SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Miami (Ohio) 48,
Tennessee Tech 17
#18 Central Arkansas 24,
@Austin Peay 16
@Indiana 52,
Eastern Illinois 0
@#3 Georgia 63,
Murray State 17
@#17 Jacksonville State 41, Chattanooga 20
@Louisville 42,
Eastern Kentucky 0
@Middle Tennessee 45,
Tennessee State 26
@#10 Florida 45,
UT Martin 0
@#13 Montana State 38,
#12 Southeast Missouri 17
MIAMI (OHIO) 48, TENNESSEE TECH 17
OXFORD, Ohio - Tennessee Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander took his players into the locker room Saturday afternoon following the Golden Eagles’ 48-17 loss to FBS school Miami (Ohio) and told them to keep their heads up.
The good news following the loss to Miami was that the Tech football team left Ohio with no additional injuries, a nice paycheck to help the program and no progress was lost toward its quest for the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference championship or any other such goals.
The game, as it was, was just another in a string of meetings against Football Bowl Subdivision schools as the Golden Eagles fall to 2-35 all-time against their bigger Division I brothers. Tech (1-1) won’t see another one again until next season as it travels to Minnesota out of the Big Ten.
At the end of the day, there is no reason for the Golden Eagle faithful to fret as there’s still a long way to go in the season and so much to play for.
Miami (Ohio), improving to 1-1 following last week’s 38-14 loss to No. 20 Iowa, used its speed and size to create mismatches as the RedHawks led statistically.
For much of the contest, redshirt freshman Devin Parker’s 34-yard field goal was the only scoring for the Golden Eagles, coming with a minute left in the opening quarter. Parker, a transfer to the Golden Eagles who joined the team two weeks ago after transferring from Louisiana-Monroe, is the nephew of Tech Hall of Fame kicker Ryan Weeks. The field goal made it a 10-3 contest after one period.
Then the Golden Eagles’ target end zone was quiet for a long time. Luke Ward added to Tech’s score early in the fourth quarter as he threw a 16-yard touchdown strike to Austin Hicks.
But by that point, the damage was done. RedHawk true freshman quarterback Brett Gabbert, the younger brother of NFL quarterback Blaine Gabbert, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for 152 yards on a 10-of-17 effort. Davion Johnson also rushed for two scored among his nine carries, then Bart Baratti took an interception off of Bailey Fisher back to the house for a touchdown.
In all, Tech had three turnovers, in contrast to the zero posted last week against Samford.
Following Ward’s touchdown pass, MU added another score on a one-yard run by Zach Kahn with just over six minutes remaining. The Golden Eagles responded as freshman Metrius Fleming had a 50-yard kickoff return, setting up a quick drive capped by a 30-yard touchdown connection from Ward to Hunter Coleman.
Tech did have a couple of defensive stops, holding the RedHawks to field goals on two drives and forcing two punts. Seth Carlisle led the Golden Eagles with 11 tackles, Aderick Moore with nine.
Offensively, the Golden Eagles put together 282 yards to MU’s 349. David Gist rushed for 34 yards on seven carries to pace Tech, while Fisher ended the game with 87 yards on 9-of-16 passing and Ward had 83 on 7-of-9.
#18 CENTRAL ARKANSAS 24, AUSTIN PEAY 16
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A third-quarter offensive barrage put Austin Peay State University in position to topple 18th-ranked Central Arkansas, but a late Bears surge conspired to hand the Govs their first learning moment of the Mark Hudspeth Era in a 24-16 defeat.
The first half was a battle of wills in the trenches. Neither squad was able to put together anything sustainable, with just eight combined first-half first downs, six three-and-outs and no drive longer than seven plays or 62 yards. Even a short field—like the one the Govs got when Elijah Shepard recovered a muffed punt at the Central Arkansas 41-yard line—yielded no fruit for the Govs.
That long drive was posted by the Bears to close the half. With just 2:37 remaining in the half, the Bears went down the field and booted a 25-yard field goal as the first half expired to take a 3-0 lead into the half.
The second half, well… the second half was a different story entirely.
