THURSDAY'S SCORES
@#2 Jacksonville State 36, Tennessee State 6
JACKSONVILLE STATE 36, TENNESSEE STATE 6
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Defense wins championships.
If one of football's most-used clichés holds true, No. 2 Jacksonville State is trending in the right direction heading into the FCS playoffs.
The Gamecocks finished off the regular-season schedule with a 36-6 victory over Tennessee State before a Burgess-Snow Field crowd of 18,782 on Thursday night.
JSU carries a 10-1 overall record into the postseason and extended its Ohio Valley Conference win streak to a league-record 32 games, the longest active streak in Division I.
Roc Thomas and Bryant Horn each scored on long runs in a span of 64 seconds in the third quarter, and the Gamecock defense picked off two passes and recorded a safety while limiting the Tigers (6-5, 2-5) to 97 total yards.
Tennessee State become the fourth opponent in a row held to less than 210 yards by JSU's defense, which entered the game ranked third nationally in total defense at 243.9 yards per game.
Horn ran for a career-high 148 yards – including a 44-yard TD – in just over three quarters of action and also tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Cummins in the second quarter. The catch by Cummins, a redshirt freshman from Stevenson, Ala., was the first of his JSU career.
Jacksonville State led 10-0 at halftime.
Thomas sprinted 50 yards with 11:33 to go in the third quarter to increase the lead to 17-0, and Horn's TD run on the first play following a Tigers' punt stretched the Gamecocks' lead to 24-0 at the 10:29 mark in the third.
Jacksonville State's defense held TSU to 15 yards rushing on 28 attempts.
The Tigers were 0-of-12 on third-down conversions and quarterback Michael Hughes was sacked seven times, a season-best for the Gamecock defenders.
Hagler led Jacksonville State with seven tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss. Marlon Bridges and Joel McCandless each intercepted a Tigers pass.
Thomas ran for 105 yards on 14 carries (his fifth 100-yard effort in 2017), but did not return after his 50-yard TD jaunt. Thomas now has 12 rushing touchdowns this year.
Cade Stinnett made field goals of 19 and 33 yards, and Tramel Terry completed the scoring when he ran eight yards for a touchdown with 11:06 left.
Next up is the Gamecocks' fifth-straight appearance in the FCS playoffs (eighth overall since moving to Division I).