Jacksonville State plays the last of five straight midweek games on Wednesday, though the Gamecocks have navigated the scheduling quirk very well all things considered.

JSU is 6-2 overall and 4-1 in Conference USA after beating Western Kentucky on a last-second field goal last Tuesday. The Gamecocks have won three of their four previous midweek games, and travel to meet Florida International (4-4, 1-4) for the final one on Wednesday.

“It’s been an interesting thing to deal with and I think our guys have handled it well,” Jax State coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I didn’t realize that us and Sam Houston are the only two Conference USA teams that did not have a bye anywhere in the five-week stretch. I think they got the newbies, right. The two new ones got the short sticks on that deal, but our guys have handled it well.

“Obviously (Western Kentucky) was a good win and I’m proud of the way the guys hung in there. There’s a lot of areas that we need to play better at, certainly, and things that we have got to work on in practice. We’re a pretty good football team and I really like the way the guys hung in there and pulled out the win.”

Jax State fell out of first place when it lost 31-13 to unbeaten Liberty on Oct. 10, but secured sole possession of second place in the 9-team conference with a 20-17 win over Western Kentucky last Tuesday. The Gamecocks have three conference games remaining, at FIU Wednesday, at home vs. Louisiana Tech Nov. 18 and at New Mexico State Nov. 25.

As a program transition to FBS play from the FCS, JSU is not eligible to play in the CUSA championship game, and cannot play in a bowl game unless there are not enough 6-win teams available. Still, the Gamecocks are playing an exciting brand of football, among the national leaders in turnovers forced and sacks and having won three games this season on the final play.

“I’ve been doing this long enough; I’ve been on both ends of it, you hope that maybe at the end your guys are in good shape and so they still have all their energy,” Rodriguez said. “There’s some fortune involved in that too, but I think a lot of it is for our guys is that there’s always a belief that ‘hey, we’re going to be OK, we can pull it out.’ There’s also been guys making plays at the end or it’s a turnover. Sometimes you create a turnover and sometimes you got lucky with a turnover. We’ve created some turnovers to help us win along with having some fortune.

“Like we said, ‘Must Watch TV, right?’ You know, Jax State football — Tuesday, Wednesdays or The Bachelor. Let’s go with Jax State.”

Though they are new opponents in CUSA and at the FBS level, Jacksonville State and Florida International have played once before. The Gamecocks beat the Panthers 19-10 in Miami in 2020, with current quarterback Zion Webb coming off the bench to relieve the injured Zerrick Cooper and lead JSU to victory.

FIU beat Sam Houston 33-27 in double-overtime last week to secure its first CUSA victory of the season. Coach Mike MacIntyre’s Panthers have not finished with a winning record since 2018.

“They’re a physical team, they’re a pretty athletic team,” Jax State receiver P.J. Wells said. “I know they have a lot of good athletes. This week we’re just going to play our game. We’re going to do what we do best and hopefully you get a good win.”

Kickoff for Jax State-FIU Wednesday is set for 6:30 p.m. at FIU Football Stadium in Miami. The game will be televised live via CBS Sports Network.

• Jacksonville State had both the Conference USA Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week announced Monday.

Webb took honors on offense have rushing for a career-high 146 yards and a touchdown and also throwing for 218 yards in the victory over Western Kentucky. Webb’s 364 yards of total offense were also a career-high.

Kicker Alen Karajic got the nod on special teams after kicking a 41-yard field goal as time expired to the give the Gamecocks a three-point win. The game-winner was the first on the final play for Jax State since 2012.

• Jax State will play a sixth straight nationally televised game, as the Gamecocks’ road contest at South Carolina Nov. 4 has been picked up by ESPNU. That game kicks off at 11 a.m. Central at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.