No. 16 Gamecocks Roll to 37-21 Win Over Georgia State

Saturday, September 17

Jacksonville

2:30 p.m.

Jacksonville State University

2-1

Georgia State

1-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Georgia State	7	7	7	0	21
Jacksonville State	7	7	10	13	37

Clarence Jackson returned a blocked punt for a TD on Saturday

9/17/2011 7:45:00 PM | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS | PHOTO GALLERY | ESPN3 REPLAY OF ENTIRE GAME

JACKSONVILLE – Coty Blanchard scored three touchdowns after rushing for two and passing for another to lead No. 16 Jacksonville State to a 37-21 win over Georgia State on Saturday.

The Gamecocks improve to 2-1 on the season and has now won 15 of their last 16 regular-season home games after rolling up 401 yards of total offense. Georgia State falls to 1-2 on the season.

Jax State took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after Blanchard connected with Kevyn Cooper on a 28-yard strike and James Esco kicked the point after with 9:56 left in the first quarter.

The Panthers answered and tied the game with 3:10 left in the first after Albert Wilson caught an 11-yard pass from Bo Schlechter to make the score 7-7, but JSU would answer.

Clarence Jackson, who was just cleared to play for the Gamecocks on Tuesday, made an immediate impact after he returned a blocked punt 34 yards for a touchdown to give JSU a 14-7 lead with 11:09 left in the second quarter.

Georgia State tied the game at 14-14 after Donald Russell scored on a one-yard run with 7:47 left in the second quarter to knot the game at the half.

The Gamecocks had their best half of the season during the final 30 minutes as JSU scored on all five possessions and had the ball for 22:31 in the second half.

James Esco kicked a 23-yard field goal to give JSU a 17-14 lead with 10:33 left in the third quarter, then Blanchard scored his second touchdown of the night after racing 17 yards as the Gamecocks built a 24-14 lead with 4:16 left in the third.

Georgia State scored its final touchdown of the game after Travis Evans scored on a three-yard run to cut the lead to 24-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Jax State took the kickoff and went 74 yards in 13 plays and Washaun Ealey scored on a four-yard run as the Gamecocks built a 30-21 lead with 8:02 left in the game.

Blanchard then scored his third touchdown of the game on an 11-yard run with just 1:39 left for the final margin.

Jax State finished with 246 rushing yards, as Calvin Middleton had 89 yards on 20 carries, while Ealey had 82 yards on 21 carries. Blanchard added 77 yards on 12 carries for the Gamecocks.

Kevyn Cooper led six Gamecock receivers with a career-high 75 yards on three catches.

Jackson also led the team with seven tackles as JSU limited Georgia State to 116 rushing yards. Nick Johnson and Rodney Garrott each added five tackles and the Gamecocks had six tackles for loss.

Schlechter led Georgia State with 145 passing yards, while Wilson had 146 receiving yards on six catches.

Jacksonville State returns to action next Saturday as the Gamecocks host Eastern Illinois in an Ohio Valley Conference matchup. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.

POST-GAME NOTES
- Captains for the Gamecocks: senior RB Calvin Middleton, junior DB Brooks Robinson, senior DE Jamison Wadley.
- JSU won the toss and deferred to the second half ... The Gamecocks have won the toss in all three games this season.
- The scoring drive by Jax State to open the game marked the first time this season that the Gamecocks scored on their first possesion.
- Four Gamecocks made their first career start against Georgia State - WR Kevyn Cooper, WR Trey Smith, RG Preston Hatcher and A-Back Rashod Byers. JSU now has 11 players on the 2011 team to make their first career start.
- Sophomore transfer Clarence Jackson made his first career tackle on the game's opening kick off. Jackson finished with a team-best seven tackles on the day.
- Junior Keginald Harris entered the game with 14 career starts (all at DB), but started today at Sam Linebacker (his first start of the season). Harris picked off a late GSU pass for his seventh pick off of his career.
- Senior RB Calvin Middleton's streak of seven touchdowns in regular-season games ended today. However, Middleton finished with a team-high 89 yards on 20 carries.
- Kevyn Cooper made the most out of his first career start as he capped off Jax State's first scoring drive with a 28-yard TD pass from Coty Blanchard ... The Warner Robbins, Ga.-native matched his career high in receptions (3) and finished with a career-high 75 receiving yards.
- Jax State returned a blocked punt for a TD for the first time since a Nov. 17 contest at Southeast Missouri in 2007.
- The Gamecocks finished the game 4-for-4 in the red zone, extending their streak of perfection inside the 20-yard line this season...JSU is now 9-for-9 on the season in the red zone, scoring six touchdowns and three field goals.
- JSU is now 38-15-1 all time versus schools from the state of Georgia and has claimed the first two meetings with GSU.
- Under Jack Crowe, JSU is 6-0 when tied at the halftime intermission.
- The 75-yard scoring drive in the third quarter was the longest of the season for the Gamecocks ... The previous long was a 74 yard, ten play scoring march against UT Martin.
- JSU QB Coty Blanchard recorded his third rushing TD of his career, his last rushing TD came is last year's meeting with GSU in the Georgia Dome. It also marked the second time in his career to record a throwing TD and rushing TD. He had a career-best two rushing TDs in the game after adding JSU's last score in the final minutes.
- Under Crowe, Jax State is 47-7 when scoring 30 or more points in a game. JSU is now 28-2 at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium under Crowe when putting up 30-plus points.
- The Gamecocks posted a season-best 246 rushing yards against the Panthers. It was JSU's first game of 400-yards or more this season and fourth time in the past two seasons to register 400-plus yards of offense.
- The JSU defense yielded a season-low 325 of offense by the Panthers, including just 116 yards on the ground - the lowest since allowing 67 yards against APSU last season.