SATURDAY'S SCORES
#8 Jacksonville State 56, @Eastern Kentucky 7
Murray State 48, @Eastern Illinois 41
Southeast Missouri 70, @Tennessee Tech 38
@Austin Peay 49, Tennessee State 34
#8 JACKSONVILLE STATE 56, EASTERN KENTUCKY 7
RICHMOND, Ky. - The anticipated matchup between the Ohio Valley Conference's best defense and the league's top-rated rushing offense turned out to be lopsided in favor of No. 8 Jacksonville State.
The Gamecocks put on a clinic in all phases from the opening kickoff to rout Eastern Kentucky 56-7 Saturday afternoon at Roy Kidd Stadium. Jacksonville State (4-1, 3-0 OVC) extended its winning streak to six in a row over the Colonels with its 35th consecutive conference victory.
Eastern Kentucky entered the matchup as the sixth-best team in FCS in rushing at 297.8 yards per game.
The Colonels (2-3, 1-1) had no such success against JSU's stout defense, finishing with just 20 yards on the ground (a 0.7 per carry average) and 147 overall as the Gamecocks rebounded from their worst defensive outing of the season against Austin Peay with their best.
Reserve QB Zion Webb accounted for four touchdowns - three through the air - as Jacksonville State posted its second-highest production of the season.
The balanced Gamecocks finished had 637 scrimmage yards, the seventh-highest offensive output in program history.
Webb connected with three different receivers for touchdowns in the second half. The redshirt freshman was 9-of-15 for 137 yards, with TD passes of 16 yards to Jamari Hester, 29 yards to Lajarret Ford and 29 yards to Shaq Davidson.
Ford and Davidson's scoring catches were their firsts of the season.
Webb also contributed a 15-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Starter Zerrick Cooper threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Josh Pearson as the Gamecocks received the opening kickoff and marched 60 yards in nine plays. The first of Cade Stinnett's eight extra points gave JSU a 7-0 lead with 11:02 left in the first quarter.
Webb's TD run, a 1-yard run by Leander Burrowes and Cooper's 11-yard touchdown pass to Pearson stretched Jacksonville State's lead to 28-0 by halftime. Eastern Kentucky has not scored a first-half touchdown against the Gamecocks since 2012.
De'Marcus Flowers wrapped up the scoring with a 60-yard run with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter.
Cooper was 12-of-21 for 147 yards in limited action as eight different Gamecocks snared at least one pass.
Freshman Zack Woodard had the first two interceptions of his career to lead the defensive effort, becoming the first Gamecock with two in a game since Jaylen Hill in 2016.
EKU avoided a shutout with a short touchdown pass with 5:18 remaining.
MURRAY STATE 48, EASTERN ILLINOIS 41
CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) - D.J. Penick ran for 180 yards and three touchdowns, including a 2-yard score with 26 seconds remaining, to lift Murray State to a 48-41 victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday night.
Murray State (2-3, 2-0 Ohio Valley Conference) had 658 yards of offense while Eastern Illinois (1-5, 1-2) put up 643.
Jamal Scott's 35-yard touchdown run tied it for Eastern Illinois, 41-41, with 3:07 to play. The Racers answered with an eight-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 37-yard run from Rodney Castille and capped by Penick's game-winning touchdown burst.
Castille finished with 142 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Drew Anderson added another 79 yards rushing and a touchdown for Murray State and was 21 of 36 for 209 yards passing with a touchdown and interception.
Johnathan Brantley was 28-of-42 passing for 328 yards and threw three touchdown passes for Eastern Illinois. Scott ran for 115 yards and a score. Alexander Hollins had 10 catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 70, TENNESSEE TECH 38
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Daniel Santacaterina threw for 395 yards and four touchdowns, while Jerrick Orr and Colby Cornett each went over 100 receiving yards to lead Southeast Missouri (3-2, 1-1) to a 70-38 drubbing of Tennessee Tech (0-6, 0-3) Saturday night at Tucker Stadium.
SEMO scored 10 touchdowns with seven different players scoring at least one. The Redhawks racked up a single game record 692 yards along the way. And, the 70 points were SEMO's most in a game against an NCAA Division I opponent and most in any Ohio Valley Conference game since the Redhawks joined the league in 1991.
