2021 NCAA FCS Championship First Round - Davidson vs Jacksonville State

jacksonville alabama site of one of the eight matchups today in the fcs playoffs the first round continues where the ohio valley champion jacksonville state gamecocks take on the champs of the pioneer league the davidson wildcats the gamecocks are led by quarterback zion webb and our regulars in the post season the number four seed also boasting a very stout defense that will be tested today by fcs playoff newcomer the davidson wildcats and their versatile triple option offense it's power versus finesse as the fcs championship continues next [Music] it has turned out to be a drop dead beautiful saturday afternoon here in jacksonville alabama gamecocks and the wildcats ready to do battle the winner of this one will advance to the quarterfinals and take on the winner of delaware the blue hens in their first round matchup taking on sacred heart and with that we say hello and welcome everybody he is the former all conference offensive lineman cole kubrick i am mike morgan great to be with you call us the kind of matchup we love right contrasting styles jacksonville state a perennial playoff team davidson the newcomer kind of david versus goliath and of course for jacksonville state they were throwing a curveball early when their starting quarterback went down but now all of a sudden zion webb has become a household name mike you kind of mentioned it jacksonville state expected to be here just maybe not like this xeric cooper the clemson transfer quarterback who has set multiple school records was set to be the guy zion webb has to take over after the first series against fiu in the fall and he may lack a little bit what derek brings in stature but none in production over 1500 yards passing he's accounted for 15 total touchdowns this season it's a balanced gamecock offense and zion webb is absolutely the guy that makes it go perhaps balance would not best describe davidson they run it 85 of the time but they do so with a lot of success and they've got two ultra talented tailbacks and koi williams and dylan sparks boy one of the coolest things about watching fcs football this spring has been the different styles of the triple option that we'll see and coach table brings another different style it's triple option but they'll be in the gun and these two right here going to do a lot of the heavy lifting 27 coy williams 24 dylan sparks will get the majority of the work with the football in their hands it's a team that leads the fcs in rushing and those two gentlemen right there can do it outside can do it inside they'll line up in different places they will formation you to death and i'm excited to see this offense roll today it has been the john gross era in jacksonville state and what an era it has been his seventh season 47-7 in conference play first five years they won the ohio valley conference they were in the championship game a few years ago against north dakota state simply put he has taken this program to new heights and jacksonville state has become a power at the fcs level it was raining all morning long there was talk about we might have a really wet day today here in the state of alabama but it has turned out perfectly the clouds have broken off the sun is shining through and we're ready for what should be one of the more intriguing matchups cole when you talk about these two teams and you talk about the differences not only in pedigree but the differences in the style we can expect to see one trying to impose their win their will over the other for sure as you see the head coach of the davidson wildcats and scott abell it's a guy that's been around a long time and that triple option has followed him everywhere well he runs it well and he runs it a little bit different like i mentioned with the formations a few moments ago but he's done an excellent job just getting this program to where they are today there's a giant gap in talent but he calls the triple option the ultimate neutralizer they're going to need to neutralize a difference in size physicality and speed in this matchup today [Music] the hometown gamecocks in red the visiting wildcats out of charlotte north carolina and white jacksonville state will kick off and the davidson wildcats who haven't been to the postseason as a program in 52 years will get their first taste of it right here as it's fielded at the 9 by mccurdy mccurdy wiggles his way to about the 23-yard line and that is where the wildcats will set up shop [Applause] tyler phelps is the quarterback a senior out of gulf breeze high school florida young man that when he came to davidson they didn't run the triple option but he went to head coach scott abel when he got the job and said look i'll do whatever i have to do to help this team win that's what he's done in this offense and right away uh here to the left side that's dylan sparks one of the two backs that we mentioned he's bottled up after a gain of maybe two stavante toes from this nickel spot on the tackle just one of the ways that this triple option offense differs a little bit little zone scheme to get things going early not necessarily going gap but not necessarily going midline trying to zone this jacksonville state defense over this is a massive jacksonville state front you cannot rely on getting movement against the middle of this defense it's hard not to notice the difference in size on the line of scrimmage when you put both of these units under the microscope between the tackle carry out to the 31-yard line by dylan sparks toes on another tackle that's a pickup of six really nice cut there by dylan sparks keep in mind here as we get to the third down there have not been a lot of punts for this davidson football team this season davidson has punted the football 12 times all year to your point goal that is the kind of number i've never seen at any level give it to the up back and that's going to be good enough for a first down as he muscles his way to the 35 yard line more dylan sparks well you see number three marshall clark the inside linebacker you're turning him loose you're giving him the option to either sit at home make the play he gets north and south that allows the belly play to sneak ahead for first down yardage you can run a belly play on third and four or five when you know you're probably going to go forward on fourth down and as you mentioned that's what they normally do and on third down this year davidson's offense 56 that number one in the country again a steady diet of dylan sparks the talented sophomore out of centerville virginia and he'll gobble up a couple on the left side it's not going to be easy today for davidson who normally runs right through opposing defenses but this jacksonville state defense as you mentioned cole they are big they are stout yeah they've only held their last nine opponents to 80 yards rushing or less how about the last four opponents have all been held under 30 yards rushing and it starts up front with a couple of massive defensive tackles look at those two big boys in the middle right there they ought to nickname those two rick and bubba he's going extra big on second down again between the tackles again it's sparks plowing ahead to the 41-yard line as he picks up four tough yards tackle on the play by lemuel gordon the freshman out of montgomery alabama obviously shout out there to my guys bill bubba bussie and rick burgess whose dad's name here on the stadium known very well in this area but it starts up front for this gamecock defense and this is where you want to get davidson third and five or more they still have that option to go forward on fourth down but you want to try to put them in a little bit of a difficult situation on third down to at least force that fourth down attempt they need the 45-yard line for a first down again the option out of the shotgun and they will run straight up the gut that's going to be shy for by a couple of yards and here's what we would anticipate the first fourth down attempt by the davidson offense that's anthony nesby one of those big guys up front you were talking about he is 6-1 315 pounds out of south atlanta high school and still athletic i mean a young man that pitched on his baseball team but he's a guy that takes up a lot of space in the middle of that defense throwing to lose nesby he's a big part of why this rush defense has been so good davidson facing a fourth and short but we return from jacksonville at a star nose guard anthony nesby who hobbled off immediately went to the bike on the sideline fourth down with a little more than a yard dillon sparks in the backfield and again cole the option out of the gun so you look quickly at the formation one thing that would stick out to me you don't have anything unbalanced from the offensive line right here a little bit more of an even look by the offense with three tight ends in the game man in motion is tabor it sparks muscling forward past the 45 and that'll be first down yardage so yet another fourth down conversion by one of the best teams to do it all year long davidson it almost looked like 74. khalil miller got a little bit of an early start on that offensive line but dylan sparks again the cutback zone played to the left he's able to take that handoff stay north and south make that late cut and keep the feet tournament they fake it to sparks and again a little pitch that time it was blown up in the backfield tabor got the carry jacquez payton read it all the way and drops him for a loss jacquez payton from georgiana alabama played for my college teammate iselle powell where the powers down there being alabama or auburn have made a name for themselves all over college football jacquez an important part of this defense he missed all of 2019 and coach crossing company excited to have him back in this defense excellent read they had a little extra motion in the backfield but that's just scouting that's anticipation having an idea where that football is going to end up second and 18 do we see the first pass of the game for davidson looks like we will the lefty cox and fires throw a little high caught but immediately popped and dropped was their leading target jalen staples the junior from brunswick ohio but you do see the arm of tyler phelps he's got the ability to push the ball out to the perimeter you mentioned it in the open mike he's not a triple option quarterback he wasn't recruited to do that he sort of made himself become that the pass is a little more viable than it is and some other triple option offenses but right there just good defense coming up making a play even on soft coverage he might have to throw it two times in a row on a third down at 15. he's 58 of the year six touchdowns three picks now you see the unbalanced look phelps had a man coming out of the backfield open that was eli turner and it just overshot him sails it over his head out of bounds so we will see a rare time this year davidson will punt for just the 13th time this season [Applause] like that unbalanced look he had three offensive lined up to the right side of the offensive line what that's going to do is cause confusion for kelvin ziggler's defense you're gonna have guys that don't line up correctly and guys that miss assignments had to throw out of the backfield just could not connect motion as evan pritchard punts it away but we'll have to see what that penalty flag somebody jumped it wouldn't be enough for a first down even if it was on jacksonville state i keep in mind a fourth down team i like to go for it yeah they'll make it fourth and ten by the way that last drive was ten plays so they ran off a good amount of clock [Music] and it will be offsides referee jeff gray on the spot so now you go from 4th and fifteen to fourth and ten are you tempted you're in a little better field position here i think you're gonna leave the front team out but obviously a little better opportunity to maybe pin this dangerous jacksonville state defense back a little bit further it wasn't a great punt there by the way either so he gets another shot from their own 47-yard line prichard better looking boot this time out this is going to be inside the 10. takes a good bounce and into the end zone davidson had a chance to down it at the one-yard line [Applause] so our first look at the gamecock offense and as we told you in the open this was an offense led by zarek cooper before he broke his ankle against fiu that was actually a win against fiu so insert zion webb red shirt junior out of nearby phoenix city alabama he wound up being first team all ohio valley conference and has really done a great job in relief of cooper on first down hill laser one complete at the 25 that'll be first down yardage and here's a name to look out for their six seven tight end trey berry well the first thing i thought of when i actually saw the alignment was oh you gotta match up with trey berry here because it's single safety which puts an outside linebacker andre barry you're just not going to be able to run with him he's too athletic barry who was a high school quarterback and a really skinny high school senior got overlooked by a lot of the bigger schools but he has transformed himself into one heck of a weapon at the tight end spot on first down after a 10-yard pickup a little screen pass out in the flat to petway and he finds no daylight bottled up and drops after a modest game now the nub tied in to the near side over on the right and you throw away from him now that he has the defense's attention i like the call but excellent pursuit from this davidson defense they're not going to give you a lot this is not a defense it's going to show you all kind of glamorous blitz packages and pressures and stunts they're gonna play this base four three that you see right here with the single safety the majority of the time jackson and samuel the two back samuel in motion instead it's gonna be webb keeping it we're finding daylight past midfield it's a foot race 40 down to the 20 and wrapped up at about the one yard line a touchdown saving tackle by jalen bolden after a pickup of 67 yards [Applause] counter and you kind of show it with a pass look and it's an excellent job up front by that offensive line they loosened them up with a couple of quick throws i like the scheme so far from jimmy ogle the jacksonville state offensive coordinator hit the perimeter hit the perimeter hit the short throws then you show pass with zion webb and you come back underneath with quarterback counter webb out of the gun on