Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 118. South Alabama
Sweet home South Alabama
Just like Georgia State, South Alabama’s a relatively new FBS team who joined the Sun Belt. USA’s been slightly better, with a 0.393 win percentage compared to GSU’s 0.364. Only playing football since 2009, South Alabama’s a very young team who just had their best season ever, and has lots of room to grow.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 38 | South Alabama | 2022 | 6.787 | 10-3 |
| 70 | South Alabama | 2013 | -10.04 | 6-6 |
| 80 | South Alabama | 2016 | -20.038 | 6-7 |
| 91 | South Alabama | 2014 | -24.709 | 6-7 |
| 97 | South Alabama | 2021 | -27.972 | 5-7 |
| 96 | South Alabama | 2015 | -31.028 | 5-7 |
| 107 | South Alabama | 2020 | -31.464 | 4-7 |
| 106 | South Alabama | 2017 | -33.598 | 4-8 |
| 115 | South Alabama | 2018 | -46.232 | 3-9 |
| 121 | South Alabama | 2019 | -48.929 | 2-10 |
| 118 | South Alabama | 2012 | -56.695 | 2-11 |
+------+---------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: -3064.3533 (118th)53-82 record
0 conference titles
0-3 bowl record
0 consensus All-Americans
4 NFL players drafted
USA’s good at producing receiving threats, their draft picks being two WRs and a TE. It’s been a lot of mediocrity for South Alabama outside of 2022. No historically bad years like some of the programs we’ve seen so far, but not many memorable years either. No conference titles, no bowl wins, no consensus All-Americans. If they counted, perhaps 2009 and 2010 would be considered South Alabama’s best years, where they went 17-0 against a schedule of mostly D2 and NAIA teams.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2012 (2-11 overall, 1-7 Sun Belt)
Growing pains. USA’s first FBS season was sure to be a rocky one, and it was. They played fellow FBS newcomer UTSA in the season opener, and lost to a game winning 51 yard FG with almost no time left. A 9-3 win over a Nicholls State team that would finish 1-10 showed the state of this Jaguar team, whose only other win would come midseason in an exciting 37-34 2OT win over Florida Atlantic. USA “only” lost games by an average of 11 points in 2012, not too bad for their worst year ever. LB Jake Johnson was the star of the team with 131 tackles, 3 sacks, and 12 TFL.
5. 2021 (5-7 overall, 2-6 Sun Belt)
Hooray, we’re back to looking at teams that have a losing season in their top 5! Sometimes these teams are the most fun to look at, though. WR Jalen Tolbert had himself a year with 82 catches for 1474 yards and 8 TD, winning Sun Belt OPOTY. He’d also be the highest drafted player from the Sun Belt in the 2022 NFL Draft, going to the Dallas Cowboys in the 3rd round. Tolbert had a monster game against Tennessee, going for 7 catches for 143 yards and 1 TD, despite a 14-60 loss. Throwing to him was former South Carolina QB and Utah legend Jake Bentley, who had a respectable year completing 70% of passes for 2476 yards 17 TD 8 INT. CB Darrell Luter Jr. was 1st team all-Sun Belt with 4 INTs and 10 PBUs in just 9 games. All in all, pretty average team with 2 near-upsets—they were 2 points away from beating 13-1 UL Lafayette, and an OT away from beating 11-2 Coastal Carolina.
4. 2014 (6-7 overall, 5-3 Sun Belt)
There was actually some hype going into South Alabama’s 3rd year in the Sun Belt. QB Brandon Bridge was 6’5 235 lb with a big arm and got some draft buzz, and they were coming off a year in which they tied for 2nd in the Sun Belt. The media picked them to finish 3rd in 2014. They’d pack the house in week 2 against Mississippi State, drawing 38,000 fans in their 33,000 seat stadium, but unfortunately got cooked 3-35. They’d start 4-1 in the Sun Belt though, only losing to eventual champion Georgia Southern. They’d lose a marquee matchup to Louisiana Lafayette to battle for 2nd place, and that would pretty much put them out of the race for the rest of the year. USA tied for 4th in the conference, and with a 6-6 overall record, made their first bowl appearance in school history. Bowling Green would score a 78 yard TD against them with 1 minute left to steal a 33-28 win, and unfortunately the Jags didn’t get their first winning season.
