Story by Keith Jaco
Staff writer
The Murray State Racers’ football team will look to get back on track against an 0-8 Tennessee Tech team when the team travels to Cookeville, Tennessee, on Saturday, Nov. 3.
The Racers are coming off of their first OVC loss, falling to Jacksonville State 42-15 during Homecoming Weekend last Saturday, Oct. 27. The Racers find themselves in a three way tie for first place with Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri State heading into the final three weeks of the season.
A main concern in the loss to JSU last weekend was execution. The Racers were 0-11 on third-down conversions, failing to move the ball upfield and into the end zone. In what has been seen as a progressively improved offense week-by-week, senior quarterback Drew Anderson and his team were halted by an impressive JSU defense.
Head Coach Mitch Stewart stressed the importance of his team knowing what their next move is.
“We have to make sure the guys take what happened at face value,” Stewart said. “We got beat by a really good team and we didn’t play well. We have to make sure we do the right things in the next three weeks, starting with this week and getting our minds right.”
While the offense went through various struggles with the run game and third-down conversions, the Racer defense continued to step up to the occasion against a fierce JSU team.
Sophomore linebacker Anthony Koclanakis contributed with a 37-yard pick-six to get the Racers on the board in the first half. Senior linebacker Quincy Williams delivered 17 tackles on the afternoon, 13 of those being solo tackles.
Despite a monster performance, Williams is focused on forgetting about JSU and focusing on the next task at hand.
“We have to continue to do what we do every week, focus on going 1-0,” Williams said. “Our biggest thing around the locker room is this being a new season and the start to a new win streak. We can’t let the last game dictate what the future holds; we control our own destiny.”
Tennessee Tech is heading into this weekend’s matchup with the Racers winless. The Golden Eagles are coming off a blowout loss to Austin Peay as the Governors’ sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall threw for five touchdowns, tying a school passing record.
TTU will look to jump start its offense and keep it running for a full 60 minutes in hopes of knocking off Murray State for its first win of the season.
Murray State will face Tennessee Tech University at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Tucker Stadium.
