Youngstown State scored on its second play on a 70-yard touchdown pass and kept up the offensive pressure all afternoon to defeat the Gamecocks 40-24 before a rain-soaked Burgess-Snow Field crowd in Saturday's second-round playoff matchup.
 
Jacksonville State finished the year 10-2. The loss snapped a 14-game win streak at Burgess-Snow Field.
 
"We gave up too many explosive plays, which is uncharacteristic of us, especially in the passing game," said Jacksonville State coach John Grass. "It was just one of those days.
 
"They're a really good football team and fundamentally sound. They threw the ball a lot better than we expected. They made the throws and catches."
 
Eli Jenkins wrapped up his illustrious career at Jacksonville State by running for 189 yards on a career-high 25 carries.
 
The senior quarterback added 140 yards passing, but completed only 6-of-26 throws against the stingy YSU secondary. He finishes with 3,896 career rushing yards, second-best in JSU history.
 
"We had a lot of respect for Jacksonville State and knew we were going to have to come into their place and play a really good football team," said Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini.
 
The Penguins (10-3) piled up 520 yards against the Gamecocks' nationally ranked defense that entered the postseason yielding a mere 252.6 per game. Jody Webb rushed for 140 yards and scored on two long runs and Zak Kennedy kicked four field goals as Youngstown State advanced to the quarterfinals.
 
YSU, which owns four FCS national championships, had not won a playoff game since 1999 before their win over Samford in the first round last Saturday.
 
Webb scored on a 37-yard run on Youngstown State's second series for a 14-7 lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter. Jacksonville State never got any closer than three points.
 
Jenkins ran for a 26-yard touchdown in the first quarter and tossed a 38-yard pass to Jamari Hester in the second as Jacksonville State pulled to within 20-17 at halftime.
 
Josh Clemons added a 2-yard run in the third quarter for the Gamecocks. Clemons had 11 yards on 20 carries.
 
Joel McCandless and Marlon Bridges led Jacksonville State with a eight tackles each.
 
Jacksonville State opens the 2017 season against Tennessee-Chattanooga at Montgomery's Cramton Bowl.

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Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – vs. Youngstown State
December 3, 2016 • Burgess-Snow Field • Jacksonville, Ala.
- JSU captains: C Casey Dunn, DL Desmond Owino, QB Eli Jenkins and CB Jaylen Hill.
 
- Jacksonville State lost the toss and received the game's opening kickoff. The Gamecocks lost the toss six times in 12 chances this season.
 
- Youngstown State's touchdown on its second play of its first possession was the quickest score against Jacksonville State since K.D. Humphries concluded a Murray State scoring drive with 13:19 left in the first quarter.
 
- Eli Jenkins' 26-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter was the 10th career rushing touchdown by the quarterback during the NCAA FCS Playoffs.
 
- Quarterback Eli Jenkins played in his 53rd game for Jacksonville State, which ties him with former Gamecocks Hamish MacInnes and Spencer Goffigan for most career games played during a JSU career.
 
- Cade Stinnett's 34-yard field goal with 14:04 remaining in the second quarter was the first postseason field goal attempt and make for the redshirt-sophomore from Enterprise, Ala.
 
- With a 26-yard touchdown run and 38-yard touchdown pass during the first half, it marks the 11th career game in which Eli Jenkins has thrown for and rushed for a touchdown. Jacksonville State is 9-2 when he does.
 
- Youngstown State's Jody Webb's 50-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter was the longest touchdown run allowed by the Jacksonville State's defense to a non-FBS opponent this season.
 
- By finishing with 189 rushing yards, it marks the 12th career 100-yard rushing game for quarterback Eli Jenkins, which is the fourth most in school history.
 
- Eli Jenkins' 189 rushing yards was the fifth most in Jacksonville State's NCAA postseason history.
 
- Eli Jenkins 25 rush attempts broke the Jacksonville State postseason record. The previous mark was 24 set by Jenkins against Chattanooga last year.
 
- Youngstown State's 40 points is the most points scored against Jacksonville State since UT Martin scored 41 against the Gamecocks on Sept. 26, 2015.
 
- Youngstown State's 520 yards of total offense is the most yards of total offense against Jacksonville State since Michigan State had 565 against the Gamecocks on Aug. 29, 2014.
 
- With the loss, Jacksonville State drops to 20-16 in 36 NCAA Playoff games and 5-7 in 12 FCS postseason games. The Gamecocks are 5-4 in the postseason since 2014.
 
- By finishing with 329 yards of total offense, Eli Jenkins' broke Ed Lett's Jacksonville State postseason record of 316 yards of total offense.
 
