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JACKSONVILLE – Defense set the tone early as No. 1-ranked Jacksonville State started its pursuit of a second straight Ohio Valley Conference championship.
 
The Gamecocks held previously unbeaten Tennessee State to 18 first-half yards and cruised to 48-13 victory before a record Burgess-Snow Field crowd of 23,413 in the OVC opener for both.
 
"They had a hard time running the football and we were able to rush for almost 350 yards," said Jacksonville State head coach John Grass. "I was proud of how we handled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball."
 
JSU piled up a season-high 576 total yards, 349 on the ground. JSU quarterback Eli Jenkins and backup Christian LeMay combined for 227 through the air and the offense tied a school record with 32 first downs.
 
Jacksonville State (2-1, 1-0) piled up 323 yards en route to a 21-0 halftime lead.
 
It took a full quarter for the Gamecocks' offense to begin clicking. Jenkins got Jacksonville State on the scoreboard first, tossing a 21-yard scoring pass to Markis Merrill with 14:47 left in the second quarter, Merrill's first reception of 2015.
 
Jenkins threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Josh Barge six minutes later for a 14-0 JSU lead.
 
Tennessee State's lone scoring opportunity in the first two quarters came when Ezra Robinson picked off a pass attempt by Jenkins and returned it 83 yards to end zone. But the Tigers (2-1, 0-1) were flagged for a pair of 15-yard penalties during the interception return, nullifying a touchdown.
 
Ra'Shad Green intercepted TSU quarterback Ronald Butler on the ensuing possession. The Gamecocks got into the end zone three plays later, with Miles Jones running the last two yards for a touchdown.
Connor Rouleau's third extra point extend Jacksonville State's lead to 21-0.
 
Jenkins accounted for 185 total yards (116 passing, 69 rushing) in the first half while JSU's defense was limiting the Tigers to 18 yards on 26 offensive plays.
 
Rouleau's 34-yard field goal to open the third quarter extended JSU's lead to 24-0. But Tennessee State – which rallied from a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter of its season opener against Alabama State – got an 84-yard touchdown pass from Butler to Patrick Smith and a 23-yarder to Isiah Jeffries-Freeman to draw to within 24-13 with 5:57 to go in the third.
 
The 84-yard was the longest play allowed by a JSU defense since 2008.
 
The visitors' rally was short-lived, however. The Gamecocks scored two touchdowns in a 42-second span, another 2-yard run by Jones and a 1-yard run by Josh Clemons, to extend their lead to 38-13 entering the final period.
 
Jacksonville State later tacked on a 22-yard field goal by redshirt freshman Cade Stinnett of Enterprise, the son of former Gamecock kicker Slade Stinnett (1989-92), who ranks fourth in school history with 287 career points.
 
JSU's final score came via a 17-yard TD run by junior back Jarren Johnson. Stinnett's extra point made it 48-13 with 53 seconds left.
 
Jacksonville State travels to Tennessee-Martin next Saturday. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.
 
Postgame Notes
•         Captains for the Gamecocks were TE Spencer Goffigan, OL Adam Wright, SAF Folo Johnson, TE Bo Brummel and DE LaMichael Fanning.
•         For the third-straight week, Jacksonville State won the toss and elected to defer.
•         Jax State matched its program record for first downs in a game with 32 against TSU.  The last time the Gamecocks moved the chains 32 times was against Livingston during the 1978 season.
•         Markis Merrill's 21-yard touchdown reception during the second quarter was his first reception of the 2015 season.
•         Defensive lineman Desmond Owino, a Kenya native, record his first career sack when he took down Tiger quarterback Ronald Butler for a 9-yard loss early in the second quarter.
•         Wide Receiver Josh Barge became just the second receiver in Jacksonville State history with over 2,000 career receiving yards for his career. It took the Carrollton, Ga., native a mere two receptions on the game to achieve this.
•         Redshirt junior defensive back Ra'Shad Green recorded his first career interception midway through the second quarter. The pick led to the Gamecocks' third touchdown of the first half.
•         For the second straight week, punter Hamish MacInnes did not attempt a punt during the first half. His first punt of the afternoon came with 9:17 remaining in the third quarter and it traveled 47 yards.
•         Tennessee State's 84-yard touchdown pass from Ronald Butler to Patrick Smith was the longest play Jacksonville State's defense has allowed since an 85-yard run by UT-Martin's Roren Thomas on Oct. 23, 2008 and the longest pass play against the Gamecocks since an 85-yard pass from UTM's Dexter Anoka to Jessie Burton on Oct. 4, 2007.
•         Miles Jones' direct-snap 2-point conversion was the first time Jacksonville State has scored an offensive 2-point conversion since Sept. 22, 2012 at Eastern Kentucky.
•         Miles Jones' two 2-yard rushing touchdowns give the Acworth, Ga., native three career multi-rushing touchdown performances.
•         JSU set a new a JSU Stadium record with 23,413 in attendance Saturday afternoon. The previous high was 22,186 on Sept. 11, 2010 against UTC.
•         Cade Stinnett, Enterprise, Ala., native, converted his first career field goal attempt when he booted a 22-yard field goal with 11:44 remaining in the game.
•         Tampa native Ruben Gonzalez became the first Gamecock receiver to record back-to-back 100 or more yards receiving in a game since Josh Barge had 106 against Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 9, 2013) then 115 at Austin Peay (Nov. 2, 2013). He also tied his career-high with eight receptions. He set the mark last week at Auburn.
•         Jacksonville State's 48 points is the second most points scored by one team in the series. The Gamecocks scored 49 in a win over the Tigers on Oct. 16, 2004.
•         Jarren Johnson, junior from Jackson, Ala., scored his first career rushing touchdown with 53 seconds in the game when he went around the right edge and into the end zone from 17 yards.
•         With the win, JSU head coach John Grass runs his record against Ohio Valley Conference opponents to 9-0. It's JSU's first conference win on the season after going a perfect 8-0 a season ago.
•         The Gamecocks are now 10-3 in OVC game-opener and has now won conference openers in back-to-back season. JSU has now won 10 consecutive home-openers with an overall record of 48-18-3 in home-openers since 1948.
•         JSU held the Tigers to 24 rushing yards on 31 carries. That mark is the fourth fewest the Gamecock defense has allowed since moving to Division I in 1995.
 
