Friday, November 2, 2018

TSU Tigers Travel to #24 Southeast Missouri



Game 9: Tennessee State (3-3, 2-2) at #24 Southeast Missouri (6-2, 4-1)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Stadium: Houck Field (10,000)
Time: 1:00 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+
Audio: 102.1 FM
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Series Information: This is the 26th meeting with the Tigers holding a 14-11 advantage. The teams first met in 1991, with SEMO earning a 37-34 win. The Tigers gained their first win in the series a year later (1992), 37-27. The Redhawks recorded the next three wins, before the Tigers went on a five game win streak. SEMO won the meeting in 2014, 28-21, snapping a three game run by the Tigers. TSU bounced back with a 32-31 victory in Cape Girardeau in 2016 and a 23-20 win at Hale Stadium in 2017.

Last Meeting: TSU claimed a 23-20 over southeast Missouri In the final home game of the season. Vincent Sellers blocked a punt with under five minutes to play to set up the game winning scoring drive. Lane Clark connected on his third field goal of the day, a 44 yarder, with just over two minutes on the clock to propel the Tigers to their sixth win of the season. Sellers secured the win as he broke up a pass on a fourth down attempt. Michael Hughes went for 196 passing yards, hitting Steven Newbold for five passes totaling 153 yards on the day. Mahlon Medley caught a 28-yard touchdown pass, while senior fullback Terence Harris had the first touch of his career, resulting in a nine-yard Tiger touchdown. TSU allowed only 83 passing yards from the Redhawks. LaQuarius Cook and Chris Collins tied for a team-high nine tackles.

Head Coach Rod Reed is in his ninth season at the helm of the Tigers and holds a 52-45 record. Coach Reed earned his 50th victory against Bethune-Cookman and became just the third coach in Tiger history to reach the milestone. John Merritt tops the list with 174 victories in his 20 years (1963-83) for a .806 winning percentage (174-35-7), while Harry Kean spent 10 years in charge of TSU from 1944-54 and compiled a 93-15-3 record (.838). The Big Blue is 8-1 in season openers under Reed, including a 17-10 win at FBS opponent Georgia State in 2017. The lone opening day loss came at the hands of Bethune-Cookman, 12-9, at the 2013 John Merritt Classic.

Tennessee State: The Tigers observed a bye week after defeating Tennessee Tech 41-14 during Homecoming. TSU ended a three-game skid as Micheal Hughes completed 22-of-27 for 318 yards and three touchdowns. Hughes was named OVC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts, as he ranks ninth nationally in completion percentage (65.9%). Treon Harris pulled down seven passes, including two for touchdowns. DeVon Johnson found the end zone, while leading all receivers with 138 yards on five receptions. Chris Rowland continues to lead the nation in receptions (9.2/game) and is fifth in all-purpose yards (163.8 yards/game) and receiving yards (123.0/game). Dajour Nesbeth notched his third interception of the season, fifth of his career. Nesbeth ranks seventh nationally in interceptions (0.5/game) and is third in passes defended (1.7/game).

Southeast Missouri: The Redhawks is on a four game winning streak after a 56-33 win at UT Martin. Kristian Wilkerson caught eight passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns; was named OVC Offensive Player of the Week. SEMO forced four turnovers at UTM to increase its season total to 22. Southeast Missouri ranks second nationally in turnovers gained and turnover margin (+1.88/game). Zach Hall was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week after he had 15 tackles, forced a fumble and had an interception. Hall ranks second nationally in tackles (13.4/game). Southeast is now 10th nationally in scoring offense (39.6 points/game) and 21st in total offense (456.8 yards/game). Marquis Terry had 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns and is now 10th nationally in total rushing yards (914) and 11th in rushing touchdowns (10). Daniel Santacaterina threw for 386 passing yards and three touchdowns; he is seventh nationally with 19 passing touchdowns.

Last 10 Results:2017 – Tennessee State 23, Southeast Missouri 20
2016 – Tennessee State 32, Southeast Missouri 31
2014 – Southeast Missouri 28, Tennessee State 21
2013 – Tennessee State 40, Southeast Missouri 16
2012 – Tennessee State 40, Southeast Missouri 28
2011 – Tennessee State 55, Southeast Missouri 3
2010 – Southeast Missouri 19, Tennessee State 17
2009 – Tennessee State 23, Southeast Missouri 17
2008 – Southeast Missouri 27, Tennessee State 20 OT
2006 – Tennessee State 31, Southeast Missouri 0

TV: ESPN+. Erik Sean, Rick Wieser and Rusty Hendricks will provide coverage.

