Sgt. York Trophy yet to be decide on last week of OVC Football regular season

Record:…………………. Tennessee Tech leads 28-17
Last Meeting:……….. Tennessee Tech leads 49-7 (11/19/11)
Watson Brown at Tennessee Tech:……………. 28-38 (6 yrs.)
Watson Brown Overall:……………………. 122-189-1 (28 yrs.)
Rick Christophel at Austin Peay:………………. 19-46 (6 yrs.)
Rick Christophel Overall:…………………………………… same
Tennessee Tech Last Week: W, 45-44 vs. #23 UT Martin (OT)
Austin Peay Last Week:……. L, 38-23 at Jacksonville State

GAME NOTES: In-state rivals Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech will close out the 2012 season in the OVC TVGame of the Week on Saturday. The game will air live on FOX College Sports and be delayed on FOX Sports South (10 p.m. CT). The game is part of the Sgt. York Trophy series and Tennessee Tech can gain a share of the crown with a victory and a loss by Tennessee State. TTU has won the last three in the series with APSU, including a 49-7 victory a year ago in Cookeville that gave the Golden Eagles the OVC Championship. In that game the No. 21 ranked Golden Eagles led 14-7 at halftime but scored 28 unanswered points in the third quarter on its way to the 42-point victory. Tech was led by Dontey Gay who rushed for 192 yards and a touchdown while Tre Lamb passed for 112 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 52 yards and three more scores.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH:Having battled injuries most of the season, Tennessee Tech finally had luck on its side on Saturday in topping No. 23 UT Martin 45-44 in overtime. Tech had entered the game having lost each of its last two games (to nationally-ranked TSU and OVC champion Eastern Illinois) by a combined eight points, but snapped its seven-game losing streak thanks to sophomore quarterback Darian Stone. Stone produced 466 yards of total offense (second-most in school history) to lead his team to the come-from-behind victory. In just his third career start Stone completed 16-of-29 passes for 277 yards and three scores (including a 79-yard touchdown to put his team on top with 1:10 to play in regulation) and rushed for 190 yards, the most by a TTU quarterback in school history. The performance earned him Sports Network National Offensive Player of the Week honors. Doug Page rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns, including a 2-yard run in overtime that ultimately proved to be the game-winner (after UTM missed an extra point attempt). Freshman cornerback Demario Donnell made his first career and made 15 tackles and broke up a pass in the victory. Senior Marcus Edwards added nine tackles, 2.0 sacks and forced a fumble.

SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY: Austin Peay held a 16-14 halftime advantage at Jacksonville State on Saturday but was outscored 21-0 in the third quarter on its way to a 38-23 loss. Senior quarterback Jake Ryan had a big day, setting APSU single-game records for pass attempts (60) and completions (41). He passed for a career-high 375 yards and had three touchdowns. The senior needs 35 completions to move into first place on the APSU career list (504 by Jesse Kellogg from 2001-05). Ryan completed passes to nine different receivers with Devin Stark (70 yards, 1 TD), Reco Williams (67 yards, 1 TD) and Terrence Oliver (64 yards) each catching eight passes. The freshman Williams had a big game, catching those eight passes and also rushing for a team-high 73 yards. Oliver also had 50 rushing yards and 106 kickoff return yards to account for a game-high 220 all-purpose yards. Stark now has 58 catches on the season, the most by an APSU receiver since Lanis Frederick had 77 in the 2006 season. The Governors are looking to snap a 13-game Conference losing streak dating back to a win over Tennessee State last season.

Saturday, Nov. 17 • 12:00 p.m. CT
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (88,548) • Gainesville, Fla.
TV:……………………………………………………………….. PPV
Live Stats:……………………………………. http://bit.ly/T4wl3R
Series Record:……………………………………… First meeting
Last Meeting:…………………………………………………….. n/a
Jack Crowe at Jacksonville State:…………… 87-56 (13 yrs.)
Jack Crowe Overall:……………………………. 101-86 (18 yrs.)
Will Muschamp at Florida:………………………… 16-7 (2 yrs.)
Will Muschamp Overall:……………………………………. same
Jacksonville State Last Week:…. W, 38-23 vs. Austin Peay
Florida Last Week:………. W, 27-20 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

GAME NOTES: Saturday’s contest marks the final game of the season for the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and the next to last game of the season for Florida who will conclude the regular season next week at Florida State. The Gators are 6-0 at home this season including a thrilling 27-20 win over Louisiana-Lafayette last week. With a win the Gators would reach a 7-0 home mark for just the third time in school history. It is the first meeting between the two schools.

SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE STATE: Jacksonville State capped a perfect 5-0 record at home on the year with a 38-23 victory over Austin Peay on Saturday. It marked the third time the Gamecocks have completed a perfect home record under head coach Jack Crowe. The win also guaranteed the team its 10th consecutive winning season. Junior linebacker Rashad Smith was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week after posting 14 tackles (including a career-best 13 tackles) and an interception. The interception was his first of the season and second of his career. Offensively sophomore DaMarcus James rushed for 149 yards (tying his career-high) on 13 carries (11.5 ypc) and a touchdown. James is one of four running backs in the OVC averaging above 100 yards/game (104.63). Fellow running back Washaun Ealey rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown and also caught four passes for 38 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. It marked the first time in his career that he had caught two touchdown passes in the same game. JSU trailed 16-14 at halftime but scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to blow the game open. It marked the 18th come-from-behind victory for the team since the beginning of the 2010 season and the fourth-straight time they have come-from-behind to beat Austin Peay. Freshman Erick Butler blocked a 31-yard field goal attempt, his third blocked kick of the season, which tied the JSU single-season record held by Darrell Prater (2003).

SCOUTING FLORIDA: Florida enters this week No. 7 in both national Top 25 polls and No. 6 in the BCS rankings. The team’s lone loss was on Oct. 27 against Georgia, giving the team a 7-1 SEC mark after going 3-5 in SEC play in 2011. UF will share the SEC East Division Championship with Georgia, but with the head-to-head victory UGA will play in the SEC Championship game. With the score tied at 20 last week, Loucheiz Purifoy blocked a punt that Jelani Jenkins returned 36 yards for a touchdown with two seconds remaining. Jeff Driskel finished the game 13-of-16 for 98 yards and a touchdown while Jacoby Brissett, who came on when Driskel was injured, had 64 yards passing and a touchdown. Driskel added 76 yards on the ground. On the season Driskel has passed for 1,324 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 424 yards and four additional scores; because of the injury his status for this week’s game is unknown. Mike Gillislee leads the team with 842 rushing yards and seven scores.

 

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (3-7, 2-5 OVC) at Murray State Racers (4-6, 3-4 OVC)

Saturday, Nov. 17 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Roy Stewart Stadium (16,800) • Murray, Ky.
TV:…………………………………………… OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=10077
Series Record:…………………….. Murray State leads 37-8-1
Last Meeting:……………. Murray State won 35-34 (11/19/11)
Tony Samuel at Southeast Missouri:…………. 28-50 (7 yrs.)
Tony Samuel Overall:………………………….. 62-107 (15 yrs.)
Chris Hatcher at Murray State:………………….. 17-15 (3 yrs.)
Chris Hatcher Overall:…………………………. 111-42 (13 yrs.)
Southeast Missouri Last Week:.. L, 39-20 at Eastern Illinois
Murray State Last Week:. L, 55-24 at #18 Eastern Kentucky

GAME NOTES: The 2012 season will come to an end on Saturday for two rivals who will be playing for the 47th time. Murray State leads the all-time series 37-8-1 although Southeast Missouri has had recent success, winning 4 of the past 7 games. The Racers, however, won a season ago, taking the season finale for both teams 35-34 in Cape Girardeau. The Racers led 28-14 entering the fourth quarter but Southeast battled back and pulled to within one point with 1:03 to play on a Matt Scheible touchdown run. The team’s PAT, however, was blocked by Tyler Evans and Murray State held on for the one point win. Casey Brockman passed for 222 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 77 yards and another score for MSU while Mike Harris rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown. Scheible passed for 143 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 105 yards and three additional scores while Spencer Davis added 127 rushing yards. Defensively Blake Peiffer had game-high 15 tackles for SEMO while Sam Small had 13 stops for MSU.

SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI: Southeast Missouri led OVC Champion Eastern Illinois 20-16 late in the third quarter but would get out-scored 24-0 down the stretch in losing 39-20. The team’s rushing attack, which ranks 10th nationally, was limited to just 31 yards in the second half. Redshirt freshman quarterback Scott Lathrop, who was added to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List last week, rushed for a team-high 102 yards and a touchdown and passed for 39 yards in the loss. Lathrop has rushed for 100 or more yards in three of his last five starts. Senior linebacker Blake Peiffer added 11 tackles and now ranks 13th nationally in tackles/game (11.0). In the process he went over 100 tackles on the season for the second-straight season, becoming the first Southeast player to accomplish that feat since 2006-07 (Adam Casper). Peiffer has six double-double digit tackle games on the year.

