SATURDAY'S SCORES
*UT Martin 37, @Eastern Illinois 16
*#3 Jacksonville State 49, @Southeast Missouri 30
*Tennessee State 48, @Murray State 33
*Tennessee Tech 41, @Austin Peay 15
@Florida 52,
#14 Eastern Kentucky 3
UT MARTIN 37, EASTERN ILLINOIS 16
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team sent its 21 seniors out in style this afternoon with a convincing 37-16 Ohio Valley Conference triumph at Eastern Illinois.
The Skyhawks – winners of five straight OVC games for just the second time in program history – conclude the 2014 season with a 6-6 overall record and 5-3 mark in league play, which ranks third in the OVC standings.
Today’s result also clinched a .500 season for UT Martin, who has had eight seasons with an overall record of .500 or better since joining the Division-I ranks in 1992. Six of those seasons have occurred in head coach Jason Simpson’s nine-year tenure.
The Skyhawk defense showed out today, holding the Panthers to 19 points below their season average. UT Martin held Eastern Illinois scoreless for a stretch of 38:19 from the latter stages of the first quarter through the early portion of the fourth quarter.
All-American linebacker Tony Bell wrapped up his remarkable career today with a team-high seven tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Kahlid Hagens and Taino Fears-Perez also compiled seven tackles while Walter Evans added six tackles, a fumble recovery and his team-best third interception of the season for the Skyhawks.
Offensively, Abou Toure concluded his UT Martin career by joining elite company today. His game-high 158 rushing yards gave him 1,138 for the season – the third-highest total in UT Martin history. He became just the sixth player in program history to amass 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.
Dylan Favre threw for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding 46 yards on the ground for an offense that produced 458 yards of total offense (308 rushing, 150 passing) today. Jarod Neal and Ladevin Fair each had rushing touchdowns while Rod Wright and Ben Axline were on the receiving end of touchdown passes this afternoon.
On special teams, Jackson Redditt was a valuable part of UT Martin’s victory today, as he was true on three field goals while also going a perfect 4-for-4 in extra point opportunities. Punter James Satterfield also ended his stellar career with four punts for 150 yards (37.5 yards) with a long of 53 yards.
The Panthers (5-7, 5-3 OVC) were led by Shepard Little’s 137 rushing yards and a touchdown while Andrew Manley threw for 290 yards and a touchdown. Adam Drake hauled in 11 receptions for 146 yards and a touchdown while Kamu Grugier-Hill (12 tackles) and Dino Fanti (three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles) paced the defense for Eastern Illinois, the two-time defending OVC champion.
Eastern Illinois received the ball first and scored on its second play from scrimmage, as Little scampered 70 yards for a touchdown. The Panthers missed the extra-point attempt to lead 6-0 with 14:22 left in the first quarter.
The Skyhawks answered with a touchdown of their own less than two minutes later. After Toure ran for 19 yards on the first two plays, Neal juked several Panther defenders on his way to a 45-yard touchdown run to cap off a four-play, 62-yard drive. Redditt split the uprights on the PAT to give UT Martin a 7-6 lead with 12:17 to go in the first quarter.
The two sides then swapped punts before the Skyhawk defense limited Eastern Illinois to a 21-yard field goal, as the Panthers took a 9-7 lead with 5:20 remaining in the first quarter.
Redditt then tilted the score back in UT Martin’s favor for good with a 25-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Trent Garland rushed for 38 yards on six carries on the drive to help the Skyhawks gain 50 yards on 10 plays in a drive that lasted 5:02.
The UT Martin defense then forced a huge turnover to keep the Skyhawks ahead. After Eastern Illinois had first-and-goal on the 5-yard line, Nick Dance broke through to strip Taylor Duncan on the 1-yard line. Evans picked up the fumble to protect UT Martin’s 10-9 advantage.
The Skyhawk offense then chewed up over six minutes of clock time before UT Martin’s defense held the Panthers to a three-and-out.
Favre then entered the contest for the first time and directed the Skyhawks back into the endzone. He had four completions for 10-plus yards on the drive, concluding with a 13-yard strike to Wright that extended UT Martin’s lead out to 17-9 at the 1:20 mark of the second quarter.
On the ensuing possession, the Skyhawk defense came back with another big play to force a turnover. Evans stepped in front of a Manley pass on the left sideline for an interception at the UT Martin 47-yard line with 32 seconds left to play.
UT Martin’s offense then perfectly managed the clock while adding one more score before the halftime break. On 3rd-and-1, Favre hit Axline with a 44-yard pass, as Axline broke a key tackle at the 25-yard line to scamper past the goal line with five seconds left on the scoreboard. Redditt’s PAT gave UT Martin a 24-9 lead at the half.
