UAB vs Jacksonville State Odds, Spread and Prediction
- UAB and Jacksonville State will meet in the season opener for both at 7:30 pm ET Wednesday on ESPN
- The Blazers has won the last two C-USA championships; FCS Jacksonville State is playing its second 2021 season – the Gamecocks won Ohio Valley title in a seven-game spring schedule
- See the odds, analysis and best bet for the game below
UAB will meet neighbor Jacksonville State in the Montgomery Kickoff, a neutral site game from the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.
The game officially kicks off Week 1 of the College Football season Wednesday night on ESPN.
Jacksonville State rejoined the Atlantic Sun Conference (effective this fall) after dominating the Ohio Valley Conference for the past eight seasons. The Gamecocks won the OVC title as a lame duck during an eight-game spring season, going 7-1 and winning one game in the FCS playoffs.
UAB vs Jacksonville State Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Spread | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| UAB Blazers | -850 | -14.5 (-112) | 47.5 (Over-110) |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks | +540 | +14.5 (+108) | 47.5(Under-110) |
*Odds from FanDuel on Aug. 30th
UAB holds a 3-2 series edge, although the most recent game was the Blazers’ 35-28 victory in 2005. All five games were played in Birmingham, Ala. The campuses are 74 miles apart.
UAB received votes in the preseason AP Top 25 and the Gamecocks are ranked in the top 10 in the two major FCS polls. Jacksonville State won its last meeting against a C-USA opponent, stopping Florida International 19-10 in the final game of the 2020 season, the only game that season in which an FCS team beat at FBS team.
https://youtu.be/38ohBDZXCp4
UAB was 6-3 last season and was scheduled to meet South Carolina in the Gasparilla Bowl before those Gamecocks opted out of the game because of COVID-19 issues.
Vet QBs Lead the Way
UAB redshirt senior quarterback Tyler Johnston III returns for his fourth season as the Blazers’ starter and Jacksonville State redshirt senior quarterback Zerrick Cooper is back for the Gamecocks.
Johnston III is 13-5 as the Blazers’ starter, but he made only four starts last season because of a shoulder injury incurred in mid-September. He has passed for 4,429 yards and 35 touchdowns, fourth and fifth in school history, respectively.
Johnston returned from his shoulder injury to throw for 470 yards in the final two games of 2020, passing for 252 yards in a 22-13 victory at Marshall in the C-USA title game. He threw for 2,250 yards and 17 touchdowns in 11 games in 2019 before suffering an injury against Tennessee.
Cooper, who played five games at Clemson in 2017, is one of 35 players on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top FCS player. Cooper missed the 2021 spring season with an injury after passing for 671 yards in the abbreviated four-game fall season.
He has thrown for 7,491 career yards and is 161 yards short of the school record. He has 61 touchdown passes, tying the school record, in 28 games since arriving from Clemson.
For the Defense
UAB has finished in the top 10 in total defense in the FBS for the last three seasons and finished seventh in 2020 with at 311.1 yards allowed per game. All-American can Kristopher Moll, moving to strong safety from linebacker, is one of nine starters returning on that side of the ball. The unit returns three other all C-USA players.
Jacksonville has had their last nine regular-season opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing, a school record. Defensive end DJ Coleman and safety Nicario Harper are on the Buck Buchanan Award watch list as the best defensive player in the FCS. The Gamecocks have allowed three rushing plays of 20 yards or longest in their last 12 games, 407 carries.
UAB must replace career leading rusher Spencer Brown. DeWayne McBride, who had 47 carries for 439 yards and four touchdowns a year ago, is expected to take over.
Old Friends Meet Again
UAB coach Bill Clark and Jacksonville State coach John Grass were in the same graduating class at Jacksonville State in 1990 and have coached with and against each other since. When Clark was named as the Jacksonville State head coach in 2013, he hired Grass at the offensive coordinator.
In 2013, the Gamecocks were 11-4 and made the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs behind an offense that set 49 school records, 13 Ohio Valley records and three NCAA records. Clark took the UAB job the next year, and Grass was elevated to take his place. The two have never faced off in a college game.
Grass has a .764 career winning percentage, eighth among all active Division I coaches and second among FCS coaches. Clark is 40-22 in five seasons as UAB, 34-17 since the program resumed in 2016 after a two-year hiatus.
Each team has a money game on the horizon – UAB will travel to No. 5 Georgia on Sept. 11 after the Bulldogs’ season opener against No. 3 Clemson this Saturday. Jacksonville State is to play at Florida State on Sept. 11. Each team is expected to net in excess of $1.5 million from the trip.
Jacksonville is stepping up in class for this game and is a two-touchdown underdog, but friends do not run up the score on friends, even if the opportunity arises.
The pick: Jacksonville State +14.5 (+108)
Jack has covered college and professional sports for various Arizona media outlets since the 1980s and has written for the Associated Press, USA Today and Baseball America, among others. He staffed the 2015-17 World Series and has staffed four Super Bowls.
