Nashville, TENN – The Tennessee State Tigers were held to 62 yards in the second half as the offense sputtered falling to the 0-9 panthers 49-28 on senior day. The Tigers built a quick 35-21 lead due to a strong performance by Chris Rowland in the first half. Rowland scored on 3 possessions for the Tigers reeling in a 36 yard touchdown reception, returned a punt 57 yards for another touchdown, and finally scoring on a fake field goal. The Senior wide out sat out the second half due to an injury. Although, Rowland played 15 snaps he finished with three receptions for 55 yards and 131 all purpose yards.
Rowland’s, firepower was not enough as the Tigers did not score another touchdown getting outscored by the winless panthers 28-3 in the second half. The Panthers held the ball for over 20 minutes in the final two quarters and finished with a total possession time of 36 minutes compared to Tennessee State’s 23 minutes. The Eastern Illinois rushing attack proved to be overwhelming for the Tigers as they rushed for over 260 yards and four touchdowns. EIU out gained the Tigers 490 total yards to 306
Cameron Rosendahl completed 16-of-28 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Steven Newbold, showed up big for the Tigers as his favorite target on the day, finishing with the game high of six receptions of 86 yards and a touchdown.
For the Tiger defense Nick harper Jr showed up ready to play making eleven tackles, which ten of them were solo. Sophomore linebacker Terry Straughter followed behind Harper with nine stops, eight solo, and 2.5 tackles for a loss.
The Tigers will face off in another OVC bout against the UT-Martin Skyhawks on Saturday Nov. 16. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
