Finally, your Thursday update

Sorry for the delay today folks. It's been a busy one. I also probably won't get to Friday's news until late tomorrow night, as I'll be on the road early in the morning and most of the day. Well, enough with the excuses, here's the latest from the OVC.

UT-Martin was victorious tonight, closing out a 28-0 victory against D-II Urbana. The Skyhawks had a score in each quarter. Congrats UTM! The Skyhawks managed 530 yards of total offense in a pretty balanced attack. Surprise of the game: UTM star running back Donald Chapman was the team's thrd-leading rusher with 47 yards on six carries. A box score from The Sports Netwok is here.

Here's the news from this morning's papers, in case you haven't looked it up yourself by now:

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle says the NAIA Cumberland team that will visit Austin Peay State Saturday is a lot like the Govs: young. They won at Southern Virginia last week, 24-17, with 387 rushing yards. Austin Peay defeated the Bulldogs 24-15 is last year's contest.

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier discusses Indiana State's coach Lou West and his son Tony West, a Sycamores running back. Plus, we learn all about the athletic pursuits of the offspring of half the Eastern Illinois staff. The Panthers will host ISU Sturday The Sycamores went down 60-35 at Purdue. The paper also looks at what's happened the last three times EIU faced teams on record-setting losing streaks (the Sycamores have dropped 18 in a row, by the way). If history is any guide, Saturday will be nice for the Panthers.

The Richmond (Ky.) Register says Eastern Kentucky coach Danny Hope feels alot better about his team's performance Saturday after watching the game film, despite the 31-0 score in Cincinnati's favor. He think's the Colonels will be ready this week, when archrival Western Kentucky visits or what our readers voted the OVC vs. I-AA Game of the Year.

The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader says there's plenty at stake in the EKU vs. WKU game, the Battle of the Bluegrass, despite Western's exit from the OVC in 2000.

The Murray (Ky.) Ledger & Times runs down last week's OVC action, and says the rest of the league will have to watch out for EIU & Jacksonville State.

The (Cookeville, Tenn.) Herald-Citizens runs down last week's action and previews the week to come, complete with game predictions. The paper says the OVC will go 4-2 in non-conference play and that Murray State will roll over Tennessee State 41-20.