THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Samford 52, Tennessee Tech 14
#20 Austin Peay 30, @#18 Chattanooga 20
#7 Southern Illinois 47,
@Southeast Missouri 21
@Western Kentucky 59,
UT Martin 21
@Murray State 35, Mississippi Valley State 0
SAMFORD 52, TENNESSEE TECH 14
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford had Thursday night’s game circled on the calendar and it showed. Liam Welch proved why he’s in early contention for the Walter Peyton Award, throwing for 370 yards and four touchdowns as the Golden Eagles fell to the Bulldogs 52-14.
In all, Samford (1-0) collected 475 yards of total offense, putting the 2019 defeat in Cookeville in the rear view mirror.
The Golden Eagles (0-1), however, kept the game within reach through the first half, but it was 35 unanswered points – 21 in the third quarter and 14 more in the fourth – that put the game well out of reach.
In the meantime, Davis Shanley had a good effort at quarterback, completing 19 of 34 passes for 159 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Shanley’s score came at the 2:25 mark in the second quarter on a 10-yard strike to Justin Oden. Hayden Olsen’s PAT made it a 17-7 game going into the intermission.
Tech scored once more to open the third quarter, taking the opening kickoff and marching down the field, David Gist – in his first game since getting injured in February at Jacksonville State – scoring on a three-yard carry.
Gist ended the game with a team-high 72 yards on 17 carries.
Quinton Cross proved to be Shanley’s top target, completing eight passes for him for 57 yards. Willie Miller, who started at quarterback, was shifted over to receiver and he caught two passes for 24 yards, while also rushing twice for 14 yards.
On the other side, Montrell Washington was a beast for Samford’s offense, hauling in eight passes for 170 yards, the longest for 50 yards. Washington might not have caught a touchdown, but he wasn’t kept out of the end zone as he returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter.
Michael Vice (24 yards), A.J. Toney (eight yards), Ty King (seven yards) and Ja’Rus Creamer (11 yards) also caught touchdown passes from Welch, while DeMarcus Ware and Jay Stanton ran in for scores.
Tech was able to hold Samford to a failed field goal try early on, but the Golden Eagles weren’t able to capitalize on the miss as the Bulldogs’ defense held.
#20 AUSTIN PEAY 30, #18 CHATTANOOGA 20
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University football team held Chattanooga to just 228 yards total offense, saw Draylen Ellis throw for four scores and got another 100-yard rushing performance from Ahmaad Tanner in a complete, 30-20 win against the 18th-ranked Mocs in a season-opening Thursday night showdown from Finley Stadium.
The win is Austin Peay's first in seven tries against Chattanooga, and its third-straight win against a ranked FCS opponent—all since March 28. The Govs have now won seven out of their last 10 meetings with a ranked FCS team since the start of 2019.
The Mocs got on the board first. After three fruitless possessions to start the game, Chattanooga took over near midfield after an interception and marched quickly into the red zone on a quick strike from Drayton Arnold to Reginald Henderson for 21 yards and an 18-yard scamper by Tyrell Price into the red zone. The march to the end zone ended when Price plunged in from three yards out to put the hosts ahead first.
Another swapping of punts occurred, and this time the Govs found the equalizer. First, Draylen Ellis hit Baniko Harley for 18 yards to get the Govs into Chattanooga territory again, then he dropped back and lofted one into a single-covered Harley in the end zone. For the 15th time in his career, Harley came down with it for a score and his 35-yard house call put the Govs on the board for the first time in the Fall 2021 campaign.
The Govs got a game-changing pick of their own early in the second quarter, when Johnathon Edwards hauled in an acrobatic snag near the Chattanooga sideline. Although he was initially ruled out of bounds, further review awarded him his third career interception and put the Govs on the Chattanooga 39-yard line.
It didn't take long for the Govs to capitalize. After Jariel Wilson picked up nine yards on a first-down scamper, Ellis hooked up with Kansas State transfer DJ Render and he took his first catch as a Gov to the end zone to put the Govs in front.
