Tennessee State has a long road ahead

By MIKE ORGAN, Staff Writer, Tennessean

After tonight, Tigers stay away until Oct. 27

Tennessee State football fans get a glimpse tonight of the Tigers.

And that is all it will be, only a glimpse.

Because of a road schedule, after playing Alabama A&M in the John Merritt Classic tonight at LP Field, the Tigers won't play another home game until Oct. 27.

Throw in a bye week on Oct. 6, and it means TSU won't play at home again for seven weeks after trying to avenge back-to-back losses to Alabama A&M.

It is going to be a tough road to hoe, and it is why Coach James Webster put his team through such a demanding preseason camp, one made even more challenging by an intense heat wave that lasted for most of the month of August.

"Everybody says, 'Coach you're tough on them aren't you?' '' Webster said. "And I say, 'Yeah I'm tough on them. I'm tough on them because we've got a tough schedule.' We're going to be on the road for six straight games, and we've got some tough games in that stretch."'

No creampuffs

The brutal road trip will include three Ohio Valley Conference games — Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky — along with three games against rivals Jackson State (Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis), Florida A&M (Atlanta Classic) and Southern.

While tonight's game is at home, it also will be a steep challenge. A&M spoiled TSU's opener the past two years, with a 27-14 victory in 2005 and a 27-20 win last year.


Naturally, Webster is thankful at least to be opening the season at home. He's also eager to see how his team performs against A&M. It should provide a reliable measuring stick for the difficult preseason he put the Tigers through.

"Alabama A&M is a good football program,'' Webster said. "They're picked to win the (Southwest Athletic Conference) again. It will be a good test to see where we are."

A better start

TSU quarterback Antonio Heffner is confident the Tigers are better than last year, when A&M visited and came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat the Tigers.

"We think we're a better football team coming into this season than we were going into last season,'' said Heffner, who made his first start against A&M after transferring from South Carolina. "We didn't have that chemistry bond like we have now. We expect a tough battle from them, but I bet they expect a tough battle from us, too.

"We really need to get off to a good start, a better start than last year, since we have all those road games coming up."

Predictions for Alabama A&M to repeat were made before several key players were declared ineligible and will miss tonight's game.

On Wednesday, Coach Anthony Jones said running back Max Martin, a transfer from Alabama, and wide receiver Anthony Mitchell, who both were expected to start, were not cleared to play by the NCAA along with offensive linemen Anquez Jackson and Antonio Regist, and reserve defensive end Jonathan Jones.