SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 28, #20 Tennessee State 21
@#8 Jacksonville State 38, UT Martin 14
#18 Eastern Kentucky 31, @Austin Peay 0
@Tennessee Tech 30, Murray State 27 (OT)
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 28, #20 TENNESSEE STATE 21
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (4-2, 2-0) piled up 505 yards of total offense against the Football Championship Subdivision's top defense in a 28-21 victory over No. 20 Tennessee State (4-2, 2-1) Saturday afternoon at Houck Stadium.
Lennies McFerren ran for 115 yards and a touchdown, and Ryan McCrum accounted for eight points in the kicking game to polish off Southeast's second win over a ranked opponent in three weeks. McFerren's first career 100-yard rushing performance ended with a 7-yard touchdown run that gave the Redhawks a 28-14 lead with 4:41 left to play in the fourth quarter. His big TD came on a 3rd-and-4.
TSU answered with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Michael German to Weldon Garlington, a play that capped a 71-yard drive. Garlington's touchdown narrowed the score to 28-21 with 2:11 on the clock.
Cameron Carter attempted an onside kick and Tyler Manne recovered at the TSU-46. The Tigers, however, had one last chance after Alex Knight's 33-yard punt went out of bounds at their own 6-yardline.
Seven plays into the drive, Eriq Moore intercepted German's pass at the Southeast 5-yardline to nail down the Redhawks third-straight win.
Southeast did not turn the ball over and played extremely well on special teams. Its defense also did its part, particularly in the secondary, where the Redhawks broke up 12 passes.
The Redhawks took a quick 3-0 lead on a career-long 55-yard field goal by McCrum with 12:17 left in the first quarter. The field goal was McCrum's second over 50 yards this season.
Following a TSU punt, Southeast started its next possession at its 41-yardline. Kyle Snyder threw an 18-yard completion to freshman Adrian Davis and completed a 13-yard pass to Peter Lloyd, moving the Redhawks to the TSU-15. Snyder then ran the ball three-straight times and scored on a 6-yard rush to extend the Redhawks lead to 10-0 with 8:56 left.
Lewis Washington's 1-yard run finished off a 9-play, 80-yard drive to give Southeast a 17-0 lead with 9:04 remaining in the second quarter. Washington scored a rushing TD for the second year in a row against the Tigers.
TSU got on the board with a 2-yard run by Stephen Hopkins with 14 seconds left and went into the locker room down, 17-7, at the half. Although the Tigers outscored Southeast in the second half, the Redhawks again won the fourth quarter, this time putting up 11 points in the final 15 minutes.
McCrum split the uprights with a 26-yard field goal at the 12:00 mark before McFerren's touchdown. Snyder's pass to Ron Coleman completed Southeast's first 2-point conversion this season. McFerren averaged 5.5 yards per carry on 21 attempts to lead Southeast's offense. Snyder also completed 11-of-18 passes for 134 yards, while Lloyd added four catches for 58 yards.
The Redhawks gained 226 rushing yards against TSU's defense that entered the game allowing just 78 per contest. Southeast also scored the most points against the Tigers this season, a team giving up only 10.8 per contest. Not to mention, the Redhawk offensive line did not allow a sack against TSU, who leads the nation in that category.
Ron Davis led the Redhawks with 10 tackles, the second double-digit tackle performance of his career. Davis had six solo stops. Tim Hamm-Bey added six tackles, five pass breakups and a blocked field goal.
German threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns to lead TSU. German completed 34-of-59 passes on the day. Chris Sanders-McCollum followed with a game-high nine catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. TSU kicker Lane Clark missed two field goals and had one blocked on his three attempts.
Southeast beat two ranked opponents in a season for the first time in school history. The Redhawks also evened its record to 12-12 in Homecoming games since moving to the NCAA Division I level. Today's crowd of 8,089 marked Southeast's largest home attendance this season, as well.
#8 JACKSONVILLE STATE 38, UT MARTIN 14
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State got another dominating effort out of its defense and nearly 500 yards from the offense to claim its fourth consecutive victory Saturday afternoon.
Eli Jenkins threw two touchdowns as the eighth-ranked Gamecocks knocked off UT Martin 38-14 in their Ohio Valley Conference home opener at Burgess-Snow Field. Jacksonville State ran its record to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the OVC.
The Gamecocks played without leading rusher DeMarcus James, who dressed for the game but did not see action due to a nagging turf toe injury.
