2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team

American college football season

2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football

OVC champion
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 27–55 at Maine
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 10
FCS Coaches	No. 13
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	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium
Seasons← 2017 2019 →

2018 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
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

The 2018 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team represented Jacksonville State University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by fifth-year head coach John Grass, the Gamecocks compiled an overall record of 9–4, with a mark of 7–1 conference play, winning the OVC title for the fifth consecutive season. Jacksonville State received the OVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoff marking the program's sixth straight trip to the FCS playoffs. The Gamecocks defeated East Tennessee State in the first round before losing to Maine in the second round. The team played home games at Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium in Jacksonville, Alabama.

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. On July 23, the OVC released their coaches poll with the Gamecocks also predicted to become OVC champions.

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. 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	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	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	W 71–0	21,864
September 22	6:00 p.m.	Tennessee Tech	No. 10	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	W 48–20	17,403
September 29	3:00 p.m.	Austin Peay	No. 8	Burgess–Snow Field at 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	Burgess–Snow Field at 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	Burgess–Snow Field at 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	16,949
November 24	6:30 p.m.	No. 22 East Tennessee State*	No. 8	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN3	W 34–27	11,024
December 1	11:00 a.m.	at No. 12 Maine*	No. 8	Alfond Stadium Orono, ME (NCAA Division I 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

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
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	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

East Tennessee State—NCAA Division I 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—NCAA Division I 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
	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

"Media Pollsters Tab Jacksonville State as 2018 OVC Football Preseason Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. July 20, 2018.
"Jacksonville State Picked as 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Football Favorites". Ohio Valley Conference. July 23, 2018.
"SEMO's Terry, JSU's Bridges Named OVC Preseason Football Players of the Year". Ohio Valley Conference. July 23, 2018.
"FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced". August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
"Jacksonville State Gamecocks Schedule 2018". ESPN. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
"2018 JSU Football Schedule". Jacksonville State University Athletics. Retrieved December 5, 2022.

v t e Jacksonville State Gamecocks football
Venues	College Field (1929–1946) Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium (1947–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Samford Troy: Battle for the Ol' School Bell
Culture & lore	Cocky 2001 Cumberland game The Marching Southerners
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Ohio Valley Conference football champions
Pre-divisional	Evansville & Murray State (1948) Evansville (1949) Murray State (1950) Murray State (1951) Tennessee Tech & Western Kentucky (1952) Tennessee Tech (1953) Eastern Kentucky (1954) Tennessee Tech (1955)
NCAA College Division	Middle Tennessee (1956) Middle Tennessee (1957) Middle Tennessee & Tennessee Tech (1958) Middle Tennessee & Tennessee Tech (1959) Tennessee Tech (1960) Tennessee Tech (1961) East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, & Morehead State (1962) Western Kentucky (1963) Middle Tennessee (1964) Middle Tennessee (1965) Morehead State (1966) Eastern Kentucky (1967) Eastern Kentucky (1968) East Tennessee State (1969) Western Kentucky (1970) Western Kentucky (1971) Tennessee Tech (1972)
Division II	Western Kentucky (1973) Eastern Kentucky (1974) Tennessee Tech & Western Kentucky† (1975) Eastern Kentucky (1976) Austin Peay (1977) Western Kentucky (1978)
I-AA/FCS	Murray State (1979) Western Kentucky (1980) Eastern Kentucky (1981) Eastern Kentucky (1982) Eastern Kentucky (1983) Eastern Kentucky (1984) Middle Tennessee (1985) Eastern Kentucky & Murray State (1986) Eastern Kentucky & Youngstown State (1987) Eastern Kentucky (1988) Middle Tennessee (1989) Eastern Kentucky & Middle Tennessee (1990) Eastern Kentucky (1991) Middle Tennessee (1992) Eastern Kentucky (1993) Eastern Kentucky (1994) Murray State (1995) Murray State (1996) Eastern Kentucky (1997) Tennessee State (1998) Tennessee State (1999) Western Kentucky (2000) Eastern Illinois (2001) Eastern Illinois & Murray State (2002) Jacksonville State (2003) Jacksonville State (2004) Eastern Illinois (2005) Eastern Illinois & Tennessee–Martin (2006) Eastern Kentucky (2007) Eastern Kentucky (2008) Eastern Illinois (2009) Southeast Missouri State (2010) Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, & Tennessee Tech (2011) Eastern Illinois (2012) Eastern Illinois (2013) Jacksonville State (2014) Jacksonville State (2015) Jacksonville State (2016) Jacksonville State (2017) Jacksonville State (2018) Austin Peay & Southeast Missouri State (2019) Jacksonville State (2020) UT Martin (2021) Southeast Missouri State & UT Martin (2022)
National championships in bold † WKU claims a co-championship, while both the OVC and Tennessee Tech state it is not shared

v t e 2018 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Colgate Delaware Duquesne East Tennessee State Eastern Washington Elon Incarnate Word Jacksonville State James Madison Kennesaw State Lamar Maine Montana State Nicholls North Dakota State Northern Iowa San Diego South Dakota State Southeast Missouri State Stony Brook Towson UC Davis Weber State Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State

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