JACKSONVILLE – A historic crowd saw Jax State showcase its defensive dominance and seize control of the Conference USA championship race.

The Gamecocks picked off three Kennesaw State passes to turn away scoring threats and capped the first half with a Hail Mary touchdown en route to a resounding 35-26 win in a showdown for league supremacy before a record 24,166 fans at AmFirst Stadium.

Garrison Rippa secured the victory with a 27-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining to give the Gamecocks their fifth straight win and snap the Owls' seven-game win streak. Jax State improves to 7-3 overall and 6-0 in CUSA.

"Our players fought and we made the plays offensively that we needed to," said Jacksonville State head coach Charles Kelly. "We made the plays defensively that we needed to. I'm just tickled with these guys.

"When people watch us play, we want them to say 'these guys are fast, they're physical, they're tough, they're disciplined, and they will compete.' If they leave the field and people say that about us, we're good with that."

Caden Creel passed for 137 yards and ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns while Cam Cook had 117 yards on 27 runs with rushing TD. Jax State prevailed despite being outgained 579 to 436.
Jax State carried a 22-10 lead into halftime, fueled by a pivotal defensive play from safety Caleb Nix and a dramatic Hail Mary from Gavin Wimsatt.

Nix intercepted a Kennesaw State pass with 38 seconds remaining and returned it 26 yards to the Gamecocks 36. Two plays later, Wimsatt entered the lineup and launched a long pass toward the end zone that bounced off two Owls defenders and into the waiting hands of Jax State receiver Deondre Johnson, who sprinted untouched into the end zone for a touchdown as time expired.

The Gamecocks then added insult to injury, stunning Kennesaw State as Cade Cunningham ran in the two-point conversion, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The Owls (7-3, 5-1) struck early, receiving the opening kickoff and promptly moving 65 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown.

Quarterback Amari Odom kept it himself for a one-yard TD run to stake Kennesaw State to a 7-0 lead with 9:47 remaining in the first quarter.

Jax State responded to the early deficit with a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive featuring four runs each from Creel and Cook.  Creel avoided a heavy Owls rush and scrambled 18 yards for a touchdown with 5:28 left in the second quarter. Rippa's extra point tied it 7-7.

Creel's 18-yard TD was his longest scoring run of the season.

Kennesaw State moved into the red zone on its next two possessions but came away without points, missing a 29-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter and seeing its third drive snuffed out when Jax State safety Marc Woods intercepted an Odom pass in the end zone.

After the Owls went ahead 10-7 on a 43-yard field goal, the Gamecocks immediately answered with their second 75-yard scoring drive of the evening.

The key play came when Creel connected with tight end Pearson Baldwin on a 52-yard strike down the sideline, then Cook plowed in from Kennesaw State's 6 on the next play for the go-ahead score. Rippa's second PAT gave Jax State a 14-10 lead.

The Owls ran 51 plays to Jax State's 23 in the first half while outgaining the Gamecocks 297-219.

The teams traded field goals in the third quarter with Rippa nailing a 32-yard kick and Kennesaw State responding on the ensuing drive with a 25-yarder.

Jax State hits the road next Saturday for its seventh and final away game of the 2025 season. The Gamecocks visit FIU (5-5, 3-3) with kickoff in Miami scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT. The CUSA matchup will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

Jax State has won all three meetings in the series, including two victories at Pitbull Stadium.

Jax State Postgame Notes – Kennesaw State
November 15, 2025 • Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium • Jacksonville, Ala.

·       Jax State Captains: Junior safety Travis Franklin, Jr., redshirt senior receiver Brock Rechsteiner, senior tight end Harrison Hamsley, sophomore offensive lineman Bubba Grayson.

·       The Gamecocks won the opening coin toss and deferred their option to the second half, the seventh time they have won the toss in 10 games.

·       The showdown for first place in the CUSA standings drew a season-high crowd of 24,166 crowd at AmFirst Stadium. The Gamecocks entered Saturday's game leading the conference in attendance at 19,688 fans per game.

·       Cam Cook, the nation's leading rusher, had 117 yards on 27 carries and now has 1,296 yards for the season. Cook moved up three places into seventh place on Jax State's single-season rushing list and needs 49 yards next week to surpass six-place Tyler Huff (1,344).

·       Caleb Nix's 26-yard interception return in the second quarter – his third straight game picking off an opponent's pass – gives him 191 interception return yards, the most in a single season in school history. Nix surpassed Jaylen Hill, who returned six INTs for 181 yards in 2016. Nix added his second interception of the night on the game's final play.

·       Deondre Johnson's four touchdown receptions in the last three games have accounted for 225 yards – an average of 56.2 yards per TD catch.

·       Jax State has won 10 straight games at AmFirst Stadium and 15 of its last 17 dating back to the start of the 2023 season. It ties the longest home win streak since 2018-19, when the Gamecocks reeled off 10 straight victories at AmFirst Stadium.

·       The Gamecocks are 7-3 for the second consecutive season.

·       Jax State is 28-2 since 2022 when scoring 30 or more points. Since 2000, the Gamecocks are 139-16 when putting at least 30 points on the scoreboard.

·       Jax State is bowl-eligible for the third year in a row in its third season at the FBS level. Marshall is the only other program (1997-99) to make bowl games in its first three seasons as an FBS member.

·       The Gamecocks have now forced at least one turnover in all 10 games after Marc Woods' second-quarter interception in the end zone.

·       Kennesaw State drove inside the Jax State 26 on all five of its first-half drives but managed only 10 points despite running 51 plays to the Gamecocks' 23.

·       The Gamecocks are one of only five FBS teams that still have an unbeaten conference record – Indiana and Ohio State (Big Ten), Texas A&M (SEC) and James Madison (Sun Belt).

·       Among players with at least 50 career extra point attempts, Garrison Rippa 95-for-97, (97.9%) is the school's all-time leader in PAT percentage, followed next by his predecessor Alen Karajic (149-for-153, 97.3%) from 2020-23. Three Gamecocks never missed a PAT: Bruce Peck (49-for-49 from 1964-67), Doug Wheeler (9-for-9, 1964-66), and Terry Owens (5-for-5, 1970-73).

·       Tonight's game marked the latest in a season that two CUSA teams have faced off with undefeated records in league play since Nov. 17, 2012, when Tulsa and UCF met with 6-0 conference records. Tulsa won 23-21, and the teams squared off two weeks later in the CUSA Championship Game, which Tulsa also won 33-27 in OT.

·       Representatives from the Cure Bowl in Orlando (Dec. 17) and the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., (Dec. 30) were in attendance for Saturday's CUSA matchup. The New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 23) also featured Jax State vs. Kennesaw State as one of its two Games of the Week.

·       With two field goals, Rippa moves into sixth place on the career field goals made list with 33. He stands one behind Alen Karajic, who made 34 from 2020-23.