first and goal handoff and a touchdown josh samuel finds paydirt his eighth rushing touchdown of the season impressive drive for the gamecocks jacksonville state now an opening touchdown for the last five games she's just winning up front in a monster block by josh wegner the nebraska transfer at right guard just peter roll i ran into justice josh's father in the hotel they're from iowa he drove 18 hours to see his boy play today gotta love the effort gotta love jacksonville state's opening drive impressive gamecocks seven wildcats nothing foreplay 80 yard drive for the gamecocks to take a seven nothing lead 747 to play first quarter cole i know you like this physical smash mouth football watch the guard lined up on the left side of the offensive line here just in front of 45 that's josh wegner on the touchdown run hand placement and then just roll him up that's the finish putting the belly on him you get that kind of movement on the goal line you are going to have success that's a young man that wrestled in high school he's got good body balance good body control we just got him on film [Music] another short kickoff fielded at the six yard line that's waddell tripped up at the 24 yard line we'll get our second look at the davidson offense there you see josh wagner who was at nebraska he wanted to be a cyclone he wanted to go to iowa state he's from algona iowa did not get an offer from the cyclones wound up walking on at nebraska and then decided you know i don't know if i'm going to see some playing time jacksonville state wanted him they got him and what a find he has been he still has another year of eligibility and again the wegner family driving 18 hours that's one way by the way from iowa to jacksonville alabama that's a road [Music] trip orchestrating another drive for davidson takes it himself tried the behind the left side of that line and he is devoured on the play no gain it'll be gordon and coleman on the tackle watch the movement up front as you see linebacker blitz through the a gap by marshall clark three that sort of forces the miss reed which leads to a no game there's two guys who combine on the stop gordon and coleman both all ohio valley conference performers they are very physical on the line of scrimmage very big certainly much bigger than a lot of the teams that davidson would have seen in the pioneer league this year again trying to get it up the middle and again very little there gain of about one sanders on the stop of koi williams so here's another third down and long this is what you want and mike i'm gonna tell you we'll probably hit this a few times during the game today the most impressive part about what jacksonville state is doing so far how strong they've been against the run with two deep safeties they are not over committing to the line of scrimmage to keep this triple offense rushing attack in check looking at a third down and eight a whole lot of motion a little pitch play to the near side and an alley and banging his way to first down yardage that's braden oakley from his wide receiver spot there is a penalty flag on the play a gain of 10 would be good enough for a first down and it'll be offsides on jacksonville state no doubt that'll be declined so a big first down for the davidson offense davidson offense blocking on the perimeter and you see right there wide receiver top left of your screen that's arless hilliard with a nice block out on the corner and then even though jackson shepard collides with the back it was a pretty good block downfield to even be able to open up space for first down yardage [Music] from the 36-yard line six men on the line for the gamecocks and probing the right side and breaking tackles lumbering is coy williams in the plus territory of first down before esquired it out of bounds by jacquez peyton a gain of 17. you love the fact that you're doing this right at dj coleman number two see him get off the block a little bit late there he loses contain and that's going to allow coy williams to be able to bust to the outside again formations tight ends different numbers 37 27 14. the offensive linemen are going to be moving back and forth all over the place usually you go unbalanced it'll be one guy that moves right or moves left they'll take a right guard and move him over beside the left tackle they'll move the right tackle and move him over vice versa it's very confusing for a defense from an alignment perspective you see davidson bleeding clock as a penalty flag flies before this play is executed william's on a carry but like some pre-snap movement drawn jacksonville state offsides twice in this game cole what is it about i think a lot of people look at this offense and they say well we don't see much of it clearly jacksonville state has the size advantage on the line of scrimmage but what is it that makes it so difficult for teams to stop well first off triple option it's all about assignment football and it's easy to get away from that then when you get the motions you get the alignment you get the different formations i just mentioned the different type numbers and body types that can be different places there's just not a lot of it mike that's traditional and a lot of what coach able does is stealing yards you see right here just another different formation than what we've seen so far in this game [Music] jitterbug move right near the sticks that's hillyard again another guy listed as a wide receiver that gets a carry i mean this is straight out of the paul johnson kidney and matsulovo playbook right here you take the b back you motion and back around nikoi williams done a lot of damage carrying the football how about the lead block there going low on a linebacker open up a little extra space you got to do the dirty work as one of the backs in this offense as well you mentioned paul johnson those great georgia tech option teams we talked to scott abel you know when we started off we wanted to be like nebraska then we wanted to look more like navy in the service academies and he got three offensive lineman to the right here with 75 lined up to the right stacked up right near the first down marker on seven inches sanders on another tackle from his defensive end spot joined in by marshall clark so there you take your left tackle chris kuroga 75 you line him up as a tight end technically to the right so you get that unbalanced look now you come back and you see 75 lined up is tied in now he's going to go back over to the left 47 your h-back tight end jake stowski's going to follow him a little bit wider splits here over on the left side again two tight end offense kind of an awkward looking snap that the snap came and everybody seemed frozen on the play andrew brantley the center for davidson got a little bit of a head start there it's one thing ice always trying to cheat if we're going on one or going on two see him get a little head start there now i don't know if he had the snap count wrong which is possible but i just always say center can never be offsides because when i snap the ball we're going it doesn't matter you can stay there and not do anything we're going we're playing ball you're running the show we would go on two and i would always try to get that little half a second head start not selling out my guards but you just try to get a little bit of a jump on the defensive lineman because you know that snap count now second down and 11. phelps back to pass fires at dart complete at the 35-yard line again that's his top target jalen staples all five foot nine of them tackled on the play by jeremiah harris a gain of four well what you want to try to do with these quick throws sort of lull those dbs to sleep a little bit just make them think hey we're not going to take the shot it's not going to take the shots yes jacksonville state being successful with two deep safeties but they will start to creep down then you get the double move and you take the shot up top maybe try to win a 50 50 ball or get on top of the defense so far this is everything davidson wants out of a drive they want to milk clock limit possessions for jacksonville state but they'll have a decision here on fourth down as hillary scampers for a couple they're gonna be well shy of the marker they need the 27-yard line i think you get into this territory you have the understanding that we're still pinning that offense back a little bit they have done sort of little muff punts a few times where they'll give you the offensive formation quarterback will just go ahead and kick it davidson this year on fourth down coming into this game 10 for 19. have you set to the right side of the offensive line again on fourth and six pass caught 35 race to the marker by staples did he get there jacksonville state says no the linesman says yes first down wildcats i'll be honest with you mike i was a little surprised that staples didn't put his head down and try to pick up extra yards thought maybe he gave up on the play out of bounds a little bit too early that's close but how about this execution from tyler phelps you fake the belly you six out you really sell triple option hard flat down the line of scrimmage and then just that little quick throw out wide to jalen staples that's something that gus malzahn hugh freeze they've done that in a totally different way recently with that pop pass time out on the field and we will take it with him as we step aside a minute five remaining first quarter gamecocks up seven nothing wildcats are on the move mike morgan cole kubrick back with you here in jacksonville alabama though davidson wildcats marching down the field on a 10-play 49-yard drive six minutes and 42 seconds doesn't even look real i mean the time of possession is just insane right now there you see it 12 15 to 140. when we talk to coach gross about how many possessions they typically look for they want 18 a game but we'd be happy to get seven against these guys colt this pace keeps up they'll be lucky to get five you're on pace for four or five right now play action finds a receiver streaking down the sideline that's the tight end jackson charade for 17 yards and then a late penalty flag [Applause] jackson chard off the play action just a nice job getting lost under coverage safety doesn't roll over quickly enough this young man had four catches for 52 yards against florida state in the fall personal foul targeting number one on the dead targeting penalty to boot so that'll move it even closer it's the second defender over mike and when you watch him come it does look like it's face mask to face mask and if that was the cardio harper that came over oh that's a yeah you see right there i made a helmet to helmet you have to call that there's really no attempt to actually wrap up and make a tackle i mean this is textbook this this unfortunately is a heck of a way to introduce one of the top players in this game but the court nicario harper is one of the top defensive players you're going to find in these playoffs he was the ohio valley conference defensive player of the year coaching staff says one of the best safeties they've ever seen he is a huge huge weapon and if they wind up losing him the rest of this game that completely changes what the gamecock secondary looks like i do think that kelvin zigler could adjust some things on the back end but you're right when you watch him on film the thing that sticks out and where he becomes valuable in a game like this is how he rolls down to the line of scrimmage absolutely no fear well i mean it could be an offensive lineman a tight end it's a tight end there that he's working on the thing that really i hate for him on this play mic that contact's completely unnecessary right wait the ball carries basically out of bounds yeah and gain nothing you gain nothing out of it and you know again to go back with our conversation with kelvin zigler and coach gross about him he said you know he tries to knock guys out every week he said we need him to be less babe ruth and more pete rose i loved the analogy there i thought it was i thought it was spot on but you also you walk such a fine line there because you don't want to coach physicality out of a player i mean just based on the letter of the law and what we've been seeing over the years with this rule i can't see this being overturned it's obviously helmet to helmet there's obviously a lunge leading with the helmet [Music] [Applause] and it's not part of the rule but again i just i can't help but go back to the fact that totally unnecessary just completely unnecessary [Music] there is no targeting on the plate number one can remain in the game it's davidson's ball first and goal so the day i couldn't totally make that out did so he is they reversed it so he is still in the game that is a huge should get huge call so harper stays in the game defensively for jacksonville state they're leading tackle with 80 tackles on the year meanwhile first down and goal ball spotted at the nine between the tackles it's coy williams lowering the shoulder and staggering forward for a couple i thought chloe williams maybe cut this ball back a little bit so you see those splits on the left side of that offensive line a lot of times this group will give away the direction of the run when you get extra splits to one side more times than not that's where that inside zone play is going to end up going [Music] second and goal phelps again hands off and again it's williams fighting for extra yardage down inside the two yard line so a third and goal for davidson and that might be the final play of quarter number one well they're not going to get up there and snap no sir we know that this is the dream drive for davidson exactly what they want exactly what that man john gross does not want to see a long sustained drive bleeding time off the clock gamecock seven wildcats nothing the big play provided by zion webb head coach for davidson scott abel looking on the former minor league baseball player in the kansas city royals organization before 17 years a high school coach seven years at division three washington and lee and already making a huge impact in year three at davidson trying to find pay dirt here they give it to their bruiser coy williams waiting for the sign and the linesman will say no a few inches short wow this is an offense that scores touchdowns in the red zone 67 percent of the time pretty good push by the right side of that offensive line not going to be able to tell if the ball crosses on that look but as we know fourth down no issue going for it