Jacksonville State is on the road in a midweek game once again, hoping for a similar — if not quite as dramatic — result.

The Gamecocks (4-1, 2-0 Conference USA) travel to Middle Tennessee (1-4, 0-1) for a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday at Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium. ESPNU will broadcast the action live, the second of five straight national television appearances for JSU.

“It’s another short week, six days this time, but really five days if you count our travel day,” Jax State coach Rich Rodriguez said. “It’s been a good week so far, obviously the turnaround is really quick. … I still think people are still learning that, hey, Conference USA is playing the entire month of October in the midweek. It’s the new reality show, Conference USA football, right?”

If that’s truly, Jax State’s latest “episode” was one for the pantheon. The Gamecocks beat Sam Houston 35-28 in overtime, rallying from down 21-7 at halftime and 28-20 with little more than a minute remaining.

JSU drove 75 yards with no timeouts for the tying touchdown and two-point conversion, then scored on its first possession of overtime before forcing the Bearkats to go four-and-out to end the game. The Gamecocks won despite going just 3-for-12 on third down and committing three turnovers.

“To go on the road in a conference and overtime to win, those are always kind of extra special,” Rodriguez said. “I saw a graph afterwards that there was a 99.9% chance at one time that we would lose — so you’re telling me there’s a chance? We played really poorly, some of it was their doing, we played really poorly in the beginning of the game and the whole first half. Thankfully, nobody kind of hung their heads. … All wins are good and conference wins on the road are really good.”

Middle Tennessee is 0-4 this season vs. FBS competition, with its only win coming vs. FCS opponent Murray State on Sept. 16. The Blue Raiders lost 31-10 at Western Kentucky in their CUSA opener last week.

MTSU did play Missouri close in Week 2, however, losing 23-19. Thus, the Gamecocks are expecting a tough challenge in Murfreesboro.

“Middle Tennessee this week, I know they’re going to challenge us on the perimeter a lot,” Jax State cornerback Jabari Mack said. “We have to play as one on defense, like we know they’re going to make plays because that’s what they’re supposed to do. When they make plays, you just have to stay calm. Everybody is doing their job and fighting to the end.”

Jax State has played more than one quarterback in every game this season, though Nebraska transfer Logan Smothers has started each of the last two weeks ahead of veteran Zion Webb. Smothers had the best game of his short JSU career vs. Sam Houston, passing for 197 yards and three touchdowns and also rushing for a score to earn Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

JSU continues to win with turnovers, sporting a plus-7 margin this year. Prior to giving the ball away three times against Sam Houston, the Gamecocks had done so just once in their previous four games.

“I always think we entertain one way or another,” Rodriguez said. “It’s like people go to watch a NASCAR race. A lot of them just want to go and see a wreck or something. We could be a train wreck at times, but our guys are playing hard. I think that’s the one thing I’m most proud of, is that we’re playing hard all the time and that’s obviously the expectation and one of the tendencies that we build our program on.

“I think we may be in some close games and we’re going to have to win some close games to have any kind of season. Both of our conference games have been really close down to the last minute. The rest of our schedule, we’re going to be battling in there and hanging in there to the end. We’ll try to find a way to win.”