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
ConferenceOhio Valley Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 10
FCS CoachesNo. 13
2018 record9–4 (7–1 OVC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJimmy Ogle (19th season)
Defensive coordinatorAndrew Warwick (1st season)
Home stadiumJSU 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)
1Jacksonville State134 (14)
2Austin Peay114 (1)
3UT Martin96
4Tennessee State91
5Eastern Illinois83
6Eastern Kentucky64
7Murray State39
8Southeast Missouri State35
9Tennessee Tech19
Coaches poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Jacksonville State126 (14)
2Austin Peay112 (4)
3UT Martin95
4Eastern Illinois73
5Eastern Kentucky69
6Tennessee State64
7Southeast Missouri State62
8Murray State24
9Tennessee Tech23

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.

Award watch lists

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

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 257:00 p.m.vs. No. 14 North Carolina A&T*No. 6ESPNL 17–2013,500
September 86:00 p.m.Mississippi Valley State*No. 13ESPN+W 71–021,864
September 226:00 p.m.Tennessee TechNo. 10
  • JSU Stadium
  • Jacksonville, AL
ESPN+W 48–2017,403
September 293:00 p.m.Austin PeayNo. 8
  • JSU Stadium
  • Jacksonville, AL
ESPN3W 48–3219,388
October 63:00 p.m.at Eastern KentuckyNo. 8ESPN+W 56–76,820
October 133:00 p.m.Eastern IllinoisNo. 8
  • JSU Stadium
  • Jacksonville, AL
ESPN3W 49–2215,649
October 201:00 p.m.at Southeast Missouri StateNo. 5ESPN+L 14–373,103
October 273:00 p.m.at Murray StateNo. 12ESPN+W 42–158,053
November 31:00 p.m.UT MartinNo. 10
  • JSU Stadium
  • Jacksonville, AL
ESPN+W 21–1416,093
November 102:00 p.m.at Tennessee StateNo. 8ESPN+W 41–146,718
November 173:00 p.m.vs. No. 2 Kennesaw State*No. 6FSSL 52–60 5OT16,949
November 246:30 p.m.No. 22 East Tennessee State*No. 8
ESPN3W 34–2711,024
December 111:00 a.m.at No. 12 Maine*No. 8
ESPN3L 27–556,145
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

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

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 4OT2OT3OT4OT5OT Total
No. 6 Gamecocks 7 7 10 077860 52
No. 2 Owls 0 10 7 777868 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

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