The East Tennessee State Buccaneers and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks meet in week 1 college football action from Burgess-Snow Field on Saturday.

East Tennessee State Team Preview

The East Tennessee State Buccaneers come into 2023 looking to bounce back from a 2022 season where the Buccaneers finished 3-8 on the year and 1-7 in SoCon conference play. Tyler Riddell is back at QB for the Bucs after throwing for 1,950 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on 54.1% passing while Jacob Saylors will have to be replaced after signing with the Bengals. Saylors led the Buccaneers in rushing in 2022 with 1,307 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. ETSU’s top two receivers are back in Will Huzzie and Einaj Carter, after combining for 72 catches for 977 receiving yards as well as 10 touchdowns last year. On defense, the Buccaneers have a tall task ahead to replace two of their top performers in 2022, with leading tackler Chandler Martin going to Memphis and leading interception man Alijah Huzzie transferring to UNC. Sheldon Arnold II is the top returning tackler for East Tennessee State after recording 53 total tackles and a pair of interceptions in 2022.

Jacksonville State Grabs Win In Opener

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks started their FBS tenure on a high note, upending UTEP by a final score of 17-14. Zion Webb threw for 67 yards on 10 of 20 passing while also rushing for 55 yards on 10 carries. Malik Jackson led the Gamecocks with 76 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries while Ron Wiggins took his 13 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown as well as leading JSU with 24 receiving yards in the winning effort. Quae Drake led the JSU defense with 11 total tackles while Larry Worth had 1.5 sacks in the victory. Kolbi Fuqua and Jeremiah Harris each had an interception as well in the win for the Gamecocks.

Trends

East Tennessee State is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games. Jacksonville State is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 Saturday games while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall.

Chris’ Pick

I’m looking at Jacksonville State here. I mean the Gamecocks are only one game removed from being an FCS team, and the Gamecocks were one of the best of the bunch. East Tennessee State wasn’t very good in 2022, and I don’t see them all of a sudden being that much better here to the point that they contend. All in all, I see a fairly easy and straightforward win for Jacksonville State here.