College Football
Rich Rodriguez Has Jacksonville State on Verge of Bowl Eligibility After Win Over Liberty
Rich Rodriguez earned one of the bigger regular season wins of his Jacksonville State tenure on Thursday night. The Gamecocks beat Liberty 31-21, handing the Flames their second loss of the season a week after they fell to the previously winless Kennesaw State.
In a performance that West Virginia fans grew accustomed to seeing from Rodriguez teams, the Gamecocks won the game thanks to 363 rushing yards out of their 458 total yards. Tre Stewart ran for 232 yards and scored four touchdowns, averaging a crazy 8.6 yards per attempt, while quarterback Tyler Huff added 130 yards of his own on the ground.
Tre Stewart tonight
27 carries – 232 yards – 4 touchdowns
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 31, 2024
The win for Jacksonville State makes Rodriguez and his team one win away from being bowl eligible for the second straight season. In 2023, Rodriguez led the Gamecocks to the school’s first ever bowl game as an FBS program – they defeated Louisiana in overtime to win the New Orleans Bowl, granted the program needed a loophole in the rules to take place in order to be eligible to play in a bowl game.
Jacksonville State is on a five-game win streak after starting the season with three consecutive losses.
Rodriguez will now try to secure that sixth win next week when Jacksonville State travels to Louisiana Tech to take on the struggling 3-5 Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 9.
Run it back 🔁
📺 CBS Sports Network #HardEdge | #EarnSuccess pic.twitter.com/T2P0bf0U3n
— Jax State Football (@JaxStateFB) November 1, 2024
When Rodriguez was hired to guide Jacksonville State into this new FBS era in 2021, it was his first time being a head coach since his departure from Arizona in 2017. After the Wildcats, Rodriguez spent a season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ole Miss and then held the same role at Louisiana-Monroe the following season.
Rodriguez, a West Virginia native, currently holds a 186-128-2 overall coaching record. He experienced most of his success while leading the Mountaineers from 2001-2007. At WVU, Rodriguez won four Big East titles and was named conference Coach of the Year twice. He added a third Coach of the Year honor in the Pac-12 in 2014 with Arizona.
In November 2022, WVSN’s Mike Asti asked WVU legend Rasheed Marshall if he would ever want Rodriguez to return as head coach of the Mountaineers during an episode of their past “All Three Phases” podcast.
Find more coverage of Rich Rodriguez at WV Sports Now.
