SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#8 Jacksonville State 48, Austin Peay 32
Eastern Illinois 52, @Tennessee Tech 38
@Murray State 45, UT Martin 38
@Vanderbilt 31,
Tennessee State 27
#8 JACKSONVILLE STATE 48, AUSTIN PEAY 32
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Zerrick Cooper became the first Jacksonville State player since 2015 to account for five touchdowns in a game as the No. 8 Gamecocks rolled over Austin Peay 48-32 on Saturday.
Cooper threw three touchdown passes in the second half to go with two earlier scoring runs to lift Jacksonville State (3-1, 2-0 OVC) to a resounding homecoming victory before a crowd of 19,388 at Burgess-Snow Field.
Austin Peay – selected in the preseason to finish second behind JSU in the conference standings – fell to 2-3 and 0-2.
The Gamecocks extended the longest active conference winning streak in Division I to 34. It's the second-longest streak in FCS history, trailing only Duquense's 39 in a row in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference from 1996-2006.
The Gamecocks led 14-12 at halftime behind a pair of short Cooper touchdown runs. JSU and the Govs swapped scores throughout the third quarter, with Cooper hitting Josh Pearson for a 20-yard TD and later adding a 31-yard strike that Jamari Hester leaped between two Austin Peay defenders to pull down as he tumbled into the end zone.
Austin Peay closed the gap to 28-26 entering the final stanza. The Gamecocks then added touchdowns on their next three possessions to build a 48-26 cushion with 1:10 remaining.
Hester's second TD catch, a 31-yarder from Cooper, started Jacksonville State's fourth-quarter outburst. Hester would finish with career highs for receptions (seven) and yards (146).
Backup quarterback Zion Webb finished off a time-consuming 12-play, 80-yard drive on the Gamecocks' next series and Leander Burrowes wrapped up Jacksonville State's scoring with a 23-yard run.
Cooper's five touchdowns were the most by a Gamecock since Eli Jenkins scored five times in a win over Murray State in 2015.
Jacksonville State rolled up 485 scrimmage yards against a Governors' defense that entered the contest ranked second in the OVC and 32nd nationally. Austin Peay tallied 388 yards, the most allowed by the Gamecocks defense this season and nearly double its season average of 191 yards per game.
Cooper was 18-for-31 through the air for 268 yards with one interception. Pearson hauled in three passes and now has six touchdown receptions in 2018.
Marlon Bridges and Traco Williams each had an interception. Bridges' pickoff was the eighth of his career.
Quan Stoudemire was the Gamecocks' leading tackler with nine stops, followed by Bridges with seven.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 52, TENNESSEE TECH 38
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - On an offensive night, Eastern Illinois defense got a big play when it was needed as the Panthers beat Tennessee Tech, 52-38, on Saturday night at Tucker Stadium.
Leading 38-24, TTU was driving when Josh Price forced a fumble at midfield that was recovered by BJ Ojo. The Panthers eventually closed out the game on touchdown runs by Isaiah Johnson of 46 yards and Jamal Scott from 21 yards despite two late scoring drives by TTU.
EIU improved to 1-4 overall, 1-1 in the OVC. Tennessee Tech fell to 0-5, 0-2 in the OVC.
Tennessee Tech drove the length of the field on the opening drive as the Golden Eagles jumped on top 7-0 with a Bailey Fisher 14-yard touchdown pass to Josh Cunningham.
Eastern Illinois answered immediately on its first drive as Woodbery connected with James Sheehan on a 14-yard touchdown, one of three first half touchdown passes for Woodbery. The junior college transfer was 16-of-26 for 182 yards in the opening half. He would finish the game 32-of-49 with 339 yards and five touchdown passes. He was the first EIU quarterback with five touchdown passes in a game since Jimmy Garoppolo in November of 2013.
On the next drive EIU’s defense stiffened limiting TTU to a 23-yard field goal by Nick Madonia.
Woodbery hit Aaron Gooch on the opening drive of the second quarter on a 37-yard strike and put the Panthers up 21-10 with 8:29 to play in the half with a 8-yard pass to Alexander Hollins. It was the eighth touchdown reception of the season for Hollins who entered the game as the top touchdown receiver in the FCS.
Hollins finished the day with nine catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns. It was his eighth career 100-yard receiving game and fourth of the season.
After allowing ten points in the first quarter EIU’s defense clamped down in the second quarter. Levi Watson had back-to-back sacks to stuff out one TTU drive. EIU held Tech’s offense to just 50 yards in the second quarter. Javon Turner would lead the EIU defense with nine tackles. Dytarious Johnson had an interception as the Panthers had two turnovers gained in the game.
Josh Poplar had 20 tackles to lead the Golden Eagles. Fisher would pass for 383 yards and four touchdowns for TTU. He passed for 243 yards in the fourth quarter. TTU would score the final 14 points of the game with the final score coming after recovering an onside kick. Fisher hit Jeremiah Edwards for back-to-back touchdown receptions in the final 2:23 of the contest.
The Panthers offense added on in the second half with second touchdown receptions by both Sheehan and Hollins. EIU finished with 599 yards of total offense. Johnson rushed for 161 yards while Scott had 85 on the ground. Sheehan had seven catches for 79 yards.
MURRAY STATE 45, UT MARTIN 38
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Drew Anderson passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score and Murray State picked up its first win of the season, holding off UT Martin 45-38 in the Racers' Ohio Valley Conference opener on Saturday.
Anderson hooked up with DeQuan Dallas for a 37-yard TD on the Racers' first possession and hit Jensen Feggins for a 5-yard score that gave Murray State a 14-3 lead after one quarter.
The Skyhawks (1-4, 1-1) pulled within 14-10 midway through the second quarter on Dresser Winn's 4-yard TD toss to Terry Williams, but the Racers (1-3, 1-0) exploded for 17 points in the final seven minutes to take a 31-10 lead at halftime.
Murray State upped its lead to 45-24 in the fourth quarter when Quincy Williams picked off a pass from Winn and raced 82 yards for a TD.
UTM scored on Winn's 2-yard run and Jaimiee Bowe's 1-yard plunge on back-to-back possessions late in the final quarter. But Murray State recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock when D.J. Penick ran 32 yards on third-and-10 for a victory-clinching first down.
Winn completed 33 of 52 passes for 331 yards and two scores for the Skyhawks.
VANDERBILT 31, TENNESSEE STATE 27
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State football team went toe-to-toe with SEC foe Vanderbilt, falling by a 31-27 final score in a game that went down to the wire on Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium. It was the first loss of the season for TSU.
Despite 269 yards passing and three touchdowns from junior quarterback Demry Croft, TSU (2-1) could not overcome the balanced attack of Vanderbilt (3-2).
TSU held a 13-7 halftime edge, but the Commodores bounced back by outscoring the Tigers, 24-14, in the second half.
The Tigers took a 27-24 lead with 8:02 to play on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Croft to Andrew Knox. On Vanderbilt’s ensuing possession, however, the Commodores took the lead for good with a touchdown pass with 6:20 left.
Dajour Nesbeth led TSU’s defense with 10 tackles and an interception. Terry Straughter also recorded an interception for the Tigers.