Santacaterina, who threw four interceptions two weeks ago at Eastern Kentucky, completed 16-of-21 passes for 273 yards and three TDs in a massive first half. SEMO scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams en route to its 49 first-half points.
The Redhawks began their assault with three touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the contest.
Santacaterina threw a 6-yard pass to Kristian Wilkerson on SEMO's opening drive which covered 83 yards on seven plays in a stretch of 2:33.
Freshman Aaron Alston's first career blocked punt resulted in a touchdown when Taylen Waller fell on the ball in the end zone to make it 14-0 in favor of SEMO with 10:30 left in the first quarter.
Another freshman, this time Zion Custis, broke free for a 24-yard touchdown, the second of his career, to widen the Redhawks lead to 21-0. Custis' score capped a 4-play, 55-yard march in 1:21.
After TTU got on the board with a 52-yard field goal by Nick Madonia, SEMO countered with two more touchdowns that came only 14 seconds apart.
Cornett caught a 10-yard pass from Santacaterina for his first career touchdown at the 9:06 mark. Then, linebacker Zach Hall recovered TTU quarterback Bailey Fisher's errant pitch in the end zone to give SEMO a 35-3 advantage.
TTU managed to score rushing touchdowns by Andrew Goldsmith (1 yard) and David Gist (57 yards), but SEMO added another two of its own to go up 49-17 at the half.
Santacaterina's third touchdown pass, a 60-yard strike to Orr, came with 5:22 left before Mark Robinson hit paydirt on a 10-yard run for his first career SEMO touchdown at the 2:27 mark.
SEMO tacked on 21 more points in the second half, including 14 in the third quarter.
Santacaterina delivered a 69-yard touchdown pass to Cornett following a 4-yard touchdown run by Custis in the third quarter.
Anthony Cooper later threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Waller with 9:24 in the fourth quarter for SEMO's final score of the night. The touchdown pass was the first of Cooper's career, while the reception and TD were both career firsts for Waller.
Santacaterina completed 20-of-27 passes as his 395 yards were third-most in a game by a SEMO quarterback. His 395 marks surpassed former Redhawk quarterback and current offensive coordinator Jeromy McDowell's 391 yards at Southern Illinois (Sept. 8, 2001) for the third-place spot. Santacaterina's four touchdown passes tied for third-most in a game, as well.
Orr caught four passes for a game-high 121 yards and a touchdown, while Cornett followed with three receptions for 115 yards and two scores. It was the first time the Redhawks had two 100-yard receivers in a game since 2014. A total of 10 different SEMO receivers had a catch.
Robinson ran for a team-high 75 yards, while freshmen Custis and Geno Hess added 66 and 64 yards on the ground, resepectively.
Defensively, Demarcus Rogers turned in a career-high 10 tackles and Hall followed close behind with eight. Hall added a breakup and fumble recovery for SEMO's defensive touchdown.
The Redhawks ended a five-game losing streak against TTU in Cookeville. SEMO won at Tucker Stadium for the first time since 2003 (24-20).
AUSTIN PEAY 49, TENNESSEE STATE 34
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jeremiah Oatsvall threw a touchdown pass and ran for two scores, Kentel Williams rushed for two touchdowns and Austin Peay capitalized on two turnovers to beat Tennessee State 49-34 on Saturday night before a record-setting crowd of 12,201.
The teams traded touchdowns until Oatsvall's 1-yard TD run put the Governors (3-3, 1-2 Ohio Valley Conference) up 28-21 at halftime and they held the lead for good.
Oatsvall, 7 of 15 for 189 yards passing, scored on a 20-yard run in the third quarter, then hit D.J. Montgomery on a 23-yard TD pass one play after Nate Howard recovered a Tennessee State fumble. Tre Nation scored on a 1-yard run, set up by Pat Walker's fumble recovery.
Williams scored on runs of 15 and 3 yards and Ahmaad Tanner scored on a 5-yard run.
Linebacker Gunnar Scholato had 17 tackles, becoming the 15th Governor to reach 300 career tackles.
Demry Croft threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns, including a 65-yarder to Chris Rowland, for the Tigers (2-2, 1-1). Backup Micheal Hughes hit Rowland on a 4-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter. Rowland had 11 catches for 179 yards and three TDs.