another one here fourth and goal inside the one leaping and finding the end zone touchdown coy williams his seventh score of the year and davidson has a chance to tie it up [Applause] the junior from lumberton texas and this is just bear crawl territory i mean not a ton of puss up front by that davidson offensive line sometimes just a stalemate on the goal line is enough because those deep tackles are just trying to shoot north and south williams utilizes the ability to get up and over and find paydirt are you ready for the numbers on this drive 15 plays 76 yards eight minutes and 16 seconds off the clock the offense should be fresh that's what davidson feels like they are going to need to do today in order to win the game against heavily favored jacksonville state banofsky on for the extra point hammers it home 7-7 early second quarter not a lot of push but a stalemate you see right side of that offensive line actually does get a decent amount but then corey williams he's already thumping the chest up and over the top give me a stalemate let you back it up over the top don't allow any penetration to any of the gaps you got a good opportunity to come away with points davidson does and that's like you said mike exactly what coach able wants it was interesting too because coach abel told us hey we can go fast we can be an up tempo team out of the gun triple option we know how to go fast and i kind of laughed in our meeting with him said yeah but not in this one and even he had to take a step back and say yeah you know what that that's probably not what we need to be in this game but they do have the ability to be that if they so wish again davidson looking for their first playoff victory of all time it's their first playoff game in 52 years a call i think we already got an answer to one of the questions we had coming in could davidson you mentioned the word stalemate could they even just get close to a stalemate on the line of scrimmage i think in these first couple of drives they've been able to do that and then some they've proved that and they've proved that you don't have to have a ton of movement up front offensively to be able to move the ball in this ski pettway and west back to receive it's going to be michael pettway the freshman from the seven weaving his way past the 20. and stacked up at the 28-yard line a return of 23 yards well for the 42nd consecutive year the nfl draft is on espn it's also on the nfl network and the game day crew will be on abc again this year covering it from the college perspective it all comes to you thursday april the 29th through may the first all three days on espn deportes espn radio and the espn app pat jackson in a tailback when we get a look at zion webb we almost forgot what this jacksonville state offense looked like they've been on the sideline for so long on first down and on the carry is pat jackson the junior out of columbus mississippi they've got three different tailbacks they're going to see a lot of today and none are really that different from the other pat jackson josh samuel uriah west none of them are really what you would call home run threats but they're all very integral in this offense well you saw your quarterback can be a home run threat carrying the football you have one at tight end a couple at receiver so don't really need that out of the tailback position webb with time deep down the sideline and it's intercepted perfect coverage by jalen bolden his second pick of the year he was shadowing quan charleston by the way how about this davidson crowd right and it feels like the home team's making plays based on the noise we're getting excellent job of staying in phase with the receiver attacking the football at its highest point bowdoin had essentially run juan charleston out of bounds and kept himself alive to be able to make that play what a nice job davidson you mentioned the crowd the enrollment is just 1900 as a small private school they play in the pioneer league no athletic scholarships most of these young men get are getting some type of academic scholarship nice job bouncing outside and racing out of bounds late contact and a late flag that's going to go against george steele dylan sparks stepped out of bounds and then took an extra shove from the defensive back george steele this jacksonville state team averages eight penalty flags a game that has been very impactful early so far in this matchup this is now two first downs that they have awarded to the davidson offense you've got three offsides you've got a couple of personal fouls if you want to look at the recipe for an upset so far jacksonville state is playing along with what it's going to take for davidson to pull this off davidson coming in a three touchdown underdog the longest shot in the fcs playoffs especially for a team that's just trying to grind out any kind of first down just move the sticks and keep the drive alive you give them three four five of those a half all of a sudden you're gonna find yourself in a hole you keep that offense on the field continuing to bleed more and more clock seven seven our score and look at who squirts out of the line and finding some daylight it's dylan sparks their most explosive back harper on the stop after a gain of 11. so you're getting a bear defense now both guards are covered and the right side of that offensive line just completely collapses the jacksonville state defensive line opening up plenty of space for sparks to gain yards again davidson first in the nation 294 rushing yards a game i think everybody was curious yeah but how are they going to do against jacksonville state a true power and a really salty defense so far they have answered the bill off balance to the left side of the offensive line here now goes straight up the gut up ended after a couple yards on the play as sparks marshall clark on the stop one thing very difficult mike is when you get inside zone that's a flow everybody flows with that defense obviously has to play their gaps but then all of a sudden you turn that into a belly play or a midline play there's no more flow they're letting one guy go and they're trying to attack that gap we've seen that hit jacksonville state once or twice early in this game now pistol formation first time we've seen this today sparks dropped in the backfield for a loss great pursuit on the play by number 91 chris hardy the redshirt freshman from vincent alabama if you get opportunities to penetrate you have to cause problems hardy's right there top left through the screen the cut block just not going to get it done that is an excellent job of chris hardy understanding that an offensive lineman's going low he essentially just gives him that knee like a ufc fighter masmud all's going to do tonight and then just run right into that backfield and make a play cole cubelet calling his shots third down and 10. little option play to the far side nothing doing buried in the backfield is phelps marshall all over him leading the charge give chris hardy some credit too watch the left side of your screen he's untouched puller's going to try to attack him and hardy takes on that pull exactly the way that he needs to that's actually a nice job by tyra phelps of not pitching that football he just ate the play says you know what we don't have it on this one let's maintain possession we'll try to flip the field it's a good job of not trying to press and force a pitch that wasn't there by the davidson qb clark second on the team and tackles this year with 70. a little pooch punt and perfectly placed inside the 10 by evan prichard they'll mark it at the nine yard line and that is where the gamecocks will take over when we return 10 33 to play first half 7-7 our score fcs playoffs continue the hometown gamecock fans haven't had a whole lot to cheer about 7-7 game this is a program that has become accustomed to being in the playoffs 20th appearance of all time another ohio valley championship that has become the norm here in jacksonville alabama just the third drive and just the seventh play for the gamecocks and it'll be a good one to the left side and plowing ahead as josh samuel for 15 yards in a first down almost like a buck sweep with the quarterback option to keep it and what you'll see a little bit later in the game zion webb will keep that and then just get north and south but an excellent job on that reed as he saw the center kind of pull around it wasn't there in the a or b gap handed off pick up first down yardage a four play touchdown drive and then a quick interception on the second drive and now another penalty and john gross is going to have plenty to clean up and talk about at the house number four in the offense five yard penalty four penalties now that have been accepted against jacksonville state so that'll back him up five it kind of looks like trey berry tied in got a little head start on that last play do we expect to see more trey berry been rather quiet here in this first half good second ever west lowers that shoulder and plowing ahead for 11 yards it'll be second and four trying to set him up there a little rpo with the ability to go flat behind the line of scrimmage to trebury but a good read by zion webb go ahead and hand that thing off pound out five or six yards on the ground trips to the far side on second down it's an uptight in here for trey berry he'll use him on the flat here a lot [Music] [Applause] try it on the ground to the right squeezing out a yard is west stopped by tj elliott one of the ways mike you almost assure yourself to get trey berry matched up with the db nub tight end being that he's the outside man to that side of the formation they'll do to the short side of the field a lot of times and it's going to be a db who has that coverage responsibility and obviously at six seven two forty five that's a mismatch yeah that's something jimmy ogle told us he said we're gonna go to berry whether it's there or not it's a mismatch this might be a mismatch here west just banging off bodies like a pinball into plus territory a gallop of 16 yards well speaking of gallup trey berry was a rodeo guy in middle school watch four right here the nice block it's not devastating but it's enough to get your back to the third level i talked to his high school coach ben blackman he said he was a rodeo cowboy in middle school i never heard that i like the versatility all right you want to hear versatility 6-7 245 trey berry won state [Applause] at spanish sport high school in the high jump he went 6-6 he was a runner-up in the javelin and he played basketball at spanish ford high school down in south alabama that's not a bad deal do you ever toss a javelin back in your days i'd love to give it a shot but no i'd probably just pretend it was a spear we were back in the medieval days that sounds dangerous second and two cocking and fire deep down the field webb looking what a catch in traffic by mcvay had a defender draylen heinz draped all over him and still reeled it in logan mcveigh is not your prototypical 50-50 ball guy he's 5 10 200. elevate attacks the ball at its highest point brings it into the body get your db out of position a little bit there draylen hines just unable to locate that football early enough what a catch by logan mcveigh biggest pass play of the game for webb in the game cox 34 yards sets up a first and goal samuel and west the backs and a timeout call so we'll hold it up there with 7 15 to go gamecocks on the march and looking to take the lead as we continue from jacksonville alabama the ncaa fcs championship coverage continues next weekend with quarterfinal coverage on espn3 espn2 and the espn app for more information visit ncaa.com the home for all 90 nc 2a championships mike organ cole cublet gamecocks on the move first down and goal it's webb looking end zone has a man and just overshot his target michael pettway the freshman one of their speed guys and he had a step on the defender combination route trying to go to the corner had it like you said just maybe didn't put enough air under that football you kind of want to float that one allow your receiver to adjust potentially go up and make a play but if you feel like that coverage has compressed things sometimes you just got to shoot it out there [Applause] now second down in goal webb handoff foot race to the edge and west finds pay dirt easily nobody in sight touchdown gamecocks touchdown number six on the season for the junior from douglasville georgia excellent play design from offensive coordinator jimmy ogle love the block out front by five josh samuel one of the running backs in this game leading the way an extra point by karachik caps off an eight-play 86-yard drive for jacksonville state for overall seed jacksonville state leading davidson by a score of 14 to seven gamecocks no strangers to these playoffs they won the division two national championship back in 1992 that was under bill burgess they defeated pittsburgh state in a rematch of the title game of 1991 and like a lot of the schools you'll see in these playoffs they just kept working their way up the ranks to the fcs level and under john gross jacksonville state has become a perennial national power played in the national championship game in 2015. and then this year remember jacksonville state one of the handful of teams that played both in the fall and this spring they actually led the seminoles in tallahassee by a touchdown at halftime eventually florida state wore them out in the fourth quarter but jacksonville state cole you and i have seen a number of games they defeated ole miss back in 2010 in an overtime thrower and a few years ago they took a top 10 auburn team to overtime before succumbing to the tigers took that auburn team to the brink and this is this is a a jacksonville state program that has been very competitive against the power five on multiple occasions one of those teams i don't think most fbs teams wants to schedule jacksonville state be a recipe for disaster williams stacked up at the line you've got to corey and west the big number 93. we mentioned anthony nesby he's back in the game too after being shaken up earlier those two guys combined go about 640 pounds so they've got some beef they can put on that line you're not getting a lot of movement inside on this group and you run at 93 wodi probably going to end up as woe going backwards second down call it nine phelps the lefty triggers and in and out of the hands at the intended target that's hillary i know you want to try and get a little bit going in the