3. 2016 (6-7 overall, 2-6 Sun Belt)
The year started off with probably the biggest win in school history up to that point, with a hilarious 21-20 ending in Starkville. Mississippi State, who was coming off a 9-4 season, lined up to kick a 28 yard FG to win with no time left, but doinked the ball off the left upright and the Jags earned their first ever win over a Power 5 opponent. Just 4 weeks later, USA would beat #19 San Diego State 42-24 to get their 2nd biggest win in school history. They’d only go 2-6 in the Sun Belt, but 4 losses were by 7 points or less. Mismatched in their bowl against 9-3 Air Force, they were waxed 21-45 to finish the year 6-7. This team had a number of standout players including TE Gerald Everett who went for 49 catches for 717 yards and 4 TD. He earned 1st team all-conference and was the highest Sun Belt player drafted in 2017 going in the 2nd round to the Los Angeles Rams. Joining him on the 1st team were DE Randy Allen who had 12.5 sacks, 7 TFL, and 3 forced fumbles, and DB Jeremy Reaves with 85 tackles, 3 INTs, and 7 PBUs. Reaves recently went viral for making the 2022 Pro Bowl for the Washington Commanders in an emotional video.
As a side note, the 2016 Sun Belt 1st team all-defense might be the best all-name team ever with Ironhead Gallon, Money Hunter, Clifton Duck, and Mondo Williams.
2. 2013 (6-6 overall, 4-3 Sun Belt)
Very hot and cold team. Started the year with a 21-22 loss to FCS Southern Utah. Beat eventual 7-6 Tulane a week later. Beat eventual 8-4 Western Kentucky after that. Went to Knoxville and only lost 24-31 to become the most volatile 2-2 team in the nation. They’d only win 1 of their next 4, but the 3 losses were by a combined 5 points. Just 3-6 with a 1-3 conference record, they’d roll through the rest of their games with an average scoreline of 35-13, their final game a 30-8 win over 8-3 UL Lafayette. South Alabama finished 6-6 but was just 1 point away from a conference title! Their 16-17 loss to Arkansas State in the middle of the year would’ve put them in 1st place if the result was reversed. 8 players made 1st/2nd team all-Sun Belt and Joey Jones won Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
1. 2022 (10-3 overall, 7-1 Sun Belt)
After dominating Nicholls State in the opener, USA was 6 point underdogs to MAC favorites Central Michigan. South Alabama would dominate, taking a 38-10 lead, eventually winning 38-24 with 337 passing yards and 3 TD from QB Carter Bradley. South Alabama would have 17 point favorite UCLA on the ropes the following week, who needed a walkoff FG to avoid the upset 32-31. After that, it was clear South Alabama was going to be a pretty good G5 team, and won their next 3 games to go to 5-1. They battled 5-2 Troy to all but clinch the Sun Belt West, but Troy won 10-6 in a defensive slugfest. South Alabama would rattle off win after win: 31-3 over Arkansas State, 38-31 over 5-3 Georgia Southern, 38-21 over Texas State, and 7 point wins over Southern Miss and Old Dominion to cap the regular season at 10-2. They just needed Troy to lose ONE game, but they also went 10-2 with a 7-1 conference record, and the Trojans’ win was the tiebreaker. Still, it was a dream season for South Alabama and they shattered school records. The defense gave up just 19.4 PPG in the regular season, and the offense scored 31.9 PPG. Carter Bradley threw for over 3000 yards with 28 TD 12 INT, RB La’Damian Webb was a 1000+ yard rusher, WRs Caullin Lacy, Devin Voisin and Jalen Wayne went for 800+, and DB Yam Banks had 6 INTs. USA lost 23-44 to a very good Western Kentucky team in the bowl, and finished #38 in my rankings.
5th Quarter
It took you 11 years, but you got your winning season, South Alabama. And not just any winning season, a double digit win season. Congrats, and here’s to many more!
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