Thomas Kick Lifts JSU Past No. 17 Tennessee State in OT

Saturday, October 20

JACKSONVILLE

11 a.m.

Jacksonville State University

4-3 , 3-2

Tennessee State

7-1 , 3-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Final F
Tennessee State	7	14	0	7	0	28
Jacksonville State	7	7	14	0	3	31

Griffin Thomas kicked his second game-winning kick of the season on Saturday

10/20/2012 4:20:00 PM | Football

Box Score

FINAL STATS | PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – For the second time this season the outcome of a Jacksonville State game rested on right foot on junior placekicker Griffin Thomas.

And for the second time, the junior from Snellville, Ga., delivered in a clutch situation.

Thomas kicked a 44-yard field goal in the first overtime to lift the Gamecocks to a 31-28 win over No. 17 and previously unbeaten Tennessee State before a crowd of 14,867 at Burgess-Snow Field and a national television audience on Saturday.

Head coach Jack Crowe earned his 85th win at Jacksonville State, surpassing Bill Burgess for second place among Gamecock coaches.

“We may have been out-performed, but when you win you didn't get out-played,” said Crowe. “I thought we did the gutsy stuff to win. I am happy for Griffin Thomas.”

Jacksonville State (4-3, 3-2 Ohio Valley Conference) took advantage of costly mistakes by the Tigers in the waning seconds of regulation and on their possession in overtime.

Tennessee State's Jamin Godfrey was lined up for a 42-yard field goal attempt with four seconds in regulation. His kick split the uprights, but TSU was flagged for a false start, pushing the Tigers back five yards. Godfrey instead was forced to try a 47-yarder that fell wide right, sending the game into OT.

TSU (7-1, 3-1) had first possession in overtime and quickly drove to 13 yards to the Gamecocks 12. With his team seemingly in position for a chip-shot field goal, Tigers quarterback Michael German got sacked for a 13-yard loss by JSU defensive end Mikel Whittier on third down.

“I thought the most impressive thing we did during the game was that we put pressure on their quarterback,” said Crowe. “That's pretty special.”

That brought on Godfrey for another 42-yard attempt, which this time sailed wide left.

Runs by Washaun Ealey then moved Jacksonville State to the TSU 18.

But Coty Blanchard, in the game after starting quarterback Marques Ivory was forced out with a hamstring injury, was sacked for a nine-yard loss to make Thomas' field goal attempt more difficult.

Turned out to be no problem. Thomas, who beat Chattanooga with a 37-yard field goal as time expired on Sept. 8, kicked the 44-yarder with ease to keep the Gamecocks alive in the OVC race.

Tennessee State accumulated 302 first-half yards to take a 21-14 lead at intermission.

The Gamecocks, however, answered with two touchdowns in the third quarter, an 8-yard run by Ealey and a 2-yard scramble by Blanchard that put JSU ahead 28-21 with 3:08 left in the third.

The Tigers drew even again with 9:20 left in the fourth.

German, who threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, finished off a nine-play, 70-yard scoring march with an 11-yard toss to Travis James. Godfrey's extra point made it 28-all, the third tie of the game.

Tennessee State's final drive in regulation took 14 plays and consumed the final 5:46.

Troymaine Pope – who later left with an injury – gave the Gamecocks a 7-0 lead with a 2-yard TD run on their first drive of the game. His run completed a 46-yard drive set up by freshman cornerback Jermaine Hough's first career interception.

Ealey caught a 44-yard pass from Ivory early in the second quarter and Thomas tacked on the extra point to give JSU a 14-7 lead, the last time it led until Blanchard's scramble for TD late in the third.

Ealey finished with a hard-fought 122 yards on 33 carries and also caught five passes for 82 yards.

But the Tigers scored two touchdowns in a 2:25 span midway through the second quarter – the first a 25-yard pass to James from German, followed by a 42-yard run by Trabis Ware for a 21-14 lead they held onto until halftime.

The Gamecocks entertain Murray State next Saturday for homecoming. Kickoff is at 3 p.m.

