OVC Football: Tennessee State alone at the top of conference

Tennessee State did not play this weekend, but the Tigers moved into sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference by virtue of Jacksonville State’s 38-35 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.

The Tigers (5-1, 2-0 OVC) are now ranked in all four national Football Championship Subdivision polls.

Tennessee State is ranked No. 21 in the FCS Coaches’ poll, No. 22 in The Sports Network poll, No. 23 in SME Network Broadcasters poll and is tied at No. 24 in the Any Given Saturday poll.

“All it does is make our job that much harder,” Tennessee State head coach James Webster said about being first in the OVC and nationally ranked. “Everybody wants to beat the top dog. If we are the top dog in the OVC, that puts a bull’s-eye on us.”

Tennessee State returns to action at 5 p.m. Saturday against Austin Peay, who has yet to win a game this year.

But Webster said his team is not overlooking the Governors.

“You can throw all the records out the window,” Webster said. “I look at how they play. I’ve watched them on tape, and they’re taking teams down to the wire.”

Logjam near top of conference

Tennessee Martin, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Murray State all have one loss in league play this season.

Tennessee Tech, who is 1-2 in the conference, is only one and a half games back of Tennessee State.

The number of teams who are still competing for the OVC title could be contributed to the competitive nature and parity the conference now has.

“This league is getting stronger,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. It’s going to be a tough league for years to come.”

Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe agreed, but said the logjam near the top of the league would not last long.

“All of us in the one-loss category know it won’t be crowded for long with the competition in this league,” Crowe said.”

Crowe said the programs that are struggling this season are doing so because the coach has not been there long enough to establish his system.

Several of the teams, like Tennessee Tech, also have very young rosters.

“I guess me and coach Spoo should be ahead of everyone because we’re old,” Crowe joked. “Sorry about that Bob.”

Crowe said he wasn’t surprised about how well Murray State and Tennessee Martin have played and he saw Tennessee State’s success coming.

OVC now a quarterback’s league

Crowe said the OVC might no longer be a running back dominated conference. He said there are better quarterbacks currently in the league.

Southeast Missouri senior quarterback Houston Lillard and Tennessee State senior quarterback Antonio Heffner are both ranked in the top 20 nationally in passing yards.

Lillard (No. 18) has 1,469 passing yards, and Heffner (No. 20) has 1,454 passing yards.

Heffner, Tennessee Martin junior quarterback Cade Thompson and Murray State sophomore quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt are all ranked in the top 20 in quarterback rating.

“I think you’ve got to have a running game don’t get me wrong,” Crowe said. “(But) when you get into the highest level of the playoffs what you’re seeing is more guys can compete with a quarterback.”

Golden Eagles losing turnover battle

Tennessee Tech head coach Watson Brown said his team could not win OVC games if it continued to turn over the ball.

“We sure understand if you get back into conference play and you turn it over five times Tennessee Tech has no change of winning,” Brown said after the Golden Eagles turnover-filled win against Central Methodist on Sept. 25.

The Golden Eagles continued to throw interceptions in their two OVC losses to Eastern Kentucky (two interceptions) and Murray State (three interceptions).

“The interceptions are just killing us right now,” Brown said. “We’re not good enough to not play well and win. It’s about one out of every 10 or 12 (passes) right now, and it’s just going right to somebody.”

Scott Richey can be reached at 581-7944 or at srrichey@eiu.edu.