pass game you want to loosen this defense up some but really put yourself in a tough spot there on third and 10. obviously now with yourself being backed up you'll go for it on fourth down but on a fourth and long can't go for it backed up this far especially at this point in the game davidson two for seven on third down i haven't really seen a screen from davidson just yet a lot of time you have to have a pass rush coming up field doesn't make a lot of sense but they have busted a few out over the course of the season [Applause] rental inside handoff scooting it up to about the 28-yard line is williams that'll be a couple yards shy that's markel benton on the tackle he was a high-profile recruit coming out of high school started it already then transferred in how about this they were ready to go for it on fourth and two jacksonville state was not lined up so a smart time out by the gamecocks well we we asked scott abel what are some different things that that separate you we talked about the formations and he said we can go fast we can be an up-tempo football team if need be did not believe it was going to be very advantageous in a game that most likely was going to play out the way that we thought it would today but if you pick and choose your spots that being a perfect one then again stealing yards is something that coach abel is very good at formations motions matchups and then things like that right there it's great coaching just to say hey guys if we get this thing anywhere close be ready to go tempo so you can add that on the back of your play call with one word you could say you know left right 25 jet on one super if that's your call i don't know if that's theirs but you know when you hear super if it's close next play you're running the line of scrimmage and you're going as fast as possible wildcats already three for three on fourth down on the season 53 on fourth down this is inside their own 30. they need the 30. straight up the gut banging his way for first down yardage and then some is coy williams again boy he runs tough don't think he does he's just he's as north and south of a runner as you're gonna find there's really just two directions on his compass right no one's ever accused him of being shifty [Music] move the chains four for four on fourth down now for davidson and again back into the belly of coy williams and one thing you'll see we talked about the splits the center and the left guard prior to that play you just get a little bit more width you just have an idea where that ball is going to end up going not really sure if jacksonville state has a beat on that just yet but studying this davidson team on film a lot of the times those pre-snap splits when they change they're going to give you the direction of the run play as good as williams and sparks have been this year they they had a all-american type running back who opted out in wesley duggar he was supposed to be their main guy as oakley tries to find daylight getting to the edge but is met with a number of gamecocks including george steele leading the charge pick up a four put yourself in a really good spot here now because you're moving the change just under five minutes left in the half i like the misdirection call though you're gonna have to bring that in at some point in time this defense they fly downhill they fly east and west get some of those red helmets moving the opposite direction [Music] first and ten ball spotted at the 43-yard line another five minutes to go first half will play action phelps with time has a man and in and out of the hands of staples if that is reeled in and staples can keep his footing he might take it to the house tyler phillips has been close on a couple i mean that's you can't complain about the coverage there coverage is right on him that's just one you're gonna have to fit into a very tight window jaylen staples goes five nine if he's five ten he might bring that one down [Music] are you surprised how much we've seen davidson throw the football in this first half no i think you have to try and loosen them up a little bit you've got that it's a part of what you're able to do you have a quarterback capable of completing some passes you have to show it on second and ten a whole lot of misdirection pitch play phelps has nowhere to go nobody to pitch it to and no daylight at all as he is dropped for a big time loss on the play a loss of seven i'll give phelps credit for the decision not to try to force it and it's why i like the misdirection watch the pursuit on this play looks like you're gonna have a positive play and all of a sudden the space just disappears and stevonte tulles 28 deserves a lot of credit for that play he's not going to get a tackle in the box score but he screamed up field and took away the pitch man therefore the option became option less pretty much for tyler phelps swain cleaned it up on the tackle so now you have a third down and 17. first down markers all the way at the jack state 47 pass caught at the 40. tight roping the sideline out of bounds at midfield as jalen staples their top receiver on the year 15 receptions a couple of touchdowns for the season i'm watching the play pre-snap and i'm thinking oh well stack formation at the bottom we haven't seen that today are you you're going to get that two three times a series this davidson offense and again able to use another option route to find some space again we apologize we cannot hear our referees microphone today so we're just going on signals jeff gray our referee [Applause] i don't know means offset and now see the ball control graphic for davidson that's exactly what they want that's what they've been doing all year long and that's how they win games the other way they win games is converting on fourth down where they're a perfect four for four today this is fourth and three [Applause] sparks not this time stacked up and dropped after about a gain of a yard jacksonville state plugging the holes on that line i know they're a fourth down t but now you legitimately give jsu the opportunity to go score and that's just an excellent job up front of striking and shedding big 93 to corian west whoa roadie taking on an offensive lineman tossing him off forcing the cut that allows his defensive teammates to be able to come over make a play and now i would anticipate jacksonville state goes full attack mode on this drive best field position to start a drive today for the gamecocks from their own 49-yard line [Applause] webb gives it off to samuel gets to the edge and races past the first down marker inside the 40 before draylen hines linebacker for davidson and he could not hang to the corner on first down webb quick toss another penalty flag samuel [Applause] runs out of bounds but we'll see what the flag is about indication seems to be holding [Applause] on the hold boy especially on a quick pass you hate to see that it's not like you're in a lot of danger there [Applause] first and 20. flare that was not behind it was a forward pass they were ruling so not a fumble intended for samuel awfully close so that's a dangerous play i'm so surprised how many times people don't get on those balls right whether it's a forward pass or not the amount of times that you see teams just watch that ball bounce around and not know one way or the other because if i'm an official and it's really close i'm going to let it go and i think that's the way most officials lean these days that that is inches away from being considered a lateral and therefore a fumble when in doubt just pouts on it second and 20 for webb gets hit as he throws completes the pass to edwards and edwards and then a penalty flag that was flown all the way from the 15-yard line talk about a javelin throw that went from the 15 close to the 40. and it's going to be offensive pass interference caden jenkins went flying [Applause] on the defense that would make more sense [Music] okay well now wait a minute davidson saying you signaled the opposite way that's what we saw initially the initial indication was it was against jacksonville state the field judge coming over to have a conversation and [Applause] our spotter eric fidelman has been vindicated like no other well kaden taking 16 he goes flying off the route when ahmad edwards retracts back into makes this catch bottom right of your screen there you see the shove [Applause] i don't love it [Applause] six penalties on jacksonville state for 50 yards and now you've got i'm going to need to get my abacus out here to calculate down and distance second and 35. he didn't seem sure about that it seems a lot farther from here second down in anniston for the gamecocks breaking free is samuel samuel breaking another tackle at the 40 and down to the 35 now i can start doing some simple math he's about seven yards from a first a gain of 26. samuel like coming around that turn three after the back stretch of dega tomorrow right there and he can get north and south in a hurry [Music] a little spin move running through a tackle it's going to take more than arms to get these running backs for jacksonville state to the ground webb on third down pats and fires right on target caught inside the five lunging toward the goal line they'll mark it down at the one it's michael pettway their speedster freshman wide out out of alabaster alabama [Music] it was ion webb a nice job enough air under this football if there was an adjustment that was going to be needed but there wasn't because it's just a clean break by petway right up the seam dropping that ball right in excellent throw samuel can't keep the legs grinding stop right at the point of attack no gain on the play jonathan hammond talented freshman defensive end for the wildcats first to meet him we got there will be a little debate now with the center zach kangalosi as his helmet popped off he was going to the official saying no no defensive lineman pushed my helmet off then he goes down with an injury which unless there's a timeout he's going to miss the next play anyway right kangelossi still down junior center webb's got a helmet you understand what he's saying there's you i mean you're on the goal line you don't want to lose your center 56 seconds left time not much of an issue but now you have obviously snaps become a little bit of a problem they become questionable keep in mind here jacksonville state has no timeouts remaining so 56 seconds on the clock here you actually have to think about that a little bit well the other thing too mike is is shotgun snaps they're used to this you see 60 right there kind of middle right of your screen there yeah it got taken off looks like maybe aaron warren 99 just kind of popped that thing off but when when you're on the goal line and it's a shotgun snap everything compresses so you like you're in your stance a little bit lower obviously contact's gonna happen a little bit faster you're trying to drive down a little bit more 60 right side of your screen there it's kind of shoved off unfortunately he's going to miss this play but shotgun snaps near the goal line do become more difficult because you want to try to engage a defender more quickly than usual so a lot of times it's easy to short arm that snap which leaves it low it's also easy to fire off a little bit more which kind of ramps everything up and you get on your tiptoes and that thing can fly over the quarterback it's a dangerous situation with the new center who hasn't been in the game to come in in this particular situation and a very key play upcoming they're reviewing whether or not ball carrier crossed the goal line the instant replay review confirmed the spot in the field because we had to stop the clock for an injury there'd be a 10 second runoff the clock will start on my signal there you go jeff gray breaking it down scientifically so now the clock should go to 46 seconds and again jacksonville state zero timeouts left i still don't think time much of an issue you have the ability to go fast you can run the same play two times here and then maybe know what your fourth down play would be if that's the direction that you want to go [Applause] back to the left back to the right of zion webb it's jackson and samuel [Applause] and we have jeff gray going back to the headsets jeff gray is getting a lot of air time in this first half [Applause] you got me on this one cole if you can clean this one up let me know [Music] i don't think many people at all are happy right now including john cross who's trying to get an explanation and now using the time here to almost use it like an additional time out we were rolling right along here in this first half before this last play we've got a a center who lost his helmet we got a backup center coming in we got a goal line stand we got a clock run-off situation and then we've got another review of some kind which we haven't been alerted to yet you have an opportunity to make this game very different heading into halftime 21-7 as opposed to 14-7 especially for a davidson offense that yes has moved the ball today but hasn't found the end zone very often that's a very different scenario for you in the second half [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and now we're ready to go [Music] [Applause] odd second and goal fake the handoff and tiptoeing into the end zone is zion webb for the touchdown [Music] [Applause] fifth rushing touchdown of the year for the redshirt junior from phoenix city alabama we saw the outside zone portion of this play be successful earlier in the game and as i told you webb is going to keep it at some point they decide to utilize that down on the goal line the unblocked defender goes with the sweep quarterback keep for six best drive of the day for jacksonville state six plays 51 yards 233 off the clock and jacksonville state the number four national seat as we look at the brackets the winner of this game will take on the winner of delaware sacred heart in a quarter-final match-up you see the rest of that bracket of course the number one seed again south dakota state you've got james madison another perennial power at the fcs level sam houston state the number two seed if you love the dakotas the fcs playoffs chock full of them of course this year it's just 16 total teams in the playoff well north dakota state is the team that people know and obviously they had to get in that large bid they might face eastern washington and sam houston state in back-to-back rounds of this playoff which are two of the best offenses in the fcs they actually made a quarterback