OVC favorites coming off excruciating losses

It's hard to imagine the Ohio Valley Conference's anticipated top two contenders being hit with more excruciating defeats than they were on Saturday.

Preseason favorite Jacksonville State, the two-time defending OVC champion, saw Chattanooga score a touchdown with 10 seconds left to post a 21-18 victory.

Eastern Kentucky, picked to finish second in the league race, saw bitter rival Western Kentucky kick a 27-yard field goal as time expired to pull out a 23-21 triumph.

For Jacksonville State's Gamecocks, it was their second consecutive last-second home loss to begin the year, after national power Furman scored on the game's final play the previous week.

"I dare say you can look and see it's probably not been done many times ever," Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe said during Tuesday's OVC coaches teleconference. "I know I've never experienced it. I'm sure there's a lot of coaches that have never had two back-to-back last-second losses."

Chattanooga, which last year went 2-9 and lost to Jacksonville State 65-20, is improved this season, thanks in large part to a host of Division I-A transfers.

Crowe complimented the Mocs and said the result was certainly no fluke, but he added, "The outcome of the game could have gone either way. We had a chance to be 2-0 as easy as 0-2."

Also at 0-2 is Eastern Kentucky, which has been competitive against two of the nation's top Division I-AA teams.

The Colonels, who fell at home to Appalachian State in their opener despite having a big edge in total yardage, this time experienced what Jacksonville State has gone through the past two weeks.

"It was a difficult loss, but it was a heck of a ballgame," Eastern Kentucky coach Danny Hope said. "A great crowd [at Western Kentucky], the atmosphere was fantastic."

Hope believes the Colonels can actually draw some positives from a narrow defeat against a squad that has moved up to No. 2 in the national rankings.

"I think in some ways we gained some confidence even though we were disappointed with the loss," Hope said. "It shows we can play with the best teams in the country."

TSU, Tech post only wins

With four of the OVC's teams playing Division I-A opponents on the road, it was an expected tough week around the conference with only Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State victorious.

Tennessee Tech, which lost in overtime at Chattanooga in its opener, crushed an NAIA team, Lambuth, 52-10.

Tennessee State handed first-year coach James Webster his initial victory with a 20-14 overtime victory over Jackson State.

"It was a big win for the program," Webster said. "I'm just happy for the players"

Most of the games against Division I-A opponents were extremely lopsided, the closest being Southeast Missouri State's 33-12 loss to Kent State. Tennessee-Martin lost to Arkansas State 56-7; Eastern Illinois fell to BYU 45-10; and Samford lost 48-14 to Baylor.

OVC teams face three more Division I-A foes this week, including Eastern Kentucky visiting North Carolina State. Also, Tennessee Tech goes to Northern Illinois and Jacksonville State visits Alabama-Birmingham.

Fans in the stands

OVC teams accounted for four of the top 12 attendance figures in Division I-AA football during the opening week of action.

Tennessee State turned in the top numbers, as 25,342 fans showed up at The Coliseum in Nashville for the John Merritt Classic meeting with Alabama A&M. Jacksonville State ranked seventh, as 13,982 turned up at Paul Snow Stadium for the Furman contest.

Eastern Kentucky brought in 10,300 fans to watch the Colonels take on Appalachian State at Roy Kidd Stadium, and Southeast Missouri State's rivalry game with Southern Illinois attracted 10,100 spectators to Houck Stadium.

Unfortunately for the OVC, the league lost all four of those games.

Players of the week

Eastern Kentucky quarterback Josh Greco is the OVC's offensive player of the week after completing 24 of 34 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns -- without an interception -- against Western Kentucky. The sophomore posted career highs for yardage, completions and TDs.

Tennessee State senior linebacker Jamar Landrom earned defensive honors. He had six solo tackles, three tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks and a forced fumble in the win over Jackson State.

Also gaining weekly league honors were Tennessee Tech senior kicker Josh Foster (special teams) and Tennessee State freshman running back K.J. Austin-Bruce (newcomer).

Foster had a career-long 51-yard field goal and booted seven PATs against Lambuth, while Austin-Bruce gained 67 yards on 11 carries against Jackson State in his first collegiate action.

Extra point

• Two teams get an early start on the conference schedule this week as Tennessee State visits Tennessee-Martin. The league schedule begins in earnest the following week.