Sunday morning papers

Here's the roundup after Saturday's action:

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle says Austin Peay State failed in its "upset bid" at Dayton Saturday. (The Govs fell 28-23). Tough as the game might have been, especially after losing to this team 46-0 last year, a team fielding 30 players on scholarship does not "upset" a team fielding 0 players on scholarship (well, certainly not in this game, anyway). The Govs obviosuly are improving, but they appear to have a long way to go to build a solid program.

The Anniston (Ala.) Star (sorry, subscribers only) says a fourth-quarter fourth-and inches try on a JSU drive with the Gamecocks down by a field goal was the key play at UT-Martin Saturday night. The Skyhawks kept JSU quarterback Matt Hardin from getting anywhere on a sneak, and went on to win 24-14. Another story picks apart that play and coach Jack Crowe's decision to call it. A notebook roundup looks at UT-Martin coach Jason Simpson's view of the game - he was a Jax State assistant under Mike Williams from 1997-99.

The Birmingham (Ala.) News gives Eastern Illinois senior running back Vincent Webb much of the credit for the Panthers' 24-13 win at Samford Saturday night. Webb had 208 yards - a career best - against the Bulldogs.

Tennessee State might have had a shot against Vanderbilt, had the Tigers not coughed up the ball three times in two minutes and 15 seconds in the seond half, giving up 21 points to the crosstown Commodores, as The (Nashville) Tennessean reports. The paper says TSU coach James Webster was just as disgusted by something that happaned two days before the game: Vandy notified him that it had made a mistake with the transcripts of former Commodore Lamar Divens, thereby making him ineligible to play for TSU in yesterday's game. Maurice Patton focuses on the turnovers in a short column. Mike Organ turns his pen on TSU quarterback Antonio Heffner, who kept the Tigers in the game until throwing two interceptions to help take them out of it. There's also a notebook roundup of short items from the game. All the pieces above, by the way, are listed on The Tennessean's Web site as "Vandy" items. I guess there's no question who the paper thought was the real hometown team on the field yesterday.

The (Cookeville, Tenn.) Herald-Citizen finally gets its coverage of Tennessee Tech's game online today. I feel compelled to note here that the game was played on Thursday. The main game story starts off describing Tech's upset of #24 Eastern Kentucky like this: "Sometimes you just have to believe." One story examines the Tech defense, and another looks at the improved running game. And yet another says a surprise gift from coach Doug Malone might have inspired the Golden Eagles to victory: new uniforms, bright gold trimmed in purple, presented just after the on-field warm-ups before the game. Here's a link to the HC sports section, since links to individual stories never seem to work.