Friday news

Here's what's online this morning, starting with the aftermath of Tennessee Tech's surprise upset of #24 Eastern Kentucky last night:

The Richmond (Ky.) Register suggests there may be no words to describe the Colonels' second-half meltdown against the Golden Eagles. After dominating the first half - but missing on some opportunities to score - EKU watched the Golden Eagles put 20 unanswered points on the board in the second half for a final score of 27-14.

The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader in its report on the game has a couple of quotes from EKU coach Danny Hope offering explanations. Among them, he points to the play of QB Josh Greco: "(Greco) wasn't throwing in rhythm and was holding the ball too long. We were lacking big-play potential."

NOTE: Tech fans, I'm not slighting your team by not examining what the Golden Eagles did to win the game. All I've got so far is reports from Kentucky papers, for which the first question, obviously, is: "What the heck happened to EKU?" The Cookeville paper ought to have a report up this afternoon.

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle says Austin Peay State's former conference mates Dayton know they're facing a very different team than the one they've beaten in six consecutive seasons. "We put the tapes on last week, and it took us six plays to see they were a whole different ball club," Dayton coach Mike Kelly told the paper. "All of a sudden they're are bigger, faster and stronger. They play with more athletic ability." Dayton hosts the Govs Saturday at noon.

The Birmingham (Ala.) News says Samford's staff took Homewood product Rodney Shepherd on as a linebacker on the advice of his high school coach, and are glad they did. Shepherd has 25 tackles over the Bulldogs' first three games, for an average of 8.7 per game. He's hoping to get a few more against defending OVC champ Eastern Illinois, which visits Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Southeast Missourian says Don Hansen's Football Gazette named SEMO punter David Simonhoff its national special teams palyer of the week for his effort against Jacksonville State last week. Simonhoff punted eight times for an average of 51.2 and a long of 66 yards.

Several Tennessee State items from The (Nashville) Tennessean today. The smallest, but the most important to note: wide receiver Mike Mason will be back this season after all. His posterior cruciate ligament turns out to be sprained and not torn. He'll miss four to five weeks rather than the entire season. With Msaon out for Saturday's contest against Vanderbilt, Chris Johnson is expected get on the field a lot, where he'll likely see his good friend Marcus Buggs, a Vandy linebacker. The two haven't spoken at all this week, the paper says. Everybody else in Nashville, though, has been talking about this game, for decades, it seems. The paper says TSU and Vandy supporters have wanted to see the teams line up against eachother since the 1960s, when the Tigers were loaded with talent that at the time was more likely to play for historically black schools. They'll finally see it happen Saturday, at 6 p.m.

The Nashville City Paper says William Overton had a tough decision to make in 1970, when Venderbilt offered him a scholarship to play football for the Commodores. Overton felt pressure from within his African-American community to play at Tennessee State instead. He chose the road less traveled, heading to Vandy instead, one of the first black players to do so. As if missing Mason wasn't bad enough, the paper says TSU's starting quarterback Antonio Heffner may miss some of the Vandy game, too. Heffner injured his right foot against Jackson State last week. He'll play on Saturday, coach James Webster said, but could be pulled early.