TSU Tigers to Celebrate Seniors on Saturday, Host Murray State

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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Tennessee State football will play host to Murray State in Hale Stadium for Senior Day with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m (CT) on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Tiger 16 seniors will be honored before the game in which both teams enter with a 1-4 record in Ohio Valley Conference play. TSU is 4-4 overall, while the Racers are 2-6 on the season.

The game can be seen on the American Sports Network with Jeff McCarragher and Nate Ross. An audio broadcast can be heard on 102.1 - The Light featuring Greg Pogue (play-by-play), Albert Dawson (analyst) and Gary Dawson (sideline) providing coverage beginning with the pregame show at 2:00 p.m. CT.

This marks the 27th meeting between the two teams with the series tied at 13 wins apiece. The series began in 1988 with Murray State claiming a 22-7 victory. The Racers grabbed the 1989 meeting held in Memphis, 27-24, only to see the Tigers earned their first win a year later, 23-17, in Murray.



Each team has won two games at Hale Stadium, with this being the first meeting since 1997. The Racers are on a two game win streak in ‘The Hole’.

MSU had won five consecutive games, before the Tigers won games over the last two seasons, including a 48-33 victory in Murray last year.

Mike German broke the school record for ca­reer passing yards as TSU won for the first time in Murray, Ky. since 2003. Playing in his final collegiate game, German finished the day 28-of-48 for a personal-best 463 yards and six scores including one on the ground. Ryan Mitchell was German’s main beneficiary, catching 10 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.

German’s counterpart, KD Humphries had a fine day, too, to­taling 467 yards. However, the TSU defense sacked the Racer quarterback eight times and forced four turnovers.

For the first time all year, TSU scored a touchdown on its opening possession. German was 5-of-7 for 72 yards on the drive, including a 14-yard score to Isaiah Freeman.



The Tigers come into the game fresh off a 20-6 win over Austin Peay, snapping a three game losing streak. O’Shay Ackerman-Carter played for the first time since getting injured on Oct. 10 and connected with Joshawn Bowens for a three-yard second quarter touchdown. It was the sixth touchdown for the redshirt-freshman quarterback and the third for the senior tight end.

Telvin Hooks continued his climb up the TSU career rushing list finishing the day with 76 yards on 18 carries. The senior surpassed Lee Derricks (1953-55), Nathaniel Simpson (1973-76) and Larry Kinnebrew (1978-82) to become the seventh all-time leading rusher at TSU. Hooks is 96 yards behind Eugene Bowen (1963-66) who totaled 1,793 yards in his career.

Red-shirt sophomore Patrick Smith continues to lead the Tiger receiving corps with 38 catches for 685 yards, averaging 18.0 yards per catch and 85.6 yards per game. Smith has seven touchdown receptions on the year, ranking second in the OVC and 12th in the country.

Defensively, Chris Collins leads with 63 tackles, 29 solo, while Rodney Edwards tops the Tigers with 8.0 tackles for loss and has totaled 33 tackles, a sack, a pass break-up and a quarterback-hurry. Edwards leads the OVC, and is ranked seventh in the country, with two fumble recoveries. True freshman Blair Edwards, and younger brother of Rodney, led the Big Blue with 13 tackles against Austin Peay in his first full action at linebacker.



Murray State enters averaging 475.8 yards per game, second only to Jacksonville State in the OVC, and boast the top passing offense in the conference with 351.1 yards per game through the air. KD Humphries has completed 244 passes in 385 attempts for 2,812 yards and 16 touchdowns opposed to five interceptions. Humphries has also rushed for 103 yards and has entered the end zone on four occasions.

Humphries has teamed up with 14 different players and has found seven of those receivers at least 10 times. Paul Rice has amassed 653 yards on a team high, 61 catches, while Jeremy Harness leads in yardage with 759 on 55 receptions. Janawski Davis tops the Racers with eight touchdowns, seven through the air and one on an 85-yard kick-off return. Davis has caught 34 passes for 498 yards.

Roman Clay has provided MSU with a solid ground attack. Clay is averaging 76.1 yards per game on 116 carries for 609 yards. The running back is just behind Davis with seven touchdowns.

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