POST-GAME NOTES
- Captains for the Gamecocks: senior QB Marques Ivory, senior OLB Brooks Robinson, and
senior DE DiMetrio Tyson.
- Tennessee State won the coin toss and elected to receive.
- Jax State and TSU played in their first overtime game of the season for either team
- JSU snapped TSU's seven-game winning streak with the three-point win. The win moved
JSU's lead in the all time series to 6-1 and the Gamecocks have won the last four meetings.
- The over-time win today moved head coach Jack Crowe into second place on Jacksonville State's all-time career wins list. Crowe is now 85-55 and now ranks behind only Don Salls' total of 95 career wins.
- Jax State is now 7-20 all time versus FCS teams that are ranked in the Top 25 and snapped a four-game losing skid to teams in the Top 25. JSU's last win against a ranked team was over No. 7 Southeast Missouri in 2010.
- The Gamecocks have won four straight overtime games and is now 4-2 under Jack Crowe in overtime game. The last JSU overtime game came against Georgia State in 2010 in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome. It was the first OT game at Burgess-Snow Field against an OVC Opponent and the first since Oct. 13, 2001, against Stephen F. Austin.
- Placekicker Griffin Thomas kicked his second game-winning field goal of the season with a 44
yard kick in overtime. He also kicked a 37-yard field goal vs UTC to lead JSU to a 27-24 win.
- With Griffin's game-winning FG, it pushed the Gamecocks over the 30-plus point mark
and moved to 53-8 when scoring 30 or more points in a game. Jax State is 30-3 under Jack
Crowe when scoring 30 or more points.
- Freshman Jermaine Hough recorded his first interception of his career on TSU's first drive
of the game. Hough also picked off a fourth quarter pass and its the first time a Gamecock
picked off at least two interceptions in a game since T.J. Heath collected three against UT
Martin on Oct. 3, 2009.
- Senior WR Alan Bonner surpassed the 1,500-career receiving yard mark on his first catch
of the game. He finished the game with 74 yards and now has 1,573 career yards to rank to rank eighth on the Gamecocks' career receiving list.
- Freshman RB Troymaine Pope scored his first rushing TD of the season on Jax State's first
scoring drive of the game. The Anniston, Ala. native scored his first touchdown as a Gamecock in the season opener at Arkansas.
- Washaun Ealey caught his first TD pass of the season and second of his Gamecock career
with a 44 yard TD catch and run in the second quarter to give the Gamecocks a 14-7 lead.
- Ealey also rushed for his fifth TD of the season and the fifth in the last three games...
He finished with 108 rushing yards, which was his second straight 100-yard rushing game and the seventh of his career.
- Ealey also hauled in five catches for a career-high 82 yards.
- Facing its third nationally-ranked team this season, JSU is now 1-2 in those match ups.
- Junior QB Coty Blanchard scored his second rushing TD of the season and 10th of his
career in the third quarter to give the Gamecocks a 28-21 lead over Tennessee State.
- The JSU defense was credited with a season-high four sacks, led by sophomore Ben Endress, his two sacks totaled an 11 yard loss.
- The Gamecocks are 19-3 in the 22 regular-season games at Burgess-Snow Field and is 45-19 all-time at home under Jack Crowe.

BY THE NUMBERS
2 - Game-winning field goals by Griffin Thomas this season.
2 - Weeks in a row that JSU has scored onits opening possession of the game.
7 - Games this year that JSU has registered 300 or more yards on offense.
12 - Consecutive 100-plus passing games for senior QB Marques Ivory, excluding
last year's UT Martin contest.
16 - Games decided in the final 2:00 minutes of the contest since 1993 and the
second this season.
59 - JSU held TSU's Trabis Ware to just 59 yards in the second half after gaining 112
in the first half.
130 - Consecutive games in which the Gamecocks have scored, a streak that
dates back to Nov.18, 2000, when they were last shut out.

QUOTES
Coach Crowe Quotes
“We may have got out-performed, but when you win you didn't get out played. I thought we did the gutsy stuff to win. I am happy for Griffin Thomas and I thought he and Hamish (MacInnes) provided solid kicking game. I thought the most impressive thing we did during the game was that we put pressure on their quarterback. That's pretty special.”

Griffin Thomas, Jr., PK
“It was good to rebound and that's the main thing. After last week, I couldn't think of a better way to come out this week. The wind was to my back, so that was good. I was just focused on keeping it straight because it was right down the middle.”

Coty Blanchard, Jr., QB
“It was a clutch by (Thomas) Griffin but that is what we expect out of him every time he goes out there. They didn't give me any instructions, just go out there and play and don't think - just play your game. We had a couple turnovers back to back but we have faith in the defense, so we go out and play and not worry about what happens. We treat everyone the same at this point we cant focus on what anyone's record is.”