Holding steady & weekly awards

The OVC held its ground in the top 25 polls this week, with just one interesting change. Idle UT-Martin passed Eastern Illinois in the Sports Network poll, despite the Panthers' win over pre-season conference favorite Eastern Kentucky. The teams switched places, with Martin at #16 and EIU at #17. EIU remained at #16 in the CSN coaches' poll (according to a threard at AGS, the poll page at I-AA.org hasn't been updated yet) and the AnyGivenSaturday.com fan poll.

Jacksonville State was the only other team to receive votes in the polls. The Gamcocks had 27 points in the TSN poll for 34th place, 7 points for 31st place in the AGS poll. JSU got no votes in the coaches' poll. The loss to Mississippi State appears have cost the Gamecocks some respect among voters.

Conference players of the week have been announced at individual team Web sites, though the OVC site hasn't got a release up about them yet. This week's honoree on offense is Tennessee State running back Javarris Williams, a sophomore, who tallied 195 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers against Tennessee Tech. On defense, Eastern Illinois senior linebacker Lucius Seymour gets the nod for the second week in a row; he was in on 11 tackles, four of them solo and one for a loss in the Panthers' victory over EKU. Samford punter Chris Hicks, a senior, is the specialist of the week after averaging 40.2 yards on five punts, with a long shot of 44 yards. Lee Sweeney, a redshirt freshman quarterback for Tennessee Tech, gets the conference's newcomer award for the second time in three weeks. In saturday's loss to Tennesse State, the transfer from Louisville set a school record for pass completions, at 28.