Wednesday news

Here's the news this morning around the Ohio Valley Conferece:

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle looks at the bonds between Samford coach Bill Gray and Austin Peay State coach Carroll McCray. McCray was an assistant at Samford from 1994-2000, along with Gray, when McCray was diagnosed with cancer. The paper also includes Gray's comments from yesterday's coaches' teleconference.

In a column today, Brian Nielsen of the (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier looks at the lack of natural rivalries in the OVC, and says that Eastern Illinois is "stuck" in the league. The paper, in a story borrowed from the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph, also runs down injuries among the Panthers' opponents Saturday, Illinois State.

The Richmond (Ky.) Register notes the increased production of Eastern Kentucky's ground game after leaning heavily on the pass for the past several years.

Echoing the story above, The Anniston (Ala.) Star (sorry, subscribers only) says Jacksonville State's staff saw a team transformed when they popped in film of Southeast Missouri State's first two games. When the Gamecocks line up against SEMO on Saturday, they'll face a team that largely has abandoned the pass for a power running game under new head coach Tony Samuel. In a list of four things The Star thinks JSU must do to beat SEMO, the paper says the Gamecocks must get their own running game going, get good play from special teams, defend on both the line of scrimmage and in the backfield, and control Redhawks quarterback Kevin Ballatore.

The Gadsden (Ala.) Times previews JSU's home opener with SEMO, saying JSU coach Jack Crowe thinks a few young players maturing is all that needs to happen to make the Gamecocks a "real solid football team."

Murray State coach Matt Griffin says his Racers gave away lastweek's game against Tennessee State. The Murray (Ky.) Ledger & Times says Griffin cited a few key MSU mistakes gave the Tigers the game. (Nothing to do with Heffner and Mason, then?)

The Southeast Missourian notes that that TSU victory put the Tigers in first place in the OVC race, for now. The paper has its run-down of the league today.