Jacksonville, AL – With new building, new turf and stadium improvements all around, and good memories of 2023 fueling big crowd, Coastal Carolina deals Jax State a 55-27 wakeup call.
Editor’s Note: AmFirst was the sponsor of the first game and was recognized on the field with their new ongoing partnership with Jax State. A part of that partnership includes naming rights as AmFirst Stadium.
Joe Medley
It’s not 2023 anymore, and Dec. 16 in New Orleans seemed longer than 10 months ago Thursday night.
Jax State football awoke from the sweet dream what was 2023, when the Gamecocks won nine games and a bowl in their first season of FBS competition. Their awakening was a nightmare.
Coastal Carolina 55, Jax State 27 in the season-opener for both teams.
Coastal, one of four teams to beat Jax State last season, outgained the Gamecocks 552 yards to 357.
The Chanticleers moved Jax State’s defensive line. When Jax State move more players closer to the line, Coastal receivers ran so open that, well, there’s a word for for it.
“Yeah, that was embarrassing,” third-year Jax State coach Rich Rodiguez said. “Poorly prepared. Obviously, poorly coached. Didn’t play well. We didn’t do anything good.”
It wasn’t what a crowd of 18,977 hopes to see or feel.
Indeed, the last time things felt this way around Jax State football was Rodriguez’s first season, when the then-FCS Gamecocks lost to “Group of 5” member Tulsa 54-17.
It’s worth noting that a lot of good things happened to Jax State football after that hot, humid day in Oklahoma in 2022. That Gamecocks team, Rodriguez’s first, went on to finish 9-2 and claim the mythical ASUN championship for which then-transitioning Jax State was technically ineligible.
Then came 2023, with the still-transitioning Gamecocks went 9-4, winning five more games than the most optimistic forecasts predicted for a first-year FBS team. They made history, winning a bowl as a first-year FBS team.
Funny thing about wildly outperforming expectations, though. The law of averages hovers there, always smiling. All one can do is smile back.
After a 2024 opener that looked a whole like like Jax State football was supposed to look last year, all of those nagging things that last year’s success explained away suddenly need more explaining.
The 2024 Gamecocks have 60 new players and a new defensive coordinator. They also lost a heart-and-soul core of senior leaders with deep ties to the FCS years who really, really wanted to prove themselves in FBS.
No more shrugging those realities off because Jax State overcame so many seeming realities in 2023. Those things just might matter in 2024.
Even Rodriguez didn’t see coming what came in the first game on Jax State’s new turf, with the newly opened Loring and Debbie White Football Complex adorning the west end and new highlights on the visitor’s side of the newly named AmFirst Stadium.
New shine greeted 2024 after a sublime 2023, and … thud.
‘I’ve been doing this a long time, and I thought our guys were ready to play,” Rodriguez said. “They weren’t, and that’s on me.”
It doesn’t mean Jax State’s season is a loss. The Gamecocks will likely start 0-2, after playing at Louisville on Sept. 7, but the entire Conference USA schedule lies ahead. Jax State handled that way better than expected last year, and the array of bowl possibilities still lie within reach.
The law of averages hasn’t defeated the Gamecocks yet. The 2024 season remains in its first quarter.
Jax State still has an undersized defensive line, and those guys didn’t get off of blocks Thursday. Then again, Rodriguez and staff overcame that in 2023.
The Gamecocks still have lots of quarterbacks with Division I experience, though it hardly showed Thursday. Logan Smothers fumbled on a play that resulted in a Coastal touchdown in the first quarter, and Tyler Huff threw two interceptions before completing a pass to a anyone in Jax State’s new uniforms.
Huff wound up going 7-for-14 for 173 yards and a touchdown. Smothers, Zion Webb’s significant other last season, had moments that reminded of his best moments in 2023.
Too little, too late, and Jax State must retool with Louisville looming.
“Half of the team is new,” Rodriguez said. “Sixty of the guys are new, and I’m not saying they can’t play. I think they can. We’ve got to get them ready to play.
“We obviously have some work to do.”
Game updates
–Kickoff 7 p.m.
–Scouts from the Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills have places in the press box.
–Jax State wins the toss, defers. Coastal will receive the opening kickoff.
–Attendance: 18,977
FIRST QUARTER
CC takes over on its 42.
–CC dominates up front, runs its way to first and goal at JSU’s 10, but an incomplete pass on first down puts the Chants behind the chains. Kade Hensley hits a 25-yard field goal at 11:06 1Q. Drive: 9 plays, 50 yards, 3:45. CC 3, JAX STATE 0
Touchback, Jax State starts on its 25. Logan Smothers to start at QB.
