NASHVILLE — No matter how you slice it, no matter how you dice it, there's no denying that the Ohio Valley Conference has been painted Red and White for years thanks to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
The program has won five straight OVC championships P.J.G. For those scoring at home, that's P.J.G. — Post Jimmy Garoppolo, the acronym for the current NFL quarterback who not long ago won a bunch of games for Eastern Illinois in the OVC. For those who can't get enough OF glowing numbers, JSU is 52-12 the past five years P.J.G. — with four of those losses coming to Power Five Conference teams, and five others being in the playoffs.
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So, since we kicked this piece off with a culinary slice and dice, we decided to ask opposing OVC coaches what the JSU recipe for success was, in their opinions. Here's a look at the ingredients the other coaches said make it up:
- A healthy dose of talent
- A heaping helping of good (and consistent) coaching
- A bunch of administrative support
- A scheme the players buy into and execute well
- A pinch or three of tradition
- A dab of impressive fan support
Then take the ingredients above and stir together until it turns red and white and crows like an ornery rooster, and you're onto the magic formula JSU has used to win OVC titles over the years. The Gamecocks look pretty good again, but here's the caviat … they were challenged in the OVC last year, being knocked around by SEMO and with UT Martin and Austin Peay both playing them tough until falling late. The Gamecocks weren't invincible.
Regardless, JSU captured another OVC championship in 2018. And while other programs within the league closed the gap and it got kind of squirrelly down the stretch, the Gamecocks once again have been lauded as the favorite coming into this season.
"They are obviously the top of the league, they've won it every year that I've been in the conference (2016) and they won it before that," said Eastern Kentucky coach Mark Elder, whose team looks as good on paper as it has been in years. "I think they've got a combination of recruiting good football players and they have a good scheme … They execute very, very well and they're talented."
In 2018, UT Martin was leading 14-13 with a minute left before JSU rallied to win it, and in the year prior, the Gamecocks won only 14-7. Regardless of their struggles in 2018 (only 2 wins, 8th in the league), the Skyhawks nearly cost JSU a fifth straight OVC title — so they know something about that recipe. It makes sense considering UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson has been in charge since 2006 and has guided one of the other most consistent programs in the OVC.
"You can't beat them turning the ball over, they're the standard and we're all chasing them," Simpson told HERO Sports. "They don't beat themselves with their scheme and they make you beat them. That's what i see week in and week out with them."
One team figured the recipe out last year — big time. SEMO ended JSU's 36-game OVC winning streak, 37-14, dating back to the Garoppolo days we mentioned above. Yes, turnovers were a big reason for it (five + a SEMO blocked kick) but the truth is, the RedHawks found a way that day, though JSU ended up winning the league because that was the Gamecocks' lone league loss last year.
Can SEMO or another program knock them off again?
"I think Jacksonville State has made all of us try to get better and I think they have," SEMO coach Tom Matukewicz told HERO Sports on Monday at OVC media day. "I think you have to match their physicality. They're going to try to impose their will and you can't let them push you around."
There's been a lot of talk about league parity this preseason, but the OVC will still have to catch JSU for that to happen. Bring your measuring cups and spoons and see if you can come up with the recipe to do that consistently.
EDITOR'S NOTE: More coverage to come from the Ohio Valley Conference Media Day experience in the next few days/weeks.
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PREVIEWS: The OVC
Austin Peay | Eastern Illinois | Eastern Kentucky
Jacksonville State | Murray State | SEMO (July 26)
Tennessee St. (31st) | Tenn. Tech (31st) | UT Martin (Aug. 2)
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