The Mocs had an answer. Arnold found Tyler Walker for 20 yards to move the Mocs near midfield, then chunk runs—14 yards for Price, 13 for Ailym Ford—plus an untimely face mask put the Mocs near the goal line. This time Ford did the honors from three yards out to make it 14-13 with a 9:30 to go in the half.
The Govs pulled back ahead before halftime with a quick six-play drive. Harley made an acrobatic, juggling grab along the sideline to drag the Governors deep into Moc territory, netting 47 yards—four plays later, freshman Maddux Trujillo nailed his first field goal attempt as a Gov from 33 yards out to give Austin Peay a 16-14 lead heading into halftime.
The Mocs opened the second-half scoring on a flag-fueled drive featuring a roughing the passer, a pass interference and an unsportsmanlike penalty—all on the Govs. The Mocs only gained 16 yards on offense for the drive, but the last 12 came from Arnold to Henderson to put the hosts back in front.
A Govs offense that had found itself stuck in third gear for much of the third quarter came to life in the last minutes of the period, and it was largely thanks to freshman Drae McCray. The Tallahassee, Florida native broke the big play to get the Govs in Chattanooga territory with a 57-yard catch-and-run down to the Mocs' eight-yard line. On the next play, Ellis rolled right and found McCray streaking across the back of the end zone and rifled his third scoring toss of the day into the freshman's sure hands, giving the Govs a 23-20 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
This was the moment the defense locked it down. For the entire fourth quarter, Chattanooga gained 31 yards of total offense, with 28 coming on one pass from Arnold to Tyron Arnett. The Mocs weren't able to gain any traction in the trenches late in the game, with the Govs holding their hosts to negative-seven yards on six fourth-quarter carries.
When it came time to begin putting the game away, the Govs turned to the reliable workhorse to move the chains and keep the clock running. Ahmaad Tanner opened the drive with a 14-yard scamper. Then another run for eight. Then one yard. Then he burst through the line and rumbled for 31 yards into Chattanooga territory.
The Dalton, Georgia native was by no means done. In fact, he took the last four yards of the drive on a swing pass from Ellis into the end zone for a score, then 30 yards on Austin Peay's final drive to help put the game away. All told, Tanner broke the century mark for the second consecutive game, finishing with 103 on 19 carries—with 82 yards coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Ellis was his usual electric self, tossing for 325 yards on 23-of-33 passing with four scores; many of his targets found Harley, who tallied 137 yards on six catches. McCray had a fine debut in his own right, with five catches for 87 yards and a score. Edwards would later haul in a second interception on the night to put the contest away for the Govs. Kordell Jackson did his usual thing defensively, leading the way with eight tackles, a pass break-up and a 2.5 tackles for loss.
#7 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 47, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 21
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Nic Baker threw for 460 yards and four touchdowns to lead #7 Southern Illinois (1-0) to a 47-21 victory over Southeast Missouri (0-1) Thursday night in the season-opener for both teams.
In the 89th meeting between the longtime rivals, SIU claimed the War for the Wheel trophy for the second-straight season.
Baker hooked up with Avante Cox for a 99-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the Salukis opening drive of the contest. SEMO answered with a 9-play, 65-yard drive capped by a 15-yard pass from CJ Ogbonna to Zack Smith to make it a 7-7 contest with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter.
SIU's offense, however, was simply too much for the Redhawks to handle. The Salukis scored on four of their first five possessions of the game and led, 28-7, at the half.
SIU widened its lead to 38-7 in the third quarter before Mike Matthews intercepted Baker and ran 10 yards to the end zone at the 6:16 mark of the third quarter. It was the second pick of Matthews' career. Garrett Todd hauled in the first touchdown reception of his career on a 6-yard pass from Christian Perez for SEMO's final scoring play with 1:44 to go in the fourth period.
Baker completed 25-of-34 passes and SIU outgained the Redhawks, 553-243. Cox paved the way with 187 receiving yards on five catches.
Ogbonna, in his first career NCAA Division I start, threw for 47 yards on 9-of-19 passes and ran for 10 yards on eight carries. Perez threw his first career touchdown pass and finished with 54 yards on 4-of-6 attempts.
Hess averaged 5.8 yards per carry on 18 touches. It was the fourth 100-yard game of his career. Additionally, Zion Custis returned four kickoffs for 123 yards.
