Richmond, KY – The Tennessee State Tigers got off to a sluggish start and turned the ball of 3 times in a 42-16 defeat to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, at Royy Kidd stadium on Saturday. The Tigers now fall to (1-4), overall and (0-1) in conference play.
The Tigers continue, to struggle on defense as they gave up (525) yards of total offense. (379) of those total yards came on the ground as the colonels, ran all over the Tennessee state defense. The Tigers allowed both EKU running backs Daryl McCleskey Jr, and Alonzo Booth to go for over a hundred yards a piece. The Tigers, poor play on defense has them ranked dead last at 9th in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The TSU offense, also struggled getting things going on Saturday. The Tiger, Offense came into the game ranked first in the OVC, in total offense and 19th nationally averaging (462.0) yards per game. The first half was one to forget for the Tigers as they were held scoreless struggling to run or pass the ball. It wasn’t till later in the second half, that the Tiger offense found some life from a spark provided by senior running back Seth Rowland on back-to-back runs of 25,10, and 8. Two plays later the drive was capped off by 5 yard touchdown run by Takendrick Roberson. The Tigers finished with (382.0) yards of offense.
Although, the Tigers loss there were a few high points in the game for TSU individually. Ronnie Killings and Josh Green both posted career high in tackles with nine each. Antonio Zita has continued his outstanding play on special teams this season, connecting on three field goals (26,35,36).
The Tigers will be back in action this Saturday October 7th, at Burgess-Snow field, In Jacksonville, AL against the ranked Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
