When four new teams entered Conference USA beginning with this 2023 season, most expected one of those newcomers to immediately compete for a conference championship, but the first game this season to have real conference championship implications comes between two of those incoming teams.

Liberty was picked second in the preseason poll and it doesn’t come as a shock that the Flames are fighting for their inclusion at the top of the CUSA pecking order. However, Jacksonville State, in its first season at the FBS level and in Conference USA, was the picked 7th in the preseason poll, but they have been one of the surprising teams in all of FBS this season.

The Flames and Gamecocks are the first teams since the first year of Conference USA football to begin their team in the league with a 3-0 conference record. Jacksonville State (5-1, 3-0 CUSA), will play host to Liberty (5-0, 3-0 CUSA) on Tuesday night in Jacksonville, Alabama. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.

Jacksonville State was a well respected program at the FCS level. A frequent playoff participant, the Gamecocks won at least 9 games in 3 of the previous 5 seasons including a 9-2 mark last year, their final season playing an FCS schedule.

After one season as Louisiana-Monroe’s offensive coordinator, Rich Rodriguez is now in his second season as head coach at JSU. The former West Virginia, Michigan, and Arizona head coach has an overall record of 177-122-2 during his time as a head coach at the college level.

Liberty has never defeated Jacksonville State, losing all four games, and has never even been competitive in those games. The Gamecocks have outscored the Flames, 185-42, in those four contests. The most recent games came during the 2016 and 2017 seasons when both teams were competing at the FCS level. JSU won those games, 48-19, in Lynchburg in 2016 and, 31-10, in Alabama in 2017.

Jacksonville State opened the season in Week 0 with a 17-14 win over UTEP in their home FBS and Conference USA debut. They then dismantled ETSU, 49-3, before suffering their only loss of the season so far on Sept. 9 at Coastal Carolina, 30-16. Since then, the Gamecocks have won three straight, defeating Eastern Michigan, 21-0, Sam Houston, 35-28 in overtime, and Middle Tennessee, 45-30.

For the Gamecocks, their offense revolves around their rushing attack. They are averaging 214.5 yards on the ground each game, led by their running back Malik Jackson. He leads the team with 93 rushing yards per game as he has toted the ball 98 times for 558 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Rich Rod has used a bit of a revolving door at quarterback, rotating between Logan Smothers and Zion Webb throughout the season. Both are dual-threat weapons and have struggled at times passing the football.

Smothers has completed 50 of his 84 passes for 523 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 1 interception while rushing the ball 57 times for 240 yards and 5 scores.

Webb has been more inconsistent than Smothers in passing the football, completing less than 50% of his 64 passes for 403 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He also has 186 rushing yards and a score on 33 carries.

“They’re not going to change much as far as what they believe in from their tempo and all those things,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell of the JSU quarterbacks. “They will go with the hot hand. They both can run. They both bring challenges. Webb played a lot of the game last week and played pretty well and did a good job. Obviously, you expect to see him. Maybe if you struggle you put the other guy in there. I could see them put both of them out there at the same time trying to do this or that. The thing you have to do a good job of is we have to try to make sure when they are throwing the ball beat us from inside that pocket. When they get outside of it, they are really good.”

Perry Carter leads the team in receiving with 13 receptions for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns through the first six games of the season.

“If they are constantly out there, then they are just going to wear you down,” Chadwell said of the Gamecocks’ offensive attack. “The last two weeks they have worn their opponents down there in the second half. They played well. They play good complimentary football. We are going to have to line up fast and do a great job there. We are going to have to do our part offensively as far as not going three and out and giving the ball right back. Teams have sometimes tried to match their speed, they went three and out and put their defense right back out there. We will have to do a good job of holding onto the ball on offense and keeping it and sustaining some drives.”

JSU has one of the better defenses in Conference USA. They are holding teams to 17.5 points per game and have intercepted 10 passes on the season, second only to Liberty in that category. The Gamecocks are holding opponents to 112.2 yards rushing but have been exposed some throughout the passing game, allowing 240.7 yards through the air each contest.

“They’ve got really good players,” Chadwell said of the JSU defense. “They do a great job scheme wise. They are physical and they run and they chase the ball. They are very relentless in what they do. They pride themselves on being a physical group and they are just going to come after you. They use schemes that confuse you and some of those things. They are really good at tackles for loss and some of those things. We will have to be very sharp in the things that we do as far as executing. They try to cause havoc in all the different things. If you are not handling your business then it makes it worse. They swarm the football and they play with a lot of confidence. It will be our biggest challenge.”

PREDICTION

Liberty 28, Jacksonville State 24

Line: Liberty -6.5

Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 5-0
ATS: 3-2