NASHVILLE —Tennessee State fell 30-14 to Gardner-Webb at Nissan Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Runnin' Bulldogs improved to 7-4 on the year and 5-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play, while the Tigers fell to 2-9 overall and 0-7 in conference matchups.
Byron McNair led Tennessee State's passing attack with 171 yards through the air, tossing two touchdowns without throwing an interception.
Zack Simmons-Brown totaled 33 yards to lead the Tigers' ground attack in the game. Kendric Rhymes also tacked on 24 yards on the ground.
Snap Reed hauled in nine catches for 107 yards and two scores. DeVaughn Slaughter made his presence felt in the passing game, recording nine receptions for 52 yards.
Matthew Wilson showed out for the Tennessee State defense, collecting 1.0 TFL and one sack. Team added and Syncere Safeeullah had in the loss.
Defensively, Tennessee State held up fairly well against the Gardner-Webb offensive attack, holding the Runnin' Bulldogs to 272 total yards.
How It Happened
After Gardner-Webb took a 23-0 lead, Tennessee State got on the board with :34 remaining in the second quarter to narrow the margin to 23-7.Gardner-Webb increased its lead to 30-7, but the Tigers responded with a touchdown to close the gap to 30-14. Neither team scored again in the game.
Game Notes
» Gardner-Webb outgained Tennessee State 272-268 in the contest.
» Tennessee State had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up seven points.
» Tennessee State converted 5 of 16 third downs while Gardner-Webb was successful on 3 of 13.
» Tennessee State went 2-for-4 on fourth down, converting on 50 percent of attempts.
» The Tigers didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» The Tigers collected eight tackles for loss.
» Tennessee State won the time of possession battle 30:23 to 29:37.
» McNair completed 75% of his passes on the day, going 18-for-24 while averaging 7.1 yards per attempt.
» Cole Pennington led the Runnin' Bulldogs passing attack, completing 13 of his 20 attempts for 108 yards and one touchdown.
» Quasean Holmes led the Gardner-Webb rushing attack with 135 yards and one touchdown.