- Eli Jenkins finishes his Jacksonville State career with 42 rushing touchdowns and 47 passing touchdowns, both marks are good enough for second all-time in their respective categories.
 
- Josh Barge finishes his career with 247 receptions, which are the most in Jacksonville State history and second most in Ohio Valley Conference history. His 3,611 career receiving yards are the most in school history and third most in OVC history.
 
- Eli Jenkins finished his career with 3,796 rushing yards, which is seventh most among quarterbacks in FCS history.
 
- Eli Jenkins finished his Jacksonville State career with 11,448 yards of total offense, which is 3,760 more yards than second place in school history. 

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Jacksonville State Postgame Quotes – vs. Youngstown State
December 3, 2016 • Burgess-Snow Field • Jacksonville, Ala.
 
Head Coach John Grass
Thoughts on the game
"We wanted to win the last one, but in order to win that one we had to win this one. It's not the way I wanted to see these seniors go out, for sure. I take my hat off to Youngstown State because they made more plays than we did. They were 11-of-19 for 315 yards through the air. If you would've told me that before the game the score would've been 40-24, I would've said no way. There were a lot more points scored and yards than I thought in the game. Those were probably the most explosive plays we've given up in a long, long time. I don't think it was a deal where our secondary played bad or got pressure on them, but rather anytime they needed a play, their quarterback made it and hit his receivers in stride. You have to take your hat off to them for making the plays."
 
On Youngstown State's defense
"They do a great job of bracketing receivers and getting extra hats in the box. It's just hard to find single-coverage throws. We came in and did some things in the run game I thought gave us a chance. We rushed the ball 49 times for 317 yards. If you told them or us we were going to rush for that many, they would've said there's no way. I thought we played good upfront. I think our passing stats were a bit off because of those throws right there at the end of the game. We wish we would've completed a few more passes, but they just have a good defense."
 
On the defensive plan
"We depend a lot on man coverage. We hang our corners out on an island and they generally make a lot of good plays. I've never been a part of a game where the quarterback threw the ball 11 times and completed just about all of them. About every time they took a shot, they hit it. The quarterback must've had a career day in terms of hitting deep balls. If you're going to play us, then you're going to have to do that. You're going to have to take shots down field and hopefully complete those. They took enough of them and hit them. He didn't overthrow them or underthrow any. Every time you look up, they were making big plays because we weren't able to get to him enough."

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Youngstown State Postgame Quotes – vs. Youngstown State
December 3, 2016 • Burgess-Snow Field • Jacksonville, Ala.
 
Head Coach Bo Pelini
Thoughts on the game
"I'm proud of our football team. I thought they came out and played hard. Obviously we have a lot of respect for Jacksonville State. We knew we were going to come into this place and play a really good football team. I thought our guys executed well and did a lot of good things on both sides of the football. We kept answering them. I give them a lot of credit because they answered us a few times, kept coming and fighting back. We are happy to move on. Our goal is to win five. That's two down and now we are into next week."
 
On taking big shots throughout the game
"I said, from a defensive standpoint, I knew if they were going to put that many guys at the line of scrimmage and that we wanted to create some conflicts. We thought, if you were going to be that aggressive at the line of scrimmage and play our guys one-on-one, then we were going to take our shots. They sell out to play the run game and you have to take advantage of that. We went into the game saying if you are going to cover our guys one-on-one, we'll tip our hat to you. Once they started backing off, we turned loose 20 and 29, who we've been riding all year long. I thought it was a good plan and we executed it very well."
 
On Hunter Wells' performance
"He throws everything well. You see, he's not really a runner. He's an outstanding thrower and that's what we needed to do. We altered the offense around, obviously, to ride our running backs if people are going to commit to stopping the run. Then, when Mays comes in, we add the quarterback run part of our offense and be able to get everything we want out of what we want to do offensively. We are going to adjust our offense based on how people are trying to stop it."
 
Jody Webb, senior, running back
On the overall game plan
"The plan was, due to the fact they played cover zero for most of the game, we had to take our shots. Offensively, our thing is to run the ball then take the shots when you have a chance, but, with our guys one-on-one on the outside so often, we had to take our shots and see what would happen.
 
On the halftime message
"The message was to finish. We were moving the ball, but we couldn't capitalize in the red zone. We had to find a way to put some points on the board. We got a few field goals, but we had to get into the end zone."
 
Lee Wright, junior, linebacker
On being back in action
"It felt great. The adrenaline was rushing from the beginning of the game, but after the first two drives I kind of calmed down a little bit. I just felt good the rest of the game."
 
On the game plan
"Overall, we knew we had to stop the offense, period, but Eli Jenkins was a big part of the offense. The quarterback run was a big part, so once we stopped that, it kind of got easy for us as the game went."