change against south dakota in their last game dev nolan was benched in that game cam miller comes in the freshman so north dakota state's got some work to do if they're going to move on south dakota state obviously the favorite to win the national championship jackrabbit has been dominant the entire season jacksonville state was in this playoff in 2018. they lost to maine in the second round that is recovered by jacksonville state that acts almost like an onside kick a pooch kick and jacksonville state will steal an extra possession in the final minute of the half i tell you you've got to do everything you can to come up and field that football demarco price who's going to pounce on this it takes a really awkward bounce but like you said cole if you're one of the return men for davis it's not a punt you have to field it well and give austin eisenhower credit special teams coach for jacksonville state probably saw something on film or that space had not been covered very well that turns into a big gain in possession 39 seconds to play webb end zone 50 50 ball is caught for the touchdown pentway [Applause] excellent job webb good protection in the pocket he just says hey pettway michael pettway go get it michael pebble it's 5-10 some of the 50-50 balls some of the contested balls that these jacksonville state receivers are yanking out of the air they've been pretty impressive that's knowing you have a one-on-one receiver gets leveraged put a ball up allow him to go make a play 22-yard score for pettway and the gamecocks kaden jenkins was on the coverage and pettway just yanked it away as you mentioned just 5 10 170 pounds and he wins the 50-50 ball and the gamecocks score 14 points in seven seconds here near the close of half number one that kind of negates the time of possession discussion there right yes it does you can put that kind of points up in that amount of time boy just massive breaks for jacksonville state and excellent scouting to be able to know that you're going to have an opportunity to kick that football where it may not be received and potentially go get the ball back just enough time to be able to put touchdowns on the board here late and now you have a totally different game heading into halftime you know it all starts they had a fourth and two right and they were four for four and fourth down we know that's a huge part of their offense give jacksonville state's defense credit they stymied the fourth and two they march down they get a touchdown then just a special teams mistake quite frankly on the wildcats and i believe jacksonville state had one timeout when that fourth down was attempted by davidson so if you pin them back inside the 10-20 you're making them go the length of the field with going one timeout so the complexion of this game has changed dramatically in the last couple of minutes [Music] [Applause] oakley will get a crack at it this time and will wiggle 27 26 seconds left in half number one all the momentum obviously on the side of the home team gamecocks the question becomes is davidson just content to run out the clock here and regroup at the half two-minute offense probably not their strongest suit run a play or two if you can i i doubt you're going to see this team really press to try to get down the field and put up points with 26 seconds remaining they do have all three timeouts [Applause] sparks wrapped up at the line and if that plays any indication davidson a normal ground and pound team they're going to find have to find a way to not just ground and pound down three touchdowns in the second half they're going to need some big plays against a very talented gamecock squad [Applause] jacksonville state will take a 21-point lead into intermission big plays on offense zion webb hitting pettway and then webb tiptoes into the end zone and then just kind of a pooch kick they recover it and how about michael pettway the freshman tearing it away for the score 28-7 our halftime score from jacksonville [Music] [Applause] 28-7 halftime score jacksonville state of the ohio valley conference leading davidson of the pioneer conference as we look at the brackets again the winner of this game will take on the winner of delaware sacred heart the number one seed south dakota state battling holy cross later on and weber state will take on the salukis of southern illinois and of course the winners of these eight games today will advance to the quarterfinals for next weekend should be a fun second half can the wildcats mount a comeback against the mighty gamecocks stick around [Music] 28-7 our halftime score the gamecock suite of the wildcats of davidson here in jacksonville alabama it's turned out to be a beautiful day mike morgan cole kubrick and cole everything we thought davidson had to do in this first half to stay in this game as a heavy underdog they did up until the very end well you one time of possession you moved the football now didn't capitalize on points off turnovers which would have been big but then it comes down to allowing your opponent to go down late and score and then a special teams blunder gives jacksonville state the ball back and they're able to put this to a three touchdown lead this was exactly what davidson wanted it to be outside of this first drive zion webb goes for a big run out of the gate that would be a four down possession for jacksonville state obviously able to punch it in a little bit later on the ground davidson would respond right over the top for another score and some of these jump balls have been surprising for jacksonville state receivers 5-9-5-10 able to go up and win 50 50 balls the ground game has been pretty strong for the gamecock the zion web has been nice this afternoon it's a gamecock offense that hasn't really gotten rattled they've been in bad situations they've been in bad spots but they knew they were going to get their opportunities and they're actually right on pace for where this staff thought they were going to be five possessions so far in this game and thought they were going to get eight actually ahead of schedule and way ahead of schedule on the scoreboard zion webb throws for 103 rushes for 68 and a score gamecocks up by three scores welcome back to a beautiful sun filled day here in jacksonville alabama after raining all morning it's been raining touchdowns for the gamecocks they didn't have a ton of possessions just five in total but they got four touchdowns out of it 28-7 273 total yards for jacksonville state despite the fact that davidson doubled them up on total plays but you see the average per play and of course that late turnover on a kickoff that gave jacksonville state an easy score to close out the half the gamecocks will get the football back first and this will be cole cubic a huge possession for davidson defensively to stay in this ball game absolutely turnover and then explosive plays has kind of been the story for jacksonville state especially on offense they haven't given up many explosive plays and obviously they've been able to create them have to limit those if you're the davidson defense here in the second half [Music] short kick fielded at the 10 by pepway already caught a touchdown today dancing down the far sideline shoved out of bounds at the 35 and that's where the gamecocks will set up shop zion webb who showed out in the first half he ran for a score he threw for a score zion webb who's really been such a relief for this jacksonville state squad again zara cooper was all world at quarterback and the guy that they hoped would lead the way this season wound up breaking his ankle against fiu they expect him to be back in the fall but in the meantime it's zion webb's show and he put on a pretty good show in half number one let's start off on a handoff to samuel who finds good yardage on the near side that'll be right near the marker i was surprised to hear that that derek cooper wants to come back and mainly because of what zion webb has done that's a guy that chaired a quarterback room with kelly bryant and chase bryce at clemson the year before kelly bryant and deshawn watson but he has the career records for yards per game total offense per game and touchdowns created in a season for jacksonville state one thing that has been consistent as samuel is stacked up right at the line of scrimmage since john gross arrived and he's now in his seventh season offensively they plug and play with the best of them five out of the seven years they've amassed over six thousand yards they had seven 000 yards in 2015 that's the year they made it to the championship game they have always been very well balanced talk about a three-time ohio valley coach of the year in coach cross a graduate of jacksonville state and look out pat jackson turns on the jets and finds the end zone a 55-yard score for the gamecocks john gross will be very happy about this play watch 86 left side of your screen logan mckay riding his man all the way out of bounds and it's an excellent read this is actually an option play for zion webb pulls it throws out to the flat the next thing you know pat jackson to the house that is the first touchdown reception of the year for jackson a junior out of columbus mississippi again they love all three of their backs jackson samuel west we've seen all three of them make plays today they're all very similar in style and they all at any moment could carry the workload of either carries or in this case catches out of the backfield i'm going to go back to what i said right before kickoff mike explosive plays it doesn't matter what time possession is if you are creating explosive plays consistently penalties davidson rushing yards davidson turnovers davidson obviously explosive plays belong to jacksonville state and we see the scores 35-7 that has been a hallmark of jacksonville state's offense explosive plays now if you're davidson and if you're that man who you just saw head coach scott abel you're really behind the eight ball i mean this has always been the knock on an option type offensive when you fall behind you don't have the luxury of being a team that can just throw it on every down and try to march your way back on a comeback that way so you're asking a team to get out of its comfort zone to rally from 28 down we're talking about jacksonville state having what seven possessions in this game right and it's 35 to seven time possession has absolutely been time and possession is 21.25 to 9 51. i mean they've been more than tripled up in time of possession but if you're if you're creating explosive plays all those other things can go to waste i mean the turnovers are even on today rushing yards turnovers penalties is what i usually say wins football games but when you get a team that's pretty one-dimensional like davidson is you can negate a lot of that by creating those explosives so scott abell now in his third year former head coach of division three washington and lee took that program to three playoffs he was a high school coach for 18 years so he's been on the wrong end of some lopsided scores and then has managed to pull out some rabbits out of the hat he'll try to do so today against a dangerous jacksonville state defense that finished number one in almost every category in the ovc on first down between the tackles it's doing sparks for a couple penalty flag on the play [Music] if it's offsides that would be the fourth one five yard penalty first down fourth one of the day on jacksonville state [Applause] it's on sanders from his defensive end spot that's going to get him out of the game [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so overload to the right side of the offensive line here near side extra offensive lineman on a first and five again just not much daylight it doesn't matter who's carrying it that's anthony nesbi talked about him in the first half six one 315 pounds coming at you and look at the hand placement right there he's just keeping an offensive lineman at bay striking shed he knows how to throw strikes he was actually a pitcher on his baseball team can you imagine six one three fifteen on the mound i'm guessing he's not throwing many changeups an old uh nesby was a hard thrower at south atlanta high school might be able to get on base with a bunt there though i would say that would be a challenge yes i like the baseball strategy cole cumic it's very nice well he and actually dj coleman played at the same high school for brad stevens so in this defensive line coach stevens has done an excellent job sort of feeding the gamecocks up front with what they've been able to do to terrorize opposing offenses you know we were asking their defensive coordinator kelvin siegler the last time you saw an offense a triple option offense like that of davidson's and a couple years ago they played kennesaw state in atlanta in a game that went five overtimes they wound up losing kennesaw state had a lot of success with that offense that was a concern of course kennesaw state has been a a recent power at the fcs level but they lost that game in quintuple overtime you have only five days really to prepare for this offense so you don't see it this year but i'd say overall jacksonville state and its defense has to be pleased with the way they've been able to keep davidson in check absolutely yeah you have to be pleased right now you got 99 and 93 in the game at the same time so the rick and the bubba of the rick and bubba if that's what you were gonna call them here six three three twenty five six one three twenty side by side on your defensive look at the that's just a lot of belly first and foremost i'm i'm a fan of that and they've run it right at those two and again this time it's gordon on the tackle but you might want another strategy yeah might want to try something besides straight up the gut because this is not working look at 93 right here west just oh again hand it's not just being big hand placement leverage pad level all those things come into play to be able to pull an offensive line then half a yard a yard backwards like you just saw to cory and weston it's been a while since we've seen tyler phelps throw a pass that might be the best option here on third and eight phelps that one looked like he and his target jalen staples were on different pages it's like we've gotten that a few times today we've seen staples out of the backfield down the field a couple of times open and either just missed or the route wasn't run exactly the way it needed to be run it's not really on the same page through the air today for davidson