Big plays, comeback
- Updated: October 29, 2025
Johnson breaks loose with big game after not starting, and Gamecocks find a passing game while coming back to beat Middle Tennessee State
Editor’s note: Complete statistics from Jax State’s victory at Middle Tennessee State can be found at this link.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
Jax State’s work on the passing game over an open date worked.
Deondre Johnson caught four passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns while sparking a fourth-quarter comeback, and Jax State staved off an upset with a 24-21 victory at Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday.
The Gamecocks (5-3) upped to 4-0 in Conference USA while flirting with becoming MTSU’s first CUSA conquest this season. The Blue Raiders fell to 1-7, 0-4.
Jax State trailed 14-7 going into the fourth quarter.
Quarterbacks Caden Creel and Gavin Wimsatt combined to hit on 15 of 21 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Creel completed 13 of 19 passes for 139 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown pass to Johnson to give Jax State a 17-14 lead at 110:10 of the fourth quarter.
Wimsatt, Jax State’s starter at the beginning of the season, hit all two of his passes for 76 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown pass to Johnson after a lateral from Creel to give Jax State a 7-6 lead at 7:25 of the second quarter.
Johnson also made an acrobating, leaping 38-yard catch on a lob from Creel to set up Johnson’s second touchdown catch.
Johnson didn’t start the game.
“Sometimes, it’s like in baseball,” Jax State coach Charles Kelly said in his postgame interview with Gamecocks radio voice Mike Parris. “When a hitter is struggling a little bit, sometimes, if you sit on the bench and see the pitches, when you go back in there, you hit a little bit better.
“That’s how I explained it to him, and he made some big plays. That’s what we envisioned him being able to do when we get one-on-one coverage.”
Explosive passing plays have come few and far between for Jax State this season, and finding ways to produce them became a focus during the open day before the Gamecocks went to MTSU.
“I wanted some explosive plays down the field,” Kelly said. “We got them. If we hadn’t have got them, we wouldn’t have won the game.”
Jax State’s passing success came at a good time. The Gamecocks’ already thin offensive line got thinner when center Lucas Mrachkovskiy suffered a lower-body injury on the Gamecocks’ first offensive snap, and Jax State struggled to produce in the running game.
Cam Cook, the FBS’s leading rusher, finished with 105 yards, including a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 24-21 with 4:29 to play.
Cook had a 42-yard run to key what turned out to be the game-winning drive, which covered 65 yards in seven plays. Cook rushed for 60 yards in the fourth quarter.
Jax State withstood a strong performance by MTSU quarterback Nicholas Vattiato, who completed 23 of 45 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns.
Jax State-MTSU updates
–Kickoff, 6 p.m.
FIRST QUARTER
–Nicholas Vattiato throws a 10-yards touchdown pass to D.J. Taylor at 4:05. PAT fails. Drive: 7 plays, 54 yards, 3:11. MTSU 6, JAX STATE 0
SECOND QUARTER
–On a double pass, Gavin Wimsatt throws a 56-yard touchdown pass to Deondre Johnson at 7:25. Gavin Rippa’s PAT is good. Drive: 4 plays, 82 yards, 1:32. JAX STATE 7, MTSU 6
THIRD QUARTER
–Vattiato throws a 2-yard TD pass to Jakail Middlebrook, and Vattiato completes the conversion pass to Hunter Tipton at 5:34. Drive: 11 plays, 80 yards, 5:34. MTSU 14, JAX STATE 7
FOURTH QUARTER
–Rippa kicks a 47-yard field goal at 13:29. Drive: 14 plays, 45 yards, 7:03. MTSU 14, JAX STATE 10
–Johnson’s 38-yard, jump-ball catch to the MTSU 35 keys a drive, and Johnson’s 30-yard catch at the corner of the end zone ruled a TD on review at 10:10. Rippa’s PAT is good. Drive: 4 plays, 73 yards, 1:47. Johnson was initially ruled out of bounds, but call was overturned on review. JAX STATE 17, MTSU 14
–MTSU answers with Middlebrook’s 6-yard TD run on a drive aided by a roughing-the-passer call. Hathaway’s PAT is good at 7:45. Drive: 6 plays, 75 yards, 2:21. MTSU 21, JAX STATE 17
–Cam Cook breaks a 42-yard run to start the drive, and Cook finishes it with a 3-yard TD run. Rippa PAT is good. Drive: 7 plays, 65 yards, 3:15. JAX STATE 24, MTSU 21
FINAL: Jax State wins, 24-21
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