2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team

The 2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team represented Jacksonville State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach John Grass and played their home games at Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium in Jacksonville, Alabama as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 7–1 in OVC play to win the conference championship for the fifth consecutive year. They received the OVC's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated East Tennessee State in the first round before losing in the second round to Maine.

2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football
Ohio Valley Conference champion
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 27–55 vs. Maine
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 10
FCS Coaches	No. 13
2018 record	9–4 (7–1 OVC)
Head coach	John Grass (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jimmy Ogle (19th season)
Defensive coordinator	Andrew Warwick (1st season)
Home stadium	JSU Stadium (Capacity: 24,000)

2018 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 Jacksonville State $^		7	–	1					8	–	3
No. 15 Southeast Missouri State ^		6	–	2					8	–	3
Eastern Kentucky		5	–	2					7	–	4
Murray State		5	–	3					5	–	6
Tennessee State		3	–	4					4	–	5
Eastern Illinois		3	–	5					3	–	8
Austin Peay		3	–	5					5	–	6
UT Martin		2	–	6					2	–	9
Tennessee Tech		1	–	7					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Gamecocks finished the 2017 season 10–2, 8–0 in OVC play to win the conference championship for the fourth consecutive year.[1] The Gamecocks received the OVC's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs as the No. 3 overall seed, marking their fifth straight trip to the FCS playoffs.[2] After a bye, they were upset by Kennesaw State in the second round.[3]

On October 14, the Gamecocks won their 27th straight OVC conference game, setting the conference record for consecutive games won.[4]

Preseason

OVC media poll

On July 20, 2018, the media covering the OVC released their preseason poll with the Gamecocks predicted to win the OVC championship.[5] On July 23, the OVC released their coaches poll with the Gamecocks also predicted to become OVC champions.[6]

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Jacksonville State	134 (14)
2	Austin Peay	114 (1)
3	UT Martin	96
4	Tennessee State	91
5	Eastern Illinois	83
6	Eastern Kentucky	64
7	Murray State	39
8	Southeast Missouri State	35
9	Tennessee Tech	19

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Jacksonville State	126 (14)
2	Austin Peay	112 (4)
3	UT Martin	95
4	Eastern Illinois	73
5	Eastern Kentucky	69
6	Tennessee State	64
7	Southeast Missouri State	62
8	Murray State	24
9	Tennessee Tech	23

Preseason All-OVC team

The Gamecocks had six players selected to the preseason all-OVC team.[7] Defensive lineman Randy Roberinson was also selected as the preseason defensive player of the year.

Offense Tyler Scozzaro – C B.J. Autry– G Darius Anderson – G

Defense Randy Robinson – DL Marlon Bridges – DB

Specialists Cade Stinnett – K

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Buck Buchanan Award[8]	Marlon Bridges	S	JR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 25	7:00 p.m.	vs. No. 14 North Carolina A&T*	No. 6	Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL (FCS Kickoff)	ESPN	L 17–20	13,500
September 8	6:00 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State*	No. 13	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	W 71–0	21,864
September 22	6:00 p.m.	Tennessee Tech	No. 10	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	W 48–20	17,403
September 29	3:00 p.m.	Austin Peay	No. 8	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN3	W 48–32	19,388
October 6	3:00 p.m.	at Eastern Kentucky	No. 8	Roy Kidd Stadium Richmond, KY	ESPN+	W 56–7	6,820
October 13	3:00 p.m.	Eastern Illinois	No. 8	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN3	W 49–22	15,649
October 20	1:00 p.m.	at Southeast Missouri State	No. 5	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	L 14–37	3,103
October 27	3:00 p.m.	at Murray State	No. 12	Roy Stewart Stadium Murray, KY	ESPN+	W 42–15	8,053
November 3	1:00 p.m.	UT Martin	No. 10	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	W 21–14	16,093
November 10	2:00 p.m.	at Tennessee State	No. 8	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	W 41–14	6,718
November 17	3:00 p.m.	vs. No. 2 Kennesaw State*	No. 6	SunTrust Park Atlanta, GA	FSS	L 52–60 ^5OT	16,949
November 24	6:30 p.m.	No. 22 East Tennessee State*	No. 8	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 34–27	11,024
December 1	11:00 a.m.	at No. 12 Maine*	No. 8	Alfond Stadium Orono, ME (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 27–55	6,145
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

vs North Carolina A&T

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Aggies	7	0	13	0	20
No. 6 Gamecocks	0	3	14	0	17