scott abel frustrated as you can tell he doubles up as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach his son porter abel is the wide receivers coach and porter was a player on multiple fcs playoff teams at richmond [Applause] jacksonville state will have it at their own 26-yard line when we come back all gamecocks so far both love the event because you can relate to all the college players that you get to see for three four years and if you're a fan of the nfl you want to know who you're going to get and where you're going to get them and of course cole kubrick it seems like we know who one and two are going to be where this draft really gets interesting is pick number three i think it's one of the most interesting top five picks that we've had maybe intriguing in a long time because it could be the domino for so many different things if you get a third quarterback off the board i don't really care who it is mac jones trey lance justin fields there's going to be teams that hit the panic button for a quarterback because i think when you begin to look at next year's quarterback class it's not as good as this year's quarterback class it's a little bit thin unless we get a slovis or daniels or somebody else that extends a little bit and can move up into that realm what if hypothetically san francisco says they're taking the best player how many teams are going to be doing anything possible to move up to get one of those three quarterbacks that are left so i think that can make a lot of different things happen it's going to be fun to watch some people will tell you they know what to train lance i think max jones is a great fit for that san francisco offense we know they love tight ends kyle pitt's still in play and then you got the ultimate athlete in justin fields that could potentially be off the board there as well plenty of intrigue just in the first 10 picks alone of this year's nfl draft as jackson totes it for a couple jacksonville state now can do a little ground and pound of their own up by four touchdowns see what jacksonville state's been able to do 26 plays yards per play over 13. yards per rush over 11. solid that's pretty strong no that'll get it done we talked about creating explosives you're averaging double digits on the ground and through the air you're putting points on the board there's the tight end in and out of the hands of trey berry so before i can brag on him a rare drop by the senior tight end such a valuable weapon though over 1500 career receiving yards most ever by a jacksonville state tight end you mentioned all the other high school accolades that he had ben blackman told me his head coach at spanish fourth that he moved in there from quarterback so another athletic accolade that he had and his dad was mad about it at first but finally said thank you and then told me that he calls him every week and says thank you for the move we appreciate it might be thanking him even more if he winds up playing at he's going to play in the nfl trey berry will play in the nfl he's he's not a dominant blocker but i think if you look at some guys like a kyle pitts like a jalen weidermeier at texas a m you know as long as you're willing that can be enough and what happens with the hybrid flex tight ends is they don't even want to put their face mask into a defender trey barry doesn't have that problem he'll fight you he'll get in there and scrap a little bit and doesn't have the physique to maybe be dominant in that facet of his game but you're at least going to get the effort everything is rolling right for the gamecocks right now look at that punt all the way to the one yard line a perfect effort by the aussie jack dawson wildcats on offense when we come back [Music] 8 28 remaining in the third quarter jacksonville state the number four national seed leading it well 52 years ago that's before you and i were born cole cubley the davidson wildcats back then they were in the southern conference and they did have athletic scholarships they were led by head coach homer smith who later became the oc of alabama crimson titan of gene stallings they made it to the tangerine bowl kind of the precursor to the citrus bowl they wound up losing to toledo it's their only postseason appearance before this one in the history of the program in 123 years of playing college football an assistant coach on that staff was a gentleman by the name of dave fagg he is actually in attendance he took the trip cole you mentioned the crowd a lot of davidson fans have pointed to cheer about early on they're a terrific fan base that many of them made the trip to charlotte well so did coach fagg he made the trip one of the remaining members of that staff in 1969 so a little bit of history for davidson football and something tells me with scott abel as her head coach this is not going to be the last playoff that they're in for a while no i agree he's done some amazing things this season he's a finalist for the eddie robinson award for coach of the year in the fcs they ended san diego's 39-game win streak you know this is a young man that has come into this program and got him into the playoffs for the first time in history as you mentioned there have been a lot of positives that have been brought to davidson football i've had so many people when i've told them i'm working this game that davidson's got football right it's not just steph curry in the basketball team guys like yeah they play some football they've been playing good ball this year and to do it with no athletic scholarships is just beyond impressive well and when coach abel took over from 2013 to 2017 davidson was one and 39. some dark days one win in 40 games and they wound up making it to the playoffs in his third year time out by the gamecocks we'll take it with him 35-7 our score scott abel and his davidson wildcats just to pick up where we left off before when he got the job he inherited tyler phelps the quarterback and of course tyler phelps was not recruited to run the triple option and typically when that happens either a player will defect or wind up deep on the depth chart tyler phelps said look i'm going to do whatever i need to do to help our team win that means learning this offense and having a different philosophy obviously the philosophy being cool you're going to throw it a lot less you're not going to put up gaudy passing numbers he accepted that challenge willingly and has been a huge part of their success well there's no doubt to be able to be a guy that that hasn't really run it before it's not easy it kind of reminded me of a conversation that i had with willie corn who was an all-world quarterback coming out of south carolina there at burns high school and he transferred to north greenville from clemson and his office coordinator was jamie chadwell now coastal carolina head coach and he's like hey coach i don't know how to run the triple option man i don't know what we're gonna do he said well listen we're gonna keep some of the things you do but we're also going to implement the triple option and i really believe i have sort of fallen in love with fcs football this spring and one thing that has been cool to see is not just the teams that run triple option but how they mix it and match it you look at what mercer does you look at what furman does a lot of these teams still have triple option principles but they'll do it with the spread or they do it out of the gun they do with different personnel kind of like what davidson does with their formations i think we're going to see some full circle triple option not come back like it is at army or navy but i think you're gonna see it implemented in different ways for other power five and group of five offenses where they're gonna carry it all the time and it's a part of what they do but it's not all they run well to your point what is it the one thing we always especially back when we met coaches in person but now on zoom calls and we're talking to an opposing coach that's about to face an option team number three on the offense 10-yard penalty repeat third down what what do they always tell us it's a bear to prepare for mike i can tell you i ran the scout team at auburn uh in 1996 we played the pool and we eat or independence bowl against army and we shredded our defense every every day ryan hooker was from pontotoc mississippi ran 4-4 and he ran triple option in high school and we we burned him up i talked to kirby smart when he was at georgia and paul johnson was at georgia tech they devoted one period a day to every practice during the regular season two full practices in the spring and two full practices in fall camp just to the triple option so if you can do that and you can implement some of it why not have that in your back pocket as a weapon certainly works for the service academies look at what navy's been able to do in recent years not just success at their level in their conference i mean they've beaten some major programs running the option well i mean you look at georgia southern when they were running it and you know they go down and beat florida you know one of nick saban's all-time great quotes about you know something right through a tin horn georgia southern doing that to him uh you know some of these teams have had success but going to a little bit more of a hybrid model when you get in a position like davidson is in today you've got to be able to find a different way to try and generate yards and points more quickly than you normally do [Applause] rare punt for davidson jacksonville state will take over on offense and now it's the gamecocks i can start thinking about bleeding some clock we talked about what a great athlete that young man is number four in red trey berry the senior out of somerdale alabama spanish fort high school was a high school quarterback was a basketball player now this is big time this is this is more hops and even the great cole cubic right here that's a lot more than me jumping over young man in a chair that's probably about 10 feet out he's got another one where he's he does the old isaiah ryder through the legs another dunk that he posted on twitter and i'll go back i mean state champion the high jump runner-up state championship in the javelin quarterback tight end he's just a super athlete one thing i'll say too promoting the nfl draft earlier if you watch the nfl draft or if you just look at nfl rosters it doesn't matter how many times you see power five players moving on you see barry on a block there just enough right cold no it's he's willing tampa bay buccaneers have a tight end on their roster that started out at memphis and transferred to central arkansas he was a quarterback when he went to college and he punted at central arkansas oh yeah and you see athletes handed catch right there just palming the football was barry the pass was a little high doesn't matter gained a 12 for barry in the gamecocks i don't need the chance he's a matchup go grab it feels like it sticks to the gloves run away from an arm tackle you can put him in a nub tight end in line next to the offensive tackle you can line him up at eight you can split him out by himself in a three by one they like to use him in that formation he can do a lot of different things to pose match-up problems versus these gamecocks a little play action and then a dangerous throw broken up on the play nice coverage by bolden regarding isaiah montgomery i was going to say is that when you watch the upcoming nfl draft on espn you will notice how many fcs players wind up going usually not in the first round although obviously trey lance will but you watch day two day three it's not uncommon to see players from a jacksonville state that get drafted wind up playing in the nfl it happens every year so you said you fell in love with fcs playoffs this spring i i've always been a fan of this kind of football this brand of football [Applause] they're everywhere you're going to get an offensive lineman from northern iowa you're going to get a safety from north dakota state tre berry is going to have an opportunity and i'm going to tell you there's another one on this team that i believe is going to end up on an nfl roster one day and it's thailand grebel the left tackle he came to jacksonville state as a walk-on tight end we're talking about tight ends all these different tight ends everywhere they move him to tackle and he's really taken to it now he's up to about 270 pounds right now that frame can carry 300 pounds easily this young man threw for 3 000 yards as a junior in high school he passed for over 2 000 yards as a sophomore in high school you littered four years of basketball they won back-to-back state titles at wilkinson high school you talk about an athlete and this is an offensive tackle that this young man is doing this and i spoke to his offensive line coach kevin reeves about him before the game i said coach i got to be honest 70 was the one that stuck out to me and he said oh does he ever we're so excited to have him he got looked over in the recruiting process he was too skinny wasn't tough enough we wanted to play tight in a little stubborn but that is an athlete playing offensive tackle that has a chance to grow another 20-25 pounds that has the length has the frame has the size has the ability to move and play offensive tackle at the next level banging inside to the five-yard line is west and right now this davidson defense looks a little bit gassed josh wegner again 52 he's still finishing guys though he's not going to get away from it he's got that wrestler mentality you mentioned his parents drove 18 hours to see him he says mom and dad's going to drive 18 hours i'm gonna put some people absolutely we're gonna finish some folks his dad's a big boy too i said what position did you play goes i never played football what he looks like he could play some offensive line today [Music] second and goal second effort third effort by west i'd say you're a long-time alabama resident i've had a chance to do games in just about every stadium in this state but not this one this is my first trip to jacksonville i was really impressed beautiful it is beautiful facilities love their football here in jacksonville i played football at homewood high school john whidden a teammate of mine played here uh a teammate of mine ryan greer his brother brian greer was on the 92 national championship team here so i actually came to a lot of games with those guys because jason john's brother played with me at homewood as well we'd come here and