Football Recaps - Sept. 3

Football Recaps - Sept. 3

SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Iowa 34, Tennessee Tech 7
#17 Southern Illinois 38, @Southeast Missouri 10
@Tennessee State 33, Southern 7
@Cincinnati 72, Austin Peay 10
@Kansas State 10, Eastern Kentucky 7


IOWA 34, TENNESSEE TECH 7
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Iowa Hawkeyes took advantage of a couple mistakes in the second quarter by Tennessee Tech, outscoring the Golden Eagles 24-0 in that stanza, and it was enough to propel the FBS squad to a 34-7 season-opening victory over the FCS visitors.

The contest featured a delay for rain and lightning that last 1:24. It came with 3:39 to play in the third quarter, as the stands and field were emptied. With the delay, the game lasted four hours and 27 minutes, one of the longest regulation contests in school history.

The crowd of 70,585 -- which had shrunk to a couple thousand by the final gun -- was the third-largest in school history.

Dontey Gay rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, his third career 100-yard effort, to lead the Golden Eagle effort.

The Hawkeyes returned two interceptions for 141 yards, one for an 89-yard touchdown and the other for a 52-yard return that led to a field goal, accounting for 10 quick points in the second period. The Hawkeyes also used an 88-yard pass-and-run play for a touchdown in that stretch.

Tech finished with 296 yards in total offense, with 159 on the ground and 156 through the air. In fact, the Golden Eagles had an edge in rushing as Iowa gained 154. The Hawkeyes added 246 through the air for 394 in total offense.

In addition to his rushing yardage, Gay also had two catches for four yards and returned three kicks for 60 yards, giving him a career-best 172 all-purpose yards, the most in the game.

Senior receiver Tim Benford had seven catches for 60 yards as he continues to creep closer to school records in both receptions and receiving yards.

Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg was 13-for-21 for 219 yards and two touchdowns, with Marvin McNutt being his top target. McNutt had six catches for 140 yards and two scores. Tech starter Tre Lamb, who did a lot of scrambling in the contest against the Hawkeye pressure, was 14-for24 for 128 yards with two interceptions and one sack. Redshirt freshman Darian Stone, seeing his first career action, led Tech's fourth quarter scoring drive, going 3-for-4 for 28 yards.

On defense, Will Johnson and Jake McIntosh led the Tech charts with seven tackles each. Johnson broke up one pass and had a tackle-for-loss. McIntosh also recovered a fumble. Richmond Tooley made five tackles and broke up a pass. Taylor Hennigan had six tackles and caused a fumble, while Dwight Evans made four tackles, one tackle-for-loss and caused a fumble.

Tech trailed just 3-0 after the first quarter on a 39-yard field goal by Mike Meyer. The Hawkeyes scored 24 points in 10 minutes during the second half to take a 27-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Iowa made it 34-0 with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Vandenberg to McNutt.

In the fourth quarter, Stone trotted onto the field to direct the offense for the first time in his career and moved the Golden Eagles through their longest drive of the day, a 16-play march that covered 76 yards and lasted 7:43. Stone hit Cody Matthews for a 22-yard stike early in the drive, but Gay was the workhorse, accounting for 47 of the 76 yards on 10 touches. He rushed nine times for 41 yards in the drive, including a one-yard TD with 5:02 remaining.

#17 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 38, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 10
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Jewel Hampton ran for a game-high three touchdowns to lead No. 17 Southern Illinois (1-0) to a 38-10 win over Southeast Missouri (0-1) Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,136 at Houck Stadium.

Hampton scored all three of his touchdowns consecutively, including one in the second quarter and two in the third.

SIU, which led 14-3 at the half, outscored Southeast 24-7 in the final two quarters to polish off its fourth-straight win at Houck Stadium. The Salukis have not lost in Cape Girardeau since 2001.

Hampton scored his first two touchdowns immediately after Southeast had scored.

After Drew Geldbach made a 35-yard field goal to narrow SIU's lead to 7-3 in with 3:03 left in the first quarter, Hampton answered with a 1-yard plunge on the Salukis next possession. That touchdown capped a 14-play, 64-yard drive which covered 7:27.

Southeast fell behind, 21-3, when Hampton scored again, this time on a 23-yard run with 10:32 remaining in the third quarter.

The Redhawks battled right back when Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference quarterback Matt Scheible threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Foster at the 6:41 mark. Foster's second career touchdown made it a 21-10 game and put the finishing touches on Southeast's longest drive of the night (9 plays, 85 yards).