Radio: 102.1 FM will carry the game live with Greg Pogue (play-by-play), Albert Dawson (analyst), Gary Dawson (sideline) and Craig Ladd (Scoreboard). Pregame will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Quotes:
TSU HEAD COACH ROD REED(on his team) 
“We had a much-needed bye week. We were able to get a few more guys back healthy. We’re still not at 100 percent, but I think we have enough bullets in the gun to go to war. Our kids had a great off week. We did a lot of working on ourselves. We got a chance to scrimmage some young guys on Thursday, and we had a good week of practice. We’re going to go play the number 24 team in the country. They’re a big, physical football team. It’s going to be a huge challenge for our defense. Offensively, they pose some problems. They play some man coverage. They get up in there and really beat up receivers. They’ve got a good D-Line – they roll those guys in. I think they’re maybe 12-deep on D-Line it looks like. It’s going to be a huge task for us on the road.”

(on the progression of Terry Straughter)
 “Any time you get a true freshman in there, there’s going to be a maturation process and some growing pains, but I think Coach (Rico) Council and Coach (Garry) Fisher have done a really good job of getting him caught up to speed. The game speed, he’s catching up to that a little bit. Any time you lose a kid like Christion (Abercrombie) that’s kind of one of the leaders out there and controlling the front, it’s going to take a little bit of time. I think Blair Edwards has stepped up. He’s gotten back from injury. Terry Straughter needs to keep maturing and keep playing fast and not think so much.”

(on the production of Chris Rowland and Treon Harris) 
“They’ve produced well. You see the numbers. Both of those guys are catching the ball really well. They do really well with run after the catch. Mike (Hughes) has done a good job of getting them the football the last couple of weeks. We’ve got to continue to try to get those guys open, but we’ve got to get better in the run game. This is a tough team to get better in the run game against.”

(on the run game)
“Mike (Hughes) has passed for over 300 yards in the last couple of games. A lot of teams pile up the box, and you have to take what the defense gives you. I think we are efficient in the run. I think we have had 150-plus rushing yards last week. We’ve got several good running backs that we feel comfortable with, but when they load the box, you’ve got to be able to make some plays on the outside, I think that’s what we’ve done."

SEMO HEAD COACH TOM MATUKEWICZ
(on his team) 
“We feel very blessed to be able to get a road win. We have a lot of respect for UT Martin and Coach Simpson and the job that they’ve done. I loved how we started. We got the lead early, but even late, we had great energy on the sideline. You could tell we were excited to play. We’ve had some pretty emotional games and as a coach, you’re just curious to see if we can get it going every week, and we have."

(on facing TSU)
"Now we’re turning our sights on Tennessee State. It feels like they’re confident and fresh. They had a good game versus Tennessee Tech and then a bye week. On paper, they should be able to play hard and physical because they haven’t played as many games and they’re coming off a bye, but we’ll see. Certainly my focus is to make sure that when you watch the film, we’re the team that plays the hardest.”

(on how the team gets so many takeaways) 
“It’s a program thing. We’ve gotten several takeaways on special teams and things like that. It’s a program thing. Certainly on defense, it starts up front. If they’re able to run the ball, you’re not going to get as many takeaways that’s just bottom line. When they’re in 3rd and long and you can pressure, it all goes back to just trying to build the defense from the D-Line back. They’re doing a good job and they don’t get a lot of credit.”

LINEBACKER MEKHI BROWN
(on the bye week)
“We got some rest. Everybody got to get healed back up and just get ready for this last stretch of the season.”

(on facing SEMO)
“It’s a ranked team. We have to prove ourselves. I feel like we can play with anyone in the country, so I want to see what happens on Saturday.”

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN LACHAVIOUS SIMMONS
(on coming off the bye week)
“During the bye week, we got an extra week to prepare for SEMO and get the knowledge of what they’re doing. They do a different front than what we’re used to facing. It’s a double eagle, so we’ve faced that a couple times, so we have to have the right mindset to pick it up.”

(on being able to rest last week)
“It was a key factor to get some guys back who were hurt. We got (Justin) Brooks back, so it was a good week to get recovered and healthy and get some of our key components back.”

RUNNING BACK TE’KENDRICK ROBERSON
(on the benefits of the bye week)
“With the bye week, we had a lot of injuries, so we were able to get a lot of people recovered. We were able to watch film, because it’s a big week for us to try to get into the playoffs. We’re trying to knock off a ranked team.”

(on the opportunity to face a ranked team)
“It’s a good opportunity. We’re in a predicament that we put ourselves in. We just have to go day-by-day and game-by-game. Right now, we’re all about SEMO.”

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN JEREMIAH CAINE
(on the bye week)
“It gave us a lot of time to prepare for a great team and to get a lot of bodies back from being injured. We got a lot of people back, so we’ve got close to a full team this week. We’ve been having a good time practicing and going through the different types of offensives they run. We’re going to be really prepared.”

(on the challenge and opportunity of facing SEMO) 
“The opportunity to face this team, it’s an honor. When we do actually win, it’s going to show the greatness of this team. We’re going full throttle to get as much done now so we can get this win on Saturday.”
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY TIGERS ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
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