Gritty Golden Eagles slip past Murray State, 31-29, in OVC opener
Tennessee Tech opened Ohio Valley Conference play Saturday night with a gritty, gutsy performance to grind out a 31-29 win on the road at Murray State.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 31 |
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7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 29 |
Team Stats
Murray State
| Game Statistics | Tennessee Tech | Murray State |
|---|---|---|
| Passing Yards | 264 | 491 |
| Rushing Yards | 116 | 60 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 4 |
| Time of Poss. | 32:58 | 27:02 |
MURRAY, Ky. – Tennessee Tech senior Tra'Darius Goff made 14 tackles in the game Saturday night at Murray State, but his biggest stop isn't included in that number.
The linebacker chased down Murray State's Jeremy Harness on a reverse as the Racers attempted to tie the game with a two-point PAT with 1:51 remaining, knocking him out of bounds at the two-yard line and denying the home team the tying points.
It was one of many plays that made the difference as the Golden Eagles (2-2/1-0 OVC) held on to claim a 31-29 victory over the Racers (1-3/0-1 OVC) in Roy Stewart Stadium in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.
"We made one more play than they did, we made one less mistake than they did," said Golden Eagle head coach Watson Brown. "We do some crazy things, but we grind it out and we grit it out."
Tied at 7-7 after the first quarter and 14-all at halftime, the Golden Eagles moved ahead with two touchdowns in the third quarter to grab a 28-14 lead. The Racers answered with a quick touchdown, but junior Maleek Hall blocked the PAT kick attempt, his second blocked kick of the night after snuffing a field goal in the second quarter. That left Tech ahead, 28-20.
Murray added a field goal to pull within 28-23 late in the third quarter, setting the stage for the fourth quarter dramatics.
The Golden Eagle defense came up with a stop and forced a short Racer punt that was downed inside the TTU one-yard line with 8:07 remaining.
Junior quarterback Jared Davis engineered a drive that ate up six minutes and moved the ball 98 yards, to a third-and-inches at the MSU one.
But the snap was high and he almost lost the handle, pulling it down as he was hauled down at the Racer 14. Tech settled for a high-pressure, 31-yard field goal by John Arnold that made it 31-23 with 4:50 to play.
Murray rode the arm of K.D. Humphries, who passed for 391 yards and three touchdowns, the length of the field. The junior quarterback carried it the final two yards for a touchdown, capping a 68-yard, nine play drive that left the score at 31-29.
From the three, Murray State went for two to tie the game, and Harness took a pitch racing from right to left with an eye toward the corner of the end zone. He broke one tackle and turned up field where Goff made the game-saving tackle, knocking Harness out of bounds short of the goal line.
It wasn't over, however, as the Racer defense stopped Tech near midfield and forced a punt after Davis' long pass downfield toward Brock McCoin was just off his fingertips.
But the Racers were called for a personal foul for roughing the kicker after running into Jonathan King, and Tech was able to kneel down three times and let the clock run down to zero.
"We won this one with pure old grit," Brown said. "Two things won this game. Going from our one-foot line to their one and getting points out of it, and the effort we made to keep their kid out of the end zone."
Davis finished the night as Tech's leading rusher with 63 yards on 15 carries, including his fourth TD of the season with an eight-yard, first-quarter score. His 41-yard keeper down the left sideline was one of the biggest plays in Tech's field goal drive in the fourth quarter.
He was 26-for-40 for 264 yards through the air with two touchdowns and one interception, and was sacked three times.
McCoin was Tech's top target, grabbing a career-best 14 passes for 108 yards, but junior Jordan Smith had the biggest catches of the evening. He caught five passes for 78 yards, including two touchdowns and another that took the ball to the one-yard line.
"It's somebody different every week," Brown said. "This week it was Jordan Smith. Last week it was Krys (Cates). The first game it was Brock (McCoin)," Brown said.
Goff led the Tech defense with 14 tackles, including one tackle-for-loss and a quarterback sack, and also forced a fumble. In addition to blocking two kicks, Hall made a career-best 10 tackles and broke up three passes.
"That blocked PAT was huge," Brown said. "It would have been a one-point game and they would have been kicking to tie it at the end, instead of trying for two."
Daniel Pierce, making his first career start, added a career-best 10 tackles.
The MSU offense was directed by Humphries, who finished 43-for-57 passing for 491 yards with three touchdowns. He was not intercepted and was sacked twice. Harness was the top Racer receiver with 11 catches for 115 yards, while Janawski Davis added seven catches for 140 yards with three touchdowns. Paul Rice had eight catches for 86 yards.
The Murray State defense was topped by Elijah Daniel's nine tackles, including a school-record six tackles-for-loss.
The Golden Eagles come home for their next contest, hosting UT Martin in an OVC contest on Saturday, Oct. 3, with a 6 p.m. kickoff in Tucker Stadium.
"This league is really good, and the thing I'm excited about is that our team has not played very well yet," Brown said. "We have not played a good game, yet."
PREGAME NOTES
* Tech game captains are Stephen Bush, Jordan Patrick, Josh Smith and Radir Annoor.
* Murray State won the coin toss and defers to second half. Tech will receive to open the game.
* True freshman Anthony Flemister is expected to make his first career start, moving up to the top role at field cornerback while Maleek Hall moves to the starter at boundary from field.
* Daniel Pierce is making his first career start, stepping in at rover when Bill Dillard moves to the starting role at free safety. That move came about when Jimmy Laughlin moved to the starter at outside linebacker. And that move was brought about when Jordan Patrick moved to the starting spot at end.
* Brock McCoin is expected to be back on the field after leaving the game last week early with a concussion.
* Tech is opening OVC play on the road for the eighth time in Watson Brown's nine seasons at the Golden Eagle helm.
* Today's game features the two top quarterbacks in the OVC, as well as the two top passing offenses in the league.
* Jared Davis needs one yard to hit 2,500 in career total offense. He needs 273 passing yards to move ahead of Darian Stone and into 10th in career passing yards.
* Both of Ladarius Vanlier's kick returns for touchdowns have come against Murray State, one in 2012 and the second in 2014.
* Tennessee Tech has gone to overtime more times against Murray State (4) than any other team since overtime was adopted in 1988. Tech has played 16 OT games.
