They went from not being able to score against UAB to being in the national spotlight for a program defining win.

They went from not being able to score against UAB to being in the national spotlight for a program defining win.
The Gamecocks (10-3, 6-1 in Ohio Valley) flip-flopped quarterback injuries while playing the most games in the FCS over the fall/spring season.
Today we had an emergency convo to figure out what could end up happening with the Big XII, the Group of Five, and the upper echelons of the FCS. The one thing everyone seemed to agree on is that change will be happening, and the Group of 5 and FCS won’t look the same as it does now once it’s done.
This week, the Gang got together and talked about their big takeaways from the FCS quarterfinal games this past weekend.
This game may be for the birds, but it will certainly not be for the faint of heart and it certainly has all the earmarks of an instant classic.
Jacksonville State, the No. 4 seed in this year’s playoffs, will play host to Davidson, the Pioneer League champion, in one of eight first-round games. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Gamecocks and Wildcats.
The FCS Playoff bracket was announced this past Sunday at the conclusion of the historic spring football season. After the euphoria of realizing that the FCS actually made it to the finish line, despite lots of uncertainty, CSJ then proceeded to do what they do best – enter a spirited discussion on who really should have been in, out, seeded, or not.
After watching and following all spring, here’s my prediction of who’s in and who’s out of the FCS Playoff bracket this spring. The selection special is at 11:30 AM Sunday and will be unveiled on ESPNU.
OVC Title hopes and an autobid are on the line in Murray, KY this Sunday.
As the calendar turns to April with the promise of flowers blooming soon, plenty must first be settled on the football field as the contenders for the FCS playoffs begin to rise to the top.
Another week, another round of upsets in the FCS. Jacksonville State and Chattanooga were both top 10 teams last week. Both lost. We nearly had a second straight week where our number one team lost, but Weber State got a 50 yard hail mary on the last play of the game to preserve the win. VMI has moved within one win of the Southern Conference title. Our eyes will be on them this weekend.
A full Sunday of OVC action is going on today.
Our number one team from last week went down. North Dakota State dominated both sides of the trenches to beat North Dakota. Sam Houston continue to roll in the Southland. VMI and Chattanooga kept their unbeaten starts going by a combined 3 points. And in the CAA Rhode Island is 2-0 with two ranked wins, as everyone predicted (not exactly).
We’re about at about the midpoint of the spring season, and the writers at CSJ get together to take stock of the season so far.
Depending on what happens there could be as many as five teams with one loss by the end of the day and making the second half of the spring schedule even more critical with a smaller playoff field this spring.
Three games that were scheduled for the opening weekend were postponed because of a massive winter storm that hit much of the nation. Now, two weeks later those three contests are set to be played.
This week we welcome the SWAC, Big Sky, and Big South to the wonderful world of spring FCS football, to go with the Missouri Valley, SoCon and OVC, who started their spring conference slates last week, and Tarleton State, who spent their time crushing FBS New Mexico State 43-17.
Only one of four games scheduled to kick off the 2021 spring season in the Ohio Valley Conference was actually played out last weekend, thanks to storms that hit a big part of the Mid-South. With any luck things will return to a semblance of normalcy as four games are slated to be played Sunday.
The CSJ writing staff answer the questions many of us have about the beginning of this unprecedented FCS season.
The Ohio Valley Conference, which will use a seven game-game round robin schedule for the eight schools taking part in the spring season, is expected to begin play the weekend of Feb. 21 as the spring season is scheduled to get underway.
Austin Peay senior wide receiver DeAngelo Wilson and senior nickelback Kordell Jackson were named the 2020 OVC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in a vote of by the league’s head football coaches and communications directors.
Playing a radically shortened season of six “regular-season” games would allow for most teams to only have a season that is marginally longer than what they would do for spring practices. And from those games, it is possible to come up with an FCS Championship.
CSJ’s David Mays caught up with Jacksonville State’s Athletic Director Greg Seitz just before a very eventful week on college athletics.
It was a nerve-wracking three days, but in the end the result was worth the wait.
Austin Peay rolled all over Eastern Illinois to win the Ohio Valley Conference championship for just the second time in school history and the first time since 1977 with a 35-7 win over the Panthers on Saturday.
So balanced has the conference been over the years that 12 times there has been at least two teams that have shared the conference title. This year could possibly make it 13 as Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri head into the final week of the regular season with identical 6-1 records in OVC play. Both are expected to be selected to play in the FCS playoff when the field is announced on Sunday.
Why is 1977 significant? It’s been that long since Austin Peay found itself atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings this late in the season. It was also the last time the Governors claimed the conference title. They are hoping for a similar finish more than 40 years later.
The contenders will get a chance to distinguish themselves from the pretenders in the Ohio Valley Conference as a pair of games on Saturday will go a long way in determining who will represent the league in the upcoming FCS playoffs. The first round of the playoffs will begin on Nov. 30.
The race for the Ohio Valley Conference became a tad bit clearer as league leader UT Martin won for fourth time in five league encounters while Southeast Missouri and Austin Peay both posted important wins to keep their title hopes alive. UT Martin defeated five-time defending conference champion Jacksonville State 22-17. The Skyhawks improved to […]
Whoever drew up the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference football schedule is probably thinking rather highly of themselves right about now. It’s been a masterful schedule and one that dreams are made of – or nightmares, depending on your outlook.
After nine weeks of the 2019 college football season many of the conference races are beginning to become clearer. The Ohio Valley Conference simply is setting itself up for a dramatic finish over the final four weeks of the regular season. Southeast Missouri State put itself in nice position for a potential conference championship and […]
As the 2019 regular season continues to wind down and the hunt for a playoff spot heats up two of the Ohio Valley Conference’s best teams take to the gridiron Saturday in the Show-Me State. League-leader UT Martin, undefeated in four conference games, hits the road to take on No. 24-ranked Southeast Missouri State at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau. It is the best conference start since 2006, when the Skyhawks won their only OVC championship.
