Gamecocks frustrated again

Forgive Jacksonville State if the Gamecocks become physically ill at even the mention of Furman these days.

One could hardly blame the Gamecocks.

For the second year in a row, Jacksonville State opened its season against one of the nation's premier Division I-AA football teams.

And, for the second year in a row, the Gamecocks narrowly missed out on a chance to earn some much-needed respect for the maligned Ohio Valley Conference.

In 2005, Furman threw a touchdown pass on the game's final play to stun the host Gamecocks.

Saturday, in Greenville, S.C., Furman scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds remaining to beat Jacksonville State 17-13. Furman entered the contest ranked fifth nationally and is now fourth.

"I'm disappointed with the loss," Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe said Tuesday during the OVC's weekly coaches teleconference. "We played a good football team. I think we were equal to that team, but they found a way to close out and we didn't."

Despite the setback, Crowe could take solace in the fact that, for the second year in a row, the Gamecocks stood toe to toe with a national powerhouse -- and matched up physically.

"Playing on the road in an opening game was a challenge. Playing a quality football team like Furman was a challenge. I thought for the most part we responded to the challenge," Crowe said. "We felt like it was an equal game going in and it ended up being a fairly equal game.

"There was nothing that made us feel we couldn't win"

Even in defeat, Jacksonville State's performance was arguably the highlight in a less than impressive opening week of play for the OVC, which went 2-7 against nonconference opponents.

The only winners were Southeast Missouri State and Samford, but those teams were expected to roll and pretty much did.

Southeast Missouri handed Tony Samuel a victory in his head coaching debut at the university, as the Redhawks pulled away from a halftime tie to beat host Austin Peay 38-13.

Austin Peay returned to scholarship football this year and will rejoin the OVC in 2007.

"It's good because we really didn't know what to expect from the team, the first time for us with the staff, players, going on the road and all that," Samuel said. "We actually didn't play very well in the first half, but we settled down and improved in the second half."

Samford routed Division II Miles College 37-7.

"We were able to play quite a bit of young men and see them in game action, which was a big plus for us," Samford coach Bill Gray said. "I felt good about what we did defensively."

In other Division I-AA matchups, Tennessee Tech was hammered 31-7 at home by Tennessee Chattanooga and host Tennessee State dropped a 27-20 decision to Alabama A&M.

Four OVC squads hit the road for major paydays at Division I-A opponents -- and all suffered decisive defeats.

Many people expected preseason conference favorite Eastern Kentucky and defending league champion Eastern Illinois to hang with Division I-A teams that have struggled in recent seasons -- but that wasn't the case.

Cincinnati blanked Eastern Kentucky 31-0 and Illinois thumped Eastern Illinois 42-17. The Illini piled up 519 yards of total offense, including 345 on the ground.

Eastern Kentucky coach Danny Hope said the Colonels were much more competitive than the final score indicated.

"Cincinnati is a greatly improved team from last year. They had one of the youngest teams in the nation last year," Hope said. "It was a heck of a contest. I don't think the score reflected the game. It was still 7-0 late in the second quarter. We got inside the 35-yard line six times and didn't score."

Eastern Illinois not only lost a game but also lost All-American linebacker Clint Sellers, last year's OVC defensive player of the year.

Sellers injured his right shoulder making a tackle on the opening kickoff at Illinois. He will miss at least Saturday's game against Indiana State and is listed as out indefinitely.

"It's a tough loss for us," said Eastern Illinois assistant head coach Mark Hutson, filling in for Bob Spoo as the head coach recovers from surgery that will sideline him for the first several weeks of the season. "You just don't want that to happen to any player, much less one of your team leaders."

Also, Missouri destroyed Murray State 47-7 and Ohio eased past Tennessee-Martin 29-3.

"We came out healthy. That's all that matters," Murray State coach Matt Griffin said.

Players of the week

Tennessee State sophomore tailback Javarris Williams is the OVC offensive player of the week. He rushed for 121 yards on 23 carries against Alabama A&M and also caught two passes for 41 yards.

Jacksonville State senior linebacker LeMarcus Rowell is the defensive player of the week. He scooped up a fumble and raced 36 yards for a touchdown to give the Gamecocks a 10-7 lead over Furman.

Samford junior kicker Shannon Fleming and Eastern Illinois junior wide receiver Micah Rucker earned specialist and newcomer honors, respectively.

This week's schedule

An early conference matchup highlights this week's OVC schedule, as Murray State visits Tennessee State Saturday.

Also Saturday, Samford visits Division I-A Georgia Tech, Southeast Missouri hosts Division II Missouri-Rolla, Eastern Kentucky hosts Western Kentucky, Eastern Illinois entertains Indiana State and Tennessee Tech visits Gardner-Webb.

In a Thursday game, Tennessee-Martin hosts NAIA Urbana (Ohio) University.