Tuesday news

Here's what's in the papers this morning:

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier says Eastern Illinois players and staff are gearing up for their visit to Hawai'i this week. What's safety Tristan Burge looking forward to most about the trip? "Fish tacos," he told the paper. And there you have it.

The Richmond (Ky.) Register examines the reasons for Eastern Kentucky's second-half collapse against Tennessee Tech this weekend, its second such loss in a row: "Turnovers, penalties, poor field position, missed field goals and a stunningly stagnant offense have been the main culprits," the paper says. Anything else?

The Anniston (Ala.) Star (sorry, subscribers only) says this week's meeting between Jacksonville State and EKU could eliminate the loser from the conference title race. The story also discusses at length last season's possibility of a three-way tie among EIU, EKU & JSU by way of raising the same spectre for this season. Seems a bit early for that, doesn't it?

The Gadsden (Ala.) Times also examines the possibility of JSU's elimination as a contender for the OVC crown. Coach Jack Crowe, though thinks if a team could ever win the league race with two losses, this could be the year ... well, sort of. "If there was ever a year where there could be saturation at the top with teams with two losses, I wouldn't be so profound as to say no-way, Jose," Crowe says. Profound, indeed.

The Murray (Ky.) Ledger & Times manages to get up some coverage of Murray State's loss Saturday to #6 Illinois State. The Racers had it tied at halftime, but a "mistake-filled second half" handed the Redbirds the game, the papers says. That apparently got MSU coach Matt Griffin mad enough that he didn't want to talk about it. The L&T says Griffin stormed out of Stewart Stadium after the game without talking to the media.

The Southeast Missourian says SEMO coach Tony Samuel is putting an interesting spin on Jacksonville State's loss to UT-Martin this weekend. Samuel's Skyhawks were beaten by the Gamecocks the previous weekend, 38-7. Normally, it's hard to find anything positive in seeing a team that creamed you lose its next game, but Samuel says JSU's 24-14 loss proves the Gamecocks are "human," and that SEMO could have played with them if not for having been "out of position too much."

The (Nashville) Tennessean says the controversy between Tennessee State and Vanderbilt over defensive lineman Lamar Divens continues. Divens transferred to TSU this summer after academic difficulty at Vandy. Coach James Webster has said Divens' transcript had showed him cleared to play. But The Tigers got a letter from VU officials Thursday before the schools' first-ever meeting on the gridiron saying there'd been a mistake and Divens wasn't eligible to play. Now, VU officials say they told TSU compliance staff of Divens' situation "no later than Sept. 15." The letter was just a formality, apparently. The Tennessean also says TSU freshman James Bell has been extradited to Florida, where he faces charges of attempted murder and carjacking.