Jacksonville State used a red-hot start and held off a second-half surge from Florida International on Wednesday night in Miami, claiming a 41-16 road victory and clinching a winning season in its first year on the FBS level.

The Gamecocks (7-2 overall, 5-1 Conference USA) dominated the first two-plus quarters, leading 21-0 in the first quarter, 24-3 at halftime and 27-3 early in the third. The Panthers (4-5, 1-5) pulled within 27-16 after three quarters, before JSU put the game away with a pair of fourth-quarter scores.

“We just needed to start executing,” Jax State coach Rich Rodriguez said in his postgame interview on CBS Sports Network. “Give (FIU) credit, they got a little spark, put a new quarterback in. Defensively, we gave up a couple of big plays, and offensively we messed around a little bit too much, got some three-and-outs. But our guys kept playing hard and I’m really proud of them.”

Zion Webb played all but the final series at quarterback for JSU, rushing for 125 yards and two touchdowns and passing for 105 yards with another score. Running back Ron Wiggins returned from a shoulder injury that had kept him out since Week 3, and ran for 61 yards and two scores.

FIU was outgained 269 yards to 32 in the first half, but began to rally behind backup quarterback Grayson James, who replaced starter Keyone Jenkins at halftime. James ran for a touchdown and threw for another in the third quarter, pulling the Panthers within 11 heading into the final 15 minutes.

The game’s momentum turned back in JSU’s favor after a controversial call on an FIU punt with a little more than 12 minutes remaining. Gamecocks return man Sterling Galban mishandled the ball and the Panthers recovered, but FIU was called for kick-catch interference — even though no one touched Galban — and JSU retained possession.

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Webb ran for 30 yards on the next play to put Jax State in the red zone, and Wiggins ran into the end zone from 16 yards out two plays later to make it 34-16 at the 10:48 mark. After the JSU defense forced a turnover on downs, Webb ran for a 3-yard touchdown to put the game out of reach with 4:40 left.

Jax State scored on its first three possessions, which resulted in a 13-yard Webb touchdown run, a 22-yard Wiggins TD run and a 9-yard scoring pass from Webb to Sean Brown for a 21-0 lead. FIU’s Chase Gabriel kicked a 50-yard field goal to put the Panthers on the board midway through the second quarter, but Alen Karajic added 3-point kicks of 28 and 38 yards to give the Gamecocks a 27-3 lead with 12:23 left in the third.

James entered the game for FIU at that point, and led drives that ended in his 1-yard touchdown and an 8-yard scoring pass to Kris Mitchell to make it 27-16 before the Gamecocks dominated the fourth quarter. James finished the night 12-for-20 for 200 yards.

JSU outrushed FIU 265 yards to 31 in the game, and outgained the Panthers 370-249 overall. The Gamecocks also committed just one penalty for 15 yards while FIU was flagged nine times for 92 yards.

Jax State sacked Jenkins and James five times, two by J-Rock Swain and one each by Curley Young, Jeff Marks and Chris Hardie. Swain had three of the Gamecocks’ eight tackles for loss, while Young and Hardie had two each.

Wednesday’s game was Jax State’s fifth straight on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and the Gamecocks won four of them. JSU also held onto second place in CUSA, though as an FBS transitional program they are not eligible to play in the conference championship game.

“It’s been quite an interesting experience these last five weeks, midweek games,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been quite a grind, but I’m proud of the way our guys have handled it.”

Jax State returns to weekend action on Nov. 4, traveling to South Carolina for an 11 a.m. kickoff against the “other” Gamecocks on ESPNU.