watch those guys play my early high school years in middle school and that was before they had the new suites that were built on the far side it's always been a place that has a ton of passion they've always played good competitive football here and it's i mean that's nothing new for this state i mean you go anywhere uavs get a new stadium protective right there downtown birmingham south alabama just got a new facility alabama state's facility montgomery is not very old we all know about jordan here stadium and brian denney go to lewis cruz up in huntsville alabama where alabama a m is north alabama this this this national championship game used to be played there over in florence alabama for a long time so listen it's the only state i've ever lived in and we love our football here in alabama my first introduction to jacksonville state you and i do a lot of sec games was when they knocked off ole miss in 2010 in an overtime thriller nearly beat auburn a few years ago as we mentioned and again have been a perennial power here six out of the last seven years they've been in these fcs playoffs as you see that is and we were talking about earlier josh wegner hopefully he's okay looks like he's gonna walk off the field on his own power says i don't want any help again the winner of this game as we turn it back to the brackets we'll take on the victor of delaware sacred heart and that would be a quarterfinal matchup that will take place next weekend and right now certainly the gamecocks have the inside track to that matchup delaware would be the favorite in that other bracket james madison number three seed the number two seed sam houston taking care of business earlier today defeating monmouth 21-15 so sam houston has already advanced to the quarterfinals [Applause] samuel west the backs on second down and goal it's going to be straight ahead for west touchdown late signal but we have confirmation he has found the end zone and tack on six more for the gamecocks they've just been kind of riding this inside zone play for a couple series now a lot of this credit goes through the running back in the backside of the offensive line continuing to sort of fold that defensive line down nice job there by zach kansas through the center former walk-on he wrestled in high school finished third in state out of harvest alabama good job there getting a little extra push allowing for another jacksonville state touchdown most of that drive belonging to uriah west five consecutive carries before the score and now this one getting out of reach is jacksonville state starting to impose its will we kind of frame this at the beginning called david versus goliath in a lot of respects that's what this is davidson certainly a historic year just to get here but jacksonville state has been a perennial power they have the size they have the numbers and once they got a few breaks at the end of that second quarter you knew davidson was going to be behind the eight ball let's also talk about game experience there are a lot of people that want to complain or find something wrong with teams that played a little bit in the fall then played in the spring and they're going to go play in the fall again but you know what that means to me is that this team played played a ton of football so they know game speed they've seen probably every look they've gotten every defense they've gotten every offensive scheme they know motions they know shifts now the thing that scares you about that a little bit is the penalties you shouldn't have some of the silly penalties as teams have jumping off sides you know not enough men on the field or too many men on the field the late hits that we've seen a little bit you think those would go away but game experience is something that should be a massive advantage for jacksonville state moving on in his and you just touched on one of the favorite parts of our conversation with coach gross for me as davidson will take a knee here take it at the 25 there was an option coach gross told us he went to his team before the fall season started and most fcs teams as we all know opted out only about a handful actually played in the fall and spring and almost to a man his players said no we want to do both we want to play in the fall we just want to play ball so they wind up playing they nearly beat florida state as we highlighted in the first half they have a successful fall then they come out regroup obviously you scale back the off-season workouts a little bit let the body heal a little bit more and then they come out and then what do they do they win another ohio valley championship so this is their 12th game of the year only one other team in fcs played more than the 12 games that the gamecocks had and i i think that has been nothing but positive for this team well and the program's gonna get they're gonna get their checks to go play those teams so that's obviously gonna be a big benefit you beat florida international it's a group of five teams so you beat a division one team that's just one more notch on the belt for this program and what they've proved and what they've done and i don't know many college football players you know the guys that didn't play didn't want to play that felt like they needed to opt out you understood you're fine with it now the timing that's a different conversation of certain guys but especially before seasons began no problem with that you get it you understand it but most guys if you gave me the chance to play in the fall and then say we're gonna play some in the spring let's go let's do it sign me up i'll take all the games beach practicing right yes absolutely you and i just broadcasted spring football games i can tell you it's not quite the same intensity or fun as an actual season no it's you just don't the one thing that i say it's one of the reasons that i hate ejections for targeting is actual time spent on the field playing games competitive games is so limited compared to everything else that goes into it i hate to see that disappear and those options are so limited for college football players you take every single one of them that you can get turner on the carry to the 40-yard line to pick up a five for davidson now you just think about the valuable snaps for some of these reserves that'll be coming into the game really for both teams but for jacksonville state in particular if you need an extra body you need a different body moving through the rest of these playoffs jackson latrell gonna get into this game ricky samuel gonna get into this game a little bit play some meaningful snaps and you save some of your big boys up front from maybe getting nicked up you mentioned davidson snapping san diego's winning streak san diego was the unanimous pre-season number one pick in this pioneer league davidson already has kind of stunned so much of the college football world by winning their league and just getting here 15 more minutes to enjoy it it's going to take a lot it's been all jacksonville state in this second half gamecocks 42 wildcat 7. alongside cole kubrick mike morgan back with you from jacksonville alabama the gamecocks and route to another quarterfinal appearance if they can hold on to a 35 point lead in the final 15 minutes davidson with the football davidson got off to a good start in this game doing what they do best running that triple option as hillyard sends it forward for a few more yards in a first down but then the explosive plays by the gamecocks late in the first half and then just really wearing down davidson in a lot of respects here in the second half that man tyler phelps who has paid his dues had to change his philosophy and overall style of play how special it would be to him to keep advancing in these fcs playoffs that play has not gone anywhere for a while cole cubic running between the tackles against this game pack defensive line to tall order you get down to your second third stringer and it's uh it's ricky samuel the redshirt freshman at 6-3 300 pounds so they don't get too much lighter as you go down the depth chart here in the middle of the jacksonville state defense they got some biggins really all jacksonville state has to do talk to coach gloss says we just try to recruit within about a five hour rape five hour radius they can get in the car drive within five hours and recruit a whole lot of talented kids a lot of contact there getting tangled up and drawing the penalty flag as eli turner tripped up by presley so that'll give the wildcats a first down and this jacksonville state team is going to win a national championship this is what has to change i think if there's one thing that we would take from this talent today that has been overly concerning it's the penalties and yes you're competing some of them are some of them are effort penalties but some of them are are where with all penalties at the same time you got to know when you can take your chances when to play high risk and when to lay off eighth penalty of the ball game for the gamecocks we were told by around the time this game ends some more of those ominous clouds might be rolling in of course this is a turf field perfect conditions for this game this beautiful stadium we're about to uh what'd you say a 25 mile scoot to yeah about 20 times from uh from the super speed way yeah i stayed at a different hotel than you but saw danny hamlin and a couple of the other drivers trucks out front of the hotel today and uh all getting set there to head over for the big boy race tomorrow yeah that's how you roll you were in the celebrity hotel i i got to know the staff at the lovely hampton in my neck of the woods no celebrities just good common people blue collar just trying to make a difference i tell you what i learned a lot about economics because supply and demand definitely taking full effect when you check the hotel prices in these parts during talladega i don't go all the way to birmingham by the way i mean that that'll that affects prices in birmingham for hotels so m m's truckers out front today joey logano and his guys so it's it's a big deal it'll be limited capacity i'm excited i'm gonna take my two older kids tomorrow let them check it out we went to barbers for the indie series last weekend took my son let him check out some stock car racing tomorrow on third and eight phelps incomplete in and out of the hands of jalen staples is top target of course on fourth down they'll go for it as they have so many times this year not only did i learn about davidson football in preparations for this game i learned about the pioneer conference and boy is it expansive i mean it is spread out from san diego to charlotte north carolina [Applause] phelps lobbing one and again out of the reach of staples and that will turn it over on downs payton on the coverage for the gamecocks it was surprising when we began to sort of geographically look at where all the schools in this conference are there's some some massive road trips that you're gonna get for conference games 42-7 jacksonville state on top the ncaa fcs championship coverage continues next weekend with the quarterfinal coverage on espn3 espn2 and the espn app for more information visit ncaa.com the home for all 90 ncaa championships he is cole kubrick i am mike morgan special thanks to eric fidelman our spotter paul newman our statistician mike our award-winning producer back in the truck on site it's great to be on site again i must say hospitality has been terrific here in jacksonville alabama built a special thing here nine conference championships in the last 18 years six playoffs in the last seven years made the title game in 2015 and a former division two national champion of jacksonville state it'll toss an alley and a foot race down the sideline inside the 10 and tripped up at the one [Music] that is jason jones a freshman deep on the depth chart on a big play for 58. well the burners watch three pat jackson motoring right there trying to stay with him just to get a block and then the shoestring tackle doesn't allow him to get in [Applause] hand off second effort third effort no dice second and goal i like offensive coordinator jimmy ogle feeding pat jackson the young man who was 30 40 yards downfield just trying to throw a block reward him give him the touchdown as gamecock's gonna take another shot here at the end zone you lineman love plays like this right you're right at the one yard line sniff the goal line absolutely that'll be an easy path no need to smash mouth they just go on the periphery and pat jackson will walk in and what should be a dagger here with 1101 to play 48-7 jacksonville state little opinion pull on the right side of that jacksonville state offensive line and pat jackson does get that award for his downfield blocking prowess [Music] jacksonville state in line for their 10th win of the year and a trip to the quarterfinals the long run to get down near the goal line and then pat jackson who had the block finishes off 49-7 gamecocks 1101 to play here in jacksonville alabama all smiles on the gamecock sideline as they can smell another trip to the quarterfinals leading davidson 49-0 again the winner of this will take on the winner [Applause] of the delaware matchup taking on sacred heart that'll be at seven o'clock eastern time tonight the mighty blue hens joe flacco's alma mater 49 points today for the gamecock sets the most since 2019 against eastern washington really you get the feeling if they want to tack onto that total they'll probably get another opportunity at this point i thank you for jacksonville state you just want to get out of here unscathed no injuries and get ready for a big matchup next weekend good game for that young man zion webb he knows where the camera is [Applause] you know cole you touched on it before this has been a lot of fun i think for everybody players coaches announcers fans spring football and we don't like obviously the circumstances that forced us to go down this road however i think for a country that is always craving more football this has been a great window of opportunity for fcs that doesn't always get the spotlight because you're sharing it you're going simultaneously with the fbs now that we've gotten a taste of this and you see the potential for it i think a lot of people i know i've been asked this question i know you've been asked this question why not look into a permanent spring football schedule at the fcs level your thoughts not only do i think that they could make the move and and potentially have success i think they