The postgame report: Jax State 27, Kennesaw State 26

Jax State trailed Kennesaw State 23-14 with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter Wednesday night at Fifth Third Stadium. The Gamecocks had been outgained, outrushed and penalized 11 times for 93 yards.

They won 27-26.

Garrison Rippa drilled a 33-yard field goal with 52 seconds remaining — his fifth career game-winner — and Rob Billings IV intercepted Rickie Collins on Kennesaw State's final possession to seal a CUSA road win that featured seven lead changes. Caden Creel threw for 311 yards and found 10 different receivers. Deondre Johnson caught four passes for 112 yards, all in the second half, and surpassed the 1,000-yard career receiving milestone.

WHAT IT MEANS

Jax State is 2-0 in CUSA and 4-2 overall — 4-2 for the first time since 2019. The program is 23-5 against CUSA opponents since joining the conference in 2023 and has never lost back-to-back conference games. The weekday conference record is 12-1, with 10 straight wins dating to Oct. 10, 2023.

The 86 miles from Jacksonville to Kennesaw is the shortest distance between CUSA members. This is a conference rivalry that plays like one. NFL scouts from the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets were in attendance, along with a CFL representative and a Cure Bowl rep.

THE TURNING POINT

Kennesaw State took a 26-24 lead on Daniel Kinney's 28-yard field goal with 2:15 remaining. Jax State drove 60 yards in 11 plays, covering the distance in 1 minute, 23 seconds. Rippa connected from 33 with 52 seconds left. On the next possession, Billings — who had never recorded an interception — picked off Collins and returned it 5 yards to end it.

Eleven plays in 83 seconds. Creel moved the Gamecocks 60 yards, and Rippa finished it.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Good: Johnson's second half. His four catches — including receptions of 39, 35 and 22 yards — all came after halftime as the Gamecocks erased a nine-point deficit. The back-to-back completions of 22 and 35 yards late in the third quarter moved Jax State deep into Kennesaw State territory and set up Jalen Likely's 3-yard touchdown run that cut the deficit to 23-21. Johnson surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards. His 6-foot-8 frame gave Creel a downfield target the Owls could not match up against when the game tightened.

Bad: The rushing attack. Thirty carries for 74 yards — 2.5 per carry. Against Middle Tennessee, Jax State rushed for 276 yards at 7.1 per carry on 39 attempts. This was a fundamentally different offensive game. The Gamecocks won with Creel's arm instead of the ground game Kelly has built this offense around, and the question going forward is whether that was an adaptation or a limitation Kennesaw State exposed.

Ugly: End-of-half defense. Collins connected with Javon Rodgers for a 5-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining in the first half, sending Kennesaw State to the break with a 16-14 lead. That makes five consecutive FBS games where the Jax State defense has allowed a touchdown in the final minute of the second quarter. Earlier in the half, Kennesaw State hit a 70-yard completion to Munroe — the longest pass play allowed by Jax State this season — that sparked a quick scoring drive and erased what had been a 7-3 Gamecock lead.

THE STATS THAT MATTER

1 missed PAT — Kennesaw State's PAT attempt failed after Collins' 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Final margin: 1 point.

10 receivers, 4 with 3+ catches — Creel found 10 different receivers, the first time since the 2024 Cure Bowl that four Gamecocks caught three or more passes: Johnson (4-112), Darius Cannon (4-24), Luke Gilbert (3-50) and Ronnel Johnson (3-35). Kennesaw State's Munroe caught 7 passes for 159 yards and outproduced every individual Jax State receiver, but JSU's distribution created problems KSU could not solve with one coverage adjustment.

Collins: 24-of-34, 293 yards, 1 TD passing; 15 carries, 61 yards, 1 TD rushing — 354 total yards. Nix and Billings each intercepted him — Nix's was Jax State's first takeaway since the final play against Georgia Southern — but JSU also lost a fumble and threw an interception. Two turnovers forced, two committed.

WHAT THEY SAID

Head coach Charles Kelly:

"This game is going to put you in tough situations. It's going to create adversity and how you handle adversity is how you move on. We do that year-round; we put the guys in the most adverse situation you can. You just can't do that on Saturdays, or Wednesday night. You've got to do it all the time."

3 STARS

1. Deondre Johnson, WR — 4 receptions, 112 yards, long of 39. Surpassed 1,000 career receiving yards.

2. Garrison Rippa, K — 2-of-2 on field goals (20, 33), 3-of-3 PATs, 9 points. Moved to 260 career points (sixth all-time) and 45 career field goals, four from the program record of 49 shared by Hallford (2004-08) and Karajic (2020-23).

3. Caden Creel, QB — 26-of-44, 311 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT passing; 10 carries, 30 net yards, 1 TD rushing. Accounted for 341 of Jax State's 385 total yards.

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

The Gamecocks won with a different formula than the one they used against Middle Tennessee. The MTSU game was 276 rushing yards and a committee backfield. This game was Creel throwing for 311 yards and trusting Johnson downfield when the run game stalled. Kelly's offense adapted.

Freshman linebacker Jameson McCollough made his first career start and tied for the team lead with 7 tackles, including a tackle for loss. Jamill Williams' 1-yard touchdown reception was his fifth score of the season but his first since the four-touchdown performance against EKU on Sept. 5 — a month-long gap in a player who had been Jax State's most consistent red-zone weapon early in the year.

The rushing touchdown streak — 64 consecutive games, the longest active in Division I by 25 over Montana State — survived against the team that ended the last one. JSU last failed to score a rushing touchdown at Kennesaw State on Oct. 2, 2021. Likely and Creel each scored on the ground Wednesday night.

The combined 26 penalties for 230 yards made this game difficult to watch at times. Jax State's 11 for 93 was a season high. Kennesaw State's 15 for 137 was worse. That needs to clean up before Tuesday.

NEXT UP

Jax State has its shortest turnaround of the season — six days — when it hosts Florida International on Tuesday at AmFirst Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Panthers are 3-2 overall, 1-0 in CUSA and riding a two-game win streak after beating New Mexico State 22-3 Wednesday night.