The Eastern Michigan Eagles and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks meet in week 4 college football action from Burgess-Snow Field on Saturday afternoon.
Eastern Michigan Picks Up Narrow Win Over UMass
The Eastern Michigan Eagles got back above .500, improving to 2-1 on the year thanks to a 19-17 win over UMass in their last matchup. Austin Smith has thrown for 403 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 55.4% passing while Samson Evans has rushed for a team-high 214 yards and Jaylon Jackson has 120 rushing yards as well on the year. Tanner Knue has a team-high 15 grabs for 119 yards to lead EMU’s receiving group. On defense, Joe Sparacio has a team-high 38 total tackles while Mikah Coleman has a team-high 3 sacks and Chase Kline has a pair of sacks as well on the year.
Eastern Michigan Eagles Team Facts
Eastern Michigan has won six of its last eight games as an underdog.
Eastern Michigan has covered the spread in each of its last eight games as an underdog against non-AP-ranked teams.
Eastern Michigan has won the first quarter in three of its last four games against opponents from the Conference USA.
Eastern Michigan has won the first half in 12 of its last 16 games against non-conference opponents.
Three of Eastern Michigan’s last four September games as an underdog have gone UNDER the total points line.
Jacksonville State Suffers First Loss
The Jacksonville State Gamecocks will be looking to rebound from their first FBS loss after a 30-16 loss to Coastal Carolina dropped Jacksonville State to 2-1 on the year as a result. Zion Webb has thrown for 217 yards on 48.7% passing while Logan Smothers has thrown for 184 yards and a touchdown on 74.1% passing. Malik Jackson leads Jacksonville State with 249 rushing yards with 2 TDs while Ron Wiggins has 156 rushing yards and 2 scores and the aforementioned Smothers has 100 rushing yards with a team-high 3 TDs. Perry Carter leads Jacksonville State’s receivers with 87 receiving yards while Quinton Lane has a team-high 7 catches for 80 yards. On defense, Kolbi Fuqua has a team-high 25 total tackles while Jacksonville State’s defense as a whole has combined for 8 sacks and 4 interceptions this season.
Jacksonville State Gamecocks Team Facts
The home team has won each of Jacksonville State’s last four games.
The home team has covered the spread in each of Jacksonville State’s last four games.
Jacksonville State has lost the first half in four of its last five games against non-conference opponents.
Seven of Jacksonville State’s last eight games in September have gone UNDER the total points line.
Matchup/League Facts
Eastern Michigan ranked T16th among FBS teams for H1 win percentage last season (.692).
Eastern Michigan was one of only 17 FBS teams with a better road winning percentage (.833) than home winning percentage (.500) last season (min. 8 games).
Chris’ Pick
I’m looking at the under here. I get why it is where it is, but I’m not all that impressed with either offense right now, Eastern Michigan’s performance maybe was to be expected, but Jacksonville State, we’ve yet to really see the offensive breakout that Rich Rodriguez really implemented at the FCS level. I think this one’s going to be a bit ugly so give me the under here.