Another week in the books and there’s only one thing that still certain: Austin Peay is still terrible. Tennessee State is still undefeated after coming back from a 16 point deficit against UT-Martin, #16 EIU was upset by SEMO, and the Colonels are apparently allergic to wins against D-I opponents.
Austin Peay 17 Murray State 45
KD Humphries threw the ball 60 times as the Racers picked up their first win of the season over the Govs. KD Humphries proved to be too much for APSU’s secondary to handle as he racked up 455 yards and 5 touchdowns through the air, earning him OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors. The still winless Govs are now at 20 straight games without a win and Murray State was likely their best chance at a win this season. Unfortunately for the Racers it still appears that KD Humphries is their entire offense. After only averaging .4 YPC on 26 attempts at SEMO last week the Racers had a below average 3.1 YPC on 35 attempts against arguably the worst defensive line in the OVC. Relying solely on KD Humphries won’t win Murray State very many more games this season. Austin Peay, however, managed to move the ball rather effectively after gathering 184 yards on the ground (5.4 YPC) and 171 through the air. The problem for the Govs is converting on third down. They went 3-10 on third down and the 12 penalties for 92 yards didn’t help either. Their inability to convert on third down led to game getting so out of hand.
Austin Peay will host UT-Martin this weekend and Murray State will have a bye before hosting UT-Martin on the 15th.
Eastern Kentucky 30 Tennessee Tech 33
KD Humphries wasn’t the only quarterback putting up monster numbers last weekend. EKU quarterback Bennie Coney had 32 completions on 49 attempts for 464 yards and 3 touchdowns. Despite a record-breaking performance Coney was not able lift the Colonels to victory in Cookeville. TTU improved to 2-3 as the Colonels are still looking for their first win of the season against a Division-1 opponent their only win coming over NAIA Pikeville. The matchup between the Colonels and the Golden Eagles was back and forth all night with 6 different lead changes but the difference maker was an EKU interception that set up Tennessee Tech with a short field and allowed the Golden Eagles to score their first touchdown of the game and a personal foul call that set up Tennessee Tech to win it in overtime. Tennessee Tech quarterback Michael Birdsong had the best performance of his career as a Golden Eagle as he threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns and adding another touchdown on the ground.
Tennessee Tech will travel down to Jacksonville to take on the #2 ranked Gamecocks and EKU will host SEMO.
Tennessee State 34 Tennessee-Martin 30
After UT-Martin went up 16-0 only 8 minutes into the game it looked like this game was going to be a blowout early. However, Tennessee State had other plans. After giving up two touchdowns and a safety on the first three drives of the game the Tigers answered back by picking off Troy Cook on back to back UTM possessions and cut the lead to 16-10 by halftime. The Tigers came down the field and scored in a hurry, going 66 yards in four plays to move the score to 17-16 in favor of the Tigers. The Tigers then forced a fumble and missed a 47 yard field goal attempt. After exchanging touchdowns the Tigers forced another fumble and kicked a field goal to move the score to 27-23 in favor of the Tigers. UT-Martin answered with an 11 play 57 yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter which chewed up 5:27. With 1:54 left on the clock and 74 yards to go quarterback Ronald Butler went to work putting together a 7 play touchdown drive with the scoring play coming with only 18 seconds left in regulation. Terrell Bonds picked off Troy Cook on the very next play to ice the game for Tennessee State. The Skyhawks had 5 turnovers in the game which cost them the win.
UT-Martin will travel to Clarksville to take on Austin Peay this weekend Tennessee State will take on EIU in Charleston.
SEMO 21 Eastern Illinois 14
This game was arguably the surprise of the weekend in the OVC as the Redhawks upset the then 16th ranked Panthers in Cape Girardeau. SEMO held EIU to just one offensive touchdown as one of EIU’s touchdown came off of a scoop and score after Tremane McCullough fumbled on his first carry of the second half. SEMO’s defense was really the biggest part of the Redhawks success as they held EIU to just 94 yards and no offensive points in the second half. One thing that really helped the Redhawks was the penalties committed by the Panthers. In several occasions it helped SEMO extend drives and control the game. This marked the Redhawks fifth all-time win over a ranked FCS opponent and their third in the last three years under head coach Tom Matukewicz.
SEMO will travel to take on Eastern Kentucky this weekend and EIU will host Tennessee State.
Jacksonville State had a bye week.
Power Rankings
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Tennessee State Tigers
Eastern Illinois Panthers
Southeast Missouri Redhawks
UT-Martin Skyhawks
Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Murray State Racers
Austin Peay Governors