SCOUTING MURRAY STATE: Murray State led No. 18 Eastern Kentucky 24-20 with 10:05 to play in the second quarter on Saturday but would not score again as the Colonels scored 35 unanswered points on the way to a 55-24 victory. Casey Brockman passed for 343 yards and three touchdowns in the game. The senior will wrap-up his brilliant career on Saturday with nearly every passing record in the OVC. Brockman already holds career records for total offense (10,253), passing yards (9,801), pass attempts (918) and total offense attempts (1,654) and is just 28 attempts away from that mark. He holds the OVC single-season records for passing yards (3,540), completions (339) and attempts (491) and needs 53 yards for the total offense mark  and 45 attempts to break that record. Brockman currently holds the single season completion record (69.0%) and could break the career record of 67.1 with an impressive game on Saturday. Wide receiver Walter Powell enters the weekend with 90 catches for 1,162 yards and nine touchdowns. The 90 catches is third-most in OVC history. Powell currently ranks fourth nationally in all-purpose yards (182.1/game).

 

#23 Tennessee State Tigers (8-2, 4-2 OVC) at UT Martin Skyhawks (7-3, 5-2 OVC)

Saturday, Nov. 17 • 2:00 p.m. CT
Hardy M. Graham Stadium (7,500) • Martin, Tenn.
TV:………………………………….. WLJT/OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: http://www.utmsports.com/livestats/football/xlive.htm
Series Record:………………….. Tennessee State leads 14-7
Last Meeting:………. Tennessee State won 35-30 (11/12/11)
Rod Reed at Tennessee State:…………………. 16-16 (3 yrs.)
Rod Reed Overall:…………………………………………… same
Jason Simpson at UT Martin:…………………… 44-34 (7 yrs.)
Jason Simpson Overall:……………………………………. same
Tennessee State Last Week:………………………………… Idle
UT Martin Last Week:……. L, 45-44 at Tennessee Tech (OT)

GAME NOTES: Tennessee State and UT Martin are playing for a potential at-large berth to the Division I Football Championship on Saturday. A win by TSU would give it nine Division I victories, while a win by UT Martin would give it eight Division I wins, including a victory over FBS Memphis. TSU is hoping for its first playoff berth since 1999 while UT Martin is looking for its first playoff appearance since making its lone appearance in 2006. The game is also part of the Sgt. York Trophy series in which TSU has already clinched at least a share of the title; UTM can gain a share (although TSU will keep the actual trophy) with a win. Tennessee State holds a 14-7 advantage in the all-time series (although UTM has won four of the last six overall) including a five-point victory a season ago. In that game UT Martin held a 17-14 halftime advantage before TSU scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter. Michael German threw for three touchdowns and Trabis Ward ran for 180 yards and two scores for the Tigers. The Skyhawks were led by Derek Carr who threw for 329 yards and four touchdowns.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE STATE: Tennessee State, ranked No. 23 in this week’s Sports Network poll, is fresh coming off its bye week and will go on the road for its final regular season game. In its last game two weeks ago Tennessee State held a 28-27 lead at the end of the third quarter but saw Murray State score 22 unanswered points on its way to the 49-28 victory. Running back Trabis Ward rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown in the loss. In the process Ward moved past Javarris Williams (2006) for the third most rushing yards in TSU single-season history (1,316). Ward currently ranks eighth nationally in rushing (131.6 yards/game) and has scored 15 touchdowns. Sophomore tight end A.C. Leonard had another big game, hauling in seven passes for 115 yards. Leonard currently has 44 catches for 643 yards on the season. Quarterback Michael German passed for 273 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 22 yards and an additional score in the game. Playing without sophomore defensive back Steven Godbolt III (who ranks second in the FCS in interceptions/game), TSU turned to sophomore Daniel Fitzpatrick who had a game-high 10 solo tackles, broke-up a pass and had a sack.

SCOUTING UT MARTIN: UT Martin saw its four-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday in overtime at Tennessee Tech when a botched extra point gave the Golden Eagles a one-point victory. The Skyhawks had led 31-17 entering the fourth quarter only to fall behind 38-31 with 1:10 to play after Tech scored on a 79-yard touchdown pass. But UTM quarterback Derek Carr threw a 46-yard Hail Mary pass that bounced off two TTU players before landing in the arms to Chris Thompson to tie the game. After the Golden Eagles scored to open the extra period UT Martin faced a 4th and 16 before Carr found OVC Newcomer of the Week Jeremy Butler for a touchdown. That play was right before the Skyhawks fumbled the extra point snap, ending the game. Butler finished the game with 13 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns; over the past four games Butler has caught 35 passes for 438 yards and seven touchdowns. Carr finished the game 35-of-52 for 422 yards and four touchdowns; he has 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions over his last two games. Carr ranks seventh nationally in passing yards/game (300.0) and in points responsible for (17.4/game). His 66 career touchdowns passes currently ranks third in OVC history while his 8,152 passing yards is fifth in OVC history. Ben Johnson had 13 tackles in the loss and continues to lead the OVC and rank fourth nationally in tackles/game (12.3).

