JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The new-building smell was present at JSU Stadium on Saturday.
Underneath the new section of stands before sixth-ranked Jacksonville State’s game against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, it was easy to catch a whiff of fresh paint and concrete.
Saturday night’s game was supposed to be the grand debut of the 18-month, $47 million overhaul of JSU Stadium, the Gamecocks’ home for 63 seasons.
“Overall, 99 percent of it is what we thought it would be, and we’re really happy with the way it turned out,” said JSU athletic director Oval Jaynes, who ran UTC’s athletic department from 1998 to 2002.
Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, the afternoon’s severe storms that passed over campus kept a lot folks home and dampened the atmosphere of the debut. The Gamecocks were scheduled to kick off against the Mocs at 7 p.m. EDT in front of a capacity crowd. And the huge crowd was expected long before the Gamecocks’ double-overtime upset of Ole Miss a week earlier.