JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's 1992 Division II national championship squad featured a defense that held six of its regular-season opponents to 10 points or less.
 
With the members of that team on hand Saturday for the 25-year celebration of Jacksonville State's first and only football national title, the 2017 Gamecocks – wearing throwback uniforms paying homage to the '92 team – needed a similar defensive effort to hold off upset-minded Southeast Missouri.
 
Jacksonville State blocked two SEMO kicks and Cade Stinnett booted a career-best three field goals to lift the No. 3 Gamecocks to a 23-7 chilly Homecoming victory at Burgess-Snow Field.
 
Stinnett kicked field goals of 22, 39 and 36 yards, freshman tight end Trae Barry caught a 65-yard touchdown pass and Roc Thomas added a 27-yard scoring run late as JSU improved to 7-1, 5-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. It was the Gamecocks' 10th-straight win over the Redhawks and extended their OVC win streak to a league-record 29 games.
 
Jacksonville State's defense limited SEMO to 22 yards on 36 carries and only 209 scrimmage yards.
 
The biggest plays, however, were field goal blocks from Marlon Bridges in the second quarter and Randy Robinson in the fourth to halt Redhawk scoring threats. It was the first time the Gamecocks have blocked two field goals in a game since 2008 against Tennessee State.
 
"You're paying tribute to the 1992 team and wearing throwback uniforms – why not win one in Coach Bill Burgess style?" Jacksonville State head coach John Grass said with a laugh.
 
"I told our team after game there's a minute line between good and great. Southeast Missouri is well-coached, and they're a bunch that plays physical and with extreme effort. Were there some plays that we left out there we could have made? Yes. But we made enough plays to win the game."
 
Robinson's kick block, his second of the season, came with Jacksonville State clinging to a 13-7 lead with just over eight minutes remaining. It was the culmination of a difficult day for SEMO kicker Nicholas Litang, who also missed a 52-yarder in the first quarter that hit the left upright and bounced away.
 
The Gamecocks drove 61 yards in eight plays following Robinson's block, with Stinnett converting on a 36-yard kick for a 16-7 JSU lead with 3:41 on the clock.
 
Thomas sealed the victory less than a minute later with his 27-yard sprint to the end zone after the defense stopped the Redhawks on fourth-and-8. The TD run was Thomas' seventh this season.
 
Quarterbacks Bryant Horn and Kendrick Doss struggled much of the afternoon as Southeast Missouri recorded eight sacks.
 
The Gamecocks offensive line, with three starters dealing with injuries, had surrendered only six sacks through the first seven games.
 
Horn and Doss were a combined seven of 19 for 179 yards, with Doss throwing one interception. But the junior from Florence, Ala., on his first play in relief of Horn, hooked up with Barry for a 65-yard touchdown pass at the 6:38 mark in the first quarter to give Jacksonville State a 7-0 lead.
 
The touchdown reception was Barry's third on seven catches this year.

Bridges and Jonathan Hagler led the Gamecocks with nine tackles apiece.
 
Jacksonville State hosts Murray State (2-6, 1-3) next Saturday. Kickoff at Burgess-Snow Field is set for 1 p.m. for Marching Southerners Reunion Day.

 
 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – Southeast Missouri
October 28, 2017 • Burgess-Snow Field • Jacksonville, Ala.
 

