Jacksonville State’s football team has found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

For the first time since the Gamecocks joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 2003 they aren’t at the front of the pack in the conference title race.

After losing to Eastern Kentucky 31-14 on Saturday, Jacksonville State sits at 1-1 in the OVC and an alarming 1-4 overall record. Despite dominating the conference and securing the winning the crown in their first two years of membership, the Gamecocks now look like they may relinquish their stranglehold on the league.

In the preseason, Jacksonville State was picked to win the conference and coaches around the league said this was possibly the best Gamecock team since joining the conference. While the 1-4 record is somewhat deceiving after a tough early season that featured No. 7 Furman and Division I-A Alabama-Birmingham, it is becoming apparent that JSU is going to get a run for their money.

Jacksonville State’s only win this season came against Southeast Missouri who is currently sitting at the bottom of the conference at 0-5 and the Gamecocks only won by a score of 24-10.

For a team as highly respected as JSU, a 14-point win over a cellar dwelling SEMO team is hardly impressive.

After the win over Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky is tied for first place with Eastern Illinois and Tennessee-Martin. While it may still be too early in the season to make any predictions, it looks like the Colonels may be the team to beat in the OVC race.

While no team will likely finish the season undefeated, Jacksonville State’s early loss opens up the field.

Eastern has only played one OVC game but looked impressive in its 43-14 win over Samford. After traveling to SEMO this weekend, Eastern will have a shot at Eastern Kentucky on homecoming. Hopefully the tailgaters outside of O’Brien Field can make it inside the stadium for that game because it will be a pivotal game for Eastern.

Dan Renick is a senior journalism major. He pretty much phoned this one in and is at the bottom of the sports writing title race. E-mail him at [email protected].