Friday news

Here's what's online here at the end of the week in the OVC:

Tomorrow will see the OVC two best running attacks pitted against eachother, but don't call either Eastern Illinois or UT-Martin "one-dimensional," urges the (Chareleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier.

While Tennessee State's offense has received plenty of attention as of late, The (Nashville) Tennessean says the Tigers' defense has been shining quietly. As of last Saturday, the Tigers had matched the number of interceptions (11) they managed in all of last season. Pressure from cornerbacks Aaron Strong and Dominiquw Rodgers have allowed the rest of the squad to choke off opponents' running games, the paper says.

The Nashville City Paper says coach James Webster is seeing the results he expected from his TSU team, just a little ahead of schedule. Last year the Tigers won just one OVC game. This year, they've won three already, including last week's victory against Jacksonville State, which Webster points to as a signal the Tigers are for real.

Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe tells The (Cookeville, Tenn.) Herald-Citizen that OVC teams have improved greatly since his team cruised to league titles in 2003 & '04. Why? "There are teams playing better defense in this league, and I saw it coming with Eastern Illinois last year. People are getting better." Here's a link to the HC sports section.