TSU Dominant in 41-14 Win over Tennessee Tech

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Game 6: Tennessee State 41, Tennessee Tech 14
Records: TSU (3-3, 2-2 OVC), Tennessee Tech (0-7, 0-4 OVC)
Venue: Nissan Stadium
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Weather: Cloudy, 63
Kickoff Time: 4:30 p.m.
Attendance: 17,283


NASHVILLE --- Playing at Nissan Stadium for the first time since the season opener on Sept. 1, the Tennessee State football team put on a show for the home crowd in a 41-14 win over Tennessee Tech in Ohio Valley Conference action on Saturday.

TSU (3-3, 2-2 OVC) dominated the Golden Eagles (0-7, 0-4 OVC) on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback Micheal Hughes was 22-of-27 for 318 yards and three touchdown passes, two of which were caught by Treon Harris. The offense finished with 472 yards.

Defensively, TSU held Tennessee Tech off the scoreboard until six minutes into the fourth quarter. Dajour Nesbeth recorded his fifth career interception – third on the season. Dell Porter also recovered a fumble for the Tigers.

The win snaps Tennessee Tech’s three-game winning streak in the series.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Tennessee State defense set the tone on the first drive as they pushed the Tennessee Tech offense back 17 yards.
• After a fumble, which lost seven yards, and a rush for no gain, Mekhi Brown recorded his third sack of the season to force a three-and-out.
• The offense rewarded the Tigers on the first play from scrimmage with a 33 yard touchdown pass from Micheal Hughes to DeVon Johnson.
• On the Golden Eagles next possession, Dajour Nesbeth out jumped a receiver to pull down his third interception of the year.
• Nesbeth returned the pick 21 yards to the Tech 33.
• TSU needed five plays to find the end zone, as DeMarco Corbin scampered 11 yards to increase the lead to 14-0.
• After another three-and-out, the offense went back to work behind the legs of Earl Harrison.
• Harrison rushed for 21 yards on the drive, setting up a 37 yard field goal by Antonio Zita, making the score 17-0.
• Tech put together their best drive of the quarter, moving 55 yards to the TSU 19.
• The drive ended on a fumble, recovered by Dell Porter.
• The Tigers outgained the Golden Eagles, 118-42.

SECOND QUARTER

• The Tigers continued the drive started by the Porter fumble recovery and put together the longest scoring drive of the season, traveling 80 yards on nine plays.
• Hughes capped off the series with a seven yard strike to Treon Harris.
• TSU continued to keep TTU off the score board and answered with a 38 yard field goal by Zita to make the score 27-0.
• On the drive, the Tigers started first and 20, but picked it up on one play as Hughes found Chris Rowland who out ran the defenders for 24 yards.
• Later in the drive, Hughes teamed with Johnson on passes of 22 and 19 yards, respectively.
• Tech tried to put points on the board just before halftime, but the Nick Madonia 58 yard field goal attempt came up short.
• TSU outgained Tech 121-56 in the second quarter and held a 239-98 yard advantage at the break. 

THIRD QUARTER

• Tennessee State opened the second half by scoring in five plays.
• Te’kendrick Roberson carried the ball three out of the first four plays, rushing for 46 yards.
• The final blow came on a 20 yard hookup from Hughes to Harris.
• The defense forced its third three-and-out of the game, before improving on their longest scoring drive of the year.
• Harrison opened the drive with a 19 yard run to the TSU 38.
• Hughes then completed three consecutive passes to Chris Rowland totaling 25 yards.
• The big play came on a 57 yard pass from Hughes to Johnson to the Tech 29.
• Three plays later, Earl Harrison crossed the goal line on a three yard plunge, increasing the lead to 41-0.
• The Tigers held Tech to 24 yards in the third quarter, while gaining 210 yards. 

FOURTH QUARTER

• The Golden Eagles broke up the bid for a Tiger shutout scoring a touchdown on their second possession of the final stanza.
• The score cut the TSU lead to 34 at 41-7.
• Tech added another touchdown on the following drive to provide the final score of 41-14.
• TTU outgained the Big Blue 157-23 in the fourth quarter.

NOTES

• Captains for TSU were Micheal Hughes and LaQuarius Cook.
• Tennessee Tech won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff.
• Ray Coggins made his first career start for TSU at safety.
• Dajour Nesbeth moved into fourth on TSU’s career interception return yards.
• The 17 points TSU scored in the first quarter are the most for the Tigers in a quarter this season.
• The 27 points TSU scored in the first half were the second-most for the Tigers in a half this season.
• TSU was playing its first home game at Nissan Stadium since the season opener on Sept. 1 versus Bethune-Cookman.
• TSU improves to 19-13 in the all-time series versus Tennessee Tech.
• TSU is 5-4 versus the Golden Eagles under Head Coach Rod Reed.
• The Tigers are now 25-14 at home under Reed.

WHAT’S NEXT 
TSU will observe an off week before continuing Ohio Valley Conference play at Southeast Missouri on Nov. 3.

QUOTES

WIDE RECEIVER DEVON JOHNSON 
(on getting multiple receivers involved) 
“To be honest, I feel like the more we space the ball around, the harder it is for teams to try to figure us out. I think that’s what we did today and it helped us out.”

(on getting the receivers to full strength)
“I feel like when Steve (Newbold) comes back and all of us get our injuries and everything figured out, I think we can literally set records to be honest.”

LINEBACKER RONNIE KILLINGS
(on the defense)
“It felt good. Everyone on the defense knows how well we can play, and we expect to have shutouts every week. We haven’t really been living up to our potential, so for this game to pitch a zero on the scoreboard for most of the game, it felt good. We needed that. We’ve got our swagger back to where we should be.”

(on playing linebacker)
“I like it. I’ve always felt like I’m pretty athletic and I can play different positions. I feel like Coach (Garry Fisher) sees that, so he kind of transitioned me for DB to linebacker. It just shows that I can move around. I just want to be out there and help the defense any way I can.”

RUNNING BACK EARL HARRISON
(on bouncing back with a win)
“We came back in Sunday after the loss (to Murray State) and said, ‘we need to get back on track and we need to win out so we can try to get into the playoffs.’ We’re just taking it day-by-day – studying film hard, practicing hard, and things just came together today.”

(on facing a winless Tennessee Tech team)
“You can never underestimate any opponent. We came on the wrong end of it other times, but today we started strong and finished strong.”



TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY TIGERS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS