PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Homecoming on the Jacksonville State campus saw the No. 1-ranked Gamecocks send a resounding message to any Ohio Valley Conference foe with hopes of unseating them as conference champions.
 
Jacksonville State (7-1, 5-0 OVC) dominated from the opening kickoff and routed No. 13 Eastern Kentucky 34-0 before a homecoming crowd of 21, 988 at Burgess-Snow Field Saturday afternoon. It marks the second year in a row the Gamecocks posted a shutout against an OVC opponent on homecoming.
 
The Colonels (5-3, 4-1) came in tied with the Gamecocks and Eastern Illinois atop the league standings, but had no answers as Jacksonville State raced to a 24-0 halftime lead and never let up.
 
JSU can take another major step toward a second straight conference title next Saturday when it travels to face OVC co-leader Eastern Illinois (5-3, 5-0). The game will be televised on ESPN3 and kickoff is at 1 p.m.
 
"Ours guys just came out ready to play," said Jacksonville State head coach John Grass. "It's probably the best we have played all year, especially in the first half."
 
Nothing Eastern Kentucky tried offensively was successful against the opportunistic Jacksonville State defense. The Colonels were averaging 35.7 points per game, third-best among OVC teams, but never got inside the Gamecocks 23 and only crossed midfield twice.
 
"Defensively, we just played so well. We played really great defense and this was probably the best we've played special teams-wise all year. We just dominated the game."
 
Eastern Kentucky was held to 175 total yards, with 39 of that coming on a run by Ethan Thomas in the second quarter.
 
Eli Jenkins was masterful – again – at the helm of the Gamecocks offense, engineering three first-half touchdown drives. Jenkins finished with 342 total yards (324 passing, 18 rushing) and joined David Gulledge (1987-90) as the only quarterbacks in Jacksonville State history to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards.
 
Jenkins also became the first JSU quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards since Marques Ivory on Nov. 3, 2012.
 
Jacksonville State set the tone with a 96-yard scoring drive on its first possession.
 
Jenkins hooked up with Barge three times on the 11-play drive, the final completion a 14-yard screen pass that saw the junior receiver leave an EKU defender grasping air as he eluded the tackle and ran into the end zone with 7:53 left in the first quarter.
 
Linebacker Dawson Wells stepped in front of a Colonels' pass and took the interception back 48 yards for a touchdown with 13:44 to go in the second quarter. Connor Rouleau kicked the extra point to extend the Gamecocks' lead to 14-0.
 
It became 21-0 four minutes later when Troymaine Pope scored from the 1 to finish off a seven-play, 70-yard drive.
 
Rouleau tacked on JSU's final points of the first half with a 41-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining.
 
Barge hauled in another Jenkins touchdown pass late in the third quarter, this one covering 26 yards, as the Gamecocks stretched their lead to 31-0. Barge finished with a game-high 158 yards on nine receptions.
 
Rouleau's 37-yard field goal with 5:23 left in the fourth made the final 34-0.



POSTGAME NOTES
·         The Jacksonville State captains: senior cornerback Jermaine Hough, senior defensive lineman Devaunte Sigler, redshirt-senior offensive lineman Adam Wright and senior running back Troymaine Pope.
·         Jacksonville State won toss and deferred to the second half. The Gamecocks are now 7-1 on the season in coin tosses. Their lone loss came at UT Martin.
·         Jacksonville State's opening touchdown drive covered 96 yards in 4:04. It's the longest scoring drive, in terms of yards covered, since the Gamecocks went 82 yards at UT Martin. The previous longest scoring drive on the season was an 84-yard opening drive at UT Martin.
·         Linebacker Dawson Wells' 48-yard interception return for a touchdown during the second quarter was the first pick-six of his career. It's the first interception return for a touchdown by a JSU defender since Darius Jackson returned one at home against Eastern Illinois last year.
·         Eli Jenkins finished with 18 rushing yards on the afternoon. The performance pushes the quarterback over the 2,000 rushing yardage mark for his career. He joins David Gulledge as the only two quarterbacks in Jacksonville State history with over 2,000 career rushing yards.
·         During the first half of games this season, Jacksonville State has outscored its opponents 181-42, an average of 22.6 to 5.3. The last four games, the Gamecocks have outscored opposing teams 112-13 in the first half.
·         Troymaine Pope's second quarter 1-yard rushing touchdown was the 22nd rushing score of his career. The mark ties the Anniston native with Reginald Goodloe and Oscar Bonds for 9th on the career rushing touchdown list at Jacksonville State.
·         Eli Jenkins finished with 342 yards of total offense. The performance lifts the Birmingham native over Reggie Stancil (6,276 from 1999-02) for third place in Jacksonville State history for the most total offensive yards in a career.
·         With his first quarter touchdown pass to Josh Barge, Eli Jenkins has now thrown at least one touchdown in 16 of his last 18 games.
·         With the win, the 2015 senior class has now tied the 2014 class as the winningest senior class in Jacksonville State history. This year's seniors have now won 34 games during their careers as a Gamecock.
·         On a simple 5-yard carry late in the third quarter, Troymaine Pope passed Terry Thomas (1985-88; 2,334) for 7th on the Jacksonville State career rushing list. Pope finished with only 37 yards on the afternoon.
·         With a 6-6 series record coming into Saturday's game, Jacksonville State has now taken a 7-6 record against Eastern Kentucky with the win. The Gamecocks are now 4-3 in Jacksonville while 3-3 in Richmond, Kentucky. JSU has now won three straight against the Colonels, which is the longest winning streak by either team since EKU won three in a row from 2010 to 2012.
·         For the first time in his Jacksonville State career, quarterback Eli Jenkins passed for more than 300 yards during a game as he finished with 324 yards. Jenkins is the first 300-yard passer for the Gamecocks since Marques Ivory had 323 at UT Martin on Nov. 3, 2012.
·         Since 1946, Jacksonville State is now 56-11-2 in Homecoming games. Since making the move up to Division I in 1995, the Gamecocks are 13-7 following Saturday's win over the Colonels. JSU has won back-to-back homecoming games for the first time since 2007 and 2008.
·         Receiver Josh Barge finished with 158 receiving yards, which is a new career-high. It's also the 10th time in his career the Carrollton native has gone over 100 yards during a game. His two receiving touchdowns is just the third time during his Gamecock career he's had multiple touchdowns in a game.
·         Running back Miles Jones went for 110 yards on the ground with 18 carries. It's the most yards the Acworth, Ga., native has rushed for since going for 150 at UT Martin back on Nov. 4, 2014. It's his fourth career 100-yard rushing performance.
·         Receiver Markis Merrill hauled in 101 receiving yards from Eli Jenkins. It's the first 100 receiving yard performance of the St. Augustine, Fla., native's career.
·         With Barge going for 158 receiving yards and Merril for 101, it's the first time Jacksonville State has had two receivers over 100 yards during a game since Barge and Ruben Gonzalez had 132 and 101, respectively, at Auburn on Sept. 12.
·         Over the last three games against Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State has outscored the Colonels 122-16.
·         For the fifth time in eight games, the Jacksonville State defense held an opposing team's rushing game to under 100 yards as Eastern Kentucky could only run for 88 yards on 30 carries. It's the 60th time since the Gamecocks have made the move to Division I in 1996 that they've held an opponent to under 100 yards rushing.