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 coachJohn Grass (5th season)
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. 6
ESPNL 17–2013,500
September 86:00 p.m.Mississippi Valley State*No. 13
ESPN+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. 8
ESPN+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. 5
ESPN+L 14–373,103
October 273:00 p.m.at Murray StateNo. 12
ESPN+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. 8
ESPN+W 41–146,718
November 173:00 p.m.vs. No. 2 Kennesaw State*No. 6
FSSL 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
See also: 2018 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team and FCS Kickoff
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 1995 JSU, 21–10

Mississippi Valley State
1 2 3 4 Total
Delta Devils 0 0 0 0 0
No. 13 Gamecocks 15 21 21 14 71
See also: 2018 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–0 2015 JSU, 49–7

Tennessee Tech
1 2 3 4 Total
Golden Eagles 3 3 7 7 20
No. 10 Gamecocks 10 14 7 17 48
See also: 2018 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–5 2017 JSU, 34–7

Austin Peay
1 2 3 4 Total
Governors 9 3 14 6 32
No. 8 Gamecocks 0 14 14 20 48
See also: 2018 Austin Peay Governors football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
19–6–3 2017 JSU, 34–14

at Eastern Kentucky
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Gamecocks 14 14 7 21 56
Colonels 0 0 0 7 7
See also: 2018 Eastern Kentucky Colonels football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
9–6 2017 JSU, 41–25

Eastern Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Governors 3 6 0 13 22
No. 8 Gamecocks 14 7 14 14 49
See also: 2018 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
9–6 2017 JSU, 30–14

at Southeast Missouri State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 5 Gamecocks 0 7 0 7 14
Redhawks 7 9 14 7 37
See also: 2018 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
17–5 2017 JSU, 23–7

at Murray State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 Gamecocks 14 7 7 14 42
Racers 6 3 6 0 15
See also: 2018 Murray State Racers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
13–2 2017 JSU, 59–23

UT Martin
1 2 3 4 Total
Skyhawks 3 0 0 11 14
No. 10 Gamecocks 10 3 0 8 21
See also: 2018 UT Martin Skyhawks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
32–7 2017 JSU, 14–7

at Tennessee State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Gamecocks 20 7 0 14 41
Tigers 7 0 0 7 14
See also: 2018 Tennessee State Tigers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
10–2 2017 JSU, 36–6

vs Kennesaw State
1 2 3 4OT2OT3OT4OT5OT Total
No. 6 Gamecocks 7 7 10 077860 52
No. 2 Owls 0 10 7 777868 60
See also: 2018 Kennesaw State Owls football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
0–1 2017 FCS Playoffs KSU, 17–7

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
See also: 2018 East Tennessee State Buccaneers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–1 1960 ETSU, 20–14

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
See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

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.
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