Foster's TD was the last of Southeast's scoring, as SIU responded with 17 unanswered points to put the exclamation point on its 38-10 season-opening win.

Although Hampton led his team in touchdowns, Steve Strother and Paul McIntosh finished ahead of him with 81 and 65 rushing yards, respectively.

Strother gave SIU a quick 7-0 lead when he broke free for a 62-yard touchdown just eight seconds into the game. He caught a McIntosh swing pass behind the line of scrimmage and ran down the near sideline to the end zone.

McIntosh completed 14-of-18 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown, as well.

SIU outrushed Southeast, 240-17, and held a 494-261 advantage in total offense. The Salukis averaged nearly eight yards (7.6) yards per play.

Scheible ran for a game-high 91 yards on nine carries, averaging 10.1 yards per attempt. He also completed 14-of-23 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. Scheible (3,522) moved to ninth all-time in career passing yardage at Southeast.

In addition, Southeast ran just 55 offensive plays.

Defensively, Blake Peiffer registered a career-high 12 tackles to lead the Redhawks. Peiffer also had nine solo stops and forced a fumble.

Bryan Blanfort followed with nine tackles, a pass breakup and one forced fumble.

Kenneth Boatright led SIU with seven tackles.

TENNESSEE STATE 33, SOUTHERN 7
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State Tigers opened their 2011 football season with a resounding 33-7 win over the Jaguars of Southern University in the John Merritt Classic, played in front of 25,209 fans at Nashville's LP Field.

TSU rolled up 512 yards of total offense (342 rushing, 170 passing), while limiting Southern to 300 yards of total offense (37 rushing, 263 passing). The 342 rushing is a JMC record eclipsing TSU's 279 yards against  Alabama State in 1999. The 512 yards of total offense ranks second (530 vs. Alabama State, 1999). Southern's 37 yard rushing total was the second lowest by a team in the John Merritt Classic (13, Alabama A&M, 2009). The Tigers rolled up a JMC record 29 first downs (20 rushing, 8 passing, 1 penalty) while allowing just  a record low 12 first downs by the Jaguars ( 1 rushing, 9 passing, 2 penalty).

Individually, several Tigers turned in stellar performances. Sophomore running back Trabis Ward had a career day rushing for 141 yards on 18 carries with 1 touchdown. Ward racked up 157 yards in all-purpose yardage. Senior safety Joe Wylie opened the TSU scoring with a 59 yard interception for a touchdown in the first quarter (9:58). Senior linebacker Rico Council led the Tigers' defense, recording 9 (solo) tackles, with 3 tackles for loss (17), 2 sacks (12) and 1 interception (4).

Southern's top offensive performance game from freshman quarterback J.P. Douglas who was inserted into the game in the third quarter and on his first collegiate pass tossed a 66 yard touchdown to Jordan Bilbo. Douglas finished the game completing 7-of-15 passes for 141 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Starting quarterback Dray Joseph was 9-of-18 for 122 yards and 1 interception.

On the game, Tennessee State put 13 points on the board in the first quarter after Wylie's 59-yard interception return (9:58) and Trabis Ward's 5-yard touchdown blast (6:01) for a 13-0 lead after a missed PAT.

In the second quarter, the Tigers capped an 80 (12 play) drive with senior Dante' Thomas' 4-yard blast (11:52) and finally on a Travis James 11-yard TD reception from Jeremy Perry (2:51), pushing the score to 27-0 at halftime.

Southern put the only points on the board in the third quarter on the Douglas 66 yard pass (8:29) to close the score to 27-7 after three periods.

The Tigers tacked on two field goals by Jamin Godfrey in the fourth quarter as he booted FG's of 20-yards (12:05) and 42-yards (00:53).

CINCINNATI 72, AUSTIN PEAY 10
CINCINNATI - Cincinnati rolled up 561 yards, including 387 on the ground as it defeated Austin Peay State University, 72-10, Saturday, in the non-conference opener for both teams.

It was the fifth meeting between Austin Peay and Cincinnati, a Football Championship Subdivision member who played in Bowl Championship Series FedEx Orange Bowl just two seasons ago.  The 72 points was the most permitted by the Govs in the series-it was the two teams' first meeting since 1993.

The loss also was the ninth straight for the Govs, dating back to the 2010 season.

Austin Peay did have some bright moments, especially in the second half. Stephen Stansell, who also handled the punting chores for the first time, kicked a 21-yard field goal to get the Govs on the scoreboard. Wesley Kitts (9  carries, 65 yards) and Ryan White (21 carries, 64 yards) had solid performances running the football.

