BATON ROUGE, La. – Death Valley on a Saturday night. Many of college football's marquee programs have ventured into the LSU Tigers' den and emerged with a loss.

FCS No. 5 Jacksonville State took the fight to 21st-ranked LSU early, but the hosts relied on big plays and the arm of reserve quarterback Danny Etling to claim a 34-13 win before 98,389 at Tiger Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch the Gamecocks.

Jacksonville State drops to 1-1. The Gamecocks are now 1-7 all-time against Southeastern Conference opponents.

"We gave up too many explosive plays," said Jacksonville State coach John Grass. "But I was proud of our guys. The main thing is we matched their physicality and kept fighting for four quarters."

Senior quarterback Eli Jenkins accounted for 330 yards against LSU to move past the 9,000-yard mark for his storied career.

The Birmingham native hit on 17-of-35 passes for 248 yards with one touchdown and one interception while leading the Gamecocks' run game with 82 yards.


The opening kickoff was pushed back almost an hour when lightning moved into the Baton Rouge area. JSU didn't seem affected by delay or the big stage and dominated the game's first 15 minutes, limiting LSU – which played without injured star running back Leonard Fournette – to only 12 total yards.

Jenkins quieted the rain-soaked crowd by leading Jacksonville State on a 33-yard drive for the game's first points. Cade Stinnett converted on a 30-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter as the Gamecocks jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Etling, a transfer from Purdue, took over for embattled starter Brandon Harris on the third LSU series and immediately infused some spark in the Tigers' struggling offense.

Etling directed touchdown drives of 70, 79 and 64 yards as LSU turned an early deficit into a 20-10 lead.

Jenkins trimmed LSU's cushion to 13-10 on a 76-yard scoring pass to Krenwick Sanders at the 3:55 mark in the second quarter. Sanders' touchdown reception came on the first play after LSU (1-1) had scored on a four-yard run by Derrius Guice, Fournette's replacement.

A pair of LSU touchdowns in 47 seconds before halftime put the Gamecocks in a hole they could not dig out of.

The backbreaker came with 20 seconds left as Tre'Davious White fielded Dean Kelly's punt at the LSU 40, backpedaled 20 yards, then shook free from numerous JSU pursuers and raced to the end zone. Colby Delahoussaye added the extra point as the Tigers carried a 27-10 lead to the locker room at halftime.

"To me the difference in the game was after we cut it to 13-10 on an explosive play and then they came right back and scored two quick ones," Grass said. "I thought if we could have gotten to halftime down 13-10 we would have been sitting pretty good."

Stinnett tacked on a 33-yard field goal with 4:30 left in the fourth to narrow JSU's deficit to 34-13.

Marlon Bridges recorded a game-high 11 tackles to lead the Gamecocks defense. LSU had 371 total yards to JSU's 368.
Guice finished with 155 yards on 19 carries.

No. 17 Coastal Carolina visits Burgess-Snow Field on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. This will be the first meeting between the Chanticleers and Gamecocks.
 
Postgame Notes
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – LSU

• Captains for the Gamecocks: senior LB Joel McCandless, senior SAF Ra'Shad Green, senior TE Luke Smith and senor C Casey Dunn.
•  LSU won the toss and deferred to the second half. JSU has lost both coin tosses in 2016.
•  R-So. WR Demontez Terry made his debut for the Gamecocks and was in the starting lineup. The Birmingham native missed last season with a hand injury and sat Week One with an injury. He made his first career reception early in the second quarter, a 10-yard reception for a JSU first down.
•  Two players made their first career start in the game and both at the WR position. R-So. Krenwick Sanders and R-So. Demontez Terry both made their first career start in the game.
•  The Gamecocks are now 1-7 all-time against the Southeastern Conference. Their last win over an SEC team came in the 2010 season opener at Ole Miss.
•  Tonight's attendance of 98,389 marks the largest crowd to ever see the Gamecocks play. The previous high was 87,451 at Auburn on Sept. 12, 2016.
•  Gavin Golsan made his first career catch in the first quarter, a six-yard toss from Jenkins that gave JSU a first down. It was his first catch since 2011, his senior year at Mountain Brook High School. He spent the past four years as an outfielder for the JSU baseball team.
•  Desmond Owino's blocked PAT after LSU's first touchdown was the first by a Gamecock since Erick Butler at Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 22, 2012.
•  Eli Jenkins' 76-yard TD pass to Krenwick Sanders in the second quarter was the longest JSU pass play since an 88-yard strike from Jenkins to Markis Merrill on Sept. 20, 2014 vs. West Alabama. It was Sanders' first collegiate touchdown catch.
•  Jenkins has now accounted for at least one touchdown in six-straight games and in seven of his last eight. He now has 67 TD's responsible for in his career, extending the record he broke last week.
•  LSU's Tre'Davious White's 60-yard punt return for a score late in the second quarter was the first punt return for a TD against JSU since Oct. 2, 2010 (Murray State's Dontrell Johnson – 70 yds).
•  LSU's 27 points in the second quarter are the most in a quarter against JSU since Eastern Illinois had 35 in the first quarter on Nov. 16, 2013.
•  With his 82 yards tonight, Eli Jenkins moves past Clay Green into fifth place on JSU's career rushing list. Jenkins now has 2,995 in his career.
•  With his 330 yards of total offense in tonight's game, Jenkins moves past Tenn. State's Michael German (2011-14) into fourth on the Ohio Valley Conference's all-time total offense list. Jenkins now has a JSU-record 9,018 total yards in his JSU career.
•  Reggie Hall's interception in the third quarter was the first of his career.
•  WR Kevin Spears' 42-yard catch in the third quarter was the LSU's transfer's first in Tiger Stadium. The New Orleans native played 12 games for LSU but did not record a catch.
•  Junior Darius Jackson's forced fumble in the fourth quarter was the second of his career, while Justin Thomas-Thornton's recovery was his first.
•  With his 2.0 tackles for a loss in the game, junior DE Darius Jackson now has 27.5 in his career, passing Jamison Wadley and Devin Phillips for fourth place on the school's career TFL list.