Jacksonville St. seeks undisputed conference crown

The Gamecocks can clinch sole possession of the OVC title on Saturday against Southeast.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Jacksonville State still needs one more win to nail down a second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.

But heading into the final week of play, the Gamecocks already know they will be the OVC's representative in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

JSU's 31-21 win at Eastern Illinois on Saturday clinched at least a tie for the conference title, and Tennessee Tech's 31-28 overtime loss at Southeast Missouri State guaranteed the Gamecocks the playoff spot.

If Jacksonville State loses its finale to visiting Southeast this week, then Murray State (at Tennessee State) and Eastern Kentucky (at Tennessee Tech) would earn a share of the crown with victories. But the Gamecocks have already beaten both squads, giving them the tie-breaker.

"We've had a very close football game at Eastern Illinois, and we were very fortunate to win," Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe said during the season's final weekly OVC teleconference on Tuesday.

Jacksonville State is 8-1 overall and 6-1 in OVC play, just ahead of Murray State (6-4, 5-2) and Eastern Kentucky (5-5, 5-2). Tennessee Tech (6-4, 3-3), the only team to beat the Gamecocks this year, was eliminated from title contention with the loss at Southeast Missouri.

Crowe said his players are intent on not letting anybody else grab a piece of the pie, as the Gamecocks -- ranked 14th nationally -- look to post their second straight 7-1 conference record since joining the league. They want no part of a co-championship.

"Co doesn't appeal to them at all, so they don't feel like the job's finished," Crowe said.

Crowe said he expects a serious challenge from a Southeast Missouri squad that has struggled most of the season. Last year, Southeast lost to Jacksonville State 22-17 in the final game, a victory that clinched the title for the Gamecocks.

"I think we're going to be challenged in every way, and I think it's going to require us to play as good as we're capable of playing to get this win and get what comes along with it," Crowe said.

Murray State and Eastern Kentucky did their part on Saturday to remain in the OVC title picture. The Racers routed visiting Tennessee-Martin 38-0, and the Colonels eased past visiting Tennessee State 29-14.

"It was a big win for us," Eastern Kentucky coach Danny Hope said. "It was a heck of a football game. Tennessee State has a lot of great players."

The Colonels will try to extend a streak in their finale against Tennessee Tech. Eastern Kentucky has posted 26 straight winning seasons and has had 31 consecutive non-losing records, its last sub-.500 mark being a 5-6 ledger in 1972.

"It's a huge incentive for us. It's something we're really proud of," said Hope, a former Eastern Kentucky player.

Several squads are jockeying for position in the middle of the standings, including Eastern Illinois (4-6, 3-4), Samford (4-6, 3-4), Southeast Missouri (3-7, 3-4) and Tennessee State (4-6, 2-4).

Tennessee-Martin (2-9, 1-7) has completed its season and is assured of finishing last. The Skyhawks have either shared the league's bottom spot or held it alone for nine straight years.

Extra points

Tennessee State senior tailback Charles Anthony and Eastern Illinois senior tackle Marcus Lorick are the league's offensive and defensive players of the week. Anthony rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries against Eastern Kentucky. Lorick had a career-high 20 tackles against Jacksonville State.

Anthony, the nation's top-ranked Division I-AA rusher with an average of 163.5 yards per game, has 4,953 career yards. He gets one last shot to break the OVC's career rushing record of 5,149, set by Eastern Kentucky's Marcus Thomas (1989-1992).

Samford senior wide receiver Efrem Hill needs 44 receiving yards in the Bulldogs' final game to become the fourth player in OVC history to register back-to-back 1,000 yard performances.

In just two seasons in the OVC, Samford senior quarterback Ray Nelson has climbed to seventh on the league's career chart for total offense with 6,525 yards. His 3,385 yards this year is just 22 shy of the conference single-season mark of 3,407, and Nelson figures to break that easily this week.

Eastern Kentucky senior tailback C.J. Hudson recently became just the fifth OVC player to top 4,000 career rushing yards. His total stands at 4,093 yards.

Murray State running backs Nick Turner (148 yards), Ron Lane (134) and Chad Cook (106) became the first trio in Racers history to rush for at least 100 yards in the same game during the rout of Tennessee-Martin.