OwlHowl69 I was also concerned by this. I tweeted at Kai asking about it figuring he's more plugged in than anyone else and he said, "There are over 100 players technically on the roster. Lots of guys who wouldn't travel to away games are on the sidelines for home. That and general inactives"
It didn't look like anyone that normally plays was missing during the game, so I don't think any real contributors quit to preserve redshirts. I don't totally understand not letting them dress or stand with the team. I get wanted an organized sidelines during the game, but if you can't trust a player to stay out of the way, it's hard to believe they are a useful body to have in practice. I would think if you value those non-scholarship practice bodies, you'd want to reward them by letting them wear the uniform and hold a helmet on gameday. Having them off to the side like that was really strange to me. If coaches think a player is bringing a bad attitude to the sideline or just getting in the way, maybe that player shouldn't be on the team in any capacity.
That said, I've been really grumpy about feeling like the team was unorganized with substitutions all year, and that did feel cleaner this week. Maybe having less bodies on the sideline helped. I LOVED how slowly we matched substitutions on the occasions Jax would sub instead of keeping their tempo. Those defensive line subs would jog out so slowly and the guy coming off wouldn't even start coming off until he was nearly there. Their qb looked physically annoyed by it a few times, making exaggerated shrugs or rolling his head up having to wait.
What an awful game. This has to be the worst football team in FBS this year. Jax State isn't good and shot themselves in the foot alot.