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP NCAT JSU 1 6:31 9 65 4:38 NCAT Zachary Leslie 24-yard touchdown reception from Lamar Raynard, Noel Ruiz kick good 7 0 2 3:55 10 57 4:00 JSU 23-yard field goal by Cade Stinnett 7 3 3 6:13 3 75 0:58 JSU Daniel Byrd 49-yard touchdown reception from Zerrick Cooper, Cade Stinnett kick good 7 10 3 5:57 NCAT Malik Wilson 98 yard kickoff return for touchdown, Cade Stinnett kick good 14 10 3 4:49 3 65 1:08 JSU Josh Pearson 40-yard touchdown reception from Zerrick Cooper, Cade Stinnett kick good 14 17 3 2:36 5 31 2:13 NCAT Elijah Bell 4-yard touchdown reception from Lamar Raynard, Noel Ruiz kick failed 20 17 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 20 14

Mississippi Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Delta Devils	0	0	0	0	0
No. 13 Gamecocks	15	21	21	14	71

Tennessee Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Eagles	3	3	7	7	20
No. 10 Gamecocks	10	14	7	17	48

Austin Peay

	1	2	3	4	Total
Governors	9	3	14	6	32
No. 8 Gamecocks	0	14	14	20	48

at Eastern Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Gamecocks	14	14	7	21	56
Colonels	0	0	0	7	7

Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Governors	3	6	0	13	22
No. 8 Gamecocks	14	7	14	14	49

at Southeast Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Gamecocks	0	7	0	7	14
Redhawks	7	9	14	7	37

at Murray State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Gamecocks	14	7	7	14	42
Racers	6	3	6	0	15

UT Martin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Skyhawks	3	0	0	11	14
No. 10 Gamecocks	10	3	0	8	21

at Tennessee State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Gamecocks	20	7	0	14	41
Tigers	7	0	0	7	14

vs Kennesaw State

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	3OT	4OT	5OT	Total
No. 6 Gamecocks	7	7	10	0	7	7	8	6	0	52
No. 2 Owls	0	10	7	7	7	7	8	6	8	60

FCS Playoffs

East Tennessee State–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Buccaneers	10	10	0	7	27
No. 8 Gamecocks	7	3	10	14	34

at Maine–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 8 Gamecocks	7	7	10	3	27
No. 12 Black Bears	21	21	7	6	55

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	6	13	12	10	8	8	8	5	12	10	8	6	8	10
Coaches	6	12	11	9	8	8	7	4	12	10	9	7	9	13

References

1. "Gamecocks Hold Off UT Martin to Claim Fourth-Straight OVC Championship". Jacksonville State University. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
2. "Jacksonville State Earns No. 3 National Seed for NCAA Division I Football Championship". Retrieved 2018-01-17.
3. "JSU loses to red-hot Kennesaw State 17–7 in opening FCS playoff game". AL.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
4. "Jacksonville State football sets Ohio Valley Conference record with 27th consecutive conference victory". NCAA.com. 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
5. "Media Pollsters Tab Jacksonville State as 2018 OVC Football Preseason Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. July 20, 2018.
6. "Jacksonville State Picked as 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Football Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. July 23, 2018.
7. "SEMO's Terry, JSU's Bridges Named OVC Preseason Football Players of the Year". Ohio Valley Conference. July 23, 2018.
8. "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.