South Alabama secured bowl-eligibility with a 28-0 victory over Marshall this past weekend, but there are plenty of moving parts regarding the Jaguars’ postseason destination heading into the final Saturday of the 2023 regular season.

South Alabama (6-5 overall, 4-3 Sun Belt Conference) plays at Texas State (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday night. Should the Jaguars win, they’d clinch second place in the Sun Belt West Division, and move up in a crowded bowl field in the conference, which already has eight bowl-eligible teams, with the possibility of four more by the time Saturday’s games are over.

RELATED: 5 takeaways from South Alabama’s 28-0 victory over Marshall

South Alabama is a 5.5-point favorite to beat the Bobcats in San Marcos, Texas, which would be an accomplishment in itself. The Jaguars are 0-4 all-time at Bobcat Stadium.

“We’ve never won there,” South Alabama coach Kane Wommack said Monday. “There’s an opportunity for us to put ourselves in position to be most attractive to the bowl committees. There’s an opportunity in the pecking order of the West standings. … So there are a lot of things to be ready to go and fight for. Our players had a really good look in their eye this morning.”

South Alabama is coming off one of its better all-around performances of the season vs. Marshall, and its first-ever shutout of an FBS opponent. It was the Jaguars’ first shutout period since beating Alabama A&M 45-0 in 2017.

The Jaguars are also on a two-game winning streak, continuing an odd pattern this season. South Alabama lost its opener at Tulane, then has won two, lost two, won two, lost two and now won two, with a chance to win three consecutive games for the first time since it ended the 2022 regular season with five straight victories.

“We’ve been an inconsistent football team this season,” Wommack said. “It would be really nice to be able to show more consistency over a three-game span than what we have, especially on the road against a very tough opponent that’s played well at home pretty much all season long.”

As Wommack noted, Texas State is 4-1 at home this season. The lone loss came to West champion Troy, a 31-13 defeat on Oct. 8.

The Bobcats were on the wrong end of one of the more-surprising results of the season this past Saturday, a 77-31 loss at Arkansas State. That score was a bit deceiving, however, as the Red Wolves scored three touchdowns on defense and returned a kickoff for another.

“Maybe you can look at the score last week and see 77 and you forget about two pick-sixes, a scoop-and-score for 21 and then a kick-off return for 28 points — that’s one perception of what they’ve done on defense,” South Alabama offensive coordinator Major Applewhite said. “But you turn on the tape against Baylor, you turn on the tape vs. UTSA — when they get against really good opponents, their defense shows up.”

Nevertheless, Texas State this season is driven by offense under first-year coach G.J. Kinne, who brought his up-tempo attack — along with several players — with him from FCS power Incarnate Word. The Bobcats lead the Sun Belt in points per game (34.5), yards per game (471.1) and rushing yards per game (198.2) and are third in passing yards per game (272.9).

Texas State running back Ismail Mahdi is third in the Sun Belt with 1,112 rushing yards, but it’s quarterback T.J. Finley that makes the Bobcats go. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Auburn transfer leads the conference in completion percentage (68.2) and has thrown for 2,919 yards and 21 touchdowns this season.

“The quarterback, that’s what we’re game-planning for,” said South Alabama safety Jaden Voisin, who is tied for second in the Sun Belt with four interceptions this season. “He’s a big body. We’ve get a lot of hits on him, kind of make him a little ‘scared’ in the pocket, make him make faster decisions than he’s used to doing because he’s pretty accurate.”

South Alabama counters with a defense that is now allowing under 20 points (19.2) and just over 300 yards per game (313). The Jaguars rank 21st nationally in scoring defense, 25th in rushing defense, 25th in passing defense, 20th in total defense, 10th in red zone defense and 23rd in third-down defense.

That’s quite a turnaround from a unit that was often a liability early in the season, particularly against the pass. A midseason shift from a standard 4-2-5 alignment to a 3-3-5 seems to have paid dividends for the Jaguars, though the Bobcats will be unlike any team South Alabama has faced this season in regard to offensive style.

“These guys go really fast,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “It’s gonna be a challenge for us to be able to play the play and then clear it and get lined up and play the next play. I think these guys are different in regards to their ability to go fast, but also give you different pictures. So that’s the challenge that they present.

“But any time that you’re going against tempo, you’ve got to win first down. If you’re winning first down consistently, it makes it harder for them to go fast.”

Kickoff for South Alabama-Texas State is set for 6 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised nationally by NFL Network.