GAME NOTES | WEEK 3 vs. Murray State (PDF)
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Dean Hood era at Murray State is off to a strong start. There's no question about his ability to win in the Ohio Valley Conference – after all, he had plenty of success as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky.
Now as the head jockey in the stable, Hood has the Racers storming out of the gate, picking up victories over UT Martin and Southeast Missouri to open the spring football slate.
On Sunday, their focus is on Tennessee Tech.
Kickoff against the Racers from Tucker Stadium is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start. Roger Ealey and Buddy Pearson will handle the radio call on 98.5 KISS FM, while Dylan Vazzano and Sam Brooks will tackle the ESPN+ broadcast (subscription required).
The series against Murray State is the longest-running series in the Golden Eagles' 99 seasons of football, Sunday's game marking the 86th meeting. Tech has won five of the last six meetings in the series, but has split the last 10 evenly at five wins each. Golden Eagle head coach Dewayne Alexander is 2-0 against the Racers, earning his first Tech victory on Homecoming in 2018, then taking a 17-7 win in 2019 in Murray.
Tech holds a 25-15 record against the Racers in Cookeville and have won the last three meetings in Tucker Stadium.
The biggest question for Tech is how well the Golden Eagles will respond to the open date. With a few injuries after the first two games, the week off for the OVC Basketball Championships might come in handy for Tech – not that history tends to agree as Tech is 15-32-1 coming off of open dates, 3-3 on those coming against Murray State.
Still, Sunday's contest will be a challenging one. Murray State enters the game allowing 199 yards of total offense a game. The Racers aren't invincible though – Murray squeaked out a 14-10 victory over UT Martin in the opener, then topped SEMO by three, winning 24-21.
Hood, a former Roy Kidd assistant at Eastern Kentucky, holds a 6-2 record against the Golden Eagles from his 2008-to-2015 tenure in Richmond.
Damonta Witherspoon has started off well, rushing for 197 yards in two games, averaging 98.5 yards per game. Quarterback Preston Rice has the Racers' two rushing scores on his 20 carries for 80 yards. Rice has also completed 17 of 42 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Rodney Castille (three catches for 25 yards) and DeQuan Dallas (three catches for 123 yards) hauled in the two scores. LaMartez Brooks has the most catches with six, but has totaled 32 yards.
The Racers have picked off five passes thus far, including two picks for Marcis Floyd, including one for a touchdown. Murray also has four double-digit tacklers on the season, led by Alec Long with 15, Eric Samuta with 13, Tay Carothers 12 and Floyd with 10.
With David Gist getting sidelined against JSU, Kurt Taylor Jr. could see more of a presence this week in the Tech running game. So far this season, Taylor has rushed seven times for 20 yards, while Willie Miller is right behind with six carries for 17 yards. Miller also showed some promise against the Gamecocks at quarterback, throwing for 121 yards and completing 11 of 20 passes.
In the receiving corps, Justin Oden leads the way with 105 yards on six catches, making his presence felt against JSU in week 2. Metrius Fleming has the lone receiving score, along with six catches for 97 yards.
One thing the Golden Eagles have been able to do this season so far is force turnovers. Jack Warwick, Seth Carlisle and Josh Reliford have all picked off passes this season, while Carlisle has recovered two, and Marcus McMeans and Christian Watson a fumble each, the latter for a 63-yard return.
Carlisle leads Tech with 20 tackles, while Jamaal Thompson had a breakout game against JSU and stands in second with 15 total. McMeans and Warwick have 12 stops each. Chris Tucker has 11, including three for-loss.
