GAMEDAY CENTRAL: Golden Eagles play final road tilt Saturday at Southeast Missouri

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech heads to Cape Girardeau this weekend to play its final road contest of the 2015 season, a 1 p.m. contest on Halloween at Southeast Missouri.  

Saturday is the final day of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Southeast is wearing special pink jerseys and pink Redhawk decals on its helmets. Every player’s jersey will be personalized with a name in honor or memory of a survivor or loved one. Jerseys were auctioned off and well over $16,000 was raised. All proceeds provide free mammograms to area women who otherwise could not afford them.

Tennessee Tech has captured victory in each of the past two seasons and seven of the last nine meeting in the series, giving the Golden Eagles a 14-9 advantage in the all-time series. The two have only been meeting since 1991, with a game every year except the 2007 campaign. Tech won 27-26 last year in Cookeville. The last time the two squared off in Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri captured a 41-38 victory in 2012.

Quarterback Colby Brown didn’t start last week against Eastern Illinois, but came in to see action after starter Jared Davis was troubled by a hand injury. Brown played for about a half, before leaving the game with an injury. He is questionable for the game at SEMO. Davis is not expected to play. If Brown is unable to play, Tech’s third quarterback is redshirt freshman Ty Jobe, who saw about one quarter of action against EIU.

Before last week’s game at Eastern Illinois, Jobe had taken one snap in his career. Last week, before the EIU game, Jobe spent the week in practice playing the role of EIU quarterback Jalen Whitlow while directing the scout team. Then, in the third quarter when Colby Brown was injured and Jared Davis was struggling due to an injury, Jobe went in to run the offense. He finished the game with four rushes for 13 yards, including and 11-yaard TD run for his first career score. Hes wa 2-for-9 passing for 74 yards.

The forecast for Cape Girardeau on Saturday calls for a high of 59 degrees and an 80 percent chance of rain. Winds will be SSE at 10 to 15 mph.

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (2-6, 1-4 OVC)
at Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (2-5, 1-2 OVC)
Saturday, Oct. 31 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Houck Stadium (10,000) • Cape Girardeau, Mo.

QUICK HITS:
* With 61 receptions for 747 yards in the first eight games, Brock McCoin has a chance to break the school records for receptions and receiving yards in a season. His 61 catches is currently tied for the third-most in the school recod book with Da’Rick Rogers (61 in 2012). He trails Tim Benford (65 in 2011) and (68 in 2008). The school mark for receiving yards in a season is 923 by Benford (2011), leaving McCoin needing 176 to break that standard.
* Tra’Darius Goff and Jay Rudwall  have combined to make 583 career tackles, 30 tackles-for-loss and nine quarterback sacks in 84 combined games. With 338 career tackles, Goff has climbed to eighth in Tech history. He needs 10 tackles to catch Bruce Hatfield in seventh place, and 11 to catch Joshua Symonette in sixth.
* With 50 more rushing yards, Ladarius Vanlier can produce his best rushing season in his four-year career. He comes into the weekend leading Tech with 446 yards. He rushed for 109 yards as a freshman, 365 as a sophomore and 494 last year, giving him 1,421.
* Sophomore placekicker John Arnold ranks first in the OVC in field goal and PAT accuracy, and second in field goals made. He topped the 100-point mark in his career, and has now scored 101 points.
* Tech defeinsive players ranks first in the OVC in four separate categories. Tra’Darius Goff is first in total tackles (and tackles per game), Maleek Hall leads the OVC in passes defended, Stephen Bush is first in fumbles caused, and Demario Donnell is tied for first in fumbles recovered.
* Tra’Darius Goff will play in his 46th career game Saturday. If he plays in all three remaining games, he will finish his career with 48 games, coming within one game of the school record of 49 games played, established last year by six-year safety Marty Jones. 

THE TTU SENIOR CLASS — The 2015 senior class includes 16 players who are playing in their final season for the Golden Eagles. The seniors, in alphabetical order, are: Radir Annoor, Stephen Bush, Willie Davis, Brett Dillard, Demario Donnell, Tra'Darius Goff, Justin Ivory, Jimmy Laughlin, Steven Lillard, Jibrin Linge, Blake Luevano, Jordan Patrick, Jay Rudwall, Josh Smith, Ladarius Vanlier and Steve Wilson.

Fans who cannot attend in person can listen to the game on the Golden Eagle Sports Network with Roger Ealey and Buddy Pearson in the press box and Dylan Vazzano reporting from the sidelines. The broadcast begins at 12:30 p.m. CT on 98.5 KISS FM.

GAME NOTES: The 24th all-time meeting between Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri will take place on Saturday at Houck Stadium. Tennessee Tech enters the game having won the last two and seven of the last nine overall. Southeast Missouri’s last victory came in a thrilling double overtime contest at home in 2012. Last year Willie Davis scored on a 32-yard touchdown run with 4:16 to play to give Tech the one-point victory. Southeast attempted a desperation 62-yard field goal but it was blocked. Jared Davis passed for 216 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 51 yards and another score for the Golden Eagles. Brock McCoin pulled down seven passes for 120 yards while Cody Matthews caught seven passes for 86 yards. DeMichael Jackson rushed for a game-high 172 yards while Kyle Snyder added 64 yards and a rushing score to go along with his 132 passing yards and a touchdown. Saturday’s game will feature Southeast players wearing special pink jerseys have already been auctioned off and raised more than $16,000 for Breast Cancer Awareness.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Tennessee Tech suffered its fourth-straight loss last week in falling 51-20 at Eastern Illinois. The Golden Eagles offense got off to a rough start as the team’s first three pass attempts were each picked off which put Tech in a 10-0 hole less than five minutes into the game. Quarterback Jared Davis, who had missed the previous two games with injuries, gave way to Colby Brown who later had to leave the game due to injury. Redshirt freshman Ty Jobe became the third quarterback to play in the game for Tennessee Tech. Ladarius Vanlier led the team with 78 rushing yards and leads the team with 446 rushing yards on the season. Brock McCoin increased his season receptions total to 61, which is just seven away from tying the TTU single-season record. McCoin currently ranks fourth nationally in total receiving yards (747) and eighth in receptions/game (7.6). Maleek Hall had nine tackles and two pass breakups against EIU; Hall now ranks second nationally in passes defended (1.9/game). As a team Tennessee Tech is second nationally in fumbles recovered (13) and blocked kicks (5), eighth in fewest penalty yards/game (38.25) and 10th in fewest penalties/game (4.50).

SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI: Southeast Missouri is coming off its bye week and has lost seven of its last eight games following an off week. In its last outing Southeast lost 27-10 to No. 14 Eastern Kentucky, its third game this season against a nationally-ranked opponent. The game was tied at 10 at halftime and was just a seven-point contest entering the final quarter before EKU scored 10 fourth quarter points. The Redhawks offense struggled on the day as the team managed just 191 yards of total offense (including only 52 total yards in the second half). Senior Paul McRoberts caught 10 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown; the touchdown tied McRoberts for the Southeast career receiving touchdowns record (26). McRoberts also made his debut as a punt returner, running back three punts for 37 total yards. Punter Alex Knight continues to rank fourth nationally in punting (46.0 yards/punt); he punted seven times for a 42.9 average against EKU including downing five punts inside the 20-yard line. True freshman Stephon Williams led the Redhawks in tackles for the second-straight game. On the season Roper Garrett leads the team with 66 total tackles.