South Alabama is guaranteed to finish with a winning record in 2022 thanks to a 38-31, come-from-behind victory at Georgia Southern on Saturday.

The Jaguars are now 7-2 overall, and would end up above .500 even if they lose their last three regular-season games and a bowl game. It will be the first winning season since South Alabama became a full FBS program in 2012, with a chance at double-digit victories and a first-ever postseason win.

RELATED: La’Damian Webb carries South Alabama to record-setting 38-31 victory at Georgia Southern

With three weeks left in the regular season, South Alabama still has plenty to play for. Before moving forward, let’s look at five things we learned from Saturday’s breakthrough win in Statesboro:

1. This is a different South Alabama team than any we’ve seen

In less than two seasons, Kane Wommack and his staff have done a remarkable job of both upgrading the Jaguars’ overall talent and depth through recruiting and the transfer portal and “coaching up” the players who were already here. South Alabama, a program that once lost 15 straight road games, is 4-1 away from home this season. The Jaguars came back from two touchdowns down in the second half to win for the first time in Statesboro, something past USA teams would never have done. Two losses by a total of five points might result in some rueful memories once the season is over, but South Alabama is still putting together its best-ever fall of football.

2. La’Damian Webb is the real deal

What more can be said about the former Alabama Mr. Football who joined the Jaguars as a junior-college transfer in January? Webb has put together an incredible two-game run, ripping through Arkansas State and Georgia Southern for 410 yards and seven touchdowns the last two weeks. It’s not clear if Webb gets stronger as the game goes along or he simply doesn’t get tired when everyone else does, but his 247-yard, 4-TD performance on Saturday will be talked about as long as South Alabama is playing football. The ESPN+ announcers began referring to Webb as “Prune Juice” for the way he ran through the Eagles’ defense on Saturday, and we’ll see if the nickname sticks.

3. The Jaguars’ defense can adjust when necessary

South Alabama looked totally lost on defense for much of the first half on Saturday, with Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease picking them apart with a quick-strike passing game. However, the Jaguars clamped down in the second half for the third straight week, limiting the Eagles to seven points and forcing three punts, an interception and a turnover on downs. South Alabama sacked Vantrease only once (he’s been trapped just three times all season), but totally took away Georgia Southern’s running game. The Eagles ran for minus-10 yards in the second half, with an end zone interception by Yam Banks and fourth-down stop by Jalen Jordan among the Jaguars’ highlights.

4. There are still some in-game discipline issues to clean up

South Alabama continues to dance along the knife’s edge between aggressive and reckless, and it definitely cost the Jaguars early in Saturday’s game. USA committed 13 penalties — nine in the first half — including multiple pass interference/defensive holding infractions on third down that kept Georgia Southern drives alive. Most egregious was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on offensive guard Dontae Lucas following a Jaguars touchdown in third quarter, which resulted in his ejection after officials said he spit on a Georgia Southern player. There’s no place for what Lucas did in football, and the South Alabama team as a whole needs to play with more discipline if it wants to finish off what could be a special season.

5. The door to a Sun Belt West championship is closing

For all the optimism resulting from South Alabama’s comeback victory on Saturday, Troy let a little air out of the Jaguars’ balloon by rallying from 17 down to win 23-17 at Louisiana shortly thereafter. The Trojans held onto first place in the Sun Belt West, and hold the head-to-head tiebreaker based on a 10-6 win in Mobile on Oct. 20. Even if the Jaguars win out vs. Texas State, Southern Miss and Old Dominion, Troy (7-2, 5-1 Sun Belt) must lose to either Louisiana-Monroe or Arkansas State — highly unlikely — for the Jaguars to finish alone in first place and advance to the Sun Belt championship game for the first time.

Next up: South Alabama hosts Texas State at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The game will stream live via ESPN+.