play Pearson stepped in front of Doughty’s pass and took it down the left sideline. He was called for unsportsmanlike conduct before reaching the end zone, however, leaving the Jaguars to cover 16 yards in the final two-plus minutes. Jay Jones went up the middle for two on the first play, then Metheny went around the edge on the left side of the line for a 12-yard pickup. Two plays later, Fetner gave the Jags’ their first lead of the night with 1:38 left in the contest.

Doughty marched the Toppers 53 yards down the field in 11 plays — converting on fourth down once with an 11-yard pass to Tyler Higbee — but with WKU facing fourth-and-10 from the 13-yard line Pearson picked off another pass to seal the win. Metheny completed 11-of-15 passes for 193 yards, totalling 215 yards of offense after adding 22 on the ground, while Brandon Bridge threw for 77 and ran for 42 after entering the
game in the second half. Jay Jones paced the USA rushing attack with 49 yards on 11 carries, while Wes Saxton and Jeremé Jones caught four passes each for 91 and 68 yards, respectively. Smith ended the night with 72 yards on three receptions as well, as the Jaguars posted 414 yards of offense and averaged more than six yards per snap.