 

#24 Eastern Illinois Panthers (7-3, 6-1 OVC) at #10 Central Arkansas Bears (8-2, 6-1 Southland)

Saturday, Nov. 17 • 5:00 p.m. CT
Estes Stadium (8,500) • Conway, Ark.
TV:……………………………………………………………….. none
Live Stats:…………………………….. http://ucagameday.com
Series Record:……………………. Central Arkansas leads 1-0
Last Meeting:…………. Central Arkansas won 37-7 (9/11/10)
Dino Babers at Eastern Illinois:…………………….. 7-3 (1 yr.)
Dino Babers Overall:……………………………………….. same
Clint Conque at Central Arkansas:…………… 97-53 (13 yrs.)
Clint Conque Overall:……………………………………….. same
Eastern Illinois Last Week: W, 39-20 vs. Southeast Missouri
Central Arkansas Last Week:……………………………….. Idle

GAME NOTES: Eastern Illinois will travel to Central Arkansas on Saturday for the regular season finale between two teams who have already clinched spots in the Division I Football Championship and who are both nationally-ranked. EIU locked up the OVC Championship last week while Central Arkansas won the Southland Conference two weeks ago before having a bye last week. The two teams have played once before, two years ago in Charleston. In that game UCA limited Eastern to just 120 yards of total offense in a 37-7 victory. The Panthers were just 1-of-10 on third down in that contest and EIU committed five turnovers in the loss. Jake Potempa had 92 rushing yards to lead EIU. Central Arkansas rushed for 162 yards with Wynrick Smothers rushing for 76 and two touchdowns while Nathan Dick passed for 167 yards. UCA is 10-0 at home over the last two years. The Bears play on a field with gray and purple stripes which has earned the field the nickname “The Stripes.”

SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS: Eastern Illinois won its fourth-straight game (and for the sixth time in the last seven contests) with a 39-20 come-from-behind victory over Southeast Missouri on Saturday. That win locked up the program’s sixth OVC Championship and its 14th FCS playoff berth (8th most in FCS history). Trailing 20-16 in the third quarter, the Panthers got a 43-yard touchdown strike from Jimmy Garoppolo to Erik Lora to put the team on top for good. Lora, who leads the FCS in receptions and receiving yards, finished the game with 15 catches for 178 yards and that touchdown. Lora now has 115 catches on the season, just eight away from the NCAA single-season record. Lora also set the OVC single-season receiving yards record (1,479), putting him just 233 yards away from the NCAA single-season record. Garoppolo finished the game 25-of-35 for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He now ranks third nationally in total offense (339.1 yards/game) and has 3,374 passing yards on the season. With the team having secured a playoff berth, Garoppolo has a chance to pass Murray State’s Casey Brockman for the OVC single season passing yards mark (he is 166 yards behind Brockman entering this week’s games). Senior defensive tackle Greg Mahan had seven tackles, 2.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.0 sacks in helping the Panthers lock down the potent Redhawks rushing attack in the second half (limiting them to just 31 yards). Overall the team defense had 10 tackles-for-loss and 5.0 sacks on the day. After being in the “others receiving votes” category all season, Eastern Illinois finally broke into the Top 25 this week, appearing at No. 24 in the Sports Network poll and No. 25 in the FCS Coaches poll. It is the first time the team has been ranked since Sept. 6, 2010.

SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Central Arkansas started the season with a loss to FBS foe Ole Miss and later lost a road game to Stephen F. Austin, a week after beating No. 3 Sam Houston State. But since the last loss the team has reeled off five-straight wins, allowing just 16.4 points/game over that period. Junior quarterback Wynrick Smothers has been one of the nation’s top performers as he has completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 2,517 yards and 27 touchdowns this season and rushed for 360 yards (second-most on the team) and three additional scores. Jackie Hinton leads the team with 479 rushing yards on the season. In the team’s win two weeks ago over Northwestern State, Smothers passed for 225 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 97 yards and another score while Hinton rushed for 52 yards. This week’s game is the second of the year against an OVC team as UCA bested Murray State 42-20 in week two of the season. The team’s 6-1 finish in Southland Conference play this year marks the third time the team has compiled a 6-1 mark in league play over the last five years (2008, 2011).

James D. Horne began his writing career at the Carrollton Missouri Democrat in 1995, and was the assistant sports editor/writer for the Hammond Louisiana Daily Star for two years. In 1998, Horne became the Missouri Basketball beat writer for the Columbia Daily Tribune. He joined The Leaf-Chronicle in Oct. 2003 as the lead prep writer and became the Austin Peay beat writer in March of 2005. During his career he won a state association sports writing award at the Daily Star and two while at the Leaf-Chronicle.
Originally from Tampa, Florida, Horne earned his B.A in communications from Central Methodist University in Fayette Missouri.

Web Site: http://www.clarksvillesportsnetwork.com
Email: james@clarksvillesportsnetwork.com

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