JSU PLAYER QUOTES 
Sr. DE Chris Landrum, Sr.
On physicality of the game:
"We knew we had to be physical up front. That determines if you win or lose games. If we're not physical, they build confidence and if they get confidence they can stay in the game."

Staying focused following last week's Auburn game:
"It showed maturity of our team, last week was last week. Coach (Grass has created a philosophy where we don't even say the name of our opponent any more. This was 'week three,' next will be 'week four.' It's how we play, not what the other team does."

Allowing just 24 rushing yards:
"I wasn't surprised. If we give up yards in practice, coach blows a gasket. So we don't do that. Ask anyone here, they'll tell you our first thing is 'stop the run.'"

So. LB Joel McCandless
On big performance:
"I don't want credit for any of those tackles (nine). We have guys putting us in the right spots before the snap to make plays and without that we wouldn't be doing that."

Playing in front of largest crowd:
"From a defensive standpoint it's huge. (Tennessee State) can't hear, can't get the plays in and they don't know what they're doing."

Jr. QB Eli Jenkins
Thoughts about the game:
"The offensive line just dominated. Coach (Grass) talks about being the most physical team on the field. We could run the ball when we wanted to and passed when we wanted to."

On having quality receivers:
It's pretty nice and it makes the game a lot easier. I can just put the ball close and they'll go make a play. They're always doing their job whether it's out in the field or holding blocks on the outside."

How team stayed focused following Auburn loss:
"We came in and watched film, saw what we did good, saw what we did bad. After that, we really just moved on. We don't talk about it unless people bring it up."

Ruben Gonzalez
On being the top receiver:
"I don't think of myself as being the number one. (Josh) Barge has that right now, but after him it's just whoever's next."

If players noticed the large crowd:
"Oh yeah. The crowd had the place rocking, we definitely noticed."
 
 
Jacksonville State head coach John Grass
 Opening statement:
 "What a great OVC win and first home game win. Our fans really turned out. I was really overwhelmed by the record turnout, it was like a sea of red. They were loud, into the game and it was good to see our sororities and fraternities out there too, it was just a good showing for the Gamecocks. We are really proud of our guys today. We are definitely taking it one step at a time, and I think you saw a team play today that definitely didn't play perfectly, but they were ready to play. We had a great week of preparation and I think that showed. We didn't put all of our marbles into the basket last week and our guys came ready to play today. We want to be judged by how we play, not who we play."
 
On getting off the field on third downs:
"It's critical, because it keeps the drive going on offense and defensively you want to get off the field and make them punt the football. We had a chance to shut them out on third downs, but 3-of-10 is pretty dang good. If we continue to do that, we'll have a chance to be great. Our staff and guys do a great job with that. We put in a lot of work on that during practice."
 
On important of scoring in the red zone:
"We're a little greedy, because we want to have more touchdowns. We expect to score a touchdown every time we get down there and I'm the world's worst, because I get mad when we don't come away with a touchdown when we get it down there. Folks spend a lot of time in the red zone working—red zone defense and red zone offense—but there isn't a lot of grass back there to make throws and coverage can tighten, which makes it tough to score."
 
On Josh Barge going over 2,000 career receiving yards:
"It's pretty impressive. As young as he is, he has another year left to play and a lot of ball left to play this year, so hopefully he'll be able to break the school record. Earlier this week, he told me that someone told him and he wanted to tell everyone about the record to appreciate them—the offensive line, quarterbacks, running backs. Josh is very humble about it and knows it's a team effort. I'm proud of him, because it's a good thing for him and good thing for our offense."