MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama and NC State both enter Saturday’s game in Raleigh, N.C., coming off low-scoring wins in which special teams made the difference.
Chapuseaux, Garber Lead Jaguars
South Alabama kicker Michel Chapuseaux made a career-high three field goals last weekend, accounting for all of the Jaguars’ points. Chapuseaux is 4-of-5 on field goals this season and leads the team with 16 points.
Punter Scott Garber averaged 43.6 yards per punt in the game, with two kicks downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, and he had a 69-yard punt that flipped field position.
Wolfpack Special Teams
NC State punter Wil Baumann kicked nine times against UConn, averaging nearly 39 yards with three punts downed inside the 20. Placekicker Niklas Sade made a 40-yard field goal, the only points of the first half, which provided the Wolfpack’s final margin of victory.
Scouting the NC State Offense
Quarterback Mike Glennon, who completed 17 of 20 passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns against South Alabama last season, has completed 42 of 76 passes (55.3 percent) this season for 492 yards and two touchdowns.
Tobias Palmer leads the Wolfpack with nine receptions, and Quintin Payton has a team-high 177 receiving yards. Mustafa Greene leads NC State’s group of running backs with 101 rushing yards, while Tony Creecy and James Washington have each scored a rushing touchdown.
“Offensively, it starts with their quarterback,” South Alabama head coach Joey Jones said. “He’s very efficient, and they do a good job moving the ball down the field and are patient with their play calls. Our defense is looking forward to the challenge of playing them. They do a good job with run-pass balance. They can throw the ball underneath and downfield, and they can run the football.”
Jones on the Wolfpack Defense
“I think they are better defensively this year,” Jones said. “Their defensive front seems more active. They lost a couple of NFL guys at linebacker, but they replaced them with a couple of good ones. They are very well-coached and do a good job with their schemes.”
Second Trip to Carter-Finley
South Alabama played at NC State last season in its first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent, and Jones said that experience should help the Jaguars this week.
“I think it will help, the fact that we did play there last year,” he said. “But I always say that it doesn’t matter where you play, you play between the lines. Our kids will be ready to play no matter what, and that’s one thing we pride ourselves on.”
Jones said his team was not intimidated in last year’s visit. “It wasn’t a deal where we were star struck by the lights or the fact that it was our first FBS opponent. Our kids came to play,” he said. “I expect them to play well this year.”
South Alabama is in its first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference and the FBS.
Update: Jones, Baker and Pearson Speak at Monday Press Conference
At South Alabama’s weekly press conference Monday, head coach Joey Jones opened by reviewing the Jaguars’ win over Nicholls State. “We’re glad for the win this past weekend,” Jones said. “I thought we played extremely well on defense, and kind of played conservative offensively. But a win is a win, it’s a team win whether offense, defense or special teams does well.”
Jones said the offense must improve in the red zone and that the staff needs to adjust better at halftime. He said Nicholls State showed a defensive front the Jaguars had not expected. “We got a little conservative in the second half. The defense was playing so well that we didn’t want to make a mistake, but we have to punch it in down in the red zone,” Jones said. “That’s one thing we talked about as a staff.”
Jones also recalled last season’s visit to Raleigh. “I’ll never forget walking out onto the field last year and how exciting it was to be in that atmosphere,” he said. “Our kids are looking forward to it.”
Baker: “I’m not where I want to be”
Running back Demetre Baker said he has more work to do. “At this point in the season, I have done OK. I’m not where I want to be,” Baker said. “Our first two opponents were tough teams, they weren’t pushovers.”
Baker said the offense has the plays to score once it reaches the red zone. “We just have to finish up, do a little more polishing and practice harder and put one in,” he said. He also said playing in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 “motivates us and gets us really pumped up for the game.”
Pearson on the Secondary
Defensive back Tyrell Pearson said the defense built on its second-half play against UTSA in the win over Nicholls State. “Going in to North Carolina State, I feel like we’re going to do the same. I feel we’ll step up to the challenge on defense, especially in the secondary,” Pearson said.
Pearson said he and fellow defensive back Darrius Morrow, both former junior college players, have discussed the matchup with Glennon all week. “Our slogan is ‘Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,'” he said.
Update: Red Zone Struggles and Scouting the Wolfpack
Jones and his staff reviewed video of the Nicholls State win Sunday morning and held meetings throughout the day. Jones missed the team’s Sunday night practice because of a speaking engagement.
Jones told the Press-Register the defense performed as the staff expected, but the offense failed to capitalize near the goal line. “Offensively, we got in the red zone five times and didn’t turn it into any touchdowns and I think if we had scored a couple of touchdowns there we’re in the mid 20s and we have a good game,” he said. “But we didn’t execute very well down there.”
He credited the defense for stands late in the game. “Any of those passes in the end zone (in the waning moments), if we don’t knock them down they score and probably win the game on any one of those plays,” Jones said. “They made plays when they had to.”
Jones said preparation was complicated by a lack of game film on Nicholls State, whose scheduled opener at Oregon State was postponed, while the Colonels had video of South Alabama’s opener against Texas-San Antonio. “Not having any film to watch on those games made it pretty difficult on us,” he said. “We were just having to kind of shoot in the dark with them.”
NC State, like South Alabama, is 1-1. The Wolfpack lost their opener to Tennessee 35-21 in Atlanta and then won 10-7 at Connecticut. NC State beat South Alabama 35-13 in Raleigh last season.
“One thing, you look at them on defense and they are much better up front,” Jones said. “They’ve got some good lineman on defense and they are very athletic.” Of quarterback Mike Glennon, he said: “He’s 6-6 and has a great arm and will be playing in the NFL one day. He’s a very efficient passer.”
Update: Tuesday Practice in Shells
South Alabama practiced in shells Tuesday, and head coach Joey Jones said he liked the tempo. “I thought it was really, really good today,” he said. “The kids are preparing the way they are supposed to. There was a little more pep in their step. We had a good physical day and the tempo was really good, I thought. The kids almost went 100 percent without knocking each other to the ground and that’s the perfect type tempo we need.”
Jones said he challenged the scout team to give the starters an accurate look at the Wolfpack. “N.C. State is fast and on offense and defense they can do really well and execute very well offensively,” he said. “We’ve got to be sharp this week. I challenged our scout team. They’ve got to do a great job of giving us a look this week because N.C. State, they do things really well.”
Jones also said he believes the secondary has improved since last season’s meeting. “First of all, I think we’re better in the secondary this year,” he said. “Our kids are really understanding the concepts back there now and we’ve got some better cover people there, so we feel good about that. As always, you’ve got to be able to play physical up front and that’s what we have challenged our kids to do.”
Sun Belt Statistical Rankings
Through two games, South Alabama’s defense is tied for first in the 10-team Sun Belt Conference in red zone defense, opponents’ third-down conversion rate and fourth-down conversion defense, and the Jaguars are also tied for first in kickoff returns. The defense ranks second or is tied for second in total defense, sacks, passing efficiency defense and interceptions. It is third in scoring defense, rushing defense and passing defense.
The offense ranks ninth in the league in scoring offense and passing offense and 10th in total offense and rushing offense.
South Alabama has converted 12 of 32 third-down attempts this season, including 7 of 19 against Nicholls State, after offensive coordinator Robert Matthews said before that game that third-down efficiency needed to improve. The Jaguars’ defense has allowed opponents to convert 4 of 24 third downs, with both UTSA and Nicholls State going 2-for-12.