In addition, quarterback Jake Ryan completed 16 of 23 passes for 150 yards and two interceptions, both picks coming as a result of receivers not handling passes. Junior Devin Stark had five catches for 66 yards, including a 36-yard catch to set up the Govs' first score.

But the 387 rushing yards did not sit well for head coach Rick Christophel, whose offseason focus was stopping the run.

The first quarter was especially unsettling for the Govs. After allowing Ralph David Abernathy to return the opening kickoff 60 yards, All-Big East running back Isaiah Pead took the handoff on the very next play and raced 40 yards down the left side for a quick 7-0 score. Pead would add another rushing TD later in the quarter as the Bearcats gained 114 rushing yards in the first quarter alone.

Quarterback Ryan also was victimized by two mishandled passes, one that bounced off Devon Stark's hands and ended up gaining a first down. However, the other, which bounced off Wes Kitts' hands, ended up in an interception in Govs territory, stifling a Govs drive and setting up the Bearcats for a score.

In the second quarter, things went from bad to worse, especially late in the half. The Bearcats, already up 27-0, scored with 39 seconds left. APSU proceeded to fumble the ensuing kickoff and the Bearcats scored one more time-as two APSU defenders collided-as Anthony McClung hauled in a 25-yard score from Collaros with just nine seconds left to make it a 41-0 halftime contest.

The Govs lone third-quarter highlight was a 36-yard pass from Jake Ryan to Devin Stark inside the 10-yard line, which set up the Govs only score, a 21-yard Stephen Stansell field goal. That field goal made it 63 straight games the Governors have not been shutout.

A 22-yard run by Kitts set up the Govs only TD, an eight-yard run by the junior tailback in the fourth quarter.

KANSAS STATE 10, EASTERN KENTUCKY 7
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Eastern Kentucky University defense forced five turnovers, but host Kansas State tallied a 33-yard touchdown pass in the final two minutes to escape with a 10-7 victory Saturday night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Colonels almost earned a win over a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team for the first time since 1985.
 
EKU's defense was particularly stout in the opening half, coming away with three turnovers and recording two sacks. Unfortunately, the Colonels were unable to capitalize on any of the change of possessions.
 
Kansas State fumbled the ball on its first possession, allowing Eastern to take over at the K-State 24-yard line. The Colonels settled for a field goal try, but missed the 42-yard attempt wide right.
 
Later in the first quarter, the Wildcats muffed a punt which was then recovered by sophomore Myer Nolan at the Kansas State 35-yard line. EKU proceeded to move the ball inside the 10-yard line thanks in part to a 15-yard completion from freshman quarterback Jared McClain to junior wide receiver Tyrone Goard. However, Eastern gave the ball back to the home team with an interception on 3rd-and-goal.
 
Kansas State struggled the entire first half to give the home crowd a reason to cheer. The Wildcats' lone opportunity to score before halftime was thwarted when the EKU defense stopped K-State on fourth down at the visiting team's 23-yard line.
 
Eastern Kentucky finally put some points on the board late in the third quarter. A forced fumble at the Kansas State 19-yard line was scooped up by senior Patrick McClellan and returned to the one-yard line. Two plays later, McClain found the end zone with a quarterback keeper through the right side.
 
The host Wildcats responded early in the fourth quarter with a 36-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3.
 
EKU moved the ball to midfield on its ensuing possession, but was forced to punt. K-State took over at its own 14-yard line on the decisive drive. Quarterback Collin Klein rushed for 36 yards on the 11-play drive and also converted two third downs to keep the chains moving. Following a time-out at the Eastern 33-yard line with 1:46 left, Klein found a streaking Chris Harper down the right sidelines for the winning touchdown.
 
The Colonels had one final possession, but threw an interception near the 50-yard line.
 
Sophomore Shawn Shupperd and junior Robert Knowles joined McClellan and Knowles with fumble recoveries. Meanwhile, junior Brooklyn Fox led all players with 11 tackles and an interception. Goard chipped in on special teams with a partially blocked punt.
 
McClain, who was starting in place of the injured T.J. Pryor, finished 9-of-26 for 119 yards. The Colonel running game was bottled up for just 10 total yards.
 
Kansas State ran for 114 of its 175 yards following halftime. Klein totaled 78 rushing yards on 25 carries while John Hubert added a game-high 91 yards.