Ohio Valley Conference

The Racer (4-6, 3-3 OVC) defense, which is anchored by Buchanan Award Nominee Nathan Williams, held SEMO to just four yards rushing and 192 total yards on 62 plays. The defense also managed six sacks, 10 tackles-for-loss and four turnovers. The bulk of the Redhawks offense came late in the game as the Racers held them to just 69 total yards through three quarters.

Taking center stage on this day was junior defensive end Austen Lane who put together one of his best games in a Racer uniform. The Iola, Wisc. native gave himself an early 21st birthday present (Nov. 9) as he recorded 3.5 sacks totaling 43 yards in losses.

The Racer offense got things going on their second drive of the game as they put together a 14-play drive that covered 66 yards and ended with a Kienan Cullen 24 yard field goal.

That field goal would serve as the only points of the first half in a game that resembled the one played in Cape Girardeau, Mo. last season. In that game, the two teams went to recess tied at zero.

MSU added to its lead just over 90 seconds into the second half as Derrick Townsel took a punt on his own 36-yard line and went back up the middle and cut left on his way to a 64-yard touchdown to give the Racers a 10-0 advantage. The punt return for touchdown was the first for MSU since Nick Turner went 65 yards against Eastern Illinois on Oct. 22, 2005.

The Racers seemed to put the game away late just passed the midway point in the third quarter as Tamar Butler intercepted a pass and set the offense up on the SEMO33. Jeff Ehrhardt started the drive with a 15-yard hookup to Daniel Ard and later found Charlie Jordan for eight yards and another first down. Two plays later, Jordan went over right tackle for the six yard touchdown to make the score 17-0.

SEMO (3-7, 1-5 OVC) did not go quietly into the night as they recovered a fumble on the Racer 28-yard line early in the fourth quarter. The Racer defense bent a little, but did not break as the Redhawks had to settle for a 25-yard Doug Spada field goal.

The Redhawk special teams got into the act later in the quarter as a blocked punt set up SEMO at the MSU five-yard line. Timmy Holloman scored two plays later to make it 17-10.

On the ensuing Racer possession, Jordan rushed for a first down on the first play before a deadball personal foul on SEMO on the next play pushed the Racers to midfield. The Racers ran three running plays to take the game clock under 90 seconds. On fourth down, Cullen hit a low line-drive punt that rolled and was downed at the one.

The Redhawks were able to move the ball to midfield and spike it with .07 remaining. On the last play of the game, Lane broke through and brought down the SEMO quarterback to end the game.

Jordan led the Racer ground attack with 88 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Prince Nwagbarra added 42 yards on eight carries. Ehrhardt finished the game 28-for-40 with 232 yards. Ard and DeAngelo Nelson each caught six passes, while Townsel added five grabs.

The Tigers (5-5) had lost four straight games and found themselves tied midway through the third quarter with the Football Championship Subdivision Skyhawks (7-3) before Burns started breaking loose.

He scampered 31 yards for a touchdown on a third-and-6 play to give Auburn a 27-20 lead in the third quarter. Burns, who had passed for a career-high 319 yards a week earlier, became the first Auburn quarterback to run for more than 100 yards since Phil Gargis against Florida State in 1976.

Burns set up Wes Byrum's third field goal early in the final quarter with another 31-yard run to give the Tigers a two-score cushion. Then he took a shotgun snap on third-and-7 and raced 58 yards for a score that ended any threat of an embarrassing upset.

Burns needed just 13 carries for the biggest rushing day of any Auburn player since Kenny Irons gained 183 yards against Washington State in the 2006 opener.

UT Martin had threatened to score three more times in the second half, but Cade Thompson was intercepted twice near the goal line and Auburn stopped Brandyn Young on third and fourth down from the Tigers' 10-yard line.

Burns was 12-of-20 passing but the Tigers did most of their damage on the ground. Auburn's 290 yards rushing was the team's most since gaining 321 in the opener against Louisiana-Monroe.

UT Martin went the opposite route, picking at an injury-depleted Auburn defense with mostly short passes and only a smattering of runs.

Thompson completed 27 of 46 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns as UT Martin ran only 15 times for 38 yards -- half that on one fourth quarter run by Young -- even though Auburn was missing three starting defensive linemen.

The Skyhawks had stunned the Auburn crowd by scoring two straight touchdowns to tie the game at 20-all with 8:59 left in the third quarter, prompting hopeful cries of "UTM" from the small section of visitors.

Mike Hicks caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Thompson with 36 seconds left before halftime and added a 9-yarder after bobbling the ball and catching it when it came down. During that sequence, the Skyhawks passed on 15 consecutive plays.

Josh Bynes had intercepted a Thompson pass in the end zone on Tennessee Martin's opening drive of the half, but Brad Lester's fumble gave it right back to set up the tying score.

Auburn finally answered with Burns' first TD scamper on a third-and-6 play.