FCS Throwbacks: Jacksonville State and SEMO Run to FCS Record

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Sometimes the extraordinary ends up happening on a very ordinary day and such is certainly the case with college football. In fact, most of the time, it’s the seemingly run-of-the-mill afternoons where fans, players and coaches in the building aren’t expecting something record breaking to happen when it actually does. Illinois fullback Howard Griffith ran for a college football-high mark eight touchdowns in one game on a September Saturday afternoon against Southern Illinois in 1990. The stands weren’t even full because the Illini were playing a I-AA team.

Or there was the time that Sam Durley of Eureka College passed for 736 yards against Knox. Not many know that Durley’s performance that day still stands as the most yards a QB has ever thrown for in a single NCAA game. Why? Because it was DIII matchup at the beginning of the season in 2012 that hardly a soul was paying attention to.

Records are funny that way. The only way to find some of them now, especially the more obscure ones, is by digging through the history books. They usually don’t come in the big game between LSU and Alabama on national television in an SEC madhouse before an audience of millions at night. It’s not typically the national championship that makes it into the all-time logs for this stat or that stat. It’s the forgotten games. The “normal” days.

Southeast Missouri State and Jacksonville State know that well, or at least they did in November of 2013. As the regular season was coming to an end, the Redhawks and the Gamecocks came together in a game that really only meant a lot to one side. JSU was battling for a postseason bid while SEMO was already well out of the race with a 3-8 record. Jacksonville, Alabama played host to the regular season finale that turned out to be anything but normal when all was said and done.

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The first drive of the game was an indicator of what was to come. Jacksonville State received the ball and, on a series that was seven plays, six of them were runs. Running back DeMarcus James and quarterback Eli Jenkins each carried the rock on the opening series. Jenkins broke free on a big 45-yard scamper that helped set up the first score of the day; a one-yard push from James at the goal line.

Southeast Missouri State responded quickly and fittingly. The only difference was that it took them just two plays to do it and it was the same guy, sophomore running back DeMichael Jackson, both times. Jackson busted out for 20 yards before going the rest of the way on a 42-yard touchdown run on the next snap. Two drives in and the two teams had already amassed 124 yards on the ground between them.

The trend continued on JSU’s next possession. James and Jenkins were the feature acts again, carrying the ball six more times combined. This time it was Jenkins, however, that capped it. His seven-yard touchdown run extended the Gamecocks lead to 14-6 but this time the Redhawks did not answer. A quick three-and-out was followed by another Jacksonville State scoring drive. Troymaine Pope got in on the action with a long 52-yard rumble setting up James for his second TD.

When the first quarter came to a close the score was a lopsided 21-6 but what was also lopsided was the run-to-pass ratio for both units. In fact, there had only been five pass attempts between the two quarterbacks. Meanwhile there was already 28 runs for a 264 yards and four touchdowns. Neither defense seemed all that interested or capable of stopping the ground attack and both coaches knew it. The track meet had begun.

The second quarter featured much of the same, just with a lot less scoring. In fact, the only points came midway through the frame when James notched another touchdown, this one an eight-yard run that made it 28-6 in favor the the Gamecocks. Both figuratively and literally Jacksonville State was running away with it. When the halftime whistle sounded, JSU had piled up a staggering 262 rushing yards on 33 carries. James himself sat at 108 and three end zone trips. SEMO, however, was not doing poorly in that stat either. They had paved 147 yards on the ground as well but there was just not nearly as many points to show for it.

Those tides began to shift in early in the second half though. Backup quarterback Kyle Snyder entered the game for starter Scott Lathrop and led a scoring drive right out of the gates for the Redhawks and again it was a run-heavy one. In fact it was a run-only one as the Southeast Missouri State offense handed the ball off all 14 times on the series. Snyder himself took it in for the one-yard score to cut into the JSU lead. Passing be damned. It was clear at this point that both teams were more than happy to keep the rock on the ground.

In fitting fashion, Jacksonville State would score two more times in the third and both would come by way of Pope. His 21-yard touchdown run was followed up shortly after by a three-yard one. When the fourth began it was a lopsided 42-13 advantage for JSU. History was also on the horizon as the two teams had combined for a whopping 646 rushing yards on 84 total carries. Comparatively there had only been 20 total passes for 146 yards.

Southeast Missouri State would end up doing the rest of the scoring but it still resulted in a losing effort and, naturally, they were all rushing touchdowns. The final ended up being 42-34 but that was hardly the significant part. What ended up being the eye-popping number of the day was the 410 yards SEMO ran for paired with the 440 Jacksonville State piled up. Together it made for the single largest rushing day by two teams in FCS history. the 850 combined yards is still a record that stands today in the subdivision.

James surpassed 200 yards on his own while Jenkins and Pope each had over 100. On the other side Jackson ran for 187 and Lewis Washington hit 112. Five different players had triple digits in rushing yardage and all five broke the chalk at least once. All-around it was a truly remarkable day as far as running was concerned.

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In the grand scheme of the 2013 season, that game is certainly an afterthought for almost every other reason. The Redhawks saw their year end with just three wins. Jacksonville State did make the playoffs and even won two games but eventually fell to Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals. Just two years later the Gamecocks would reach the FCS’s grand stage and play for a national title with many members of that same team. An eight-point win in the regular season finale doesn’t really jump off the page, at least until you look at the stat sheet.

That particular contest, though, gave fans something we may never see again. 115 total runs in a single game is a mind-boggling statistic. One would think that a pair of Division I defenses are too good to let something like that happen and maybe today they are. But on that afternoon 13 years ago, ball carriers for both Southeast Missouri State and Jacksonville State had a field day. There is only one DI game since that has seen more rushing yards between its two teams; the epic 2022 Army-Navy showdown that featured 1,021.

It’s an FCS record that may never fall and if it does it will take a long, long time.

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