After Jeremiah Oatsvall went down in the first half, it took JaVaughn Craig a few drives to really get going, but once he did he was precise in leading the Govs down the field. Following an early Central Arkansas score to give the visitors a 10-0 lead, Craig coolly marched the Govs 60 yards in eight plays, chewing up 50 of those on a first-play strike to DeAngelo Wilson, to give Logan Birchfield a 39-yard field goal try that he successfully converted to get the Govs on the board.
Then the defense took over. On third-and-one, Matthew Gayle got loose in the backfield and dropped Kierre Crossley for a five-yard loss to force a Bears punt. This time, Craig was less methodical—on the second play from scrimmage, he hit Baniko Harley on a post and the Birmingham native broke a tackle and raced for the end zone. When all was said and done, Harley had his first receiving score of the year and the Govs had tied the game in just over five minutes of play.
Momentum was swinging Austin Peay's way, and the Govs defense capitalized. On Central Arkansas' first play on the ensuing possession, James Tobin snuck in on Breylin Smith's blindside and obliterated the Bears quarterback, forcing a fumble that was scooped up by Shaun Whittinghill. Although Austin Peay didn't make much headway after picking the ball up on the Central Arkansas 21-yard line, Birchfield sent another kick through the sticks, this time from 32 yards out, to give the Govs a 13-10 lead.
The Govs didn't use a game-changing turnover to get the ball back on their next possession, but instead forced a Central Arkansas three-and-out and watched Wilson take the punt back 22 yards into UCA territory. Ahmaad Tanner cleared 24 yards on three carries to close the third quarter and Craig opened the fourth with a 13-yard strike to Keenan Barnes for a touchdown… that was flagged for an illegal formation. The Govs were forced to settle for another Birchfield field goal but were agonizingly close to taking a 10-point lead.
The Bears would retake the lead on the following drive, a quick five-play affair that nevertheless covered 95 yards, the last 43 on a Smith to Lujuan Winningham hook-up for a score.
Just as quickly as the offensive fireworks started, they hit a lull over the next three series, each of which went nowhere, two ending in a punt and the last an Austin Peay turnover on downs on a drive that started on the Govs one-yard line and needed a 20-yard Devin Stuart-to-Prince Momodu connection on fourth-and-10 to keep hope alive.
Central Arkansas took the ball with 2:39 to play and in three plays, the Bears had found the end-zone—Smith to Winningham again, for 18 yards. That left the Govs 1:42 to make a desperation drive.
Craig—who was thrown into a tough situation and responded with a 14-for-30, 185-yard day passing and led the Govs with 11 carries for 63 yards on the ground—began the march with a quick-hitter to Wilson for 10 yards. On fourth-and-three, he completed a gutsy nine-yarder to Harley to keep hope alive. But with time winding down, needing to make something happen on third-and-six, Craig's desperation pass was picked off and with that, the Bears were able to escape Fortera Stadium with a victory.
Shaking off a loss to a nationally-ranked foe, the Govs now look ahead to Mercer, who throttled Presbyterian 45-7 on Saturday and stand an outside chance of being nationally ranked after receiving votes in the STATS FCS Top-25 poll last week.
INDIANA 52, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana scored on its first three possessions of the first quarter as the Hoosiers beat Eastern Illinois 52-0 on Saturday afternoon.
EIU fell to 0-2 on the season while IU improved to 2-0.
The Hoosiers took the opening drive and scored on a 10-yard pass from Michael Penix Jr., to Miles Marshall with 11:05 to play.
Following a three-and-out by the Panthers, IU went up 14-0 on a 5-yard run by Stevie Scott at the 4:28 mark of the first quarter. After a tipped punt on the Panthers next offensive possession, Cole Gest plunged over from 2-yards out to cap a short yardage drive to make it 21-0 with 1:34 play.
Eastern Illinois collected its first, first-down in the second quarter as the Panthers finally took a drive deep into IU territory in the third quarter. EIU was limited to five first downs in the contest and 116 yards of total offense.