SEMO was penalized 15 times for 133 yards.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 59, UT MARTIN 21
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin football team showed glimpses of an explosive offensive unit but could not outmatch a gunslinging Western Kentucky squad, dropping the season opener on the road by a score of 59-21.
The Skyhawks (0-1) jumped out to an early lead with a strong scoring drive on the opening possession followed up by an impressive interception on the Tops first drive to give fans a glimpse of the team’s potential. After the early score, WKU settled down and found its grove in a big way behind its star quarterback before rattling off 59 points – including eight passing touchdowns.
UT Martin began the season by tallying 396 yards of total offense while posting a strong ground attack with 201 rushing yards. The Skyhawks averaged 5.9 yards per carry on the team’s 34 rush attempts while the passing game saw the squad throw for 195 yards while tossing one touchdown.
While the offensive day would have ranked as the second-best outing during the shortened 2020 campaign, it was no match for the explosive Hilltopper offense. WKU made easy work of the UT Martin defense after its opening drive, tallying 587 yards of total offense while 478 of those yards came through the air. With the nation’s passing leader in Bailey Zappe playing his first game in a Tops uniform, he picked up where he left off at Houston Baptist with over 10,000 passing yards by completing 28-of-35 pass attempts for 424 yards and seven touchdowns.
Graduate transfer quarterback Keon Howard led the Skyhawk offense on the gridiron with a strong debut. Howard completed 20-of-43 pass attempts while throwing for 195 yards and one touchdown. He also used his mobility to rattle off 44 yards on the ground while punching in a pair of rushing touchdowns from two and nine yards out, respectively. With his day, he became the first Skyhawk quarterback to rush for two touchdowns in a game since Dexter Anoka accomplished the feat on Oct. 13, 2007 against Samford.
Other top contributors on the offensive end was Peyton Logan who made the most of his seven carries by scampering for 75 yards on the afternoon, highlighted by a big 31-yard carry. In the passing game, the team’s two All-OVC receivers in Colton Dowell and Donnell Williams posted nice season debuts. Dowell tallied his sixth career 100-yard receiving game with 102 yards and his 12th career touchdown. Williams led the team with seven catches while tallying 80 yards – including a 32-yard one-handed snag.
Defensively, All-OVC graduate cornerback Jay Woods left an early impression by snagging his first career interception on the opponent’s first offensive drive. Meanwhile, another All-OVC selection in Deven Sims continued his trend after leading the team with tackles last season by recording a game-high 10 stops. The pair of Carson Evans and D’Carrious Stephens also posted nice individual efforts with eight tackles while Louisville transfer Robert Hicks tallied seven of his own.
On special teams, All-OVC specialist Tyler Larco posted a big night in the punting game by averaging 46.3 yards per punt. His best punt came in the second quarter when he flipped the field inside the team’s own 20 by booting a career-long 67-yard attempt which ranks as the 10th longest punt in program history. He also made three PATS for three total points.
MURRAY STATE 35, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Racers opened the 2021 season with two first-quarter rushing touchdowns from Preston Rice. Rice would go on to score the next two touchdowns in the second and third quarters, respectively, while Cortezz Jones put the cherry on top for Murray State in the fourth.
Rice was 10-of-16 in the air for 157 yards with one interception Thursday, while adding another 81 on the ground and four touchdowns on the ground. Jones rushed the ball 10 times for 10.7 yards per carry, while Damonta Witherspoon, Rodney Castille and DJ Williams added 49, 46 and 25 yards each to the effort, respectively.
LaMartez Brooks led the MSU receiving corps with 63 yards on four catches, while Witherspoon added 54 yards on three catches to finish the game with 103 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, Jacobi Hearn and Levi Matheny led MSU with five tackles each, while Scotty Humpich and DaVontae McKee had the lone sacks for the Racers in the game. Humpich also notched a game-high 2.0 tackles-for-loss out of a total of seven Thursday Murray State. Hearn, McKee, Maurice Greene and Alec Long finished the game with 1.0 each, while Erica Samuta and Kameron Petty each had 0.5.