SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Purdue 45,
Eastern Kentucky 24
@Illinois 52,
Murray State 3
@Troy 57,
Austin Peay 17
@Tennessee State 44, Arkansas Pine-Bluff 0
@Memphis 35,
Southeast Missouri 17
PURDUE 45, EASTERN KENTUCKY 24
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Eastern Kentucky University’s football team entered the fourth quarter down just 10 points at Purdue University, however, the Big Ten Boilermakers pulled away for a 45-24 victory on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium.
The Colonels will play their home-opener on Thursday against Pikeville. The Bears are coached by former EKU quarterback Allan Holland. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Roy Kidd Stadium.
Purdue took control early with two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game and led 21-0 with three and a half minutes left in the first quarter. The second Boilermaker score was set up by a 17-yard interception return to the EKU 23 yard line. The third touchdown was the result of a 78-yard interception return.
Bennie Coney engineered an eight-play, 72-yard drive that took just 3:31 and got Eastern on the board. He got it started with a 26-yard completion to Devin Borders and ended it with a 10-yard scoring pass over the middle to Dan Crimmins. Sixty-four of the 72 yards were through the air. Neiko Creamer converted the two-point conversion to make it 21-8 with less than a minute left in the first quarter.
EKU continued to inch closer in the second quarter. Lucas Williams hit a 35-yard field goal with 10:04 left in the first half. On the Boilermakers’ ensuing possession, newcomer Nigel Bethel picked off a pass in Purdue territory.
Coney let the ground game do the work this time on an eight-play, 47-yard touchdown drive. Freshman Daryl McClesky Jr. gained eight yards after a 14-yard pass from Coney to freshman James Smith Jr. Newcomer Henry Enyenihi had an eight-yard run. Sophomore Ethan Thomas wrapped it up with a 10-yard touchdown run around the right side. The extra-point got the visitors within 10, 28-18.
Purdue drove to the EKU 27 yard line and attempted a 44-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter. The kick was wide left.
Eastern Kentucky out-gained the Boilermakers 123 to 85 on the ground in the first half.
The Colonel defense held Purdue off the scoreboard in the third quarter, but the offense couldn’t put together a scoring drive to close the gap.
After the Boilermakers scored 17 straight points in the fourth quarter, redshirt sophomore Tyler Swafford drove Eastern to a late touchdown. On fourth-and-two, Swafford kept the drive alive with a five-yard pass to Borders. Following another completion to Borders, Swafford hooked up with Ryan Markush for 26 yards. He finished off the scoring drive with a two-yard touchdown toss to Cameron Fogle.
Purdue got the ground game going in the second half, churning out 176 yards after totaling just 85 in the first half.
Thomas finished with 60 yards on 17 carries. Coney completed 13-of-23 for 158 yards. Borders caught seven passes for a team-high 77 yards.
ILLINOIS 52, MURRAY STATE 3
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Murray State football team began its 2016 season with a 52-3 loss to Illinois Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
Senior quarterback KD Humphries threw two interceptions in the first two MSU possessions, both of which Illinois converted into touchdowns, to put the Racers in an early 14-0 hole. The Illini then added three more touchdowns, to go up 35-0, before Murray State finally got on the board late in the second half with a 34-yard field goal by Connor Mitchell, but those would be the last points the Racers were score in the game.
In head coach Lovie Smith’s collegiate debut, Illinois put up 515 yards, while limiting the Racers to just 165 defensively. Wes Lunt was 15-for-21 passing for the Illini for 226 yards and three touchdowns. Malik Turner caught two of Lunt’s three touchdown passes to finish the day with 83 yards on three catches. Kendrick Foster had 118 yards on the ground for the Illini with 112 of those yards coming on a pair of identical 56-yard touchdown runs. Hardy Nickerson led his team defensively with 11 tackles, while Gimel President had a team-high 2.0 sacks.
Connor Mitchell accounted for MSU’s only points in the game, nailing a 34-yarder. His other attempt in the game, a 50-yarder, had the distance, but went just right of the goal posts. Punting wise, Landon Stratton averaged 42.4 yards on seven punts with two of 50-yards or more, one touchback and one that landed inside the 20-yard line.
The Racers were held to just 165 yards of total offense in the game. It was the first time MSU has been held under 200 yards since the 2010 season opener at Kent State when it amassed just 193. It was lowest overall offensive output for Murray State since NC State held the Racers to only 36 yards in 2009.