Indiana added another first half touchdown pass from Penix and then two long touchdown passes from Hoosiers back-up quarterback Peyton Ramsey.
Joe Caputo led EIU with tackles on the day with seven while Raymond Crittenden added six tackles.
Penix passed for 197 yards while Ramsey added 226 through the air for a Hoosiers offense that finished with 555 yards on the day. Samson James added a short yardage touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Hoosier scoring was capped by a 48-yard field goal.
EIU did make a final defensive stand stopping an IU drive at the goal line as Brandon Guido broke up a fourth down pass in the fourth quarter.
#3 GEORGIA 63, MURRAY STATE 17
ATHENS, Ga. - The Murray State football team left it on all the field Saturday as they faced a seemingly insurmountable task by taking on third-ranked Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens. Despite being tied with the third-ranked Bulldogs, 7-7, after one quarter of play, the Bulldogs eventually proved to be too much for the Racers, topping Murray State, 63-17.
After the Bulldogs scored on their opening drive, the Racers were able to stop them on their next one and get the ball back. On the ensuing MSU possession, Preston Rice found DaQuon Green for a 60-yard touchdown to tie the game at seven with 6:32 to play, after the Gabriel Vicente extra point.
Murray State had a chance to take the lead later in the quarter when Cam Petty popped the ball loose from Georgia’s Eli Wolff allowing Nigel Walton to pick it up and return it eight yards. However, from that point the Bulldogs proved why they are one of the best teams in the FBS by scoring 35 unanswered points.
However, despite being down 42-7 in the third, the Racers would not give up as Walton picked off Stetson Bennett and took it to the house for MSU’s first pick-six of the season. In the end though, it would be too little too late, as Georgia closed out the Racers, 63-17.
Rice finished his day an impressive 20-for-25 for 216 yards with no interceptions and a touchdown including longs of 50 and 60 yards. Green was also impressive Saturday, finishing with five catches for 101 yards and a score.
Dior Johnson led the Racer defense on the afternoon with eight tackles including six solo and one for-loss, while Walton finished with three tackles, an interception, a touchdown and a fumble recovery. On special teams, Steve Dawson had seven punts for 45.6 yards a punt with three going 50-yards are more, while Gabriel Vicente was 1-for-2 on field goal attempts.
#17 JACKSONVILLE STATE 41, CHATTANOOGA 20
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State re-discovered the running attack against Chattanooga that was sorely missing in its season-opening upset loss nine days earlier.
Austin Kinsey and Zerrick Cooper each rushed for two touchdowns, and Cooper added a pair of touchdown tosses as the No. 17 Gamecocks outlasted the Mocs 41-20 before a crowd of 19,428 at Burgess-Snow Field. Jacksonville State improved to 1-1 with its sixth consecutive victory over Chattanooga.
Cooper accounted for 374 yards of total offense - the eighth-highest single-game yardage in JSU history - with 30 yards rushing on a team-high 11 carries and 344 yards via the air. He completed his first nine throws and had touchdown passes of 39 yards to Jamari Hester and 40 yards to Trae Barry as Jacksonville State recorded its largest margin of victory in the series since 2008.
The Gamecocks tallied 509 total yards. Cooper was 20-of-26 with one interception and recorded a 205.8 passing efficiency rating while Barry snagged six passes for a career-high 151 yards.
Jacksonville State trailed 3-0 early but responded to the early deficit to beat Chattanooga (1-1) for the 11th time in 13 meetings. The Gamecocks led 21-6 at halftime before the Mocs scraped back to make it a one-score contest twice during the third quarter.
JSU put the game away in the fourth quarter, however, as Kinsey finished off a time-consuming 15-play touchdown with a 4-yard run, and Cooper ended the night's scoring with a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 4:27 remaining.
Chattanooga took a 3-0 lead on its first series before JSU responded with a seven-play march capped off by Cooper's 39-yard touchdown pass to Hester. The scoring reception was the 18th of the senior receiver's career, moving him into a tie for fourth with teammate Josh Pearson and Derrick Thomas (1982-85) in the school's record book.
