Huff, Stewart Power Jax State to First CUSA Championship

The Gamecocks posted the second-highest rushing total in CUSA Championship Game history (386) and tied the game’s record with five touchdowns on the ground.

Source: Conference USA
Photo: Courtesy

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – In just its second year in the league and first year of eligibility, Jacksonville State claimed its first Conference USA Football Championship with a commanding, 52-12 victory over WKU on Friday at AmFirst Stadium. The Gamecocks posted the second-highest rushing total in CUSA Championship Game history (386) and tied the game’s record with five touchdowns on the ground.

Quarterback Tyler Huff, who exited the regular-season finale early with an ankle injury, earned Championship Game MVP honors after setting a conference record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in the title game (166) and accounting for three total touchdowns.

Huff finished 11-15 through the air with 176 yards and two first-quarter touchdowns to set the tone for the win. His rushing touchdown made him CUSA’s sole leader in single season rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (14).

Running back Tre Stewart continued his remarkable campaign with 27 carries for 201 yards and three touchdowns after he was held to just 11 yards in the opening quarter. It marked his third game with at least 200 rushing yards and his seventh with multiple touchdowns. Stewart also cracked the league’s top 10 in single season rushing (1,604) and moved into a tie for fifth with 23 touchdowns.

Jax State continued to execute at an elite rate, scoring on eight of its 10 drives and each of its last six possessions. The Gamecocks were especially effective within the red zone, finishing 6-6 in the with six touchdowns. In the last three games, the team is 10-10 in the red zone with 10 touchdowns.

The Jax State defense was also dominant, allowing the second-fewest yards (229) and third-fewest points (12) in CUSA Championship Game history against a normally potent Hilltopper offense. Safety Zechariah Poyser led the team with eight tackles and tallied a pass breakup, while fellow safety Antonio Carter II recorded six stops, including 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

WKU running back Elijah Young posted just his second 100-yard outing of the season with 108 yards on 19 carries, and kicker Lucas Carneiro was another bright spot for the Hilltoppers after opening the scoring with a 54-yard field goal that improved him to 6-6 on kicks over 50 yards.

Jax State is now second in CUSA history in single-season rushing touchdowns (48) behind Florida Atlantic in 2017 (52), and the Gamecocks cracked the league’s top five in single-season rushing yards (3,475).
Jax State’s 52 points is the second most in a CUSA Championship Game behind WKU, when they defeated LA Tech 58-44 in 2016.
The game snapped a three-game streak of the team who won the regular-season matchup winning the championship game and marked the first time since 2018 that the non-winning team in the regular season meeting was victorious in the championship game.
WKU has now thrown for at least one touchdown pass in 19 straight road games against conference foes, which is the second longest streak in league history (25, Marshall 2011-17). Caden Veltkamp threw 13 of his 23 touchdown passes in five such games this season.
The 2024 CUSA Championship Game was the coldest in league history at 32 degrees at kickoff. It also marked the coldest home game on record for Jax State.

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Levi Gwaltney

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