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Tennessee State making a move
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
It's been nine years since Tennessee State made some noise on the national scene but after three straight wins against SWAC opponents to open the 2008 season, the Big Blue Tigers of the Ohio Valley Conference are back on the radar.
Fourth-year TSU head coach James Webster's squad dispatched defending SWAC champion Jackson State 41-18 Saturday. That conquest followed a victory over Alabama A&M (34-13) to open the season and a Sept. 6 win over Southern (34-32). All three victims are considered serious contenders for the SWAC title.
The early season success has allowed the talented Tigers to grab the final spot in
this week's TSN Football Championship Subdivision
(formerly I-AA) Top 25 and move up to third in the
BCSP Top Ten as they prepare for the challenge of going
up against defending Ohio Valley Conference
champion, Eastern Kentucky Saturday in Nashville (5 p.m.).
The Blue Tigers are the only black college team in the Top 25.
"Being ranked is somewhat of a reward for the hard work that they've put in," said Webster in a story in The Tennessean this week. " This is something that they should be proud of."
You have to go back to the Cole brothers (head coach L. C. and offensive coordinator Johnnie) era when high-scoring TSU squads won back-to-back OVC titles, to find the last time TSU climbed into the national rankings.
TSU finished the 1999 regular season with a perfect 11-0 mark and entered the playoffs as the No. 1 ranked team in all of I-AA. Key injuries derailed its run at a national title. A year earlier, TSU finished the regular season ranked tenth in the nation.
Webster has put together a squad similar to the ones that had that past success.
These Tigers are averaging 36.3 points per game, giving up a league-best 21.3 points and are led by prolific senior quarterback Antonio Heffner, who tops the OVC in total offense at 293 yards per game. Heffner is complemented by a trio of game-breaking wide receivers (Jajuan Spillman, Chris Johnson and Brandon Belvin) and two-time 1,000-yard rusher, senior running back Javarris Williams. The Tigers are just one year removed from having a first round NFL Draft pick, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was selected 16th overall by the Arizona Cardinals.
They'll come into Saturday's battle with Eastern Kentucky (1-2) with something of a score to settle. EKU throttled TSU 49-7 last year in a game that ended Hefner's season. The Memphis native went out in the second quarter of that game with a broken ankle. The Tigers finished 2-2 without Hefner and went on to a 5-6 overall finish, 4-3 in conference play, tied for third with Austin Peay, behind Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. Both EKU and EIU went to the FCS playoffs last season. The last time TSU started 4-0 was 2001.
South Carolina State (2-1) came close to breaking in the Top 25 garnering 56 votes. The Bulldogs have a tough date with in-state BCS and ACC member Clemson Saturday (1 p.m.). This will be SCSU's second Div. I matchup. That lost at Central Florida 17-0 to open the season.
Norfolk State (2-1) is also one of the six black college teams to receive votes (27) in the FCS poll. The Spartans could break into the Top 25 with a win Saturday (7 p.m.) at William & Mary (1-1). Defending MEAC champ Delaware State, who led black college teams that finished outside the Top 25 with 96 votes, is off this week.
Resurgent Prairie View (2-0, 1-0) who garnered 26 votes to finish just behind Norfolk State in the poll, continues its quest for a SWAC title with a date Saturday (5 p.m.) at Mississippi Valley State (1-1).
Also receiving votes were Hampton (21) and Florida A&M (3).
Hampton (2-1, 1-0) entertains dangerous North Carolina A&T (2-1, 0-1), who battled Norfolk State last week before coming up on the short end of a 27-21 score. Florida A&M travels to Washington, D.C. to meet Howard, who staged a spirited battle before losing to Hampton last week.
In other games involving BCSP Top Ten teams, No. 1 Tuskegee (2-0, 2-0) is at Stillman (1-2, 1-1) in an SIAC match-up to be broadcast by tape delay on ESPNU at 10:30 p.m. No. 10 Grambling State (1-2) hosts Jackson State (1-2) in a rematch of last year's SWAC Championship Game.
© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.