Both teams are short on offense. Sam Houston has shut down tight end B. Kuhl for the season. Jacksonville State has a bigger problem at the skill spots: wide receivers F. Baret Jr. and A. Watkins are both out with no timetable, and running back A. Paul is likely done for the year. The Gamecocks have kept winning without those 3, but their margins have been thin. The number is up now, and it makes Jacksonville State better than a 2-touchdown favorite. The total has come down since it opened.
Both teams played midweek in late October, Sam Houston on a Tuesday and Jacksonville State a night later. That gave each of them a long run-up to a Saturday game, which matters more for a staff that has just been reshuffled. The Bearkats got extra practices under new voices. The Gamecocks got time for some of their injured players to heal, though none of the 3 has a return date. Conditions won't be an excuse for either side: 56 degrees, mostly sunny and a 5 mph wind in Jacksonville, on CBS Sports Network.
New Mexico State is the one opponent both teams have played, and it's not a flattering comparison for Sam Houston. The Aggies beat the Bearkats 30-24 in Huntsville. A week later Jacksonville State went to Las Cruces and won 24-0. That's the Gamecocks' only comfortable win of this 5-game streak. The others came by 4, 10, 1 and 3 points, so they've been winning close games all month. Jacksonville State finishes games. It doesn't blow teams out. Sam Houston's offense has been held to 3 points in 3 of its last 4 games, though, so it hasn't been close to putting anybody in that kind of position.
The latest sign of how bad things are for Sam Houston was the Missouri State loss, where Henry Belin IV threw for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Bearkats. A defense that keeps getting carved up can be patched in a week. An offense stuck on 3 points is harder to fix, and that's the first thing the interim staff has to solve.
For Jacksonville State, a 4-0 conference record means every week matters for the league title, and it needs to keep winning without 2 of its receivers and its running back. For Sam Houston, it's the first game under a new staff, and an upset would do more than anything else to change how this season ends.
