No. 1 ranked Jacksonville State took control of the NCAA Division I Football Championship semifinals from the opening kickoff as the Gamecocks rolled to a 62-10 victory over No. 6 Sam Houston Saturday at Burgess-Snow field in Alabama.

Four first half turnovers (three fumbles and an interception) set up 24 points for the Gamecocks as JSU jumped out to a 31-0 lead halfway through second quarter. The Gamecocks, now 13-1 with a 12-game winning streak, advance to the national championship game in Frisco Saturday Jan. 9 to take on four-time defending titlist North Dakota State.

Reaching the semifinals for the fourth time in five years, Sam Houston ended the season with an 11-4 record. The Bearkats advanced farther than any unseeded team in the playoffs both in 2014 and 2015. The loss ended a five-game winning streak that included playoff wins over Southern Utah, McNeese State and Colgate.

“What a great year we had. Today we lost to an outstanding football team, one of the best FCS squads I've ever faced in my career,” Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler said. “To have a change against JSU we had to play a lot better than we did today. We let those early mistakes multiply and dug ourselves too deep a hole. Congratulations to Jacksonville State. They're a great team. I'm proud of the season our guys have had, fighting back from an 0-2 start to make it to the semifinals for the second consecutive year.”

JSU's All-America quarterback Eli Jenkins completed 17-of-23 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Troymaine Pope rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns. Gamecock wide receiver Josh Barge caught six passes for 121 yards. Ruben Gonzalez caught both of Pope's TD throws.

The Gamecocks punched out 639 yards total offense to Sam Houston's 259. JSU converted 11-of-18 third down situations while the Kats were successful on only four of 17 third downs.

"Right now I'm trying to figure out where Jacksonville State's deficiences are," Keeler said. "Their quarterback is a great player. Their offensive line is as good as we've played. Their wide receiver crew is amazing. I felt if we had played at a high level, we would have had a chance. But we didn't. I have to give a lot of credit to them for that."

All-American sophomore defensive end P. J. Hall was one of the few bright spots for the Bearkats. Hall had a hand in 12 tackles including a tackle for loss, batted down two passes and made an amazing tackle on a 54-yard run by Pope, chasing the speedy running back down from across the field to make an open-field stop at the Sam Houston 10.

Running back Corey Avery highlighted the Bearkat offense with 81 yards on 14 carries. Yedidiah Louis caught 10 passes for 103 yards.

Lofting their kickoffs high and short to keep the ball out of the hands of Sam Houston's dangerous return specialists, JSU recovered a Bearkat fumble on the opening kickoff to set up a quick four-play 31-yard drive for a one-yard touchdown by Jenkins. The put JSU go up 7-0 just 1:35 into the contest.

Fumbles set up Jacksonville State's next two scores with the Gamecocks taking a 17-0 after a 62-yard scoring run by Pope and a 36-yard field goal by Connor Rouleau.

Barge's 33-yard punt return sparked an eight-play, 37-yard drive for a three-yard Miles Jones score and Jenkins Josh Barge for a 32-yard score and Gonzalez for a 12-yard TD to build a 31-0 lead.

Sam Houston's only touchdown of the first half involved a fumble. Tailback Corey Avery looked to be going into the end zone for a three-yard score when the ball was stripped out of his hands. Wide receiver LaDarius Brown covered the ball at the back of the end zone to complete a seven-play, 61-yard drive.

Tre Honshtein kicked a 51-yard field goal, three yards short of Billy Hayes' school record of 54 yards set in 1987, to end the first half. In the opening 30 minutes, JSU converted 8-of-12 third down attempts while the Kat offense went 2-for-8. Jacksonville State outgained Sam Houston 314 yards to 154 in the opening 30 minutes, going into the locker room at intermission with a 41-10 lead.

The Gamecocks added 21 points in the second half on an eight-yard scoring catch by Gonzalez and touchdown runs by Mile Jones for three yards and Christian LeMay for 13 yards yards.