Nashville, Tennessee -- After winning four of its previous five games, Tennessee State was on a roll, but the Tigers’ season ended with a thud Saturday in a 38-16 loss to Jacksonville State at LP Field. TSU (5-6, 4-4 OVC) posted its third consecutive losing record. Jacksonville State (7-4, 6-2) finished in a thee-way tie for first with Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky.
Tech won the tiebreaker, giving the Golden Eagles the automatic berth in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. TSU tied for fifth in the OVC with UT Martin. Tigers Coach Rod Reed, who was 3-8 in his first season, said the loss would not take away the momentum the Tigers had picked up.
“Come on now, Jacksonville State was a top-10 football team at the beginning of the season and we went blow-for-blow with them today,” Reed said. “We just happened to have some turnovers. You cannot turn the football over and expect to beat good football teams.
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Photo Gallery: TSU vs. Jacksonville State
TSU Tigers' pressure comes too late
Tennessee State’s inability to apply pressure on Coty Blanchard led to Jacksonville State claiming a 38-16 victory Saturday, Tigers defensive end Lawrence Peterson said.
The Tigers sacked Blanchard twice, but he completed 15 of 19 passes for 213 yards and two TDs. He also carried the ball 11 times for 38 yards and gave Jacksonville State a 14-10 lead on a 27-yard run in the second quarter.
“If we had gotten a better pass rush on some of their play-action passes, we could have had a better chance to win,” said Peterson, who sacked Blanchard once and recorded another tackle for a loss. “Me and Antonio Harper tried to get the pass rush going at the end of the game, but it was just too late.”
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