Murray State's football team fell to 12th ranked Tennessee-Martin, 42-14, today in Murray, Ky., in the Racers final game of the 2006 season. With the win, the Skyhawks (9-2, 6-1 OVC) will share the 2006 Ohio Valley Conference Championship with Eastern Illinois University. UTM will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I playoffs as a result of its 15-9 win over EIU earlier in the season.
The Racers conclude the first season of the Matt Griffin era with a 1-10 record and an 0-8 OVC mark. Murray State utilized 19 true freshmen and an additional four more redshirt freshmen throughout the season. Of the 19 true freshmen 13 have started at least one game during the 2006 campaign. MSU has 37 true freshmen on its roster.
“I sure am happy for (UT Martin),” said Griffin, who served as the Skyhawks' head coach for three seasons before taking over the program at Murray State. “They worked hard and they deserved to win the championship. Their senior class is the hardest working bunch of guys I have ever coached.”
Tennessee-Martin will find out what its playoff future holds on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
“I'm just so happy for the community of Martin and West Tennessee. They have a champion.” said UTM Head Coach Jason Simpson. “This is a great group of seniors. We have 18 guys that are good quality people and good quality players. I'm thankful to help them get here (winning an OVC Championship).”
The Skyhawks marched 47 yards on three plays on their first possession of the game. Don Chapman picked up 12 yards on the ground on two carries before quarterback Greg Preston found Jesse Burton for 35 yards and a 7-0 lead.
The Racer offense went three and out on their first three possessions.
With 5:48 to play in the first quarter, Chapman capped a four-play scoring drive with a 30-yard run to put the visitors in front 14-0. Chapman picked up all 39 yards that the drive covered on the ground.
On its fourth possession the Murray State offense put together a scoring drive to cut the deficit in half. A 59 yard return on the kickoff by Lee McGinnis set the Racers up at the UTM 41 yard line. On first down and 15, following an offside penalty, senior Dante Woods broke loose for a 24 yard gain down to the 17 yard line.
MSU picked up seven more yards on the ground before Zach Barnard found Zach Knight on the right side for seven yards to the two yard line. Freshman Josh Jones capped off the drive with back-to-back carries for his second touchdown of the season.
Tennessee-Martin came right back and scored on its ensuing possession. After a quarterback run for 12 yards, Chapman carried for 14 yards. The Skyhawks kept the ball in Chapman's hands and the junior ran five more times to finish off an eight play 43-yard drive. Chapman's run from 1-yard out gave UTM a 21-7 lead with 14:15 left in the first half.
Murray State kept the Skyhawks out of the end zone the rest of the quarter, but could only muster one first down before halftime. UT Martin held a 195-59 advantage in total offense in the first half of play. The Racers had just 16 passing yards at the break.
Chapman totaled 116 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries in the first half.
Murray State pushed across a touchdown in the third quarter, but before it did the Skyhawks scored 21 straight points to build a 42-7 lead.
Sophomore Josh Chapman opened the second half for UTM with an 83-yard touchdown run on the Skyhawks' third play of their first drive and the visitors led 28-7 with 13:13 remaining in the third quarter.
On Murray State's next possession, UTM's Jack Greenwood picked up a fumble and returned it 47 yards for another touchdown and a 35-7 lead.
Tennessee-Martin capped its scoring on their next offensive possession. Don Chapman began the drive with a 35-yard run and then picked up 16 more two plays later. After Preston picked up five yards on the ground, Chapman finished it off with back-to-back carries. The first went for 18 yards down to the 12 yard line and the second put the Skyhawks in front 42-7.
The Racers put together their only long drive of the game with 7:37 left in the third quarter. Ryne Salyer completed three straight passes to move Murray State into UTM territory. His first found Knight for 18 yards. Slayer then hooked up with Rod Harper on back-to-back passes. Harper gained 12 yards on the first and then 21 yards to move down to the UTM 17 yard line. Woods picked up four yards on the ground and then Salyer found Harper for a 13-yard scoring pass.
UT Martin out-gained the Racers 432-217. The Skyhawks racked up 371 yards on the ground. Don Chapman finished with 206 yards on 30 carries to go along with three touchdown runs. Josh Chapman ran for 131 yards on five carries and scored once.
Salyer finished 12-of-20 for 118 yards after coming on in the third quarter. Woods had 55 yards on eight carries. Harper caught eight passes for 80 yards.
Freshman Tamar Butler recorded a game-high 12 tackles for Murray State. Markeseo Jackson finished with eight tackles and three pass break-ups for the Skyhawks.
“The last four weeks were tough on us,” Griffin said. “We redshirted 15 kids and started 13 true freshmen. We're not far off. We have tremendous support from our administration and Mr. (Allen) Ward, and our facilities are excellent. I can't wait for next year. The young kids, one year ago they were just finishing high school football and moving on to high school basketball, or track. Now, they will watch film and lift weights. That's exciting for us as a staff."
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