The Jacksonville State Gamecocks and the Sam Houston State Bearkats meet in week 5 college football action from Elliott T. Bowers Stadium on Thursday night.

Jacksonville State Shuts Out EMU

The Jacksonville State Gamecocks come into this one sitting on a 3-1 record after a 21-0 win over Eastern Michigan last time out. Logan Smothers has thrown for 277 yards and 2 touchdowns on 63% while Zion Webb’s thrown for 217 yards on 48.7% passing. Malik Jackson leads the Gamecocks with 376 rushing yards along with a pair of touchdowns while the aforementioned Smothers has 218 rushing yards with 4 TDs. Quinton Lane leads the Gamecocks with 10 catches for 140 yards as well. On defense, Kolbi Fuqua has a team-high 27 total tackles while Larry Worth has a team-high 2 sacks as part of Jacksonville State’s 14 sacks and the Gamecocks’ defense as a whole has 7 interceptions this season.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks Team Facts

The home team has won each of Jacksonville State’s last five games.
The home team has covered the spread in each of Jacksonville State’s last five games.
Eight of Jacksonville State’s last nine games in September have gone UNDER the total points line.

Sam Houston State Struggles Again

The Sam Houston State Bearkats had another sluggish performance, falling to 0-3 on the year after a 38-7 loss to Houston last time out. Keegan Shoemaker has thrown for 191 yards and 3 INTs on 55.3% passing while Grant Gunnell’s thrown for 100 yards and an interception. Zach Hrbacek has a team-high 43 rushing yards while Ife Adeyi leads Sam Houston State’s receiving group with 74 receiving yards. On defense, Trevor Williams has a team-high 38 total tackles while Kavian Gaither and Chris Scott each have a sack this season.

Sam Houston State Bearkats Team Facts

Sam Houston State has lost each of its last 10 games.
Sam Houston State has covered the spread in three of its last four games.
Three of Sam Houston State’s last four games as an underdog have gone UNDER the total points line.

Chris’ Pick

I’m rolling with Jacksonville State here. The reality for me is that Sam Houston State was a team I was high on coming up from FBS, but the offensive personnel they have just isn’t it. The Bearkats can’t score for whatever reason and as sound as the defense has been more often than not, last I checked, you have to be able to score points to win football games. Jacksonville State hasn’t been pretty, but they’ve been effective when they’ve had to be and I think they do enough for the win here. Give me Jacksonville State laying the points on the road.