FINAL STATS  |  PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's November swoon unfortunately carried over into December.
 
The Gamecocks, who lost two of their final three regular-season games after an 8-0 start and settled for an at-large bid into the Football Championship Subdivision playoff field, fell to Wofford 17-14 in a second-round game Saturday before a crowd of 11,817 at Burgess-Snow Field. 

JSU finishes 9-3, its most wins since 2004. 

No. 7 Wofford (10-2) moves into the FCS quarterfinals and will host Georgia Southern, which defeated William & Mary in another second-round game. 

Wofford junior fullback Eric Breitenstein ran for touchdowns of 36 and 3 yards and Christian Reed added a 28-yard field goal that proved to be the difference. 

Breitenstein finished with 178 yards on 28 attempts for the FCS' top-ranked rushing offense, the most yardage the Gamecocks' defense had allowed an opposing back to gain in four years. 

Jacksonville State was hurt by kicking game breakdowns, missing a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and an extra point after trimming the deficit to 17-14 late in the fourth quarter. 

The 14 points scored by the Gamecocks was their fewest of the 2010 season. The previous low total came in a 21-17 home victory over Chattanooga on September 11. 

JSU entered its first postseason game since 2004, and its first at home since '92, averaging 33.8 points per game. 

The Gamecocks marched from their 15 to the Wofford 20 on their second possession of the game, but came away empty-handed when James Esco barely missed a 37-yard field goal. Wofford responded by moving 80 yards in only six plays, finished by Breitenstein's 36-yard run. 

Reed's extra point made it with 2:55 left in the first quarter. 

Freshman kicker Griffin Thomas drew JSU to within 7-3 with a 40-yard field goal at the 10:30 mark in the second quarter. Thomas' kick – the first of his collegiate career – capped an 11-play, 52-yard JSU drive. 

A 48-yard Breitenstein run moved the Terriers into JSU territory just before halftime. Reed wrapped up the 71-yard drive with his 28-yard kick that sent Wofford to the locker room with a 10-3 halftime edge.
JSU appeared to seize the momentum early in the second half. 

Rodney Garrott forced an errant pitchout by Wofford quarterback Mitch Allen that went out the back of the end zone. The safety was the Gamecock's first this season and narrowed the Terrers' lead to 10-5 with 9:58 left in the third. 

Thomas added his second career field goal, a 35-yarder, as Jacksonville State closed the gap to 10-8 early in the fourth. But Wofford immediately regained control, moving 69 yards in 10 plays with Breitenstein finding the end zone on a 3-yard run with 9:14 remaining. 

JSU's only touchdown came on Marcus Ivory's 6-yard touchdown pass to Alan Bonner with just under four minutes left to play. 

Ivory finished the afternoon by completing 15-of-30 passes for 170 yards. He also was intercepted twice. Morrell Jones had a team-high 13 tackles to lead the Gamecock defense.

Coach Jack Crowe Quotes
On the winning touchdown pass
“We had our opportunities to win. I think you have to give credit to Wofford. We played somewhat below what we've been playing, particularly on offense. When we hold a team that is 9-2 to 17 points, we feel like we ought to win the game. We had opportunities for points in the red zone, but we didn't come away with points. I think we made more mistakes, they made fewer mistakes, however you want to say it. That's a credit to their program and their players.” 

On the progress the team made this year
“ I'm very proud of our players. I think the seniors that are leaving have made a substantial difference. I'm very optimistic about the future. This loss does nothing to curtail my expectations for this team. We are going to play for a national championship. We're closer than people think we are. To the end, I could feel the enthusiasm from our band and our students. That's very important to me and I know it is to our players. There has been a change here this year. I can feel it. When you don't have a conference championship and you don't advance, it's hard to point to the evidence of a change, but I can feel it. We're not going to keep our heads down long. We're going to recruit and not come up short next time we do this.” 

On the play of Wofford RB Eric Breitenstein
“You can tip your hat to that young man. He's a very special football player. The majority of his carries, I think we handled him pretty well, but he still had some big plays and put up some big numbers against us.” 

On the decision to kick deep late rather than try an on-sides kick
“I talked to the defense. They said they thought they could hold them. They didn't. But there was enough time to do it. On-sides kicks are so low percentage, but we talked about it and decided the defense could stop them. “ 

On the JSU offense
“There was nothing that happened to us defensively that I thought was unusual. We've just got to score points. Marques is a great manager. We just didn't get it all done today. We had the running game working and the passing game. We just couldn't get it done in the red zone. I thought we should have scored 30 points.”

JSU Quarterback Marques Ivory
On inability to score in the red zone
“It is real frustrating not being able to score. Before the game coach told us they were a bend don't break type of defense. They threw different things on us when we got down close to the goal line. 

