For Jacksonville State coach John Grass, the Eastern football team is like a bear, heading into the teams’ 3 p.m. kickoff Saturday in Jacksonville, Ala.

“It’s like dealing with a hungry bear, a grizzly bear,” Grass said. “They’re hungry to win the conference and get in. It’s like they’re backed in a corner and they’re playing with a lot of passion and energy and our bunch is well aware of that.”

Starting the season with a 1-5 overall record, Eastern coach Kim Dameron has watched the Panthers win four straight Ohio Valley Conference games. Saturday’s road game against the Gamecocks gives Eastern the opportunity to position itself at the top of the conference with a victory.

With the league’s No. 1 rated offense and No. 2 defense, Eastern, which is 5-1 in the OVC, is confident heading into Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium. Grass, who has led the Gamecocks to an 8-1 overall record and 6-0 mark in the OVC in his first year as the head coach at Jacksonville State, said records are irrelevant right now.

“At this point in time in the season you can throw out the records,” Grass said. “They’re sitting there with a chance to achieve their goals of what they first started in the season and we are too.”

Out of Eastern’s first five losses, two came against ranked FCS opponents, Illinois State and Eastern Kentucky and two more against FBS teams Minnesota and Ohio.

“I promise you one thing, they’re the best five-loss team in the country, there’s no doubt,” Grass said.

Eastern faces its highest-ranking opponent yet, as Jacksonville State is No. 3 in both major FCS polls. As Dameron and the rest of his coaching staff began to prepare for the Gamecocks, one thing remains the same for the first-year coach.

“Just because it’s Jacksonville State it doesn’t change our focus,” Dameron said. “It doesn’t change how we’re going to prepare or anything like that. We know we have a good football team.”

The Gamecocks feature the OVC’s top running offense and best running defense, with Eastern ranked closely behind at No. 2 in both categories. But the game plan remains identical for the run-first mindset of the Panthers’ offense.

“We have to do the same things we always do,” Dameron said. “We have to run the football, we have to be able to throw the football and we have to protect it.”

Defensively, the Panthers go up against the country’s No. 4 rushing offense, which averages 292.3 yards per game. The numbers only get more staggering in conference play, where the Gamecocks average 331.3 rushing yards per game.

“We always have to stop the run first,” Dameron said. “We have to make sure that we’re trying hard not to give up the big play. Nothing changes. Our focus isn’t any different than it’s been for the last eight weeks, or nine weeks or whatever it may be.”

Jacksonville State fell to Eastern last season at O’Brien Field, 52-14, with the Panthers clinching their second OVC title in a row. Grass was on the sidelines, serving as the offensive coordinator for the Gamecocks. He remembers the wind, which blew around at an average speed of 23 mph, gusting higher than that at times. For Saturday’s vital game, he’s glad that it will be at home, far away from any windy conditions in Charleston.

“I don’t want to play in that wind – that wind was bad last year,” Grass said. “That was tough stuff. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Definitely, we’d rather be playing at home for sure.”

Eastern has won its last two conference road games at Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech, respectively. The Panthers’ only OVC loss did come on the road, though; as Dameron saw his team let a 26-5 lead disappear against Eastern Kentucky.

Jacksonville State is Eastern’s biggest road challenge since its overtime loss against the Colonels.

“The last time I felt like we had this quality of an opponent and had to go on the road was Eastern Kentucky,” Dameron said.

For Grass, the Panthers present another test for his team, which is conscious of the success Eastern has had in the past month.

“You flip on the tape and watch them, they’re every bit as good as any team you’ll play,” Grass said. “They’re a playoff caliber team. They’ve won our conference for the past two years. Our bunch has a great deal of respect for them.”

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].