Saturday night roundup
All league games are over. It turned out to be a rough week for the OVC's national status, as two of the three teams in the top 25 lost conference games. Here's what happened tonight:
Vanderbilt 38, Tennessee State 9 - Tigers can't compete in the first-ever meeting with their Nashville neighbors.
Illinois State 35, Murray State 14 - Racers look good early, taking a tie game to the locker room at halftime, but ISU takes over in the second half.
UT-Martin 24, #25 Jacksonville State 14 - Skyhawks win what was pitched as a battle of the OVC's best defenses. Martin's offense didn't look bad either.
#20 Eastern Illinois 24, Samford 13 - The OVC's top ranked team wins its first league game, on the road no less, to take command of the conference title race.
Considering #24 Eastern Kentucky's loss to Tennessee Tech Thursday, I'd say the OVC will have just one team in the top 25 come Monday, unless UT-Martin gets a little credit at 3-1 with a victory over what had been a top-25 team. The chances of an at-large playoff bid for the league are all but dead.
I'd say EIU now appears to be favored to repeat as OVC champs, but there's a lot of football left to be played, and Tech and Martin have proven anything is possible.
posted by Jax42 @ 10:02 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Well, one could say that this proves that the OVC isn't just a league with a few teams at the top and several bottomfeeders. I mean, it's not like JSU is suddenly a bad team because they lost to Martin.
I think having more than one OVC team in the playoffs should be a secondary concern at this point, at least until we can get our one representative to actually be competitive and maybe even win.
One could indeed say that, golden_eagle. Martin played very well last night and has to be considered a contender now, but JSU did not play up to its team's potential. For the rest of the season Gamecocks fans will have to wonder which team will show up for any given game.
Secondary concern? OVC fans should even think about multiple playoff bids at this point. It ain't gonna happen. You're right, playoff victories for the eventual champion are the only thing that can lift the league's reputation now.
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