COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech football team watched as team after team was announced Sunday morning during the 2024 NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision selection show.

 

Southeast Missouri was no surprise – the Redhawks earned the automatic qualifier by virtue of the tiebreaker with the Golden Eagles as Tech, SEMO, TSU and UT Martin all shared the conference title with identical 6-2 records in the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association.

 

But the postseason hopes started to dwindle as UT Martin and Tennessee State – both teams that the Golden Eagles defeated en route to a 7-5 finish -- were selected. The Skyhawks finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, while Tennessee State was 9-3. Central Connecticut State was the only team to reach the tournament field with seven wins, but they were an automatic qualifier as the Northeast Conference champion.

 

The Skyhawks will take on New Hampshire (8-4) with the winner taking on No. 1 overall seed Montana State (12-0) on Dec. 7. Southeast Missouri will face Illinois State (9-3) with the winner taking on UC Davis (10-2). Tennessee State will take on Montana (8-4) with the winner facing No. 3-seed South Dakota State.

 

The Golden Eagles finished, in addition to the shared championship, with seven wins for the first time since 2011, five straight in-season games since 1999 and the 17th season overall with seven or more wins in program history. With the wins over Tennessee State and UT Martin,

Tech won the Sergeant York Trophy for the first time since the Spring 2020 campaign and outright for the first time since 2009.

 

Tech earned two National Defensive Player of the Week nods for Theron Gaines and Daniel Rickert. The Golden Eagles also held seven opponents under 100 rushing yards – including zero for Tennessee State – and allowed an average of 66.4 rushing yards during the five-game winning streak. Tech also held five opponents under 300 yards of offense.

 

The Big South-OVC will announce its postseason awards later this week.