By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
Nov. 20, 2010
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – There were reasons to be optimistic in the 2010 season. The Tennessee Tech offense was starting to find its way with sophomore quarterback Tre Lamb and junior wide receiver Tim Benford, as well as several rushing options to throw off the opposing side. The Golden Eagles also had several defensive weapons coming together.
However, 2010 wasn't the season. Injuries started to pile up, including Lamb – who was injured midway through the year, making his final appearance at LP Field against Tennessee State on Oct. 23 in a 21-10 victory. Tech stood 4-4 at that point of the year, 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
But it had been a challenging slate to that point. The Golden Eagles opened up the year with a trip to Arkansas. The Razorbacks out of the Southeastern Conference turned the ball over on downs as Ryan Mallett ran for no gain on 4th and 6 at the Tech 39. The Golden Eagles put together a 10-play drive and took a 3-0 lead on Matthew Barker's 27-yard field goal.
However, the No. 17-ranked Arkansas squad pulled away with 44 unanswered points in the second and third quarters.
The following week, Tech faced its highest-ranked Football Bowl Subdivision foe in program history, taking on No. 4 TCU, helmed by former Golden Eagle assistant coach Gary Patterson, who coached in Cookeville on Gary Darnell's staff. (The No. 4-ranked opponent was tied two years later when the 2012 squad traveled to No. 4-ranked Oregon.)
Lamb was able to get an 11-yard touchdown strike to Tremaine Hudson, then Barker completed the PAT to give the Golden Eagles their seven points in a 62-7 loss.
Tech picked up its first win of the season in unusual circumstances as the Golden Eagles returned home to take on Lane College and took a 43-0 lead in the second quarter. With 5:01 remaining to play in the second quarter, torrential downpours fell on Tucker Stadium, putting visibility at nearly zero as the opposite side of the field couldn't even be seen in the press box.
The visitors called it a night – after the Golden Eagles ran for three touchdowns (two for Dontey Gay, one for Jocques Crawford), a passing score for Benford from Lamb, then a pick-six for Marty Jones and a fumble recovery TD for Travis Adkins. With the negative-23 yards of offense for Lane, they packed it up and did not return after the delay, making it a forfeit and an incomplete game, as well as blanking the stats from NCAA or OVC stats.
The Golden Eagles opened the OVC slate the following week at Southeast Missouri. The Redhawks led 23-14 late in the fourth quarter and with just under 90 seconds remaining in the contest, Tech forced SEMO to punt. Henry Sailes returned the punt 25 yards to the SEMO 48 and the Golden Eagles were in business.
Lamb got the ball down to the Redhawk 19 and facing 2nd-and-10, he connected with Benford for a touchdown with 56 seconds left, Barker's PAT making it a 23-21 game in favor of the home-standing Redhawks. Tech had to go for the onside kick, but SEMO recovered the ball on the Tech 44.
The Golden Eagles also pulled together a late score the following week against UT Martin as Lamb threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Benford, Barker's kick true to make it a 27-24 Skyhawk lead with 8:59 remaining in the contest.
However, Tech had to punt it away on its next drive, then turned the ball over on downs on its final attempt.
The Golden Eagles rebounded and won their next three games in league play. Crawford ran for two touchdowns and Barker had 10 points (two FGs and four PATs) as Tech beat Austin Peay 34-21. Crawford ran for another two scores and Barker had another 10-spot as the Golden Eagles topped Eastern Illinois 34-20.
Then, in his final full game of the season, Lamb threw three touchdowns – two to Benford and one to Zack Ziegler – as Tech topped Tennessee State 21-10 at LP Field.
With the injury to Lamb, Cass Barnes became Tech's starter. In his game against Murray State, he completed 21-of-35 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown with one interception, while also rushing for 37 yards on 15 carries. The interception was returned by Jesurun Kelly for a score.
On the other side, Casey Brockman threw three interceptions among his 17-for-27 performance with two passing scores, two touchdowns on the ground and four Kienan Cullen field goals for a 44-13 defeat.
In the next contest, Tech took a 10-7 lead on Eastern Kentucky, then got the game back within 21-20 after the Colonels surged ahead just before halftime. Barnes completed 18-of-30 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown pass to Benford, then rushed for 68 yards and a score on 16 carries as the Colonels took the game 42-29.
It all came down to the final game. While the Golden Eagles' chance at a championship had been dashed, the week's opponent – Jacksonville State – was playing for the crown. But so was Southeast Missouri. After beating the Golden Eagles, the Redhawks rifled off six more consecutive OVC wins, but lost the previous week to the Gamecocks, 29-27, as Alan Bonner caught a 17-yard pass from Marques Ivory with 11 seconds remaining.
So the scenario was simple – if Jacksonville State (9-1, 6-1 OVC) beat Tennessee Tech, the Gamecocks were the OVC champions by virtue of the tiebreaker. Southeast Missouri (9-2, 7-1 OVC) had already completed its league slate and could only watch. They were assured at least a share of the conference title, but not the automatic bid – and before the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs expansion that season to 20 teams, then 24 in 2013, it wasn't even a given that they would earn a bid into the field.
