Beyond the Box Score: South Alabama 48 at App State 14

How the Jaguars flattened the Mountaineers

South Alabama is LSU’s last non-conference opponent, and it’s difficult to figure out who this team is when checking their schedule. They enter Saturday’s game 2-2 with losses to North Texas and Ohio and wins over FCS Northwestern State and Appalachian State. The issue with scouting USA is that you have to disregard the first two games as an indication of future outcomes because QB Gio Lopez suffered a turf toe injury in the opener against UNT that kept him out of a good chunk of that game and the entire Ohio game.

The first chance to see USA’s offense in a full game was in an 87-10 annihilation of NSU, a game in which the Jaguars were unable to keep themselves from scoring against a vastly inferior opponent. The second was in this game, a shellacking of Appalachian State. App State hadn’t lost that badly at home since losing 45-10 to then-#25 Miami (FL) in 2016 and hadn’t lost that badly to a conference opponent at home since losing 56-6 to Lenoir-Rhyne in 1967, four years after South Alabama’s founding, back when they were in the NAIA Carolinas Conference.

This is partially thanks to offensive coordinator Rob Ezell. If that name rings a bell, it’s because he’s got the best Nick Saban impression ever.

Ezell’s offense looks like the kind of thing you use to break people in a video game, and I can only imagine how much fun it is to use their playbook in EA CFB 25. This is especially true because of a three-headed monster in the run game. Taking snaps is dual-threat QB Gio Lopez, a highly rated QB who landed in Mobile instead of a bigger school due to his 6’0 height. Do not take him lightly, he has a great arm and is shifty when under pressure. He did a nice job climbing the pocket to make several throws, but he tended to overthrow wide-open guys. He also had a 50-yard run on the second play of the game with a very good counter read.

One thing that you should know is that the Mountaineers can’t tackle to save their lives. It was a problem last year when they were near the bottom of FBS in explosive run defense, and it’s still a gaping problem here. That’s why the Jaguars kept running the ball. Heck, the last TD drive was 9 runs with the backup running backs that never went backward. There were multiple runs where the RB got 10 yards without getting touched including a 22-yard rushing TD to make it 21-0 by Fluff Bothwell.

Fluff Bothwell gets his own paragraph because he has the best name in college football. Bothwell is a freshman who is going to get poached by a top program in the offseason. He runs hard and he runs fast. He’s also a very patient runner. He was very willing to sit back and wait for running lanes to develop before making his push to the line.

The third head of the monster run game is Kentrel Bullock. He is the lightning to Bothwell’s thunder, and he provides good options in the passing game. Part of the thing that makes the run game work so well is the motion. This is a heavy motion and RPO offense. As if App State didn’t have enough problems with fundamentals in the defense, the motion completely broke them. It’s really fun to watch unless you have to defend it. Oh yeah, and if the motion doesn’t beat you in the run game, it’ll get you when they throw over the top of your defense.

How does LSU beat it? They need to be good on defense. They cannot let the monsters mash them. It’s a tough ask, but it needs to happen to give LSU good vibes into the first bye week.