Jonathan Jackson had Murray State’s only two sacks of the game for a total loss of 11 yards. He finished the game with five total tackles. Lamont Crittendon led Murray State with a career-high eight tackles, while Quincy Williams followed with seven and two quarterback hurries. Dylan Boone also had seven tackles in the game, including a game-high five solo tackles.
TROY 57, AUSTIN PEAY 17
TROY, Ala. - Junior tight end James Coleman had a career day accounting for 65 yards and two scores on six catches in Austin Peay State's season opener, a 57-17, loss on the road at FBS level Troy Saturday night in Veterans Memorial Stadium.
With the Governors leading 14-13 at the 11:07 mark of the 2nd quarter, Troy answered back for the eventual game-winning touchdown less than two minutes later, when Trojan quarterback Sawyer Smith led a quick four-play, 75-yard drive. On 2nd and 7, Sawyer completed a deep pass to Hiram Velez for a 47-yard touchdown.
Junior tight end James Coleman became the first Austin Peay player to total two or more touchdowns in a single game since Jared Beard did so versus Murray State in 2014. The two touchdowns for Coleman were the second and third of his career. In addition, Coleman set career-highs in catches with six and yardage with 65.
Austin Peay scored 17 points in the contest, the most against an FBS opponent since Sept. 11, 2010 at Middle Tennessee when the Govs scored 33 points.
In his debut game as a Gov, sophomore quarterback Tommy Hays passed for his first two touchdowns. Hays connected with Coleman for both TD passes the second gave the Govs a 14-13 lead with 11:07 left in the second quarter. Hays hit on 8 of his 12 passing attempts for a 66 percent completion percentage. It was the first time since October 18, 2014 that a Govs QB connected on at least 65 percent of their passes.
As a team, APSU finished 14-of-22 through the air for a 68 percent completion percentage. It is the first time since October 18, 2014 against Murray State that the Govs completed over 65 percent of their passes.
Senior kicker Nick Gauna converted his first field goal as a member of the Govs – a 33-yarder in the 3rd quarter.
The Govs won the time of possession battle control the ball for 32:34 compared to Troy's 27:26 time of possession.
TENNESSEE STATE 44, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 0
NASHVILLE - Tennessee State opened the 2016 season in dominating fashion as they shutout Arkansas-Pine Bluff 44-0 in the 18th Annual John Merritt Classic. The performance marked the first time the Tigers held an opponent scoreless in the JMC and the first time since defeating Butler 31-0 in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs in 2013.
The defense was able to hold the Golden Lions to 168 total yards and just 49 yards rushing. It is the lowest opponent total since holding Tennessee Tech to 150 yards on Sept. 20, 2014.
Ebenezer Ogundeko was named Defensive Player of the Classic after collecting two sacks and five tackles, four solos. The junior was in the UAPB backfield the entire game and was credited with a Quarter Back Hurry.
Offensively, the Tigers started slow and settled for a pair of field goals to take a 6-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The junior hit from 43 and 23 yards out, before tacking on a 38-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Leading 6-0, the Tigers would get rolling as the opened their sixth possession with a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive. Ronald Butler was able to tap the bomb from O’Shay Ackerman-Carter to himself just before entering the end zone for his first catch and receiving touchdown of his career.
The senior has played his first three seasons as a reserve quarterback for TSU. Butler started to receive reps at wide out early in camp.
The Tallahassee, Fla. native entered the game at quarterback with just over two minutes remaining in the third stanza. He went on to rush for 27 yards on three carries, including a 10 yard scoring run to make the produce the final score.
Ackerman-Carter was named the Classics Offensive Player of the Game as he hit seven separate receivers completing 18-of-32 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt sophomore teamed up with Patrick Smith for a 30-yard scoring play, giving the Tigers leading receiver from 2015 his first touchdown of the year and 11th in his career.
Smith pulled in six receptions for 100 yards to lead all receivers. Freshman Steven Newbold impressed in his debut as he pulled in five receptions for 74 yards.
On the ground, eight Tigers carried the ball totaling 202 yards on 38 carries. Erick Evans topped the Big Blue with 67 yards on 13 touches. TSU also received a solid performance from true-freshman Sabree Curtis who ran for 48 yards on seven attempts. Evans and Curtis each crossed the goal line for the Big Blue.
Evans entered the end zone 31 seconds before half time to give TSU a 20-0 lead heading into the break.
