Football Travels To TSU For Music City Showdown

Date (Time): Nov. 7 (2:30 p.m.)
Opponent: Tennessee State
Site (Venue): Nashville, Tenn. (Hale Stadium)
Audio: Froggy 103.7 FM (PxP: Neal Bradley; Color: Logan Stout)
TV: American Sports Network (PxP: Jeff McCarragher; Color: Nate Ross)
Web Stream: OVCDigitalNetwork.com
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersFootball, @PGriffithMSU
MSU Record (Streak): 2-6, 1-4 OVC (L1)
TSU Record (Streak): 4-4, 1-4 OVC (W4)
All-Time Series vs. TSU (Streak): Tied 13-13; TSU leads 7-4 in Nashville (L3)
Last Meeting: L 14-45 (Nov. 22, 2014 – Murray, Ky.)
MSU Last Game: vs. Eastern Illinois, L 20-34
TSU Last Game: vs. Austin Peay, W 20-6
MSU Next Game: Nov. 14 vs. Eastern Kentucky
MSU Next Home: Nov. 14 vs. Eastern Kentucky

The Game
The Racers makes the short drive to Nashville Saturday to take on Tennessee State at Hale Stadium. The game will be broadcast national on the American Sports Network, but can also be streamed on the OVC Digital Network.

Saturday's Weather
A high of 62°F is expected for Saturday with an 18% chance of precipitation in the greater Nashville metropolitan area. Wind is expected at eight mph out of the north with gusts up to 12 mph.

Last Time Out
The Murray State football team came up short Saturday, dropping a 34-20 decision to Eastern Illinois at Stewart Stadium in Murray. The first quarter of Saturday's game contained an unusual sequence of events that began with Sanford intercepting EIU's first play from scrimmage and returning it for a touchdown. Following a missed PAT by Murray State, the Panther's Tray Mitchell returned the ensuing kick-off 94 yards to give his team a 7-6 lead.

Murray State would fumble the ball in Panther territory on the next drive, which led to EIU extending its lead to 10-6 with a field goal. Finally, in the waning minutes of the opening stanza, KD Humphries found Jesse Blackburn in the end zone on fourth-and-nine from 27 yards out to give MSU a 13-10 lead.

Despite leading 13-10 after the first quarter, the Racers allowed the Panthers to drive 76 yards for a touchdown in the second to push the lead to 17-13. After the break, the Racers came up with three straight stops from their defense, but were unable to capitalize offensively. On EIU's fourth drive of the third quarter, Jalen Whitlow connected with Ben Odugbesan for an 80-yard score, extending the lead to 27-13 and virtually putting the game out of reach for MSU.

The TSU Series
In 26 previous meetings, Murray State and Tennessee State have won exactly half at 13 victories each. TSU has won each of the last two games in the series, putting an end to MSU's five-game win streak previous to that.

Saturday will mark the first time in 20 years that the Racers have travelled to Hale Stadium, playing each of the last eight Nashville meetings at what is now known as Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans. The last time the two teams met at Hale Stadium, Murray State escaped with a 24-19 victory.

Scouting The Tigers
Tennessee State moved to 4-4 on the year and 1-4 in the OVC Saturday with a 20-6 win over Austin Peay at Hale Stadium in Nashville. O'Shay Ackerman-Carter was 13-for-26 for 76 7ards in the game with one touchdown and one interception. Erick Evans led the TSU rushing attack with 83 yards and a score, while Telvin Hooks added 77.

The pass-leaning TSU offense currently averages 192.8 yards in the air and 123.2 on the ground for a total of 316.0 yards per game. Ackerman-Carter and Ronald Butler have split the QB duties for TSU this season with 729 yards and six scores and 813 yards and eight touchdowns, respectively.
The leading receiver for the Tigers has been Patrick Smith who has 685 yards and seven touchdowns for an average of 85.6 yards per game. On the ground, Hooks and Evans have racked up 385 and 206 yards, respectively, with three touchdowns each, while Butler has added 199 yards and a touchdown.

Chris Collins has paced the Tennessee State defense with 63 tackles, while Rodney Edwards has made eight tackles for loss for a total of 24 yards. Ezra Robinson has made two picks this season, while Terrell Bonds has one with each also coming up with a team-high seven breakups.

Lando Punt-Rissian
Punter Landon Stratton had one of the best games of his young career against EIU, punting eight times for a total of 364 yards and an average of 45.5 yards per punt. The redshirt freshman set a new career-long of 74 yards to finish the day with two punts of 50-yards plus, three touchbacks and one punt that pinned the Panthers inside the 20. On the day Stratton had punts of 35, 58, 44, 74, 48, 47, 24 and 34 yards.

Welcome To The Hole
After over a decade of playing all home games at what is now known as Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, TSU began playing a portion of its home games at its on-campus stadium, Hale Stadium, in 2012. Since returning to "The Hole," the Tigers have won six games and lost just twice, with both losses coming last season to JSU and EKU.

Look Out, Coach
With an average of 351.5 yards per game and three games remaining, KD Humphries is currently on pace to break MSU's single-season passing yardage record, held by current quarterbacks coach Casey Brockman. Humphries currently leads the FCS with 2,812 yards and needs to surpass the 3,729 throw by Brockman in 2012 to take over the record.

All-Natural
Saturday will mark the first time since 2013 that the Racers have played on a natural grass surface. The last time the Racers played on grass was also against TSU, although it was at then LP Field, dropping a 17-10 decision to the Tigers.

The St. Louis Treat
Senior Paul Rice hauled in a career-high 136 yards on against EIU, including a long of 61. He finished the day with seven catches for an average of 19.4 yards per reception.

Black-Burned
Junior Jesse Blackburn scored two touchdowns versus EIU , both on fourth down situations. The first was a fourth-and-nine in the opening stanza for 27 yards, with the second coming late in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-five from 14 yards out.

The 300
For the sixth time in eight games this season, junior KD Humphries passed for more than 300 yards in a game against EIU. Humphries was 28-for-51 for 346 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions on Saturday.

A Promising Beginning
After playing offense for over a year and a half for Murray State, sophomore Zach Shipley switched to defensive back prior to the EIU game. The moved proved to be a good one, as Shipley had four tackles in the game, including two solo.

Climbing The Charts
Jeremy Harness and Janawski Davis continue to chip away at several career receiving records.

Jeremy Harness
Cat. (Rank)     #          Next Milestone
Rec. (3)            189      Powell - 208
100 YG (3)       8          Tillman - 9
Yards (5)          2173    Swinton - 2346
TD (11)                        11        4 Players -12

Janawski Davis
Cat. (Rank)     #          Next Milestone
TD (3)              22        Tillman - 26
Rec. (7)            142      Swinton - 144
Yards (6)          1963    Harness - 2123
100 YG (6)       6          Swinton - 7

Up Next
The Racers will return to The Track for the final time this season to taken on 13th-ranked Eastern Kentucky. Kick-off at Roy Stewart Stadium is set for 1 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jesse Blackburn

Janawski Davis

Jeremy Harness

KD Humphries

Paul Rice

Zach Shipley

Landon Stratton

Murray State University Athletics