Kinsey had a 28-yard burst for a touchdown, and Cooper added the second of his two 1-yard sneaks into the end zone as Jacksonville State extended the lead to 21-3 with 4:09 left in the second quarter.
Kinsey was one of four Gamecocks with at least nine carries and led the rushing attack with 56 yards. The Gamecocks ground out 165 yards on 41 rushes against UTC after being limited to 67 yards in their season-opening loss at Southeast Louisiana.
Marlon Bridges was the Gamecocks' leading tackler with eight stops while Yul Gowdy added seven solo stops.
LOUISVILLE 42, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University football team fell to host Louisville, 42-0, on Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium.
Louisville (1-1) scored on a pair of Jawon Pass touchdown passes in the first quarter to claim an early 14-0 lead; however, the EKU defense clamped down from there, holding the Cardinals scoreless in the second quarter.
The Colonels (1-1) opened the second quarter with a drive deep into Louisville territory. Redshirt sophomore Alonzo Booth sparked the advance with a 14-yard run. Five straight runs by senior Daryl McCleskey Jr. put the ball at the Louisville 25-yard line. However, a sack of quarterback Conor Blount on 4th-and-5 ended EKU’s scoring hopes.
On Louisville’s ensuing possession, redshirt junior Josh Hayes picked off Pass on a 4th-and-7 attempt at the EKU 27. Again the Colonels drove the ball into Louisville territory, but this time were forced to punt at the Cardinals’ 42.
Louisville opened the second half with a 66-yard run down the sideline by Javian Hawkins, putting the ball at the Colonels’ 5-yard line. Pass then found Marshon Ford for a touchdown that made it 21-0.
Pass connected with Dez Fitzpatrick late in third quarter to add to the Cardinals’ advantage.
Louisville tacked on two more insurance TDs in the fourth quarter to make it 42-0.
Pass finished the game with 196 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
EKU did most of its damage offensively on the ground. McCleskey led the way with 78 yards rushing. Redshirt freshman quarterback Parker McKinney came on late in the game and scampered for 45 yards. Booth added 34 yards.
Junior middle linebacker Steven Crowder led all players in the game with 11 tackles, including two tackles for loss and one QB hit.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 45, TENNESSEE STATE 26
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Tennessee State Tiger football team closed its second week with a 45-26 road loss at in-state rival Middle Tennessee, Saturday night in the Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium.
Chris Rowland led the Tigers in receiving yards, breaking his career-high 179 yards from last year’s matchup at Austin Peay by 23, finishing the night with 202 receiving yards on 11 carries.
TSU’s leader Cameron Rosendahl passed for 159 yards on 14-24 completion and one touchdown. Relieving Rosendahl for a quarter, Micheal Hughes saw the field for the first time this season, registering 7-8 completions on 100 yards and one touchdown handoff to DeMarco Corbin.
After a scoreless second quarter, redshirt junior Nick Harper Jr. caught his first career interception, returning the ball to the second-yard line, allowing the Tigers to put points on the board early in the second half.
On the defensive side of the ball, Ronnie Killings and Terry Straughter combined for 15 tackles, Killings also marking the night with a breakup.
#10 FLORIDA 45, UT MARTIN 0
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team hung tough with No. 10 Florida on Saturday night before the home squad found separation in the second half to pull away for a 45-0 victory at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The Skyhawks (1-1) tallied 194 yards of total offense against the Gators while tallying eight first downs in the contest. With the loss, UT Martin moves to 1-27 against members of the Football Bowl Subdivision and 0-10 against Southeastern Conference foes.
UT Martin limited Florida to just three points in the first half before heading into halftime trailing 17-0. The Gators would use the break to focus on adjustments before outscoring the Skyhawks by 28 in the second half. The game marked the first time that UT Martin has been shutout since the 2017 season.
Quarterback John Bachus II got his second career start, completing 12-of-19 passes for 101 yards while also leading the team in rushing yards – including a 48-yard scamper in the third quarter. Senior Joe Hudson also appeared in the contest for the first time this season, completing 3-of-4 passes for 39 yards.
