Jacksonville State vs. WKU, Wk 14, 11-29-25 | Photo Gallery
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Jacksonville State first-team All-CUSA LB Walker O'Steen makes a tackle with safety Trevor Woods.
Jacksonville State welcomed WKU to Burgess-Snow Field at AmFirst Stadium on Saturday for a key CUSA matchup. On the line was a berth in next Friday night’s 2025 CUSA Championship game. Unpredictability ruled the banter around the conference prior to the year.
With that said, Jacksonville State was seeking a second straight conference title. In 2024, these two teams met in the championship game, with the Gamecocks routing WKU 52-12.
So it was no surprise that Western Kentucky came out on fire. After a 14-yard touchdown scamper by Cam Cook, the Hilltoppers scored 21 unanswered points. All three touchdowns came via the ground game.
Down by 14, the Gamecocks reeled off 10 straight points. A two-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Caden Creel to Pearson Baldwin late in the second quarter cut the Hilltoppers lead down to four.
A 39-yard touchdown run by La’Vell Wright -a two-time transfer- put WKU up by 11 points with just under two minutes remaining in the half.
The Gamecocks responded in a six-play, 75-yard drive that concluded when Creel threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Deondre Johnson. Johnson (6’8, 220) -perhaps the tallest receiver in college football- made an acrobatic twisting grab with 15 seconds left in the second quarter.
In a high-scoring back-and-forth affair, WKU led Jacksonville State by a score of 28-24 at the half.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game. We knew it was going to be back and forth,” WKU head coach Tyson Helton said after the contest.
Therefore, when the game’s second half slowed down at the rate of a burning ember, it came as no surprise. As its defenses heated up, both teams fizzled out in the Red Zone.
As a result, turnovers became a factor in the contest.
First-team All-CUSA linebacker Walker O’Steen’s first half interception of Rodney Tisdale, Jr. set up Creel’s touchdown pass to Baldwin.
And fellow all-conference teammate Emmanuel Oyebadejo’s forced fumble set up a fourth quarter field goal attempt. Shortly thereafter, Jacksonville State’s Garrison Rippa field goal was blocked by WKU defensive lineman Harper Holloman.
Settling for three
Holloman’s blocked field goal of Rippa came after his 27-yard field goal had put them up 34-31.
Eventually, WKU placekicker John Cannon went on to tie the game at 34 with a 41-yard kick. Finally, Rippa’s 28-yard walk-off game-winner put the Gamecocks back in the CUSA title game on Friday night.
“There’s a reason why you play 60 minutes,” said Jax State head coach Charles Kelly.
“Game went about how I thought it was going to go. I thought it was going to be somewhere up in the 30s and it was,” Helton said. “Very proud of our football team.”
Take a look at some of the images from the fierce battle in our photo gallery recap.
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