Gamecocks still ruling their new neighborhood

Jacksonville State fielded one of the nation's most successful Division II football programs before moving up to Division I-AA in 1993.

While the Gamecocks' were not exactly rolling on the I-AA level when they joined the Ohio Valley Conference last year, they have dominated the league ever since.

Jacksonville State, the defending OVC champion, improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in conference play Saturday by beating visiting Tennessee State 49-35.

The Gamecocks led 35-7 at halftime and held off the Tigers (3-3, 1-1) in the second half. Jacksonville State piled up 585 yards of offense in starting a season 6-0 for the first time since 1991.

"We played a really good football team. We got hot and scored some points and were able to hang on at the end," Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe said during Tuesday's weekly OVC coaches teleconference.

Jacksonville State, ranked 12th nationally, lost to Murray State 23-17 in overtime in its second OVC game last year. Since then, the Gamecocks have posted 10 straight conference victories for the longest OVC winning streak since a 13-game run by Eastern Illinois that spanned the 2000 through 2002 seasons.

After capturing the 1992 Division II national title, Jacksonville State struggled in I-AA, posting just two winning seasons over the next 10 years. When the Gamecocks entered the OVC last year, they had gone 14-18 in three seasons under Crowe and the program's last winning record was in 1998.

But the Gamecocks have found the OVC very much to their liking. After going 8-4 overall and 7-1 in league play last year, they are off to an even faster start this season.

"We've managed to have a system and a coaching staff that has kept continuity, and we have upgraded our talent," Crowe said of the Gamecocks' resurgence. "We're a lot better than we were when I got here and we've gotten better every year.

"So much of football is mental and we've sort of reached the plateau of expecting to be successful. It was in the water here to be successful ... when you've got tradition, you've got something that other people just don't have."

Other coaches have certainly been impressed by the Gamecocks.

"Absolutely. They've done a great job," Eastern Kentucky coach Danny Hope said. "It's not a surprise to me. If you look at the performances over the past 10, 20 years, they've been one of the top teams in their division.

"They're a great addition to the OVC. They make the OVC a better conference. They've got great players, have always had great players."

Added Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo, "You have to be impressed by what they've done. They're certainly good."

Next to Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky has been the OVC's hottest team. The Colonels (3-3, 3-1) posted their third consecutive win Saturday with a defense-dominated 38-13 triumph at Southeast Missouri State University (1-5, 1-2).

"The biggest difference in our football team right now is what has happened at the quarterback position," said Hope, noting that record-setting signal caller Matt Guice missed most of the first three games -- all losses. "I don't see any difference in the level of play from the games we lost other than we're playing better at the quarterback position."

Eastern Illinois (3-3, 2-1) stayed on the heels of the Gamecocks and Colonels by shutting down Murray State (3-4, 2-2) during a 24-9 home victory. The Panthers bounced back from the previous week's 43-point loss at Eastern Kentucky.

"We knew we had to fix some things, we had to eliminate some of the penalties that hurt us the week before, we knew we had to cut down on the turnovers, which hurt us," Spoo said.

Samford (2-5, 1-3) finally had some good fortune go its way during a 34-20 comeback win at Tennessee-Martin (1-6, 0-4). The Bulldogs, who scored the final 20 points in the second half, had lost its first three OVC games by three points apiece -- including four-overtime and two-overtime heartbreakers.

"It was more like a gorilla than a monkey," Samford coach Bill Gray said of the burden that was lifted by the Bulldogs' first conference win. "We needed to come into that locker room and see some smiling faces."

Tennessee Tech (4-2, 1-1) had an open date Saturday but the Eagles get the next crack at Jacksonville State as they host the Gamecocks this week.

Other OVC games this week feature Southeast at Murray State, Eastern Illinois at Tennessee-Martin and Samford at Tennessee State. A non-league contest has Eastern Kentucky visiting Division I-A Vanderbilt.

Players of the week

Tennessee State quarterback Riley Walker and Eastern Kentucky safety Pierre Wright won the OVC's offensive and defensive player of the week awards.

Walker, making his first start of the season, completed 27 of 44 passes without an interception for 381 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in the loss at Jacksonville State. Among the completions was an OVC-record 99-yard scoring strike to Fred Burnette.

Wright intercepted two passes, blocked a punt and a field goal, and had seven tackles -- including a sack -- in the win at Southeast. He was also named by the news service I-AA.org as one of its I-AA All Stars of the week.