The Skyhawks showed incredible offensive balance in the first half, rushing for 157 yards while passing for 150 yards. Favre went a perfect 7-for-7 for 110 yards and two touchdowns to lead UT Martin.
UT Martin received the ball to open the second half and it didn’t take long for the Skyhawks to extend their lead. Toure broke off a 55-yard rush to get the Skyhawks into Eastern Illinois territory and four plays later, Redditt successfully booted a 22-yard field goal to make the score 27-9 with 12:55 left in the third quarter.
Eastern Illinois was then forced to punt and after 30 yards were tacked on for a pair of Panther personal fouls, Favre rushed for 14 yards to set up UT Martin’s next score. Fair gave the Skyhawks a 34-9 lead after his first career touchdown on the next play, capping off a two-play, 32-yard scoring drive that lasted only 31 seconds.
After UT Martin’s defense kept the Panthers off the scoreboard on their next two possessions, Redditt drilled a 52-yard field goal – tying his career-long – with 1:07 remaining in the third quarter to push the Skyhawk lead out to 37-9.
The Panthers pieced together a 13-play drive to get back in the scoring column with a little over 12 minutes left in the contest.
#3 JACKSONVILLE STATE 49, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 30
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - There was no letdown for Jacksonville State in its regular-season finale against Southeast Missouri State.
The third-ranked Ohio Valley Conference champions scored touchdowns on their first four possessions and cruised to a 49-30 victory over SEMO at Houck Stadium Saturday afternoon. Jacksonville State will carry a 10-1 record into the FCS playoffs after finishing their league slate unbeaten for the first time in school history.
The 24-team FCS playoff field will be unveiled Sunday at 10 a.m. on ESPNU and at www.ncaa.com. The top eight seeds receive first-round byes. Jacksonville State will be making its 15th NCAA playoff appearance.
Eli Jenkins had three touchdown passes and DaMarcus James ran for two touchdowns as the high-powered Gamecock offense tuned up for the postseason with 612 yards against the Redhawks (5-7, 3-5), the fourth time they have surpassed the 600-yard mark this season.
Jacksonville State had only four 600-yard games in its history prior to the 2014 season.
James' two scores gives him 48 in his career, tying David Gulledge's school record.
Jenkins was 11-for-16 for 200 yards and tossed touchdown passes to Bo Brummel (58 yards), Ruben Gonzalez (30) and Dalton Screws (36). Ten different Gamecocks had at least one reception, led by Screws with three catches for 58 yards. The 200-yard game came one week after Jenkins threw for more than 200 in a game for the first time in his career.
Troymaine Pope led the JSU rushing attack - which entered the game ranked fifth nationally at 279.7 yards per game - with 114 yards on 21 attempts, including an 18-yard jaunt for a touchdown in the third quarter.
James carried 12 times for 111 yards with TD runs of 1 and 14 yards. He now has 1,023 yards and became just the second JSU player to rush over more than 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
The Gamecocks led 21-0 less than eight minutes into the game behind James' first touchdown run and Jenkins scoring strikes to Brummel and Gonzalez.
SEMO drew to within 28-17 at the 10:59 mark in the third quarter, but Pope's 18-yard run pushed JSU back ahead by 18, 35-17, with 7:35 left in the quarter.
Backup quarterback Christian LeMay added a 1-yard run with 7:41 remaining for the Gamecocks' final points.
Siran Neal led JSU's defense with a team-high seven tackles and added a pair of pass breakups.
TENNESSEE STATE 48, MURRAY STATE 33
MURRAY, Ky. - Mike German broke the school record for career passing yards and the Tennessee State football team won at Murray State, 48-33, for the first time since 2003.
Playing in his final collegiate game, German finished the day 28-of-48 for a personal-best 463 yards and six scores including one on the ground. The redshirt senior is tops in school-history with 8,664 career passing yards.
Ryan Mitchell was German’s main beneficiary, catching 10 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.
German’s counterpart, KD Humphries had a fine day, too, totaling 467 yards. However, the TSU defense sacked the Racer quarterback eight times and forced four turnovers.
For the first time all year, TSU scored a touchdown on its opening possession. German was 5-of-7 for 72 yards on the drive, including a 14-yard score to Isaiah Freeman. Lane Clark’s ensuing point-after was good and the Tigers led, 7-0, with just over four minutes gone in the game.
German threw his second touchdown later in the first period when his deep-bomb was caught by Ryan Mitchell for 72 yards. The big play was set up by De’Ante Saunders’s fifth interception of the season.
