NASHVILLE – Jacksonville State's final trip to Tennessee State as an Ohio Valley Conference member ended like the previous five – with a Gamecocks' win.
No. 10 Jacksonville State extended its winning streak to five with a methodical 38-16 victory over the Tigers at Hale Stadium on Sunday. The Gamecocks (5-1, 2-0) currently own the longest active winning streak among FCS programs.
Zion Webb passed for a career-best 280 yards and three touchdowns and the defense limited Tennessee State (0-2, 0-2) to 225 net yards as JSU ran its all-time mark against the Tigers in Nashville to 6-0.
Uriah West ran for a touchdown and caught a 54-yard TD pass,
Pat Jackson added a short first-quarter touchdown run and
Dave Russell III and
Quan Charleston caught touchdown passes from Webb as the Gamecocks overcame two turnovers that led to Tennessee State field goals.
"Our defense just continues to get better and improve," said Jacksonville State head coach
John Grass. "Offensively, we finished and played really well in the fourth quarter."
Jacksonville State scored 17 points in an eight-minute span to pull away in the fourth after the Tigers trimmed their deficit to 21-16.
Webb hooked up with West on a 54-yard touchdown pass at the 12:03 mark to finish off a quick 74-yard scoring drive,
Alen Karajic kicked a 26-yard field goal less than four minutes later and Webb wrapped up the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown toss to Charleston with 3:57 remaining.
Webb completed 21-of-33 passes for 280 yards with one interception – easily eclipsing his career highs of 12 completions (three times previously) and 137 yards vs. Eastern Kentucky in 2018. His first TD pass of the afternoon was a 29-yard strike that
Dave Russell III caught in stride just before halftime to extend Jacksonville State's cushion to 21-6.
The Gamecocks outgained TSU 452-225 and recorded 24 first downs to the hosts' 11.
West accounted for 125 all-purpose yards, running seven times for 40 yards and grabbing three passes for 85 more. His five-yard TD run got the Gamecocks on the scoreboard first less than 4 1/2 minutes into the contest.
The junior back has now accounted for 100-plus scrimmage yards in three straight games.
Mike Pettway caught a team-high six passes for 75 yards for Jacksonville State.
Marshall Clark was the Gamecocks' leading tackler with eight stops, followed by
Nicario Harper with seven.
Jacksonville State wraps up its two-game road swing next Sunday when it returns to the state of Tennessee to face UT Martin (1-1, 1-1 in OVC) at Stewart Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
JSU leads the all-time series against the Skyhawks 34-8, but dropped a 22-17 decision at Martin in 2019 in the last meeting.
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – Tennessee State
March 7, 2021 • Hale Stadium • Nashville, Tenn.
- Captains for Jacksonville State were D.J. Coleman and Uriah West.
- Jacksonville State improved to 13-2 all-time against Tennessee State.
- Jackson's one-yard TD run in the first quarter was the second score of his JSU career.
- Jacquez Payton's second-quarter interception marked the sixth consecutive game that JSU's defense has forced their opponent to commit a turnover, a streak extending back to the Florida State game in October 2020.
- Webb's 54-yard touchdown pass to West in the fourth quarter was JSU's longest pass play of the 2020-21 season. The previous long was a 42-yard Webb completion to Russell against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 28.
- Russell's 29-yard touchdown reception late in the first half marked his second straight game with a scoring catch.
- Karajic, a freshman from Ooltewah, Tennessee, booted a 26-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and is 11-of-12 on field goal attempts this season. Karajic added five more extra points and is 19-of-19 on PATs.
- JSU's Jack Dawson punted six times and averaged 43.7 yards per kick. His Tennessee State counterpart, Kaleb Mosley, punted 10 times for an average of 43.4 yards and had four punts of 50-plus yards
- The Gamecocks recorded six sacks, including 2.5 by redshirt freshman Chris Hardie.
