Jacksonville State Football: How will the Gamecocks fare in CUSA?
By Dante Pryor
Jacksonville State football makes its debut in Conference USA this fall.
The winds of change are sweeping around college football. Teams have moved from the Group of Five to the Power Five. Cincinnati, UCF, and Houston left the American Athletic Conference and made their way to the Big 12. UTSA, Rice, and North Texas are among the teams leaving Conference USA to join the AAC. Jacksonville State football is amongst the movers.
Because of all of the conference shuffling and realignment, that leaves room for FCS teams to move up to the FBS. James Madison joined the FBS, and Jacksonville State football makes its FBS debut this fall.
If you didn’t know, Jacksonville State is in Alabama and was part of the ASun conference. The Gamecocks were one of the powers of FCS in the last decade. JSU won the conference seven times in the previous decade and played for an FCS title in 2015. Conference USA teams had better be careful; the Gamecocks are coming to win.
Will JSU have an easy transition like James Madison and Coastal Carolina had when they moved up? Is it a possibility they struggle as TCU and Utah did? One thing is for sure, the offense under Rich Rodriguez will be fun to watch.