• JSU Captains: junior wide receiver Shaq Davidson, senior linebacker Jonathan Hagler, senior cornerback Reggie Hall and senior offensive lineman Tyler Scozzaro.
• Southeast Missouri won the toss and deferred to the second half. 
• The Gamecocks are now 18-4 all-time against Southeast Missouri and are now 10-1 in Jacksonville. JSU has now won the last 10 meetings, the longest winning streak by either team in the series. JSU has won the last nine meetings in Jacksonville.
• The Gamecocks extend their winning streak in OVC games to 29 games, extending their OVC record and the longest conference win streak in Division I football. It is the second-longest conference win streak in FCS history, behind 39 straight Metro Atlantic Conference wins by Duquesne from 1999-2006.
• John Grass is now 40-7 in his career at JSU and is 37-0 against non-FBS opponents in the regular season. He has four regular-season losses in four years, all to FBS schools (Michigan State, Auburn, LSU and Gaeorgia Tech).
• JSU's 174 rushing yards in the game extends its streak of consecutive games with at least 100 rushing yards to 46 games. JSU's last game with less than 100 yards on the ground was at Michigan State in the 2014 season opener.
• JSU has now run for at least 100 yards in 52-straight games vs. FCS foes, with the last time it failed to do so coming against Tennessee State on Oct. 12, 2013.
• JSU is now 58-12-2 all-time in Homecoming games. The Gamecocks have won their last four with wins over Austin Peay (2014), Eastern Kentucky (2015), Eastern Illinois (2016) and Southeast Missouri (2017). JSU's last Homecoming loss came in 2013 against then-No. 15 Tennessee State 31-15. Jax State has now won 12 of its last 16 Homecoming matchups. 
• Senior offensive lineman Justin Lea made his 47th straight start for the Gamecocks. The mark ties Tim Kelly (Eastern Illinois, 2004-07) for the second-longest consecutive start streak in Ohio Valley Conference. Lea is two games shy of tying the top mark of 49, which was set by former JSU All-American Max Holcombe from 2011 to 2014. 
• Marlon Bridges became the first JSU player since Randy Robinson against Austin Peay on Oct. 15, 2016 to block a field goal. Bridges blocked a 46-yard field goal attempt by SEMO's Nicholas Litang with 1:46 left in the second quarter. Later in the game, Robinson blocked a second Redhawk field goal attempt marking the first time the Gamecocks have blocked two field goals in a game since Nov. 15, 2008 against Tennessee State (Monte' Lewis and Brandt Thomas).
• Randy Robinson becomes just the ninth player in Jacksonville State history to be credited with two blocked kids during their Gamecock career.  
• Cade Stinnett set a career high in made fields goals (three) by booting 22, 39 and 36-yard field goals through the uprights. His previous high was two, which he accomplished six times with the most recent coming against Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 14, 2017. 
• Cade Stinnett matched his career high in points scored (11) by making three field goals and two extra points during the game. He also accomplished the feat against Eastern Illinois on Oct. 29, 2016. 
• By holding Southeast Missouri to 22 rushing yards, it marks the fifth time this season the Jacksonville State defense has held an opponent to 100-yards or less on the ground. The mark is the lowest this season and sixth lowest in the Gamecocks' Division I history. 
• Roc Thomas' 27-yard rushing touchdown with 2:46 left in the game was the seventh score on the ground this season, which ties his career high from last season. 

 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – Southeast Missouri
October 28, 2017 • Burgess-Snow Field • Jacksonville, Ala.
Opening Statement
"We thought we would win one in Coach Bill Burgess style, since we were honoring them. I thought we took steps forwards. There's a fine line in college football between good and great, but we found a way to win the game. They forced us to throw the football but we kept trying to find ways to run the ball. I thought we should've done a better job of getting the ball into the end zone while in the red zone. SEMO is a really good team and we are going to get everyone's best shot. I'm just proud we found a way to win."
 
On blocked field goals
"On our defensive staff, everyone has a different role when it comes to breaking things down. I think their kicker came out really low and I think that helped us. We really needed them when we got them, too."
 
Thoughts on Southeast Missouri
"I think it's the way they play. They're really physical and their coach does a great job of getting them up to play us. They play their best games of the year against us. I've been waiting for our team to be able to be in a game like tonight
 
On Cade Stinnett's play
"I thought he played well. He was close on the one he missed but really got behind the ones he made. What a lot of people won't notice is the job he did on kickoff coverage. He left a few short, but also booted several through the end zone."
 
Randy Robinson, Defensive Lineman, Junior
On blocking the field goal
"I told Darius Jackson to blow the guard up and I'm going to go through the A-Gap. It was a big play for us. We kept low and we got something on it."
 
Cade Stinnett, Kicker, R-Junior
On bouncing back from last week's game
"This week I felt pretty good.  The whole week of practice felt good."
 
On throwback uniforms
"My dad was on the 1992 team, and he also wore number 19. He told me before the game I needed to find a way to sneak it out of the locker room."
 
Bryant Horn, Quarterback, R-Junior 
Thoughts on SEMO
"I think they have a good defense. They run a different scheme that were not use to seeing. They're physical but we found ways to make plays when we needed to."
 
On the offense's struggle to find the end zone vs. SEMO
"It's always frustrating when you have to settle for field goal instead of touchdowns, no offense to Cade. But he does a great job for us and got it done."