College Football around Alabama: Big Wins across the State

As the college football calendar turned to November, the state of Alabama saw another banner weekend.

In addition to Alabama’s 24-10 win over LSU, Auburn won their final road game of the season at Texas A&M, UAB secured bowl eligibility in their first year back as a football program and UWA is celebrating after clinching the Gulf South Conference title.

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Big Plays Propel Auburn over Texas A&M

One day following the announcement of Jay Jacobs’ resignation as athletic director, Gus Malzahn’s Auburn football squad finished off their road schedule with a 42-27 win over Texas A&M.

Auburn started slow out of the gate trailing 3-0 after the first quarter but heated up just before halftime. Trailing 13-7 late in the second quarter, quarterback Jarret Stidham found Darius Slayton on a 53-yard scoring strike to take 14-13 lead.

Following a three-and-out on defense, the Tigers special teams blocked a Shane Tripucka punt and recovered the ball in the end zone pushing the lead to 21-13 at halftime.

Auburn carried the momentum early in the third quarter as Stidham hooked up with Ryan Davis for his second scoring pass of the day and Kerryon Johnson scored his second rushing touchdown of the day to increase the lead to 35-13.

For the game, Johnson rushed for 145 yards on 29 carries while Stidham passed for 268 yards.

UAB Becomes Bowl Eligible

The UAB Blazers scored a season-high 52 points to become bowl eligible in a 52-21 pasting of the Rice Owls.

The Blazers scored on their first seven possessions and moved the ball at will against the Owls defense. Spencer Brown rushed for 140 yards on 17 carries with three touchdowns.

Quarterback A.J. Erdely was nearly flawless as he completed 20 of 21 passes for 197 yards and three scores.

After earning their sixth win of the season, UAB plays two straight on the road before closing out the season at home on November 25.

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UWA Secures Gulf South Conference Title

Brett Gilliland’s West Alabama Tigers claimed an outright claim to the Gulf South Conference title with a 38-14 victory at Valdosta State.

The Tigers got out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter and never trailed in their final conference game of the season.

UWA put together one of their most efficient offensive performances of the season by rolling up 511 total yards and did not record a turnover.

Senior wide receiver Donta Armstrong caught seven passes for 118 yards and a touchdown while senior running back Lakenderic Thomas rushed for 129 yards and two scores.

Jacksonville State Pummels Murray State

Despite four turnovers, No. 3 Jacksonville State took care of Murray State 59-23.

The Gamecocks rolled up 484 total yards including 323 on the ground. Running back Roc Thomas led JSU with 17 carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Bryant Horn racked up 208 total yards along with four touchdowns total.

Murray State scored all 23 of their points off four Jacksonville State turnovers.

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Defense Lifts Samford to Critical SoCon Road Win

No. 15 Samford bounced back from last week’s loss to Chattanooga with a solid 20-3 win at Mercer.

Although Samford’s offense committed four turnovers, Samford’s defense stepped up to the plate.

The Bulldogs kept the Bears out of the end zone, held them to 191 yards total offense including 33 rushing yards, recorded two safeties along with 11 tackles for loss and 3 sacks.

Quarterback Devlin Hodges threw for 367 total yards and added two touchdowns in the win.

Weekend Scores

Alabama 24 LSU 10

Auburn 42 Texas A&M 27

UAB 52 Rice 21

Louisiana-Lafayette 19 South Alabama 14

Troy 24 Idaho 21 (Thursday)

Jacksonville State 59 Murray State 23

Samford 20 Mercer 3

West Alabama 38 Valdosta State 14

West Florida 30 North Alabama 7

Alabama State 13 Jackson State 3