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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Eastern Illinois saw its drive for a third straight Ohio Valley Conference title fall short on Saturday as the Panthers lost, 27-20, at No. 3 Jacksonville State.

EIU had the ball with 2:09 to play at its own 41-yard line needing a touchdown to tie the game, but a defensive stand by the Gamecocks saw the Panthers turn the ball over on downs.

EIU fell to 5-6, 5-2 in the OVC.  The Panthers host UT Martin for senior day next Saturday at 12 p.m. at O'Brien Field.   JSU won the outright OVC title improving to 9-1, 7-0 in the OVC.

Jacksonville State opened the game with a defensive stand as the Gamecocks held the Panthers offense to a 3-and-out.  Following a punt, JSU scored two plays later as Eli Jenkins hit Josh Barge for a 59-yard strike to put the Gamecocks up 7-0 with 13:21 to go in the first quarter.

EIU's defense set up the Panthers first score as they pinned JSU's offense inside its own ten yard line.   JSU had a short punt setting up the Panthers at the 19-yard line.  Jalen Whitlow scored on a 19-yard run. It was Whitlow's ninth straight game with a rushing touchdown and his 12th of the season.

Defense was a common theme for the night as the final score difference was a 27-yard interception returned for a touchdown by Darius Jackson with 11:33 to play in the fourth quarter.  The touchdown gave JSU a 27-17 lead.

EIU drove inside the JSU 20-yard line on the next drive but quarterback Jalen Whitlow was banged up following a run to the Gamecocks 18.  He would not return.   Back-up quarterback Andrew Manley finished the game including directing that drive with a Nick Bruno 20-yard field goal making the game 27-20 with 8:31 to play.

The Panthers defense was able to hold up on two second quarter drives by Jacksonville State limiting the Gamecocks to field goals by Connor Rouleau.   The first was from 22-yards with 10:29 to play in the second.  The other was from 40-yards with 5:54 to go in the second quarter.

JSU led 20-7 at the half as DaMarcus James had a rushing touchdown with 2:30 to play in the half.   The damage could have been greater but Dino Fanti recovered a fumble inside the ten yard line to end the half.  

After allowing JSU 319 yards of offense in the first half the Panthers defense took control in the second half holding JSU to 133 yards and two missed field goal opportunities.   JSU's only second half points came on the defensive touchdown.

EIU cut the lead to 20-10 on a Nick Bruno 41-yard field goal with 11:21 to go in the third.   Taylor Duncan found the end zone with 5:59 to play in the third to make it a 20-17 JSU lead.   

EIU was held to its season low in total offense with 304 yards with only 109 yards in the first half.  JSU had 454, marking the first time this season that EIU has been outgained by its opponent.    

Whitlow led EIU's ground game with 78 yards.  Jeff LePak caught four passes for 60-yards. 

Jenkins passed for a career high 288 yards.  His top two receivers were Barge with eight catches for 153 yards and Rueben Gonzalez with 113 yards.   James had 112 yards on the ground.

Laquesse Taylor and Kamu Grugier-Hill each had 11 tackles for EIU.  Michael Carlisle and Ben Endress led JSU with ten tackles each.