![\"default-cbs-image\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764200004_245_video-slate.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) Garrison Rippa kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired to send Jacksonville State<\/a> to the Conference USA championship game with a 37-34 win over Western Kentucky<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n The Gamecocks (8-4, 7-1) will host Kennesaw State in the championship game on Friday.<\/p>\n Caden Creel led the Gamecocks from the JSU 39 to the WKU 11 over the final 4:18 to set up the winning kick.<\/p>\n Creel completed 12 of 19 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns and had 143 rushing yards including a score. Cam Cook added 137 yards rushing and a TD. Cook entered the game with the second-most rushing yards in the FBS with 1,444.<\/p>\n Cook scored the first touchdown for Jacksonville, a 14-yard rush in the first quarter. Western Kentucky (8-4, 6-2) responded with three straight scores to go up 21-7 early in the second quarter. A kick from Rippa and a 2-yard reception by Pearson Baldwin made it 21-17. Both teams scored another touchdown before halftime.<\/p>\n Creel rushed for a 70-yard score in the third quarter to take the lead for the Gamecocks.<\/p>\n Rodney Tisdale Jr. completed 17 of 24 passes for 180 yards for Western Kentucky. La’Vell Wright ran for 116 yards and scored two touchdowns.<\/p>\n — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/p>\n \n Copyright 2025 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) Garrison Rippa kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired to send Jacksonville State to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":347349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,1428,3188,723,7310,103336,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,74057],"class_list":{"0":"post-414408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jacksonville-state-gamecocks","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-western-kentucky-hilltoppers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115636993938620757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}