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Game 2: Tennessee State (0-1) vs. Jacksonville State (4-1)
Date: Sunday, Mar. 7, 2021
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Stadium: William J. Hale Stadium (15,000)
Time: 2:00 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+
Audio: Big Blue Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast

TV: ESPN+. Alex Gould will serve as play-by-play along with Derek Fleming who will provide analysis.

Audio: Big Blue Sports Network will carry the game live with Greg Pogue (play-by-play) and Will Brown (analyst). Pregame will begin at 1:45 p.m. CT.

Series Information: This is the 15th meeting with the Gamecocks leading the series, 12-2. Eight of the 13 contests have been played in Jacksonville, Ala. where the Tigers are 2-6. The series began in 2003 when the Gamecocks became a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. JSU won the very first meeting, 34-7. The Tigers first win came in 2006, 38-31. TSU last won in 2013 with a 31-15 victory at JSU.

Head Coach Rod Reed:
Coach Reed is in his 11th season at the helm of the Tigers and holds a 56-57 record. Only two coaches have produced more wins at TSU. John Merritt claimed 174 victories in his 20 years (1963-83) for a .806 winning percentage (174-35-7), while Harry Kean spent 10 years in charge of TSU from 1944-54 and compiled a 93-15-3 record (.838). TSU is 9-2 in season openers under Rod Reed, including a 17-10 win at FBS opponent Georgia State in 2017. The loss to Austin Peay was the first opening day defeat since a 12-9 decision to Bethune-Cookman in 2013.

Tennessee State:

The Tigers are coming off the wrong end of a 27-20 decision at Austin Peay. The loss dropped TSU to 0-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 0-1 in the chase for the Sgt. York Trophy. The Big Blue found themselves behind the Govs 20-0 just eight minutes into the contest. For the remainder of the game, the Tigers outgained APSU 332-182 and outscored the home team 20-7. Deveon Bryant earned the start at quarterback and played deep into the third quarter, throwing for 61 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 16 yards on five carries. Isaiah Green entered in the fourth quarter and brought the Tigers back, completing 10-of 18 passes for 173 yards and one touchdown. Vincent Perry and Cam Wyche each caught touchdown passes. Perry pulled in four passes for 60 yards to go along with Wyche's three receptions for 75 yards. Devon Starling came off the bench to lead the Big Blue in rushing, gaining 55 yards on 15 attempts. Dayron Johnson totaled 242 all-purpose yards, including 140 yards on returns. Antonio Zita finished 2-of-3 on field goal attempts and 2-of-2 on extra points for eight points. Defensively, Nyle Love led the squad with 12 tackles, six solo. Justin Brown and Davoan Hawkins added seven stops each. Brown made three stops behind the line of scrimmage, including 1.5 sacks. Love, Hawkins and Nate Sutton all picked up half a sack. Kendall Johnson was credited with a blocked punt.

Last 10 Results:
2019 - Jacksonville State 31, Tennessee State 23
2018 - Jacksonville State 41, Tennessee State 14
2017 - Jacksonville State 36, Tennessee State 6
2015 - Jacksonville State 48, Tennessee State 13
2014 - Jacksonville State 27, Tennessee State 20
2013 - Tennessee State 31, Jacksonville State 15
2012 - Jacksonville State 31, Tennessee State 28 (OT)
2011 - Jacksonville State 38, Tennessee State 16
2010 -Jacksonville State 24, Tennessee State 0
2008 - Jacksonville State 26, Tennessee State 21

The Hole
Tennessee State will play all of its home games this spring in Hale Stadium. TSU is one of the few teams in the nation that splits games between two home sites. This marks the first season since 1998 to play a full season in "the Hole". The Tigers used the on-campus stadium from 1953-1998 before moving into Nissan Stadium in 1999. TSU returned to Hale in 2012 and has gone 8-8 since then. The Big Blue dropped all four games in Hale Stadium in 2019. In total, TSU is 181-65-5 at home all-time.

Scoring Streak
Tennessee State has scored a point in 71 consecutive games. The last time the Tigers were shutout was on Nov. 2, 2013 at Eastern Kentucky (44-0). The streak is the second longest current streak in the OVC. Jacksonville State has scored in 96 consecutive games dating back to a 23-0 loss at Florida on Nov. 17, 2012. The longest all-time streak at the FCS level belongs to Montana with 406 dating back to 1989.

Fresh Starts
Six Tigers on offense gained their first start at Austin Peay. Deveon Bryant, Cam Wych, Vincent Perry, Sean McMoore and Robert Lacey all gained starts in their first action for the Tigers. Shawn McColley earned his first start for the Big Blue after playing in nine contests in each of the last two seasons. Transfers Curt McDonald, Davoan Hawkins and Tadarrius Patterson each gained their first start at Austin Peay. In all, 25 players saw the field for the first time in blue.

Rebounding From Slow Start
In the season opener, Austin Peay gained 186 yards on its first four plays and scored three touchdowns. The Govs averaged 46.5 yards per play and 62.0 yards per rush over the first eight minutes of the game. Over the final three and a half quarters the Big Blue held APSU to 182 yards on 55 plays for an average of 3.3 yards per play. Rushing wise, Austin Peay rushed 38 times for 64 yards the rest of the way, averaging 1.7 yards per carry. An even deeper look shows the Tigers holding the Govs to 22 yards on the ground on 31 rushes for the final three quarters, an average of 0.7 yards per run.

Playing Behind the Line
The Tigers recorded 12 Tackles for Loss and three sacks in week one at Austin Peay. The top game in 2019 for TFLs came against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 9. The last time the Tigers amassed at least 12 stops behind the line of scrimmage came on Nov. 4, 2017 versus Virginia University Lynchburg. The last time TSU finished with 12 or more TFLs against an NCAA D-I came on Nov. 7, 2015 against Murray State. A season ago, the defense collected two sacks in each of the final four games. The three sacks against APSU was the most in game for the Tigers since a four sack outing versus Tennessee Tech on Oct. 20, 2018.

Long Time Coming
The game versus Austin Peay was the first game for Tennessee State in 463 days. The Tigers had last played on Nov. 23, 2019, in Cookeville, Tenn., before the game on Feb. 28, 2021 in Clarksville, Tenn. During that time, the Govs played seven games. TSU earned a 37-27 win at Tennessee Tech during the final game of the 2019 season. The Ohio Valley Conference postponed all fall sports on Aug. 14 due to concerns and the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tigers were scheduled to play on Sunday, Feb. 21 against Jacksonville State but a winter storm through the middle Tennessee area forced postponement delaying the 2021 spring season.

Condensed Schedule
Due to the pandemic the 2020 season was reduced to a conference only spring season. The schedule consists of a seven game round robin facing each team in the OVC with the exception of Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels opted out after playing nine games in the fall. In 2018, the Tigers played just nine games due to two cancellations due to weather. The Southern Heritage Classic versus Jackson State was cancelled due to lightning. The following week, the Tigers game at Hampton was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. The seven game slate is the smallest for TSU since 1957. The Big Blue under the direction of Howard Gentry finished the '57 campaign at 5-0-1.

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