Eagles, Skyhawks to open OVC play

Tennessee State and Tennessee-Martin get the Ohio Valley Conference schedule off to an early start this week.

While the rest of the OVC's nine teams don't play their first conference games until Sept. 25, the Tigers and Skyhawks square off Thursday night in Martin, Tenn.

"It's unusual to be in conference play so early, but I think it's a good thing, and we're excited about it," Tennessee-Martin coach Matt Griffin said. "Tennessee State is a very good football team, and we've got a great challenge ahead of us."

The Tigers and Skyhawks both experienced lopsided season openers last week, but only Tennessee State enjoyed its contest, a 42-7 home pasting of Alabama A&M behind All-American tailback Charles Anthony's career-high 202 yards on 26 carries. He scored two touchdowns.

Anthony, who ran for 1,708 yards last season, has started his assault on the league's top 10 list for career rushers. The senior is No. 10 all-time with 3,520 yards, just 40 yards short of the No. 9 spot held by former Western Kentucky star Dickie Moore.

Tennessee-Martin traveled to Division I-A Western Michigan and was hammered 42-0. The Skyhawks started five freshmen and 11 sophomores in the contest.

"It's been a short week, but we're definitely ready to play," said Tennessee State coach James Reese, whose squad opened its season on Saturday while Tennessee-Martin played a Thursday contest.

The Skyhawks weren't the only OVC team to suffer a road loss against a Division I-A opponent last week.

Murray State hung tough with Connecticut for a half -- the squads were tied 14-14 - before the Huskies pulled away for a 52-14 victory. Samford fell behind 21-0 in the first half at Georgia Tech but hung tough in the second half during a 28-7 defeat. The Racers and Bulldogs had both opened their seasons the previous week with wins over Division II foes.

Southeast Missouri State University suffered the league's second-most lopsided loss last week as Southern Illinois -- the nation's top-ranked Division I-AA squad -- romped 42-3.

Defending OVC champion Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech joined Tennessee State in nabbing season-opening home triumphs.

Jacksonville State had a tough time with Division II Emporia State before pulling away late 25-16. Tennessee Tech rallied to knock off fellow Division I-AA foe Gardner-Webb 32-26.

This week's schedule

The Tennessee State vs. Tennessee-Martin matchup is the only Thursday matchup on this week's schedule.

Saturday games have Southeast visiting I-A Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech traveling to I-A South Florida, No. 20 Eastern Kentucky visiting No. 24 Appalachian State, Eastern Illinois hosting Indiana State and Samford entertaining fifth-ranked Furman.

Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois are the lone OVC teams to have not yet played a game. Jacksonville and Murray State both have open dates this week.

OVC-Gateway Challenge

Last year, the Gateway Conference dominated the OVC in the challenge series between the I-AA leagues. Gateway teams won all eight meetings against the OVC, many of them lopsided. And that doesn't even take into account Western Kentucky's 45-7 rout of Jacksonville State in the playoffs.

The OVC's hopes to turn things around against the Gateway this season got off to a rough start with SIU's blowout of Southeast, but the OVC has five chances left, including Saturday's Eastern Illinois-Indiana State matchup.

Three more challenge games will be played on Sept. 18, followed by one contest on Sept. 25.