The consistently inconsistent South Alabama Jaguars reared their heads on Saturday, losing 33-20 at home to Louisiana and dropping their record to 4-4 overall, 2-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Jaguars lost despite gaining nearly 500 yards of total offense, but turned the ball over five times and also failed on a fourth-down attempt inside the 10-yard line. South Alabama has fallen out of a tie for first place in the Sun Belt West Division, with the loss taking a little shine off Thursday’s “Battle for the Belt” at Troy.

RELATED: South Alabama falls 33-20 to Louisiana, worst home loss under Kane Wommack

Before the Jaguars head into the short week of preparation for the Trojans, here are five takeaways from the loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns:

1. For whatever reason, Jaguars do not respond well to adversity

Three of South Alabama’s four wins this season (Oklahoma State, Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Miss) have come when they have dominated from the opening snap, with the fourth against an FCS team (Southeastern Louisiana) the Jaguars completely outmatched from a talent standpoint. In the other games — losses to Tulane, Central Michigan, James Madison and now Louisiana — the Jaguars have fallen behind by double-digits and been unable to recover sufficiently on one or both sides of the ball. It’s fair to question how this sort of thing is happening 32 games into Kane Wommack’s tenure, though I’m not sure there’s really a good explanation at this point.

2. Blowout wins over ULM, USM might have been more about opposition

The Jaguars outscored the Warhawks and Golden Eagles 110-10 in winning their two most-recent games before Saturday, but it now appears to be clear that the overall struggles of those two teams had as much if not more to do with the results than something South Alabama had suddenly “figured out.” After eight up-and-down games, the 33-7 win at Big 12 contender Oklahoma State seems like the real outlier on the schedule now. The only thing that’s really certain about this team on a week-to-week basis is that anything is possible.

RELATED: South Alabama QB Carter Bradley leaves game with knee injury; initial reports positive

3. A few Jaguars shined individually on dismal day

Quentin Wilfawn had the best game of his South Alabama career on Saturday, totaling 15 tackles and tying a school record with 4.5 tackles for loss. The veteran linebacker was a bright spot in a pretty shabby overall performance by the Jaguars’ defense — particularly in third-and-long situations. Caullin Lacy had his seventh straight 100-yard receiving game with 131 yards on seven catches, but he wasn’t even the Jaguars’ most-explosive pass-catcher on Saturday. Jamaal Pritchett caught 11 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, all career-highs.

4. Carter Bradley’s health will be the story of the (short) week

Bradley threw for 381 yards and two touchdowns Saturday, but took a serious beating. He was sacked five times — three of which led to lost fumbles, one returned for a touchdown — and hit numerous other times. He was helped off the field by trainers with 16 seconds left due to a knee injury suffered on a failed two-point try, and his status for Thursday’s game will be a much-discussed topic. The short week would seemingly make him highly questionable. If Bradley can’t play, it will be interesting to see if the Jaguars go with veteran Desmond Trotter or freshman Gio Lopez at quarterback. Trotter is vastly more experienced, but Lopez is the Jaguars’ future at the position and offers more a more dynamic skillset.

5. South Alabama is in real danger of not making a bowl game

Though beating out Troy for the Sun Belt West title was always going to be a real challenge, it seemed like a given the Jaguars would go bowling for the second straight year. However, South Alabama needs at least two victories in its final four games to even be postseason-eligible. The Jaguars are likely to be favored in home games vs. Arkansas State Nov. 11 and Marshall Nov. 18, but they were also double-digit picks over Central Michigan and Louisiana and lost both games. The bet here is the Jaguars get to six wins, but that’s no guarantee of a postseason bid this year with three Sun Belt teams already bowl-eligible and eight more that currently have either four or five wins.

Next up: The Jaguars travel to Troy (6-2, 3-1 Sun Belt) for the “Battle for the Belt” on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with television coverage by ESPN2.