COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Riding the crest of a two-game winning streak, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle football team looks to make it three-in-a-row and remain unbeaten at home when UT Martin visits Saturday for the first of three games toward the 2015 Sgt. York Trophy. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. CDT.

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 calling the action, and Dylan Vazzano on the sidelines. The broadcast begins at 5:30 p.m. CT on 98.5 KISS FM. The game will also aired be live by ESPN3 (so it will not be shown on the OVC Digital Network).

UT Martin comes to town with the highest-scoring offense in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Skyhawks are averaging 38.7 points per game.

For Tech, the game is the first Ohio Valley Conference home game of the season. Tech is 1-0 at home following a 29-22 win over Mercer (Sept. 19).

This game will feature three of the league's reigning Player of the Week winners. Tech linebacker Tra'Darius Goff was named the OVC Defensive Player of the week, while cornerback Maleek Hall was picked as the Special Teams Player of the Week. Meanwhile, UT Martin quarterback Jarod Neal shared the Offensive Player of the Week honor.

Each team has two receivers ranked among the Top 10 in the OVC in receiving yards per game. For Tech, Brock McCoin (120.0) is second and Krys Cates (63.2) is 10th. For UTM, Rod Wright ranks sixth (81.0) and Caylon Weathers (74.7) ranks eighth.


Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (2-2, 1-0 OVC)
at UT Martin Skyhawks (1-2, 0-1 OVC)
Saturday, Oct. 3 • 6 p.m. CT
Tucker Stadium (16,500) in Cookeville, Tenn.

QUICK HITS:
* The two quarterbacks who are ranked second and third in the OVC in both passing and total offense will face each other in Tech's Jared Davis and UTM's Jarod Neal.
* Jared Davis needs nine yards to pass Darian Stone and move into 10th place in career passing yards in school history. He needs 179 yards to pass Michael Peeples and take over ninth place on the chart.  
* Six of the last eight games in the series have been decided by a touchdown or less, including a 17-10 loss last season in Martin. The home team has also struggled, as the road team has claimed wins in seven of the nine games since 2006.
* Last year's game at Martin included a lengthy 127-minute rain delay in the fourth quarter.

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, Daniel Pierce, Jay Rudwall, Josh Smith, Ladarius Vanlier and Steve Wilson.

GAME NOTES: In-state rivals Tennessee Tech and UT Martin meet for the 37th time on Saturday night in the first Sgt. York Trophy series game for 2015. That series is contested between the four OVC football-playing schools from that state of Tennessee. The games between these two teams over the last six years have been very competitive with the average margin of victory being just 5.3 points with each team winning three games over that stretch. The visiting team has also had a lot of success with the road squad winning seven of the last nine in the series. A year again UT Martin held serve at home holding off a late rally from Tennessee Tech in a fourth quarter that also featured a two hour weather delay. The Golden Eagles trimmed the margin to 17-10 with four minutes to go but did not get the ball back as the Skyhawks ran eight plays to run out the clock. Abou Toure led all rushers with 128 yards and a touchdown while Jarod Neal passed for 126 yards and rushed for 73 yards and a score for UTM. Darian Stone passed for 149 yards and rushed for a team-high 37 yards for TTU. Tony Bell had two sacks for UT Martin in setting the school's all-time record in that category.
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Tennessee Tech went to Murray State and opened OVC play with a 31-29 victory, the team's first win in a Conference opener since 2011 when the team won the OVC Championship. Maleek Hall, this week's OVC Specialist of the Week, blocked a field goal prior to halftime to preserve a tie game and blocked an extra point midway through the third quarter in addition to adding 10 tackles and three pass breakups. The blocked PAT proved to be crucial as MSU had to go for two points after its final score, and Tra'Darius Goff was able to run the ball carrier out-of-bounds to give Tech the victory. Goff was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week after netting 14 tackles, a sack and forcing a fumble in addition to making the game-saving play. Quarterback Jared Davis passed for 264 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score. Davis ranks 20th nationally in total offense (278.8 yards/game). Jordan Smith hauled in two touchdowns passes for the Golden Eagles, becoming the third different Tech player to catch multiple touchdowns in the same game this season (TTU is the only OVC team to achieve this feat in 2015). Brock McCoin led the way with 14 catches for 108 yards; McCoin ranks second nationally in receptions/game (9.0) and ninth in receiving yards/game (120.0).
 
SCOUTING UT MARTIN: UT Martin gave No. 1 ranked Jacksonville State a battle, including scoring 21 unanswered fourth quarter points, before ultimately falling 48-41. The Skyhawks had 497 yards of total offense but did allow the Gamecocks to net 286 rushing yards on the afternoon. Quarterback Jarod Neal earned OVC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after passing for 433 yards and four touchdowns (3 in the fourth quarter) and also rushed for 21 yards. In the process he moved into eighth place on the UTM career all-purpose yardage list (4,251). Neal already has 10 touchdowns this season (which ranks eighth nationally) after having just 14 passing touchdowns all of last year. Rod Wright and Caylon Weathers each had 10 catches with Wright netting 162 yards and two touchdowns and Weathers finishing with 92 yards and a score. Kicker/punter Jackson Redditt made a pair of field goals and averaged 45.5 yards/punt for the game; he ranks second in the OVC in scoring (8.0 points/game) and punting (44.1 yards/punt).

TICKETS ON SALE  — Season tickets are on sale for the five-game 2015 Golden Eagle home schedule. Several ticket packages are available. Individual game tickets may also be purchased. Visit or call the Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center (931-372-3940). Tickets may also be purchased online at TTUsports.com.

Click here to read the Golden Eagle game notes for the contest vs. UT Martin