Ranking gives Tigers' opponents some motivation
TSU (6-1, 3-0 OVC ) at SE Missouri (2-5, 0-3)
Where: Houck Stadium, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Time: 1 p.m. today
TV/Radio: None locally/1470-AM
Last meeting: TSU 31, SEMO 0 (2006)
Key matchup: TSU QB Antonio Heffner vs. SEMO LB Nick Stauffer and DB Eddie Calvin. The coaching staff revealed last week that Heffner has been hampered by a sore shoulder all season, yet he leads the OVC in passing yards per game (223.1) and total offensive yards (271.0). Stauffer has 76 tackles, including two sacks, and Calvin has four interceptions.
There's not enough room on Tennessee State's uniforms for a number and a bull's-eye, but that hasn't kept the Tigers from feeling like they're the target of every team they play. Since moving into first place in the Ohio Valley Conference and climbing into the Football Championship Series rankings, Coach James Webster said the No. 19 Tigers have gotten their opponents' best shots. He expects nothing less from Southeast Missouri (2-5, 0-3 OVC) when the Tigers (6-1, 3-0) visit Cape Girardeau, Mo., today for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
TSU only loss has come at the hands of the hot Florida A&M Rattlers in the Atlanta Football Classic.
"This football team has earned the right to be where they are because we work them so hard and they have really had to battle to be where they are,'' Webster said. "(We) now have to work even harder to stay there because we have a bull's-eye on our chest and people are going to come at us a little harder." Webster is confident his team's past two opponents played their best games motivated by the opportunity to knock the Tigers out of the conference's catbird seat.
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