Boxes of OVC Championship T-shirts were delivered and set out in the Jacksonville State locker room area, in anticipation of any post-game celebration, and after the first quarter, the tone was still one of unease as neither team scored. Barker missed a 32-yard field goal, then Jacksonville State started driving with the ball.
That nine-play drive carried into the opening seconds of the second stanza as Calvin Middleton wrapped up the 80-yard series with a two-yard score, then James Esco hit the PAT to make it a 7-0 contest. JSU's next drive ended up with a field goal attempt from 38 yards for Esco, but Justin Hilliiard came up with a block with Marty Jones recovering the ball at the Tech 6.
The heroics quickly turned sour as Barnes was caught in the backfield and lost the ball. Rodney Garrott recovered the ball at the Tech 6, then Ivory threw a touchdown pass to Cory Freeman on the first play. JSU led 14-0 with 9:30 left in the half.
The Golden Eagle defense was able to hold the Gamecocks to a field goal attempt at the Tech 19, and as Esco made the attempt, his kick sailed to the left. The momentum shifted Tech's way as the Golden Eagles picked up five first downs and pulled together a seven-play, 80-yard drive as Crawford rushed in for a five-yard score. Barker's PAT made it a 14-7 game with 2:41 left in the first half.
Tech's defense held again in JSU's final drive of the second quarter, holding the Gamecocks to 49 yards on 11 plays, ending with a 37-yard field goal for Esco. Barker had an attempt as time expired, kicking from 49 yards, but the kick went wide left leaving JSU up 17-7 at the intermission.
The third quarter was quiet for Tech as it held on to the ball for just 3:22 on seven plays. JSU's quarter-opening drive lasted five plays and 2:18. It's next drive ended the quarter with the next 18 plays, then ended three plays into the fourth quarter as Justin Howard hauled in an Ivory pass for a 13-yard touchdown and Esco's kick making it a 24-7 Gamecock lead with 13:40 remaining in the contest.
The Gamecocks never scored another point. In the fourth quarter alone, Tech outgained JSU 278-62.
On the next drive, Barnes picked up first downs on three consecutive plays – a 19-yard pass to Sailes, a 10-yard pass to Benford and a 17-yard rush. The drive ended as Crawford powered in from seven yards out. With Barker's kick, JSU led 24-14 with 11:33 left.
Jacksonville State's next drive lasted 2:28 going 26 yards on five plays, ending as Coty Blanchard punted away to the Tech 16.
Barnes completed all five of his passes on the next drive, two to Benford, one to Doug Page, one to Sailes, then a 16-yard touchdown strike to Ziegler with 6:27 left. With the Barker PAT, Tech was back within three, 24-21.
The Gamecocks' next drive lasted 89 seconds, going four yards on three plays, before Blanchard had a 57-yard punt to the Tech 12.
As Tech started its next series, Barnes had the Golden Eagles in JSU territory in two plays, completing a 23-yard pass to Ziegler and a 35-yard pass to Benford. Crawford and Barnes kept the ball moving on the ground, then Cody Forbes ended the drive with a two-yard touchdown run to put the Golden Eagles on top. Barker's PAT made it 28-24 Tech with 3:04 remaining.
The next drive was disastrous for the Gamecocks. Starting on their own 21, then pushed back to the 11 by a holding call, Ivory's passes to Calvin Middleton, Cory Freeman and James Shaw all sailed incomplete, putting JSU at 4th-and-10. The decision was made to go for it and the pass to La'Ray Williams was incomplete as Richmond Tooley made the stop.
Starting at the JSU 11, Tech only needed three plays to score as Crawford put the exclamation point on the board with a four-yard touchdown run. The extra point was good, making it 35-24 Tech with 1:46 left.
The Gamecocks picked up seven yards on their final drive, but turned the ball over on downs, echoing the drive before.
Tech went into victory formation as Barnes knelt down to run out the clock. The boxes of T-shirts remained unopened as Southeast Missouri earned the automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs.
Southeast Missouri, with the No. 8 seed, ended up facing top-seeded Eastern Washington and fell 37-17 in the second round. Jacksonville State earned an at-large bid and fell to Wofford 17-14 in the second round as well.
Barnes' numbers were incredible – he completed 19 of his 28 passes for 271 yards and a passing touchdown, while rushing 18 times for 88 yards. Crawford ended the game with three touchdown runs on 14 carries and 54 yards. Benford caught eight passes for 114 yards, while Ziegler had five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles had five double-digit tacklers with Jake McIntosh leading the way with 15 stops. Richmond Tooley and Kelechi Ordu each had 11 tackles, while Tooley also had four pass breakups. Dustin Dillehay and Justin Hilliard also had 10 tackles.
The game was Tech's first win over Jacksonville State since the 2004 campaign. The Golden Eagles have only won twice more since then – 2011 and 2019.
But what the game did was set the stage for the year to come. In a year's time, it was Tennessee Tech raising the Ohio Valley Conference championship trophy. It was the Golden Eagles breaking out the box of championship T-shirts.
Even as the Golden Eagles faced adversity, the team kept working, kept striving for its goal. While the game had more implications for Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri, it echoed for years to come.
Photo | Tony Marable
