The University of South Alabama football team has opened the 2021 season 2-0 for the first time since the Jaguars became a full NCAA Division I program, a milestone that has fans in Mobile buzzing about the direction of second-year head coach Kane Wommack’s rebuilding project.
South Alabama needed a dramatic finish to get there. Last weekend’s road win at Bowling Green was far from clean, with the Jaguars fighting through mistakes and momentum swings that Wommack later described as “Murphy happening,” a nod to Murphy’s Law. Daphne High School graduate Diego Guajardo settled matters with a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the game, lifting South Alabama to a 22-19 victory and sending the Jaguars home unbeaten.
The performance keeps South Alabama on pace for one of its best starts in program history. The Jaguars are heavily favored to remain undefeated when they host Alcorn State this weekend before a bye week. After the open date, South Alabama welcomes Louisiana to Mobile on Oct. 2 in what looms as the toughest test yet for Wommack’s group. The Ragin’ Cajuns opened their season with a loss at Texas but are expected to be playing at a high level by the time they arrive in the Port City, likely entering the game with a 3-1 record.
Locally, expectations for the Jaguars have shifted noticeably since the offseason. A month ago, most projections had South Alabama finishing around 6-1 through its first seven games, with the Louisiana matchup penciled in as the program’s most likely loss. Two weeks into the season, that outlook still holds, but the way the Jaguars have found ways to win close, imperfect games has only added to the growing enthusiasm around the program. If South Alabama can find a way past Louisiana as well, a good season could turn into a special one for a fan base still building trust in its coaching staff.
South Alabama’s early success comes as the Southeastern Conference as a whole continues to build its case as the nation’s top football league. Through two weeks of nonconference play, SEC teams have combined to go 23-3 outside the conference, with marquee wins including Alabama over Miami, Ole Miss over Louisville, Mississippi State over North Carolina State, Arkansas over Texas and a hard-fought victory by Georgia over Clemson. Even so, none of those signature wins came in true road environments, since each of those games was played at an SEC home stadium.
That distinction sets up this weekend’s showdown between Auburn and Penn State as arguably the most significant measuring-stick game the conference has faced so far this season. Auburn will travel to Beaver Stadium for a game Penn State has billed as a “White Out” for its student section and fan base, a spectacle that will be broadcast nationally. It will mark the first true road test against a hostile, full-capacity crowd that Auburn has faced in nearly two years, since most of the Tigers’ key contributors, including running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter, were still in high school the last time Auburn played in that kind of environment on the road in November 2019.
The Auburn-Penn State matchup is also notable because it is the only game between an SEC school and a Big Ten opponent on this season’s regular-season schedule, adding extra weight to a result that fans on both sides will likely reference throughout the fall as conferences jockey for playoff positioning. Both teams feature strong defenses, and the game is expected to be a tightly contested, physical affair.
Elsewhere around the SEC’s nonconference slate, LSU’s high hopes took a hit in a lopsided loss to UCLA, a result that did little to ease concerns about the program’s direction under head coach Ed Orgeron even after a subsequent win over McNeese State. Tennessee put up a fight at home before falling to Pittsburgh, and Vanderbilt bounced back from an early-season loss to East Tennessee State with a comeback win over Colorado State, though that victory came against a Mountain West opponent playing in Fort Collins rather than in one of college football’s more intimidating road venues.
For South Alabama, the immediate focus stays local: finish off Alcorn State, use the bye week to get healthy, and prepare for a Louisiana team that could determine whether the Jaguars’ 2-0 start turns into the program’s best season yet. Wommack’s rebuilding effort has quickly generated momentum in the Mobile area, and after two hard-fought wins to open the year, local football fans who haven’t yet bought in have a growing incentive to pay attention before the bandwagon fills up.