They didn't need him against the Skyhawks (1-5, 0-3).
Junior Miles Jones ran for a career-high 150 yards on 24 carries and Troymaine Pope added 97 yards as the Gamecocks piled up 284 yards on the ground. Jones had a 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Pope had a 3-yard TD run late in the fourth for the Gamecocks' final points.
Jenkins had touchdown passes of 26 yards to Markis Merrill and 12 yards to Bo Brummel. Max Shortell, who was 10-for-13 passing, also had a 34-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Johnson as JSU's quarterbacks threw for a combined 213 yards.
Nine different Gamecocks had a reception in the win. Brummel's fourth-quarter catch was his first career touchdown.
Jacksonville State struck on its first possession and never let up. Jenkins finished off the seven-play, 69-yard drive with his 26-yard scoring pass to Merrill with 11:55 left in the first quarter. Connor Rouleau tacked on the first of his five extra points for a 7-0 lead.
Shortell directed another seven-play touchdown drive early in the second. Johnson made a diving, one-handed snag of Shortell's pass in the end zone and Rouleau added the extra point to make it 14-0.
Jones' 2-yard touchdown run at the 8:34 mark in the second quarter extended the Gamecocks' lead to 21-0.
UT Martin's only first-half points came when linebacker Tony Bell recovered a fumble and rambled 24 yards into end zone with 4:26 left in the first half. The extra point drew the Skyhawks to within 21-7.
Rouleau kicked a 31-yard field goal in the third quarter and Pope added his 3-yard run with 2:17 remaining.
UT Martin was limited to 216 yards of total offense. Defensive back Jaylen Hill and linebacker Dawson Wells had interceptions for the Gamecocks.
#18 EASTERN KENTUCKY 31, AUSTIN PEAY 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - After a sluggish start coming off an open weekend, the Eastern Kentucky University football team slowly pulled away for a 31-0 victory over Austin Peay Saturday night at Governors Stadium.
With the win, the No. 18 Colonels (5-0, 2-0 OVC) improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1990 and just the ninth time in program history.
EKU’s defense kept the Austin Peay (0-5, 0-2) offense in check all night. The Govs’ lone scoring threat came early in the fourth quarter, but the Colonels held Austin Peay off the scoreboard with a goal-line stand.
Junior linebacker Chris Kelly led all tacklers with a personal-best 10 stops. The Eastern defense did not give up a first down on 10 of Austin Peay’s 14 possessions.
Offensively, the Colonels struggled to get into a rhythm the entire first half. Eastern’s first touchdown came after senior defensive back Brandon Stanley returned an interception to the Austin Peay 15-yard line. Two plays later, senior running back Channing Fugate rumbled in from 11 yards out to make the score 10-0 late in the first quarter.
The spark that really ignited the Eastern Kentucky offense came on the final play of the first half. Sophomore quarterback Bennie Coney heaved a Hail Mary pass at the Austin Peay 42-yard line that junior wide receiver Jeff Glover pulled in for an improbable touchdown. Glover out-jumped two Governor defenders to make the score 17-0 at halftime.
The Colonels came out of the break and scored touchdowns on their first two possessions to put the game away. Junior wide receiver Deno Montgomery returned the opening kick-off 66 yards to the Austin Peay 11-yard line. Senior quarterback Jared McClain found the end zone less than a minute later to extend the cushion to 24-0.
Junior running back Dy’Shawn Mobley wrapped up the scoring with a six-yard touchdown run.
TENNESSEE TECH 30, MURRAY STATE 27 (OT)
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - John Arnold kicked the winning field goal to lift Tennessee Tech to a 30-27 overtime win over Murray State on Saturday night.
Trailing 27-24 with 9 seconds left in the game, Tennessee Tech (2-3, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) tied it up on a 41-yard field goal by Arnold to send the game into OT. Murray State (1-4, 0-2) got the ball first in overtime but couldn't score, missing a 35-yard field goal and turning it over, setting up Arnold's game winner.
The Racers outgained Tennessee Tech in total offense 561 yards to 380 but couldn't break away. Each time Murray State scored, the Golden Eagles responded, getting a 99-yard kickoff return for a TD by Ladarius Vanlier and scores from Willie Davis and Cody Matthews. Arnold also had a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter.
KD Humphries led Murray State with 386 yards and a touchdown on 48-of-62 passing.