Rich Rod Leads Jacksonville State to Win in FBS Debut
In 2022, Rich Rodriguez became a college football head coach again, accepting the job at Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks were getting ready to make the jump to the FBS level and knew they had to get the next hire right.
In his first season on the job, Rodriguez led Jax State to a 9-2 record, topping it off with an A-SUN Conference championship.
The Gamecocks didn't get to ease into their transition to the FBS by playing an out of conference foe in Week 1. Instead, they played host to UTEP on Saturday as a part of Week 0 and held on to win a low-scoring affair, 17-14.
The Miners were threatening to tie the game or potentially even take the lead in the game's final minutes. For whatever reason, UTEP passed on kicking a field goal and decided to throw the ball on third and fourth and one instead of just running the ball twice to pick up the first down. QB Gavin Hardison hesitated twice before throwing it on fourth down and by doing so, the play resulted in a game-sealing interception.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, teams making the jump from FCS are 6-2 in their FBS debuts over the last ten seasons.
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