Nashville, TN - All those offensive woes that plagued Tennessee State last year were a faint memory for the Tigers, who punished Southern in the John Merritt Classic on Saturday night at LP Field. The running game helped TSU coast to a 33-7 victory before a crowd of 25,209.
It was the most decisive win of second-year Coach Rod Reed’s career. After starting 3-2 last year, TSU (1-0) lost its last six games. Southern (0-1) also lost its last six games in 2010. Once TSU’s rushing attack got in gear early in the first quarter it was unstoppable.
TSU had 223 yards rushing at halftime and finished with 324. The Tigers had 512 yards of total offense.
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Tenn. St. revives ground game
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Southern’s defense was the elixir for many of the problems that plagued Tennessee State’s offense during the second half of last season. TSU struggled after losing starting running back Preston Brown (torn ACL) at midseason last year and lost its last six games.
The ground game got back into gear Saturday night on the way to a 33-7 victory over the Jaguars.
TSU rushed for a whopping 342 yards and scored two of its first three TDs rushing.
“We just really stuck with our game plan,” said TSU running back Trabis Ward. “That was to come off the ball fast, show some toughness and finish. Everybody on this team knew we had to have toughness and everybody made a promise early in the week to do their job and that’s what it took for the running game to have the kind of success we had.”
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