Free Daily Lock Pick: MLB: Detroit vs. NY Yankees – September 6th – (100% Confidence Release)
Click to see the pick now
Jacksonville State (2-0 SU, 2-0 ATS) faces Coastal Carolina (0-1 SU, 1-0 ATS) on Saturday from Brooks Stadium on Saturday night at 7pmET.
This is a transition year for the Gamecocks from FCS, who edged UTEP 17-14 in their opener on Aug. 26 in a C-USA matchup and last week, crushed FCS East Tennessee State 49-3. The Chants fell at UCLA 27-13 in their first game of the season, but did cover the 15.5.
Jacksonville State played in the Atlantic Sun last season, facing mostly FCS teams and went 9-2 overall. The only FBS team that they played was Tulsa on the road and they were blasted 54-17. Opening with UTEP was probably a solid team to start your FBS career considering the fact that they were a Conference USA team and a subpar one at that. Rich Rodriguez and the Gamecocks went back to playing an FCS squad last week when they met East Tennessee State. Jax State blew their doors off 49-3 and the Buccaneers scored the first three points.
??????@malik2jackson #HardEdge | #EarnSuccess pic.twitter.com/JrrQQJWf8v
— Jax State Football (@JaxStateFB) September 2, 2023
The Gamecocks' starting quarterback against UTEP was Zion Webb, who is in his seventh season. In the first game, he completed 10 of 20 for 67 yards and rushed for 55 yards. However, Logan Smothers, a Nebraska transfer, got the start against ETSU. Smothers recorded 127 yards passing on 13-of-17 with one TD and ran for 40 yards and two TDs. Webb was a late scratch due to illness.
“I mean, this is the first game in my entire 20-whatever-some-years, six, or seven years as a head coach that I found out about an hour-and-a-half before the game the quarterback wasn’t going to play,” Jax State coach Rich Rodriguez said on Tuesday at his news conference. “Because he’s sick. That was an interesting situation. So thank god we had a guy with a little bit of college experience.”
??????@malik2jackson # HardEdge | #EarnSuccess pic.twitter.com/JrrQQJWf8v
— Jax State Football (@JaxStateFB) September 2, 2023
So if Webb can't go due to sickness or Smothers looks better in practice, RichRod can turn to the Nebraska transfers. Smothers is a former four-star recruit who played sparingly in Lincoln in two seasons. He threw for 413 yards and ran for 161 yards. Fortunately, the Gamecocks have a strong runner in Malik Jackson, who rushed for 176 yards in two games with two TDs this season. In the last two seasons at UL Monroe, he rushed for 958 yards and nine TDs.
So far, it appears that Jacksonville State's defense and running game will give them a shot to win most games. In a small sample size, they've allowed just 284 yards per game this season and 162.5 passing yards. Offensively, they are throwing for just 97 yards per game.
Free Daily Lock Pick: MLB: Detroit vs. NY Yankees – September 6th – (100% Confidence Release) Click to see the pick now