Saturday, September 26
JACKSONVILLE
6 p.m.
Jax State
vs
Middle Tennessee
Photo by: Emily Kish / Jax State
Conference USA Play Begins Saturday against Middle Tennessee
9/25/2026 1:02:00 PM | Football
JACKSONVILLE—Following a 2-2 non-conference slate, the Jax State football team hosts Middle Tennessee at AmFirst Stadium on Saturday at 6 p.m. for its Conference USA opener.
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The Gamecocks rallied back from a 17-point first half deficit last week, capped by a 75-yard punt return touchdown by Caleb Nix to give the hosts their first lead of the game with 8:16 left. Nix was named the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week and was also named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll after scoring the fourth non-offensive touchdown of his career.
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According to ESPN Analytics, Jax State had just a 10.5% chance of winning the game to start the fourth quarter when it faced second and 23 at their own 25-yard line.
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"At no time in that game did I feel like we were out of the game," said coach Charles Kelly during his Tuesday media availability. "That's what we talk about playing the game, not paying attention to the scoreboard. It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. You should play the game a certain way. I give a lot of credit to our players first of all. They're very resilient and they stuck to the process and I give a lot of credit to our coaches for making the adjustments, but we've got to learn from that just like we have on a lot of those other games where we have to improve."Â
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Lucas Farrington got the Gamecocks within striking distance with his first career touchdown run at the 11:17 mark of the fourth quarter from 26 yards out. He paced the team with 44 yards on the ground.
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Defensively, linebacker Walker O'Steen was one tackle shy of matching his career high with 13 and broke up a pass. Outside linebacker Tristan Lyles was the Conference USA Freshman of the Week with three tackles, helping out on one for loss, and making his first career interception with just under 2:00 to play in regulation at his own 15-yard line to seal the first win in six tries against Georgia Southern.
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On special teams, sophomore punter Conor Donaghy recorded his first punt of 60+ yards when he dialed up a 67-yarder which is the longest a Gamecock has had in the FBS era, and is tied for the longest in Conference USA this year. Donaghy is currently second in Conference USA behind MTSU punter Ashton Logan in average yards per punt at 47.4. The Galbally, Ireland native has placed a league-best 45% of his punts inside the 20-yard line.
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The Blue Raiders are looking to win three of their first four games of a season for the first time since 2022. Middle Tennessee was a 27-20 winner at home against Nevada last week in a back-and-forth contest which saw the hosts get a three-yard touchdown run from Antonio Martin with 5:59 left to win the game. He finished with 104 yards on 23 carries.
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Opelika native Roman Gagliano has completed nearly 60% of his passes for 616 yards and six touchdowns against just one interception over his three games in 2026. Cam'ron Lacy has been his top target with 23 catches for 222 yards and three scores. He's also added nine rushing yards and averages almost 10 yards per punt return.
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The defense is led by linebacker Korey Smith with 26 total tackles this year, including 1.5 for loss, and a fumble recovery. The Blue Raider defense has forced six fumbles this year.
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A limited number of tickets remain on sale at JaxStateSports.com/tickets. The game will air on ESPN+ and the Gamecock Sports Network.
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The Gamecocks rallied back from a 17-point first half deficit last week, capped by a 75-yard punt return touchdown by Caleb Nix to give the hosts their first lead of the game with 8:16 left. Nix was named the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week and was also named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll after scoring the fourth non-offensive touchdown of his career.
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According to ESPN Analytics, Jax State had just a 10.5% chance of winning the game to start the fourth quarter when it faced second and 23 at their own 25-yard line.
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"At no time in that game did I feel like we were out of the game," said coach Charles Kelly during his Tuesday media availability. "That's what we talk about playing the game, not paying attention to the scoreboard. It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. You should play the game a certain way. I give a lot of credit to our players first of all. They're very resilient and they stuck to the process and I give a lot of credit to our coaches for making the adjustments, but we've got to learn from that just like we have on a lot of those other games where we have to improve."Â
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Lucas Farrington got the Gamecocks within striking distance with his first career touchdown run at the 11:17 mark of the fourth quarter from 26 yards out. He paced the team with 44 yards on the ground.
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Defensively, linebacker Walker O'Steen was one tackle shy of matching his career high with 13 and broke up a pass. Outside linebacker Tristan Lyles was the Conference USA Freshman of the Week with three tackles, helping out on one for loss, and making his first career interception with just under 2:00 to play in regulation at his own 15-yard line to seal the first win in six tries against Georgia Southern.
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On special teams, sophomore punter Conor Donaghy recorded his first punt of 60+ yards when he dialed up a 67-yarder which is the longest a Gamecock has had in the FBS era, and is tied for the longest in Conference USA this year. Donaghy is currently second in Conference USA behind MTSU punter Ashton Logan in average yards per punt at 47.4. The Galbally, Ireland native has placed a league-best 45% of his punts inside the 20-yard line.
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The Blue Raiders are looking to win three of their first four games of a season for the first time since 2022. Middle Tennessee was a 27-20 winner at home against Nevada last week in a back-and-forth contest which saw the hosts get a three-yard touchdown run from Antonio Martin with 5:59 left to win the game. He finished with 104 yards on 23 carries.
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Opelika native Roman Gagliano has completed nearly 60% of his passes for 616 yards and six touchdowns against just one interception over his three games in 2026. Cam'ron Lacy has been his top target with 23 catches for 222 yards and three scores. He's also added nine rushing yards and averages almost 10 yards per punt return.
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The defense is led by linebacker Korey Smith with 26 total tackles this year, including 1.5 for loss, and a fumble recovery. The Blue Raider defense has forced six fumbles this year.
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A limited number of tickets remain on sale at JaxStateSports.com/tickets. The game will air on ESPN+ and the Gamecock Sports Network.
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Players Mentioned
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