Sweet spot
- Updated: December 6, 2024
With Jax State’s first-year FBS success now confirmed with a second-year conference title, program eyes spoils and potential spoilers amid coaching rumors.
Jax State 52, WKU 12
EDITOR’S NOTE: All-in-one coverage. Complete stats from Friday’s CUSA Championship game can be found on this link. Below are East Alabama Sports Today editor Joe Medley’s take, the live game updates and video from postgame interviews.
JACKSONVILLE — Count Dec. 6 a day that will live in fame for Jacksonville State football.
The Gamecocks throttled Western Kentucky 52-12 on Friday, walking off of their home turf as Conference USA champions.
They became the champion of an FBS conference in their second season after moving up from FCS, the acronym once referred to as NCAA Division I-AA.
They prevailed in a game between two programs that, not so long ago, did well to achieve I-AA relevance. It took Jax State 12 seasons trying to win a playoff game after leaving Division II. It took Western Kentucky coming back from nearly wiping its program off of the budget in 1992, when the Hilltoppers were a I-AA independent struggling to schedule games.
WKU came a long way in the long run, hitting the FBS “Group of 5” sweet spot achieving competitiveness in its Group of 5 conference, reaching low-tier bowls and winning its share of them.
Jax State came a long way in the short run, going from 5-6 in its last FCS season, to winning a bowl in its first FBS season, to winning an FBS conference.
The Gamecocks avenged last week’s 19-17 loss at Western and 45-7 loss to the Hilltoppers in a first-round 2003 FCS playoff game at Wester. They stand a bowl victory away from a 10-win season.
It shows just how quickly a program can turn in the transfer-portal era, with the right coach at the right time.
It can go the other way just as quickly, if the right coach leaves and enough players rush to the exits. Just ask Florida State and Mike Norvell.
Welcome to FBS success, Jax State, and all that comes with it.
Lurking behind Friday’s glory is Saturday’s worry.
Might Rich Rodriguez’s quick work getting the Gamecocks to FBS respectability net him a return to power-conference coaching?
West Virginia needs a coach. Rodriguez’s exit from there in 2008 involved litigation over his buyout, complete with a breach-of-contract tag, and West Virginia got its $4 million in the settlement.
Then again, Rodriguez won a lot there. For every West Virginia power broker who might still feel burned, bet there are a bunch of fans who yearn for his return.
Other power-conference jobs have opened. Might this year’s coaching carousel have a bobbing horse reserved for a 61-year-old Rodriguez, perhaps rehabilitated after fraught exits at West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona?
If he goes, Jax State’s greatest fear becomes that quick success can just as quickly go the other way in the portal era.
Rodriguez welcomed 50 new players between his first spring practice and first fall camp at Jax State, in 2022. This year’s team had 60 new players.
As quickly as they came, they can go, and Jax State is due to lose 24 seniors.
It’s no certainty that Rodriguez will get the kind of opportunity that would warrant his leaving the $1 million-a-year deal he has at Jax State, where he’s likely earned years of gratitude.
He’s done for FBS-era Jax State football what Ray Harper did for Division I Jax State men’s basketball. Both coaches who got their teams to their respective dances twice, turning Jax State ambitions to Jax State realizations.
There’s no guarantee that Rodriguez would go. Asked directly if he will interview at West Virginia, he said he has nothing scheduled. He’s looking ahead to Jax State’s bowl game, likely the Cure Bowl on Dec. 20, in Orlando, Fla.
“I have no interviews. I have nothing scheduled, other than I’m going to have a great day with Ms. Rita (his wife) and the kids and Roxie and Rambo (his dogs) tomorrow,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll have a great day Sunday, watching a little film, then on Monday start getting ready for this great bowl game.”
All one can know is that Jax State is living the “Group of 5” sweet life, winning its conference, eyeing its second bowl in two FBS seasons and worrying about power-conference programs taking its coach.
It’s the price of doing business in Jax State’s new marketplace.
Game updates
–Kickoff 6 p.m.
–Jax State QB Tyler Huff (ankle) warming up.
–Jax State wins the toss, defers. WKU will receive the opening kickoff.
FIRST QUARTER
–A week after beating Jax State with a 50-yard field goal with three seconds to play, WKU’s Lucas Carneiro kicks a 54-yard for the first points of the CUSA title game at 10:39. Drive: 8 plays, 35 yards, 4:15. WKU 3, JAX STATE 0
–Jax State goes 75 yards in six plays. The big play was Huff’s 48-yard run to the WKU 8. His ankle looked fine. Huff also threw a 6-yard TD pass to Sean Brown, and Garrison Rippa kicked the PAT at 7:39. JAX STATE 7, WKU 3
–After Jax State stops WKU QB Caden Veltkamp on fourth and one at the WKU 42, Huff throws a 26-yard TD pass to Cam Vaughn. Rippa’s PAT is true at 3:21. Drive: 6 plays, 42 yards, 1:52. JAX STATE 14, WKU 3
SECOND QUARTER
–After Veltkamp loses control of the ball for a loss of 22 yards, and Jax State recovers at midfield, Garrison Rippa misses a 43-yard field goal wide left at 10:05.
–Huff’s 34-yard pass to Vaughn to the 4-yard line sets up Tre Stewart’s TD run on the next play. Rippa’s PAT is good at 3:47. Drive: 10 plays, 85 yards, 4:14. JAX STATE 21, WKU 3
–Stewart in with a 6-yard TD run, and the apparent rout is on at 1:19. Rippa’s PAT is good. Drive: 4 plays, 57 yards, 0:51. JAX STATE 28, WKU 3
–Carneiro hits a 44-yard field goal on an untimed down. Drive: 7 plays, 49 yards, 1:19. JAX STATE 28, WKU 6
THIRD QUARTER
–Huff with a 3-yard TD run, and Rippa does his thing at 10:12. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yard, 4:48. JAX STATE 35, WKU 6
–Rippa adds a 27-yard field goal at 6:21. Drive: 6 plays, 61 yards, 3:07. JAX STATE 38, WKU 6
–WKU gets in the ed zone, with Veltkamp hitting Keyshawn Johnson for a 25-yard TD pass. Veltkamp’s conversion pass is incomplete at 2:16. JAX STATE 38, WKU 12
FOURTH QUARTER
–Stewart breaks a 29-yard TD run, and Rippa adds the PAT at 11:01. Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 6:15. JAX STATE 45, WKU 12
–Huff has broken a CUSA championship game record for rushing yards by a QB with 167.
–Logan Smothers in at QB, keeps for a 10-yard TD run on fourth down. Rippa hits the PAT at 3:00. JAX STATE 52, WKU 12
–Jax State’s five rushing TDs ties a CUSA Championship record.
–Jax State’s J-Rock Swain becomes the school’s all-time leader with nine fumble recoveries.
FINAL: Jax State wins the CUSA Championship, 52-12 over Western Kentucky.
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