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JACKSONVILLE – Tennessee State brought the No. 1-ranked overall defense among Football Championship Subdivision teams to Burgess-Snow Field on Saturday for a key Ohio Valley Conference showdown.

The Tigers proved worthy of the ranking and spoiled Homecoming for Jacksonville State and most of the crowd of 19,092, holding the Gamecocks 174 yards below their season average to claim a 31-15 OVC win.
Jacksonville State, ranked No. 24 in both FCS Top 25 polls, fell to 5-2 and 1-2.

The Gamecocks, averaging 243.3 rushing yards through their first six games, finished with only 21 on 34 rushes against what Jacksonville State coach Bill Clark termed "by far the most physical team we've played this year."

The 21 yards was JSU's lowest rushing output in 15 years.

"This was one of those games we knew was going to be a tough, hard-fought game," Clark said in his postgame press conference. "We knew we were going to have to play very well. Obviously we didn't block them."

"They're pretty good," said quarterback Eli Jenkins, who played much of the second half after starter Max Shortell was injured. "We missed a couple of things here and there – a couple of blocks, a couple of reads, cuts and stuff.

"If we put all that together, we would have been able to run the ball."

Jacksonville State drove inside the Tigers 30 on its first three possessions but came away with only six points.

No. 23 Tennessee State (6-1, 3-0) went three-and-out on its first drive of the day and the Gamecocks took over at the JSU 31.

Jacksonville State's Troymaine Pope had a 21-yard run and a personal foul penalty against the Tigers after the play moved the ball to TSU's 16. But the next three plays failed to gain yardage and Griffin Thomas came in to kick a 33-yard field goal to give the Gamecocks a 3-0 lead with 10:19 to go in the first.

The Gamecocks drove inside the TSU 30 on their next possession but couldn't increase the lead.
Facing fourth-and-7 from the 29, Thomas lined up for an apparent field goal attempt that instead turned out to be a fake. Tennessee State's defense, however, stopped the pass from Dalton Screws to Spence Goffigan for no yardage in and the Tigers took over.

Tennessee State took advantage and drove 71 yards in six plays. Quarterback Michael German completed the drive with a 5-yard scoring pass to A.C. Leonard and Jamin Godfrey's extra point gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead they never relinquished.

Thomas' second field goal, a 26-yarder with 14 seconds remaining, cut JSU's deficit to 7-6. The Gamecocks rolled up 128 yards in the first quarter and controlled the time of possession, 9:37 to 5:23.

"We started well, especially offensively," said Clark. "Anytime you are kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns, it has a chance to come back and haunt you."

Tennessee State began to assert itself in the second quarter and built a 21-6 lead by halftime.

German threw two second-quarter touchdowns – a 13-yarder to Wesley Samuels and 7-yarder to Weldon Garlington. Godfrey's second PAT of the quarter gave TSU a 15-point cushion at the break.
Shortell left the game with an injury in the third quarter.

But the Gamecocks avoided falling further behind when Harris Gaston rushed through to block Godfrey's 40-yard field goal try and Rashod Byers recovered at the 18.

With his team pinned at the 9 late in the third quarter, Jenkins found a wide-open Markis Merrill in front of the Gamecocks' sideline.  The sophomore receiver from St. Augustine, Fla., was dragged down from behind just before reaching the end zone and was injured on the play.

Merrill was taken from the field via ambulance, , prompting a lengthy delay.

Following the stoppage DeMarcus James took a direct snap from center and ran two yards for the touchdown with 36 seconds left in the third. Thomas' PAT drew the Gamecocks to within 21-13.

The momentum appeared to have swung in Jacksonville State's favor when German fumbled out of the back of the end zone for a safety on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 21-15.

TSU, though, got Godfrey 50-yard field goal to make it 24-15 with 10:13 and put the game out of reach with a 10-yard TD pass from Ronald Butler to Samuels.

The Tigers' final score was set up by an interception of JSU reserve quarterback Kyle West.

Jacksonville State has an open date next Saturday and returns to action on Oct. 26 with a road game at Tennessee Tech. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.