On the interceptions
On the first interception, they ran a certain coverage. I had him wide open and just choked. That should have been a TD. I threw too short, but I wasn't prepared for that coverage. They had been throwing something different looks at us all day. On the second one, I got hit when I was throwing it. I couldn't tell what happened.

Linebacker Rodney Garrott
On Breitenstein
Coach just said he had 180 yards. He had two big runs for at least 30 each. Take away those two big runs, and I think we did a good job containing him. Not good enough, obviously. 

On the fumble
I guess I hit him pretty hard for him to drop the ball. But the timing of it just worked out in our favor.

Kicker Griffin Thomas
On being called on to kick field goals
We share a lot of the duties. I do some kickoffs, He does some kickoffs. For the majority of the season we were going to share duties. I just got the opportunity to kick the field goals for the rest of the game. Coach tells us both to be prepared to do either one. Most of the games I'm ready to go for kickoff and field goals.

Running Back Calvin Middleton
On the Wofford defense against the run
I tip my hat to them, because we got down there a couple of times and they stopped us. We averaged 35 points a game, and they held us to 14. You can't say too much about that except they have a real good defense. 

On the failed fourth down conversion
They were ready for it. They shot their gaps and made their assignments. 

POSTGAME NOTES
- Captains for the Gamecocks: senior WR Jeffery Cameron, senior LB Morrell Jones, senior OL Curt Porter, senior DE Jamison Wadley.
- Wofford won the toss and deferred to the second half.
- Senior Tyler Olgetree started at left guard and senior Justin Kay got the nod at center.
- Jax State finishes the 2010 season with a 9-3 mark, the most wins in a season since the 2004 campaign (9-2), which also ended in the NCAA Playoffs... The last time JSU finished with a 9-3 overall mark was 1990.
- JSU is now 15-12 all-time in 27 playoff games and has dropped its third consecutive FCS Playoff match up.
- The Gamecocks played just their tenth game in the month of December and just the first time since the 1992 season.
- JSU is now 1-2 this season when trailing going into the fourth quarter...Jax State was trailed Southeast Missouri 14-13 before scoring 16 fourth period points...The Gamecocks were down 11 at Eastern Kentucky before falling 49-37.
- JSU held the Terriers to just 86 passing yards - the third time this season it has held the opposition to under 100 yards passing this season (Tennessee State and Austin Peay).
- Jax State junior QB Marques Ivory finished 15-of-30 for 170 yards and a TD toss...The Warner Robbins, Ga.-native finished the season with ten 100-plus yard games this season and recorded a passing TD is all but one game this season (at Eastern Illinois.)
- Freshman Richard Freelon caught a career-best 21-yard catch in the second quarter - just his second catch of the season.
- Freshman placekicker Griffin Thomas got the Gamecocks on the board with his 40-yard field goal in the second quarter... It was Thomas' first career kick in a JSU uniform.
- Junior LB Morrell Jones matched his career-high in tackles with 13 stops, including 1.5 for a loss... He finished with 13 against Tennessee State on Nov. 15, 2008.
- With his 59 yards rushing against Wofford, junior RB Calvin Middleton moved past the 1,200 yard career rushing mark.
- Wofford led JSU at halftime 10-3, marking the fourth time this season JSU has trailed at the break.
- Just two players have rushed for over 100 yards this season against the Jax State defense as Wofford's Eric Breitenstein finished with 178 after accumulating 121 yards on the ground by halftime. Southeast Missouri's Henry Harris rushed for over 100 yards versus the Red and White defense...Breitenstein tallied the most rushing yards against the Jax State defense this season...The 178 yards is the most gained against JSU since Eastern Illinois' Ademola Adeniji tallied 158 yards on the ground on Nov. 10, 2007.
- JSU posted its first safety since Sept. 27, 2008 against #16 Eastern Illinois.
- Saturday's Second Round NCAA Playoff contest drew 11,817 fans to JSU's Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium... For the season, Jax State drew 103,977 fans to the newly renovated facility and averaged 17,330 at home during the 2010 season. 

BY THE NUMBERS
1 - Playoff games played at home for JSU since moving to the Football Championship Series level.
6 - Games played at home this season at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium...JSU finished 5-1 on its home turf and are 39-17 since 2000.
13 - Appearance for JSU in the NCAA postseason.
14 - a season-low in points on the scoreboard for JSU.
111 - Consecutive games in which the Gamecocks have scored, a streak that dates back to Nov.18, 2000, when they were last shut out.
325 - The second-lowest yardage output of the season for JSU. The Gamecocks finished with 273 against Tennessee State.
11,817 - Attendance at Saturday's NCAA Second Round Playoff contest at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.
17,330 - Average attendance this season at Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium.