2018 JSU Football Schedule

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State football team will once again open on ESPN against a nationally-ranked foe in Montgomery and will play five home games in 2018.The four-time defending Ohio Valley Conference Champion Gamecocks released their schedule on Wednesday, in correspondence with the announcement from ESPN that they would face North Carolina A&T in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff at Cramton Bowl on ESPN. It will mark the second-straight year that JSU has opened in the nationally televised game after claiming a 27-13 win over Chattanooga in the inaugural game last year."Jacksonville State is thrilled to open the season in the Guardian Credit Union FCS Kickoff again in 2018," Jacksonville State University director of athleticssaid. "After playing in the inaugural game last year, we feel it is one of the premier events in all of FCS football and is a great stage for us to showcase our program and FCS football to a national audience. We had a great experience in Montgomery in 2017 and we are excited to be able to give our fans the opportunity to see us play in a setting that is close to Jacksonville."The Gamecocks, who were ranked ninth in the final polls of 2017, and the No. 6 Aggies will kick the season off on Aug. 25 in what is referred to as Week Zero.JSU will open with the Guardian FCS Kickoff and will then be open in week one before opening their five-game home slate on Sept. 8 against Mississippi Valley State at 6 p.m. That will be Band Day at Burgess-Snow Field and will start a three-game homestand that will also see Ohio Valley Conference foes Tennessee Tech (Family Day on Sept. 22) and Austin Peay (Homecoming on Sept. 29) visit Burgess-Snow Field before the end of September.The TTU and APSU games start a stretch of nine-straight weeks of play for JSU, one that ends with a rematch from last year's FCS Playoff Second Round game vs. Kennesaw State on Nov. 17 at SunTrust Park. It will be the first football game played in the state-of-the-art baseball stadium that is home of the Atlanta Braves.The Gamecocks' other two home games will be on Oct. 13 against Eastern Illinois (Preview Day) and Nov. 3 vs. UT Martin (Southerners Reunion). In OVC play, JSU will travel to Eastern Kentucky (Oct. 6), Southeast Missouri (Oct. 20), Murray State (Oct. 27) and Tennessee State (Nov. 10).JSU enters the season looking to make history after tying Middle Tennessee (1956-59) and Eastern Kentucky (1981-84) for the record for consecutive OVC Championships. The Gamecocks have not lost an OVC game since 2013, a streak of 32-straight wins in league play.That win streak is the longest active conference win streak in all of Division I football ahead of Grambling's 26-game Southwestern Athletic Conference win streak and is the second-longest conference win streak in FCS history behind Duquesne's 39-game Metro Atlantic win streak from 1999-06.8/25 – vs. North Carolina A&T (ESPN), Montgomery, Ala. – TBASept. 8 - Mississippi Valley State (Band Day) - 6 p.m.Sept. 29 - *Austin Peay (Homecoming) - 3 p.m.Oct. 6 - *at Eastern Kentucky - 3 p.m.Oct. 20 - *at Southeast Missouri State - 1 p.m.Oct. 27 - *at Murray State Murray, Ky. 3 p.m.Nov. 10 - *at Tennessee State - 2 p.m.Nov. 17 - at Kennesaw State (SunTrust Park) - TBA*-OVC GameAll times Central