POST-GAME NOTES
- Captains for the Gamecocks: senior OL Taylor Johnstone, senior LB Ketrick Wolfe and senior PK Griffin Thomas.
- TSU won the toss and elected to receive.
- The Gamecocks scored on their first possession for the second-straight week after failing to score on their opening drive in any of the first five games of the year.
- Jacksonville State failed to score a touchdown in the first half for just the second time this season and the first since trailing Alabama State 6-0 at the half in the season opener.
- TSU led the Gamecocks 21-6 at the half, the largest halftime deficit for JSU since trailing at EKU, 34-8, on Sept. 22, 2012.
- The Gamecocks failed to score a first-half touchdown against an OVC foe for the first time since Oct. 28, 2006, when they were tied 3-3 at Tennessee Tech at halftime. It snaps a 50-game streak of OVC games in which JSU has found the end zone at least once before the half.
- Harris Gaston blocked a Jamin Godfrey field goa in the third quarter, the FG block by the Gamecocks since Erik Butler's block at Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 22, 2012.
- Eli Jenkins' 76-yard completion to Markis Merrill in the third quarter was a career long for  both players. The pass was 62 yards longerthan Jenkins' previous long of 14 yards, while it was 23 yards longer than Merrill's previous long of 53.
- The 76-yard pass from Jenkins to Merrill is the longest play from scrimmage for JSU this season and the longest non-scoring play since a 76-yard pass from Marques Ivory to Kevyn Cooper at Florida in the final game of 2012.
- DaMarcus James' two-yard TD run in the third quarter was the 11th of the season for the junior and his 10th in the last four games.
- The safety forced by Dustin Gayton and Chris Landrum early in the fourth quarter was the second forced by the JSU defense this season (1st was vs. UNA on Sept. 14).
- Caleb Lawrence recorded his first multi-sack game of his career.
- With his 7 points on Saturday, Griffin Thomas has now scored 70 points this season, a new career high. He scored 68 points in 2012.
- The Gamecocks fall to 55-11-2 on Homecoming. They are now 7-4 on Homecoming since joining the OVC in 2003.
- JSU faced its second ranked FCS opponent this season and the second in as many weeks. JSU is now 8-37 all-time against ranked opponents (since 1995) and is 5-13 vs ranked foes since joining the OVC in 2003.
- JSU's 21 rushing yards are the fewest by the Gamecocks since running for eight yards on 20 carries vs. Troy State on Nov. 21, 1998.
- Jax State now has a 60-22 record against OVC opponents since joining the league in 2003, which is the highest winning percentage of any school in the league.
- The 2013 Gamecock senior class now has a four-year record of 27-14.
- Today marked the eighth time JSU has worn red pants since joining the Ohio Valley Conference in 2003. JSU is 5-3 record in those pants. JSU's previous games with red bottoms: 9/27/08 at EIU (W, 27-10), 10/11/08 at EKU (L, 38-35), 9/12/09 at Fla. State (L, 19-9), 10/3/09 vs. UT Martin (W, 52-7), 10/1/11 at Murray St. (W, 38-30), 10/6/12 at Tennessee Tech (W, 37-28), 10/5/12 at UT Martin (W, 41-27).

BY THE NUMBERS
6 - Straight games PK Griffin Thomas has made two or more field goals
10 - Rushing touchdowns by DaMarcus James in the last four games.
15 - Points JSU trailed by at the half (21-6), the largest halftime deficit for the Gamecocks since trailing EKU 34-8 on Sept. 22, 2012.
16 - Field goals Griffin Thomas has made this season, second-most in a season in school history behind Gavin Hallford's 22 in 2007.
16 - Field goals made by the Gamecocks this season, second-most in school history by a team in a single season.
50 - Consecutive OVC games in which the Gamecocks had scored at least one touchdown in the first half before today.
70 - Points scored by Griffin Thomas this year, a new career high (68 in 2012).
76 - Yards on a completion from Eli Jenkins to Markis Merrill in the third quarter, career longs for both players.
76 - yard pass from Jenkins to Merrill was the longest play from scrimmage for JSU
19,092 - Attendance for today's Homecoming game.



POST-GAME QUOTES
JSU Head Coach Bill Clark
Opening Statement
"This was one of those games we knew was going to be a tough, hard fought game. Based on their team defensively, we knew we were going to have to play very well. We started well, especially offensively. We moved the ball well. Anytime you are kicking field goals instead of scoring touchdowns, it has a chance to come back and haunt you. Defensively, we played good early, but we had three drives where we just gave up touchdowns. We came in at halftime and I thought we made some really good adjustments defensively. We had the drive, where we cut the thing to six points. Losing our quarterback (Max Shortell), who was our real thrower, really hurt us, without making excuses. Give them credit, I think they made some plays, made the big field goal and pushed the lead out to nine. That hurt us, then we started trying to do everything in the book we had, and they handled it. It was their night; not our night."
 
About Tennessee State's defense:
 "I think I saw out of them, that they could line up in base. When we put four wide out there, and they leave five in the box, we have to be able to run the ball. That's what you would think, and we didn't. We did think we had the throwing game all night, but when we lost Max (Shortell), that really changed what we could do. Nothing against the other guys who came in and we tried to change a few things. The throws were there, and we hit them early, and they did a good job rushing the passer a few times."
 
On the running game:
"Obviously we didn't block them. We've run the ball on everybody. We probably put a little more into our throwing game. Last week was a game where they said you weren't going to run the ball on them. So we just spent a little more time on the passing game. This was a game where we thought they were pretty good against the run so we have to make these throws, and they were there. We almost got to the point where we were going to throw it on first down, and see what happens. That's really what we said offensively, we were going to be a team that did what they gave us."