JACKSONVILLE – Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong for Jax State for much of the night in its nationally televised season opener vs. Coastal Carolina.
 
The Gamecocks found themselves trailing by 21 points through two quarters before a crowd of 18,977 at new-look Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium Thursday night. The Chanticleers of the Sun Belt Conference kept applying pressure after halftime, taking advantage of three Jax State turnovers and cruising to a 55-27 win.
  
One late highlight for the Gamecocks came when backup quarterback Tyler Huff connect with Michael Pettway on a 92-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter. It was Jax State's longest play of the FBS era.
  
Garrison Rippa, one of the heroes of the Gamecocks' New Orleans Bowl victory, kicked a career-long 49-yard field goal as Jax State drew even at 3-3 with 5:50 remaining in the first quarter. He later added a 26-yarder in the fourth quarter.
   
The Chanticleers reeled off 28 straight points in a span of 11 minutes – a 36-yard touchdown pass and 17-yard fumble return within 11 seconds stretching their lead to 17-3 by the end of the first quarter.
  
Coastal Carolina (1-0) added a pair of short touchdown runs to extend its cushion to 31-3 with 2:20 to go in the second quarter. Jax State's offense finally got into rhythm just before halftime as the Gamecocks quickly moved 75 yards in nine plays, with Cole Fuller plunging in from the 1 for his second career touchdown. Rippa's extra point sent Jax State to the locker room trailing 31-10.
  
Coastal Carolina's balanced offense outgained the Gamecocks 295-116 in the first half, with 148 yards on the ground and 147 via the air.
  
Tre Stewart ran for a 38-yard TD on Jax State's final possession and finished as the team's top rusher with 62 yards on four carries.
  
Safety Pat Taylor led all tacklers with 12 stops. Safety Zechariah Poyser had an interception, one pass breakup and contributed six tackles.
  
Jax State (0-1) returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 7, at Louisville. Kickoff at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium is set for 2:30 p.m. with television coverage on the ACC Network.
  
  
Jacksonville State Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
August 29, 2024
The Coastal Carolina Game  
  
Opening Comments:
"Poorly prepared, obviously, poorly coached, didn't play well. Didn't do anything good. Had stupid penalties, didn't execute on either side of the ball. Been doing this a long time, I thought our guys were ready to play, they weren't, and that's on me."
  
On the First Game Result:
"I think you always find out more on your first game that you didn't know because you hadn't played anybody. I think as the season goes along you know a little bit about who you are. I think your first game you find out, good or bad, where you're at. Doesn't mean you're going to stay bad, just means you know where you're at. We know where we're at right now and what we got to fix. I don't think there's a guy in that locker room who wouldn't tell you the same thing."
 
On Defending Coastal's Rushing Attack:
"I have to watch the film. I couldn't tell, but we weren't getting off blocks. We weren't attacking like we needed to, it looked like, but we'll watch the film and get it corrected."
 
On the Offense:
"We couldn't get any rhythm. Quarterbacks got in a little better rhythm at times in the second half. They couldn't get in any rhythm, we threw balls behind, dropped a couple passes. Up front, we didn't handle the pressure at times. It was disappointing, we thought we had left some stuff out there, but we'll work hard to get it fixed."
 
 
Jacksonville State Postgame Notes – Coastal Carolina August 29 2024 • Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium • Jacksonville, Ala.
 
· Jax State Captains: Redshirt senior wide receiver P.J. Wells, Redshirt tight end Sean Brown and senior defensive lineman J-Rock Swain
· Jax State won the coin toss and chose to defer. In 2023, the Gamecocks were 5-3 in games where they won the opening toss and 4-1 in games their opponent won it.
· The Gamecocks are now 52-55-8 all-time in season openers
· Head Coach Rich Rodriguez is now 8-3 in games at Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium
· This was Rodriguez's first loss in a season opener as a head coach since his 2016 Arizona squad dropped an 18-16 decision to BYU
· The NFL's Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, and Los Angeles Rams had scouts in attendance for Thursday's game
· Second-year Coastal Carolina offensive coordinator Travis Trickett is the son of veteran Jax State offensive line coach Rick Trickett
· The Gamecocks fall to 1-2 in three meetings with the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina has defeated Jax State in each of the last two seasons.
· Senior tailback Tre Stewart led the Gamecocks with 62 yards on just four carries with one touchdown. Stewart helped Jacksonville State over the 100 yard mark for the 24th time in the 25 games during the Rich Rodriguez era.
· Pat Taylor captained the Jax State defense with a team-best 12 tackles. Freshman Juwaun Campbell tacked on two tackles for a loss in his first career game.
· With 282 punting yards, Jack Dawson moves into sole possession of fourth place on Jax State's career punting leaderboard with 8,521 career yards.
· Jax State kicker Garrison Rippa buried a new career long 49-yard field goal to put the Gamecocks on the board in the first quarter. Rippa is now a perfect 4-for-4 on his career
· Laletia Hale's first quarter forced fumble is the second of his 54 game, six-year Jax State career. Hale forced his first career fumble last season against New Mexico State on Nov. 25.
· Coastal Carolina returned a strip sack 17 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, marking the first time that a Gamecock opponent has returned a fumble for a touchdown since UT Martin returned a fumble 22 yards for a touchdown on Sept. 26, 2015.
· Jax State tight end Cole Fuller now has two career touchdowns, a pair of one-yard carries. Fuller punched in a first quarter score against Louisiana in last year's New Orleans Bowl.