The Tigers opened second half by kicking out of bounds giving UAPB the ball on their own 48. The Golden Lions would work their way down to the 13 yard line and faced a 4th and one. Ogundeko was the first to hit Brandon Duncan, before Chris Collins and a slew of Tiger defenders joined in to stuff the UAPB runner short and turning the ball over on downs.
TSU did not waste the defensive stand as they marched down the field for a nine play, 87 yard drive, which was capped off by Smith’s touchdown, extending the lead to 27-0.
The Tigers continued to attack UAPB on the next drive as Curtis made the score 34-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Mitchell Boudreaux popped up a shallow kick allowing Trevion Duncan a clear shot at the ball carrier, forcing a fumble. Blair Edwards came up with the ball, which led to Clark’s final field goal of the evening and a 37-0 advantage.
MEMPHIS 35, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 17
MEMPHIS - Will Young rushed for over 100 yards and Southeast Missouri (0-1) forced three turnovers in a 35-17 season-opening loss to Memphis (1-0) Saturday night at the Liberty Bowl.
SEMO met Memphis for the first time in 82 years in front of a crowd of 42,876.
A 22-point first quarter was the difference as the Redhawks regrouped to outscore the Tigers, 17-13, the rest of the way.
Riley Ferguson engineered a quick opening drive as Memphis covered 75 yards in eight plays over a span of 2:17. Ferguson completed five of his first six attempts for 73 yards and tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to John Williams. A two-point conversion followed giving the Tigers an 8-0 lead with 12:43 left in the first quarter.
After gaining no more than nine yards on each of its first three drives, Memphis took over on downs at its own 27-yard line. Ferguson again went to work, this time completing passes of 16, 21 and 11 yards to get the Tigers in scoring position. Doroland Dorceus capped the march with a 3-yard run to push Memphis' lead to
15-0 with 1:15 left to play.
Dante Vandeven, the 2015 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, replaced starter Jesse Hosket at quarterback for SEMO's fourth possession of the game. Following two incomplete passes, Vandeven was picked off by Arthur Maulet who ran to the Redhawks 18-yard line.
Three plays later, Ferguson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dorceus giving the Tigers a 22-0 advantage with 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
SEMO's offense started slow, picking up just 14 total yards on 17 plays in the game's first 15 minutes. The Redhawks averaged less than a yard per play in the first quarter.
Ferguson hooked up with Daniel Hurd on a 20-yard completion and a SEMO personal foul tacked on 15 more yards to give Memphis a first-and-10 at the Redhawks 25-yard line. Ferguson then threw a 23-yard strike to Darrell Henderson, his third touchdown pass of the game.
Fletcher Evans recovered a Ferguson fumble and the Redhawks had the ball at the Memphis 31-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Hosket completed a 21-yard pass to Kristian Wilkerson to give SEMO a first-and-Goal at the 10. The Redhawks, however, settled for a 26-yard field goal by Ryan McCrum to cut Memphis' lead to 29-3 at halftime.
SEMO's defense forced three turnovers in the first half with Roper Garrett and Mike Ford each getting an interception and Evans recovering a fumble. The Redhawks have had multiple takeaways in six-straight games dating back to last season.
The Redhawks struck first in the second half when Will Young broke several tackles on his way to a 61-yard touchdown run. Young's second career rushing touchdown made it a 29-10 game at the 10:13 mark of the third quarter.
Memphis responded with a 45-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. Elliott's kick closed out a 10-play, 34-yard drive that upped the Tigers lead to 32-10 with five seconds to go.
Another field goal by Elliott, this time from 40 yards out, completed a 41-yard scoring drive that expanded the Tigers' lead to 35-10 with 10:41 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Hosket's first career touchdown pass of eight yards to Adrian Davis polished off SEMO's longest drive of the night. The 14-play, 82-yard march ended the scoring.
Ferguson completed 26-of-40 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns and Anthony Miller finished with nine receptions for 103 yards to lead Memphis.
The Tigers outgained the Redhawks, 406-253, with 295 of their yards through the air.
Young ran for 114 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries in his first career start at tailback. Hosket threw for 143 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-31 passes in his first start as SEMO's quarterback.
Defensively, Chad Meredith and Joshua Wilson led the Redhawks with eight and seven tackles, respectively. Meredith and Wilson also had one sack apiece as SEMO collected three sacks and six tackles for loss for the night. Ford's sixth career interception placed him in a tie for 19th all-time at SEMO, as well.