should make the move permanently and that they would have the success now our habits are going to have to change i think for football fans people who want to watch football consume it where would it be when would it be we have other things we do in the spring spring break we take trips kids have school we have easter obviously it's going to take a couple of years for us to get used to it being here but i was working xfl about a year ago that thing was working that thing was going if no pandemic we're talking about xfl year two right now and it's still successful we were averaging over a million viewers a week in the games that i was covered big hit there on the sideline but i think that there are a couple things to take into consideration in my opinion the group of five mike is continuing to move away that's actually a pretty dangerous hit there on the sideline the group of five is going to continue to pull away you've seen stanford's schedule this year [Applause] the power five is pulling away you mean group of five or fcs team stanford plays none all power five teams now i don't think it's just gonna go to that but i think it's gonna be more difficult for fcs teams to schedule power five and group of five teams and get those paydays and some of the administrators that i've talked to around the fcs have told me that you know if we played in the spring and our attendance went up two three five thousand a game and we could get eight ten thousand people in per game that's actually enough for us to make budget we don't need the million and a half we don't need the eight hundred thousand dollar pay games to go play auburn or texas or texas a m or michigan or ohio state we can get by without those games and i think you have not only the coverage i mean we listen i do a radio show on jocks in birmingham three-man front every day we talked a lot of fcs football this year we're not doing that in the fall we've had sanford's head coach on weekly to talk to chris hatcher about fcs football we're not going to do that in the fall and then obviously from a television perspective the notoriety the people who want to wager on games there's going to be a lot more attention that's placed on it and there's only two things that i've heard as to why it should not be done number one football belongs in the fall all right you think like a dinosaur guess what happens to dinosaurs they're extinct and they're extinct for a reason the other is what about the nfl and what about the nfl draft i understand it but you're talking about a very small handful of guys who might actually give up a season to prepare for the nfl draft and if that happened i don't think it would impact the actual product you have fans all over this country that could all of a sudden go find their girlfriend team so to speak they could go find their mistress team so to speak where you know lsu fans in the spring they wouldn't have to worry about cheating on lsu you know they can go root for nickel state or they can go root for other teams i could make nice state alabama auburn fans they can pick jacksonville state or samford or alabama a m or alabama state and they can root for those teams in the spring i think you would have more fans that felt better about actually coming and watching maybe even the school that they went to i talked to samford's athletic director and he told me he said listen we understand on saturdays our students have a decision to make are they going to go to auburn are they going to go to tuscaloosa are they going to stay here and watch a game that's a real thing that they're dealing with so i think that there could actually be a home in the spring where and i'll go a step further you have your spring practice quote fingers so to speak in the fall leading into the beginning of the season that the f's that the fbs plays and your spring game can be your non-conference opener against some of those other opponents then you get your half million dollars to go play florida state you get your 1.2 to go play alabama and then you take a couple months off and come back and actually play your regular season so there are a lot of different ways to win in my opinion by moving fcs football to the spring i i like it all around uh commissioner cole kubrick has spoken i i think i think you could even add far be it for me to be an amateur tv executive but if you had a spring football package in the fcs someone's going to write a rather substantial check for that so maybe if you even lose some of those paycheck games that you speak of you could make up for it on the other end the only other criticism i've heard is the weather for northern schools we're sitting here and it's a beautiful 70 degree sunny day what have you but in the month of february march for example in the dakotas and i understand some of them have indoor facilities but that has been the criticism that i've heard from certain coaches on the issue because november and december in those places are very comfortable right very comfortable times of the year to play football up there then i get it i understand it but i also think that with some of the extra money that may come in you could make preparations for that you could have an indoor facility you could have an indoor stadium to maybe play like north dakota does like north dakota state does and obviously you're gonna be able to benefit from that but i agree with you there would be a tv contract for certain could have sworn i heard a whistle blown long before that extra yardage came and that's what coach abel is upset about he didn't think the whistle should have been blown he's still coaching he has not given up a lick of intensity down 42 points take another look at this right here is where it was blown down i mean he didn't even really feel like the momentum had technically stopped there yeah i go back to martin newton the samford athletic director who i spoke to he said coming into this there's no way i would have allowed it there's no way i would have entertained it and now that i've seen it i absolutely think we should discuss it and i absolutely think it should be on the table [Applause] an open field by hilliard down to the five yard line but listen i'll be the first one to tell you i talked to scott wachenheim head coach at vmi i talked to nick hill head coach at southern illinois and they both said uh-uh no no chance no way it needs to stay in the fall so it's it's gonna be tough to get everyone on board but i actually think the plus is far outweigh the mindset i'm totally with you and i i think much like so many other things in recent times viewpoints on a lot of these things differ geographically i think if we took a poll most of the southern schools in the fcs they'd be on board i don't know if the same could be said about the northern schools and that's where i think maybe it would stall but again just as a fan i would love this i mean this is fantastic to have spring football playoff football i can't get enough of this i i hope they take a serious look at it you know sometimes good things are born out of precarious situations we would have never entertained something like this had it not been for kobe so maybe if there is one bright spot that comes out of all that they take a long look at this and maybe the kind of change you're talking about does happen in time outside zone play there for davidson as they want to obviously try to punch in another touchdown before their season comes to a close this is a davidson like drive that we talked about earlier this is over seven minutes in length that they've had the football now third down and goal [Applause] and a timeout called by davidson so they will cherish every part of this drive and try to cap it off with a score when we come back 49-7 our score [Music] mike morgan cole kubrick back with you from jacksonville alabama the gamecocks on pace for a trip to the quarterfinals up big 49-7 davidson trying to have one last hurrah before they call an end to their season impressive seven minute plus drive here a third down in goal phelps still in a quarterback out of the shotgun with bernard turner behind him a little pitch play to turner turner slipped and fell turf monster got him at the four-yard line well that's tough good play design you see those offensive linemen going low you just want to get those d-linemen to the ground to avoid the pursuit on that cutback the cutback lane is there and then you just slip and go to the ground man will i get another opportunity davidson will have another fourth down opportunity the wildcats four of six on fourth down today [Music] phelps looking fires complete touchdown the tight end jackson charade [Music] [Applause] [Music] bushrard's had a nice game 6'5 235 pound tight end he's done some good things at the long at the line of scrimmage in the run game he's been open a couple times downfield haven't been able to capitalize nice play fake there from phelps and gerard just sneaks out into the flag dives ahead for the tuck stand it's a positive way to end your season absolutely good drive get a touchdown back on the board execute davidson if you follow these kind of things three touchdown underdog back in vegas back in the desert they've showed themselves way today well today gamecocks just better still up big with 249 to go not only is zion webb a fine quarterback but he's got a future in tv if he wants one he always knows where the quarterback excuse me where the camera is and he always seems to have a good smile on when it's pointing his way plenty to smile about today 239 yards through the air 68 on the ground three total touchdowns cole kublic he was a one-man wrecking crew decision making is what i thought was most impressive about what zion webb did today he understood where the matchups were they were going to be favorable for his receivers he put balls where they were able to attack him and go get him [Music] and obviously a quarterback counter early in the game got him rolling deep inside davidson territory had the one-on-one down the scene good decision to keep that ball take it in for a touchdown were not only accurate but on time for zion webb in this jacksonville state offense just an extraordinary day taking himself out there on the big screen yeah he's watching his own highlight reel why not new quarterback now webb can go ahead and start dumping that down to a youtube video meanwhile darian meads on the carry the new quarterback appears to be chance newman one of the more interesting stats that you'll find in a game like this this is basically turned into a lopsided win for jacksonville state time of possession davidson has had the football 40 minutes and three seconds gamecocks have had it 17 and change so they've more than 2-1 ball pops out late and davidson might have recovered it wildcats got it back that's the second turnover for jacksonville state but nearly two to one you should take another look at this one don't see that very often and chance newman yet that ball stripped out just before he gets to the ground jalen jefferson davidson linebacker kind of gets the paw on it i tell you watching some of the emotions of these wildcat players going to the sideline i mean i love this they're they're slapping high fives hitting each other on the shoulder pads pumped up about young men making a big play on defense i mean look nobody thought davidson was going to be here in the first place it's been 52 years since they've been in a postseason game so in a lot of ways they've already got a trophy of sorts for what they've been able to accomplish so they're still they're going to enjoy every last second of this fcs playoff game [Applause] [Music] see what jacksonville state has been able to do it's about as efficient as you're going to get 43 plays yielding 49 points and over 10 yards of play [Applause] scott abel allows tyler phelps to exit the game there you hear the davidson crowd give him an ovation excellent season he deserves it pretty cool move there by the head coach back up quarterback is in and many of the backups that's oakley on the carry now some extracurricular i think why get involved in that you're up 49-14 and it's gonna be a personal foul that is on 22 taj stuart the back up linebacker you see stewart just kind of tied up and then a little extra after the play was over unsportsmanlike conduct number 37 on davidson also on sportsmanlike conduct number 22 on jacksonville state those files off set third down it's as if it never happened we play on then we finish the final 62 seconds of this game you are biting your tongue like a son of a gun over there moving right along third down third down [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pitch play far side he's knocked down no gain on the play they don't have to run a final play a little bit of a different pitch there too that was almost like a rugby pass they want to run one more fourth down by the way davidson came into this game with 19 fourth down attempts and 19 punts and field goal attempts combined yeah some of their numbers are just staggering it they are like a statistical unicorn in a number of ways 56 on third down conversions for the year that's number one and all of fcs with your quarterback having 617 passing yards for the year right [Applause] all right we will looks like we're on another play perhaps [Applause] so jacksonville state will wait the winner of delaware's sacred heart again that will be on espn3 tonight at seven o'clock [Applause] and that will do it no more plays one more win for jacksonville state their tenth of the year and another trip to the quarterfinals for john gross and company great performance today by the gamecocks very strong performance balance offensively created explosive plays efficient on offense and for davidson a heck of a season got off to a nice start a turnover just before the half ended up being a killer for this team putting jacksonville state in a very comfortable position early in the second half zion webb was terrific on offense jacksonville state too many guys terrific on defense to count they were salty from start to finish and the gamecocks win it in blowout fashion they're on to the quarterfinals for cole kublic and our entire espn crew this is mike morgan saying so long gamecocks win it 49-14 your final

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 6,676

Keywords: 2021 NCAA FCS Championship First Round, Davidson, Jacksonville State

Id: 7PUP6Jr2bn8

Length: 135min 14sec (8114 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 29 2021