After three weeks of practice, ASU has turned its full attention to the opening-day opponent, Jacksonville State University. The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) held their first coaches' teleconference and ASU Head Coach Reggie Barlow talked about JSU's new coaching staff bringing a different JSU team to Montgomery than what the Gamecocks put on the field last year.

"The thing about Jacksonville State is they have a new coach there," Head Coach Reggie Barlow said. "They have a whole new system and we don't know anything about these guys. Obviously the head coach there (Bill Clark) was at South Alabama (last season) and it has been kind of hard to find film to see exactly what they are going to do from a scheme standpoint. We are going to see if we can match up with a good team."

"It's hard preparing for someone when you have no clue what they are going to be doing," Barlow added. "We just don't know and that's the honest truth. We are going to try and figure it out on the run."

There is not a long history of the two teams playing each other even though they are only a couple of hours apart. ASU does hold a 2-1 edge in the series, with the last game between the two coming in 2007, a 24-19 ASU victory. It was Coach Barlow's first game as the Hornets head coach.

"We've played them here (in Montgomery) before, maybe six years ago," Barlow said. "Obviously they have a great program, wonderful facilities up there and we do recruit some of the same kids they recruit, but for us it is another game and it is the first one. We're just excited about having the opportunity to open our season up here on our campus, and it is great to have us playing against them, especially for the state, but for us it's about we're opening up in our new stadium and our fans and band will be there so we are excited about that."

ASU will now go into their weekly practice schedule and will be on the practice field tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7 p.m.