Jacksonville State Gamecocks football

Last updated

Jacksonville State Gamecocks football
AmericanFootball current event.svg 2025 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team
Jacksonville State Gamecocks wordmark.svg
First season1904; 121 years ago
Athletic director Greg Seitz
Head coach Charles Kelly
1st season, 0–0 (–)
Stadium AmFirst Stadium
(capacity: 22,500)
Field surfaceTurf
Location Jacksonville, Alabama
NCAA division Division I FBS
Conference Conference USA
All-time record621–423–39 [1]  (.591)
Bowl record1–1 (.500)
Claimed national titles1 NCAA Division II (1992)
Conference titles25
Rivalries Troy (rivalry)
Kennesaw State
ColorsRed and white [2]
   
Marching band Marching Southerners
Website JaxStateSports.com

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Jacksonville State University (JSU) located in the U.S. state of Alabama. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Conference USA. Jacksonville State's first football team was fielded in 1904. The team plays its home games at the 24,000-seat AmFirst Stadium in Jacksonville, Alabama. [3]

Contents

On November 5, 2021, the school accepted an invitation to join Conference USA (C-USA) of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) beginning with the 2023 season. [4]

History

Jacksonville State University's first football team, the Eagle Owls, was formed in the late 19th century. During the first half century of play, Troy University and Samford University became their rivals. Before the start of the 1947 season, not only did the team change their colors from blue and gold to red and white, but their nickname changed to the Fighting Gamecocks.

Jacksonville State joined the NCAA in 1973, and played at the NCAA Division II level from 1973 to 1994. In 1995, the team moved up to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and competed in the Southland Conference from 1996 to 2002 before moving to the Ohio Valley Conference from 2003 to 2020. Jacksonville State University planned to leave the Ohio Valley Conference for the ASUN Conference in July 2021, with the team temporarily competing in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC)'s "ASUN–WAC Challenge" partnership league. [5] However, a few months later on November 5, 2021, the school accepted an invitation to join FBS Conference USA (C-USA) beginning with the 2023 season. [4]

Classifications

Conference affiliations

Championships

National championships

Jacksonville State has made four appearances in the NCAA Division II national championship game. The Gamecocks were defeated in their first three championship game appearances, losing 33–0 to Lehigh in 1977, 3–0 to Mississippi College in 1989 (later vacated), and 23–6 to Pittsburg State in 1991. In 1992, the Gamecocks defeated Pittsburg State 17–13, reversing the results in a rematch of their 1991 championship game.

SeasonCoachSelectorRecord
1992 Bill Burgess NCAA Division II 12–1–1

Conference championships

Jacksonville State has won 25 conference championships, 18 outright and four shared.

SeasonConferenceCoachOverall recordConference record
1962† Alabama Collegiate Conference Don Salls 4–3–23–0–1
1963†4–4–13–0–1
19644–4–13–0
1965Jim Blevins7–23–0
19668–23–0
1970 Mid-South Conference Charley Pell 10–05–0
1974 Gulf South Conference Clarkie Mayfield 7–47–1
1977 Jim Fuller 11–37–1
19787–36–1
19818–36–0
198210–27–0
1988† Bill Burgess 10–27–1
198913–18–0
199112–16–0
1992 12–1–15–0–1
2003 Ohio Valley Conference Jack Crowe 8–47–1
20049–27–1
2011†7–46–2
2014 John Grass 10–28–0
2015 13–28–0
2016 10–27–0
2017 10–28–0
2018 9–47–1
2020 10–36–1
2022 ASUN Conference Rich Rodriguez 9–25–0
2024 Conference USA 9-47-1

† Co-championship

Bowl games

Jacksonville State has participated in ten bowl games, and has a record of 7–3. However, most of them are not Division I bowl games. [6] Consequently, after joining Division I FBS, they participated in two bowl games, and have a record of 1–1.