Everything was going German’s way in the first half. He fumbled a snap to start the second quarter, but still had the awareness to pick up the ball and throw it 55-yards down-field to a wide-open Weldon Garlington. Two plays later, German hit Freeman for an 11-yard touchdown to put his team up, 20-0.
After a quick Murray State scoring drive, German again found the end zone, this time with his feet following an eight-yard scamper. The score put the Tigers up by 20 with 7:47 left until halftime.
German added one more touchdown before the halftime horn – a four-yard strike to Andrew Bather – to finish the first half with 302 yards and five touchdowns (one rush).
The Racers scored three second-half touchdowns and cut the lead down to 41-26 with eight minutes left to play, but German hit Mitchell with another deep-ball to up the score to 48-26. The toss went for 59 yards and officially iced the game.
MSU would add one more touchdown, but could not recover an onside kick and TSU won, 48-33.
The Tigers finished the season 6-6, marking the first time since 1984-86 that Big Blue has had three straight non-losing seasons.
TENNESSEE TECH 41, AUSTIN PEAY 15
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University football team hung tough with Tennessee Tech for 30 minutes, but the visitors pulled away in the second half of a 41-15 season-ending loss, Saturday, at Governors Stadium.
Despite strong showings from a pair of freshmen – Otis Gerron finished with 114 yards on 24 carries for his third career 100-yard game and Wesley Thomas broke the 100-yard mark for the first time in his career with a six-catch, 141-yard performance – Austin Peay was done in by allowing more than 500 yards offense to the Golden Eagles and leaving the red zone twice with no points.
The Govs fell into an early 10-0 hole after allowing Tennessee Tech to march quickly down the field on the opening drive, culminating in a 5-yard double-reverse pass play from Brock McCoin to quarterback Darian Stone, who slipped behind the Govs secondary to cap a nine-play, 68-yard drive. After a quick three-and-out, the Golden Eagles marched 74 yards in six plays to add a 20-yard field goal from John Arnold to make it a two-score game.
Fortune favored the Govs after Ladarius Vanlier muffed a punt that was recovered by David Wall on the Tennessee Tech 16. Freshman Dakota Vincil kicked a 28-yard field goal four plays later to put the Govs on the board.
A Tennessee Tech fumble on the next Golden Eagle possession was recovered by senior Johnathan Shuler, and the Govs went up top on the next play, with junior Trey Taylor finding freshman Wesley Thomas behind the defense for 80 yards and the equalizing score. It was the Govs longest pass play since 2011 and knotted the game at 10.
The Golden Eagles pulled back in front after Isaiah McKinney rumbled in on a nine-yard touchdown run to cap an eight-play, 75-yard drive. Vincil ended the first-half scoring with a 20-yard field goal to close the gap to 17-13.
Cody Matthews scored twice in the third quarter to widen the deficit. Jared Davis hit him for 15 yards at the 6:47 mark and from Stone for 16 yards on the next possession. He finished with 10 catches for 171 yards and two scores.
Arnold hit another 24-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it a three-score game. After the Govs were stonewalled on fourth-and-goal after a 10-play, 65-yard drive, senior Nii Lartey took down Willie Davis in the end zone for a safety – the first safety earned by the Govs defense since 2012.
In his final game, Lartey was a monster for the Govs. The Loganville, Ga., native finished with 12 tackles (seven solo) and three tackles for loss – all career highs – in his Senior Day swan song.
FLORIDA 52, #14 EASTERN KENTUCKY 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Host Florida tossed five touchdown passes on the way to a 52-3 victory over the Eastern Kentucky University football team Saturday afternoon. This was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Florida (6-4) never trailed as the Gators scored on three of their first four possessions.
The No. 14 (FCS) Colonels (9-3) trailed 10-0 until senior kicker Andrew Lloyd connected on a career-best 51-yard field goal late in the first quarter.
However, Florida responded on its very next play from scrimmage when quarterback Treon Harris found Quinton Dunbar behind the Colonel defense for a 70-yard touchdown strike. The Gators scored the final 21 points of the first half to take a 31-3 lead into halftime.
The Colonels moved the ball into Florida territory four times, but only came away with three points. Eastern attempted a fake field goal in the second quarter only to come up short of the end zone. Right before halftime, EKU had a touchdown overturned when junior wide receiver Jeff Glover’s apparent catch hit the ground.
Florida scored three times in the second half while Eastern turned to several reserves for playing time.
Junior running back Dy’Shawn Mobley, a candidate for the Walter Payton Award, tallied 23 rushing yards and 11 receiving yards in limited first half snaps. He did not see any action in the second half.
For the Gators, wide receivers Demarcus Robinson and Quinton Dunbar combined for seven catches for 244 yards and four scores.