Running back Jaimiee Bowe paced the team with seven carries while junior Peyton Logan tallied a team-high five receptions for 59 yards – including a 34-yard catch in the second quarter.
Defensively, junior safety JaQuez Akins made the most of his first career start by tallying 11 tackles while senior defensive back DaVonte Maura also recorded 11 stops to tie the game-high. The senior pair of Cecil Cherry and Julian Crutchfield shared on a sack while Sherrod Pittman recorded a pair of quarterback hurries.
Graduate punter Zane Cox stayed busy on the evening, tallying eight punts for 287 yards for an average of 35.9 yards per punt. Cox booted a 43-yard punt to mark his game-long while pinning three punts inside the 20.
Florida (2-0) remained unbeaten on the season by tallying 543 yards of total offense with 231 rushing yards and 312 passing yards. Quarterback Feleipe Franks completed 25-of-27 pass attempts for 270 yards and two touchdowns while three different Gators tallied touchdown receptions and two notched rushing scores.
#13 MONTANA STATE 38, #12 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 17
BOZEMAN, Mont. - #13 Montana State (1-1) rushed for 265 yards, had a pair of 100-yard rushers and scored 28 third-quarter points to beat #12 Southeast Missouri (1-1), 38-17, on a cool Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 19,497 at Bobcat Stadium.
Isaiah Ifanse ran for 114 yards and Troy Andersen added 102 yards and two touchdowns as the Bobcats averaged nearly six yards per carry (5.8) for the night.
MSU broke a 10-10 halftime deadlock by scoring 28 points in the third quarter and never looked back.
The Bobcats started the second half with a quick 3-play, 65-yard drive in just 1:02. All of MSU's yards came on the ground as Andersen broke free for a 44-yard run that was followed by a 9-yard touchdown run by DeMareus Hosey.
After SEMO punted, MSU went 65 yards again and capped its scoring drive with a 2-yard run by Andersen to widen its lead to 24-10.
The Redhawks went three-and-out on their next possession and MSU capitalized once more. On the second play, Travis Jonsen hooked up with Logan Jones for a 55-yard strike.
MSU scored on its fourth-straight drive when Karl Tucker II plunged four yards into the end zone extending the Bobcats lead to 38-10 with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
SEMO managed to put the game's final points on the board with a 1-yard run by Mark Robinson.
Immediately after Robinson's touchdown, Adam Krause recovered his own onside kick at the SEMO 46-yard line, but the Redhawks came up empty.
SEMO fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter.
Jake Reynolds' first punt was blocked by Coy Steel setting up MSU's first score which came on a 38-yard touchdown run by Andersen a little over two-and-a-half minutes into the contest.
Tristan Bailey kicked a 34-yard field goal to push the Bobcats lead to 10-0 with 3:37 remaining. Bailey's kick capped a 14-play, 63-yard march.
Bryson Donnell recovered a fumbled snap on a MSU punt at the Bobcats 9-yard line. Daniel Santacaterina completed a 10-yard pass to Zion Custis and then found Kristian Wilkerson in the end zone for a 5-yard completion on third down to make it a 10-7 game at the 11:01 mark of the second quarter. For Wilkerson, it was his second touchdown reception of the season and 25th of his career.
Late in the first half, Santacaterina's pass was intercepted by Jahque Alleyne, but a roughing the passer penalty gave the Redhawks a first down at the MSU-38.
Kendrick Tiller then came on and kicked a 55-yard field goal that just cleared the cross bar to tie the game, 10-10, at the intermission. The field goal was the longest of Tiller's career and tied for second in both SEMO football and MSU Bobcat Stadium history.
MSU outgained SEMO 140-55 in rushing yards during the first half. Ifanse ran for all 114 of his yards in the game's first 30 minutes.
The Bobcats finished with 456 yards of total offense.
Geno Hess ran for 90 yards on 13 carries and averaged 6.9 yards per touch to lead SEMO. Wilkerson also caught six passes for 77 yards.
Defensively, Bydarrius Knighten, Zach Hall and Justin Swift each had 10 tackles. Bryant Pirtle recorded his first sack as a Redhawk, as well.