SeasonCoachBowlOpponentResult
1948 Don Salls Paper Bowl † Troy W 19–0
1949 Don Salls Paper Bowl † West Alabama W 12–7
1950 Don Salls Paper Bowl †Pensacola Naval AlumniL 6–7
1955 Don Salls Refrigerator Bowl † Rhode Island W 12–10
1966 Jim Blevins Space City Classic† Arkansas–Monticello W 41–30
1970 Charley Pell Orange Blossom Classic † Florida A&M W 21–7
1977 Jim Fuller Grantland Rice Bowl † North Dakota State W 31–7
Jim Fuller Pioneer Bowl † Lehigh L 0–33
2023 Rich Rodriguez New Orleans Bowl Louisiana W 34–31 OT
2024 Rod Smith Cure Bowl Ohio L 27–30

† non-Division I bowl game

Playoff history

Division I-AA/FCS playoffs results

The Gamecocks have appeared in the I-AA/FCS playoffs ten times, with an overall record of 7–10.

YearRoundOpponentResult
2003 First roundWestern KentuckyL 7–45
2004 First roundFurmanL 7–49
2010 Second roundWoffordL 14–17
2013 First round
Second round
Quarterfinals		Samford
McNeese State
Eastern Washington		W 55–14
W 31–10
L 24–35
2014 Second roundSam Houston StateL 26–37
2015 Second round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National championship game		Chattanooga
Charleston Southern
Sam Houston State
North Dakota State		W 41–35 OT
W 58–38
W 62–10
L 10–37
2016 Second roundYoungstown StateL 24–40
2017 Second roundKennesaw StateL 7–17
2018 First round
Second round		East Tennessee State
Maine		W 34–27
L 27–55
2020 First round
Quarterfinals		Davidson
Delaware		W 49–14
L 14–20

Division II playoffs results

The Gamecocks have appeared in the Division II playoffs ten times, with an overall record of 15–9. They were national champions in 1992.

YearRoundOpponentResult
1977 Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National championship game 		Northern Arizona
North Dakota State
Lehigh		W 35–0
W 31–7
L 0–33
1978 QuarterfinalsDelawareL 21–42
1980 QuarterfinalsCal Poly–SLOL 0–15
1981 QuarterfinalsSouthwest Texas StateL 22–38
1982 Quarterfinals
Semifinals		Northwest Missouri State
Southwest Texas State		W 34–21
L 14–19
1988 First round
Quarterfinals		West Chester
Portland State		W 63–24
L 13–20
1989 First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National championship game		Alabama A&M
North Dakota State
Angelo State
Mississippi College		W 33–9
W 21–17
W 34–16
L 0–3
1990 First round
Quarterfinals		North Alabama
Mississippi College		W 38–14
L 7–14
1991 First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National championship game		Winston-Salem State
Mississippi College
Indiana (PA)
Pittsburg State		W 49–24
W 35–7
W 27–20
L 6–23
1992 First round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
National championship game		Savannah State
North Alabama
New Haven
Pittsburg State		W 41–16
W 14–12
W 46–35
W 17–13

Rivalries

Samford

This unnamed rivalry started in 1904, [7] when Jacksonville wore blue and gold as the Eagle Owls and Samford University was still named Howard College. Jacksonville State leads the series 23–21–2.[ citation needed ][ when? ]

Troy

Jacksonville State used to play Troy in the annual Battle for the Ol' School Bell. The schools first played in 1924, and this was one of the fiercest rivalries for both schools. The game has not been played since 2001, after Troy moved up to the FBS. Jacksonville State leads the series 32–29–2.[ citation needed ][ when? ]

Notable former players

Notable alumni include:

Future non-conference opponents

Future non-conference opponents announced as of August 26, 2025. [8]

2025202620272028202920302031
at UCF Eastern Kentucky at UAB UAB at Ole Miss
at Georgia Southern Georgia Southern at Buffalo Buffalo
Murray State at Auburn
at Southern Miss

References

  1. ↑ NCAA Statistics https://stats.ncaa.org/teams/history?utf8=✓&org_id=315&sport_code=MFB&commit=Search
  2. ↑ Jacksonville State University Style Guide & Identification Standards Manual (PDF). Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Jacksonville State Historical Data". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Conference USA to add Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State, Sam Houston State beginning in 2023". ESPN. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  5. ↑ "ASUN, WAC Conferences Announce Football Partnership for 2021" (Press release). ASUN Conference. February 23, 2021. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Jacksonville State's forgotten bowl history". December 14, 2023.
  7. ↑ McCann, Stu (November 25, 2013). "JSU will host Samford in first round of FCS playoffs". WBMA.
  8. ↑ "Jacksonville State Gamecocks Football Future Schedules". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.