While the game of football is often viewed in terms of yards, sometimes the outcome of a game is determined by a much smaller unit of measurement: inches. Such was the case as Austin Peay missed a game-winning field goal attempt as Tennessee State upset the No. 19-ranked Governors 26-24 on Saturday in Nashville. The […]
After their second straight victory, Austin Peay is in firm control of the Ohio Valley race. The leaders of the Ohio Valley Conference will look to maintain their advantage while four other schools hope to
remain within striking distance as second half of the season gets underway on Saturday.
Last week’s game of the week lived up to the hype, with Southeast Missouri State defeating Tennessee Tech in double overtime. It was a game the Redhawks needed and they got the job done. At the same time, the Golden Eagles proved they are not a team to be taken lightly the rest of the way. The OVC is wide open with Jacksonville State continuing to struggle.
Just when you thought Jacksonville State was going to run away with the OVC title again, Austin Peay blew them out last week. The conference appears to be a toss up with three or four teams with a shot at the title. The order will probably change week after week for the rest of the year. The biggest surprise so far has been Tennessee Tech who is out to a 4-1 start. A win this week solidifies them as a contender as well.
Jacksonville State, as usual, is carrying the banner for the OVC. The only other team having real success in the non-conference portion of the schedule is Tennessee Tech. Other than those two teams, the OVC has shown very poorly against non-conference opponents.
The Ohio Valley picked up the signature FCS win this year when they stormed back with 21 fourth quarter points to beat Eastern Washington. The Gamecocks were led by Zerrick Cooper and Marlon Bridges. Eastern Kentucky had a chance to put a solid win on its resume, but wound up losing to Indiana State. Most of the rest of the league played and lost to FCS competition.
It was a week of high-profile Top 25 clashes in FCS this week, as the marquee games of the week pitted Delaware vs. North Dakota State and Eastern Washington vs. Jacksonville State. One was a Bison display of dominance, the other a thriller that could be the game of the year. Adding to the fun of this week’s games was a shootout in Vermillion, South Dakota and another big FBS upset in Georgia.
Only one Ohio Valley team picked up a win last week – Jacksonville State – while everyone else lost. Of course six of the teams played FBS opponents, so those results are not too surprising. In FCS action, both Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri State lost well hyped out of conference games last week. Week three brings even more competitive non-conference games, including the game that probably got the most hype of any non-conference game over the summer.
The OVC as a whole had a nice opening weekend, going 7-2. But the biggest surprise loss was felt by a team many thought would challenge for Frisco, Jacksonville State. The question on everyone’s mind is: was it just a bad game and JSU will bounce back, or is it a sign of things to come? Either way, the rest of the OVC surely took notice of the open door and will be looking to kick their way through.
The Ohio Valley Conference has been Jacksonville State’s personal playground over the last five years. The Gamecocks actually lost a conference game last year, but still won the title. Can anyone continue to close the gap and knock JSU off of their perch? It doesn’t look like it, but that’s why they play the games.
What wasn’t surprising about the Jacksonville State 2018 Season? That they won the Ohio Valley Conference title for the fifth year in a row with a 9-4 overall record. What was a surprise? How they did it.
Jacksonville State has long had a strangle hold on the Ohio Valley Conference, winning the conference every year since 2014. Despite losing to SEMO last year, the Gamecocks still prevailed.
Orono, Maine — The No. 7 seeded University of Maine football team (9-3) jumped out to an early 21-0 lead in Saturday’s NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Second Round contest and never looked back, defeating No. 8/9 Jacksonville State, 55-27 at Alfond Stadium. The victory marked Maine’s first-ever home playoff victory and will advance the […]
Jacksonville State at (8) Maine When: Saturday, December, 12:00 PM Where: Alfond Stadium, Orono, ME TV/Streaming: ESPN College Extra, ESPN3 Jacksonville State Gamecocks Jacksonville, Alabama Ohio Valley Conference Enrollment: 7,491 FCS Sagarin Rating: 12 How They Got Here: Jacksonville State fell behind 20-10 at the half, but rallied in the second half to defeat East Tennessee […]
Jacksonville State 34, East Tennessee State 27 Video Highlights Courtesy NCAA.com JACKSONVILLE Al. – Shaq Davidson caught three touchdown passes from Zerrick Cooper, and Marlon Bridges returned an interception for a touchdown as Jacksonville State rallied from a halftime deficit to knock off East Tennessee State 34-27 in the first round of the FCS playoffs. […]
Jacksonville State at Kennesaw State When: Saturday, November 17, 3:00PM Where: SunTrust Park, Atlanta, GA TV/Streaming: Fox Sports Southeast, Fox College Sports Central, Fox Sports Go (Subscription req’d) Jacksonville State For the fifth straight year, Jacksonville State won the Ohio Valley Conference outright to secure the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. The difference this […]
What a weekend! Whatever you thought was true in regards to the qualified teams in the FCS Playoff field last week was almost certainly changed after an epic weekend of upsets. About the only outcomes that came out as expected were that the three remaining undefeated teams, 10-0 North Dakota State, 9-0 Colgate, and 9-0 […]
Jacksonville State at Murray State When: Saturday, October 27, 3:00 PM EDT Where: Roy Stewart Stadium, Murray, TN TV/Streaming: ESPN3 Jacksonville State Gamecocks Jacksonville State finds themselves in a very unfamiliar spot in OVC conference play – looking up at a team ahead of them in the standings. The Gamecocks dropped their first OVC game […]