–Jax State goes 3-out, to punt.
CC fair catch, to starts on its 28.
–Ja-Vin Simpkins goes over the top, fumbles, Jax State’s Zachariah Poyser recovers. Laletia Hale with the forced fumble.
Jax State takes over on its 44.
–Gamecocks get to CC 32, and Garrison Rippa hits a 49-yard field goal at 5:50 1Q. Drive: 6 plays, 25 yards, 2:29. JAX STATE 3, CC 3.
CC takes over on its 23.
–Coverage bust, and Ethan Vasko throws to a wide-open Tray Taylor for a 36-yard TD pass. Hensley PAT is good at 1:12 1Q. Drive: 8 plays, 77 yards, 4:30. CC 10, JAX STATE 3.
Jax State fair catch, will take over at its 25.
–Smothers sacked by Will Whitson, fumbles, CC’s Cley Lubin recovers and returns for a TD. Hensley PAT good at 1:01 1Q. CC 17, JAX STATE 3.
Kick out of bounds. Jax State takes over on its 35. Tyler Huff in at QB.
–On second play of the drive, Matthew McDoom intercepts Huff’s pass and returns to Jax State’s 38.
CC starts on Jax State’s 38.
SECOND QUARTER
–Jax State forces third down, and Poyser intercepts a Vasko pass at the Jax State 28. Play stands after review.
Jax State starts at its 28.
–Jax State goes 3-out, will punt.
CC starts on its 20.
–Vasko throws to a wide-open Taylor on a quick slant, catch and run 59 yards to Jax State’s 21. … Sets up Vasko’s 4-yard TD run at 11:48. Hensley’s PAT good. Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards, 1:52. CC 24, JAX STATE 3.
Jax State starts on its 25. Smothers back in at QB.
–Gamecocks get one first down before punting. Dawson with a 59-yard punt.
CC takes over on its 20 after a touchback.
–Jax State forces a punt from its 49. Punt skips along the goal line, stays on the green.
Jax State to starts on its 3. Huff in at QB.
–Gamecocks go 3-out as Huff recovers his own fumble. Dawson to punt from his own end zone.
CC to start at Jax State’s 48.
–With help of face-masking and interference penalties, CC gets to Jax State’s 2, scores on Braydon Bennett’s 2-yard TD run. Hensley PAT good at 2:20 2Q. Drive: 9 plays, 48 yards, 4:49. CC 31, JAX STATE 3
Jax State to starts from its 25. Smothers at QB
–Gamecocks mount their first drive, gets a 1-yard TD run from Cole Fuller at 0:19. Rippa PAT good. Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards. CC 31, JAX STATE 10
THIRD QUARTER
CC starts on its 21.
–Bennett in for a 2-yard TD run at 9:11. Hensley’s PAT good. Drive: 9 plays, 79 yards, 4:39. CC 38, JAX STATE 10
Touchback, Jax State starts on its 25. Smothers at QB.
–Gamecocks go 3-out, punt.
Fair catch, and CC to starts on its 34.
–CC punts on fourth and one from Jax State’s 39.
Jax State starts on its 11, fair catch. Huff in at QB
–Huff throws second interception of the game, CC’s Cristian Conyer.
CC starts at Jax State’s 22
— Jax State defense stands, and Hensley hits a 39-yard field goal at 3:13. CC 41, JAX STATE 10
FOURTH QUARTER
Jax State starts on its 25
–Rippa hits a 26-yard field goal at 13:10. Drive: 14 plays, 67 yards, 5:03. CC 41, JAX STATE 13.
CC starts on its 25
–Vasko hits a wide-open Jameson Tucker for a 36-yard TD pass at 8:43. Hensley’s PAT good. Drive 9 plays, 75 yards, 4:36. CC 48, JAX STATE 13
Jax State starts on own 15
–After a blindside block penalty backs Jax State up to the 7, Huff throws down field for Michael Pettway, who shakes tacklers and finishes off a 93-yard TD reception. Rippa hits the PAT at 8:03. Drive: 1 play, 85 yards, 0:24. CC 48, JAX STATE 20
CC starts on its 25
–On fourth down, Noah Kim completes a 10-yard TD pass to Senika McKie. Hensley’s PAT good at 2:18. Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards, 5:45. CC 55, JAX STATE 20.
Jax State starts on its
–Tre Stewart with a 38-yard TD run. Rippa’s PAT good at 1:06. Drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:12. CC 55, JAX STATE 27
FINAL: Coastal Carolina beats Jax State 55-27,
