Identifying the sneaky good non-conference college football games with upset potential, high entertainment value, or intriguing story lines.

Jacksonville State at LSU

This is the fourth post in this series and for the second time I’m profiling a FCS opponent taking on a Power 5 opponent.

There’s no denying that sentiment is growing for LSU as a national title contender. On Monday, I pulled back on those reigns a little bit because the Tigers don’t have a proven good quarterback. I’ll also throw it out there I don’t believe LSU has quite the team of horses to become a devastating type of defense like they were in the peak of the John Chavis era. Seriously, take a look at the defensive recruiting it’s not overwhelmingly strong or in the same zip code as Alabama, though no one else is anyway.

New defensive coordinator Dave Aranda was a great hire in his own right and has 9 starters to work with. Of course, LSU will have a very good defense unless there are some crazy growing pains during the transition to a 3-4. I’m kind of intrigued to watch the Tigers make that switch as they have been such a prototypical 4-3 program under Les Miles.

Aranda also gets the pleasure of facing his former employer, the Wisconsin Badgers, in the first game of this 2016 season. These teams met in Houston to kickoff the 2014 season with the Badgers jumping out to a 17-7 lead before LSU rallied in the 4th quarter for a 4-point victory. This year, they will meet up at historic Lambeau Field. The Tigers traveling this far north, even if it is September, is worthy of our attention.

LSU will have to come back from Green Bay and face a pesky Jacksonville State team that is among the best FCS teams in the nation. The Gamecocks made some waves last year out-gaining, out-playing, but ultimately losing to Auburn in overtime. From there, Jax State finished 13-1 overall as Ohio Valley Champions then fell in the FCS National Championship to North Dakota State.

Best news for the Gamecocks? Quarterback Eli Jenkins returns after throwing for 2,788 yards and rushing for 1,161 yards with 36 total touchdowns. The big blow offensively is the loss of running back Troymaine Pope who rushed for 1,788 yards and scored 20 touchdowns. He just recently signed with the Seahawks and participated in the Chiefs rookie mini-camp several weeks ago. They pick up Auburn transfer Roc Thomas (475 yards 2014-15), though.

Jenkins will have enough help in the passing game with the return of Josh Barge who totaled 92 receptions last year. We know their offense is going to be one of the best at the FCS level and they were rewarded with the No. 3 pre-season ranking by their league.

You’re probably thinking JSU won’t be able to stop Leonard Fournette and the LSU offense. Remember, the Tigers have a history of really slow starts and too close for comfort games early in the season. Last year, they only led Syracuse 7-3 at the half, and even worse, only led Eastern Michigan 20-14 at the half, too.

I mean, Les Miles was kind of sort of fired at one point last year before he wasn’t. These early-season groggy performances played a part in the narrative that nearly cost him his job.

Additionally, Jacksonville State played the run pretty well against Auburn last year. Obviously, Auburn was in the beginning of realizing how overrated quarterback Jeremy Johnson was as they let him throw 32 times! Still, Auburn was limited to just 165 yards on 38 carries right about the same production as against LSU the following week.

If Jacksonville State can get a decent defensive performance and Brandon Harris has a really bad day, look out for an upset alert into the second half.