Sunday papers

Here's what the papers have on yesterday's OVC action:

Austin Peay State continues to find new ways to lose games. They dropped a 27-26 game Saturday to the University of the Cumberlands, an NAIA sqaud. The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle says the Govs had a 17-3 lead at halftime, but found themselves in overtime, and missed the extra point on a touchdown that would have kept the game going. APSU is now 1-6.

The Richmond (Ky.) Register says it was a nagging hand injury that's been with him for several weeks that got Josh Greco pulled from Eastern Kentucky's game against Southeast Missouri State Saturday. Whether it was that, the lack of production or a combination of the two, Wake Forest transfer Allan Holland managed to get things going for the Colonels, pulling out a 27-21 win.

The Anniston (Ala.) Star (sorry, subscribers only) says much of the credit for Tennessee State's 38-31 win over Jacksonville State goes to TSU quarterback Antonio Heffner. Heffner was slipping out of the hands of JSU defenders all day, and threw five passes longer than 25 yards, two of them for touchdowns. The paper reports that JSU coach Jack Crowe thinks plenty of the blame belongs to the JSU offense, which dispite the close and relatively high score, appeared to be missing something. The running game for which the team is known managed only 132 yards Saturday.

The Birmingham (Ala.) News also cites Heffner's big-play passes as a primary reason for the TSU victory. Crowe apparently didn't think such a thing was possible against his team's secondary.

The News, reporting on Samford's loss to UT-Martin, says the Bulldog D stiffened in the second half, allowing just 72 yards of offense by the Skyhawks. But Samford managed no more than a pair of field goals on offense, and that wasn't enough to counter the scores Martin made on its first two possesions: a Donald Chapman touchdown and a Shannon Fleming field goal.

The Southeast Missourian says everything would have been different Saturday, if not for the third quarter of the EKU-SEMO game. As it was, though, Allan Holland did direct the Colonels to those 27 points in the third, and the Redhawks wound up losing their homecoming game.

The (Nashville) Tennessean says TSU coach James Webster noticed that nobody had scored on JSU in the first quarter this season. He told his team "Score in the first quarter and you've got it. " Actually, coach, both UT-Martin and Mississippi State had scored in the first quarter, and JSU lost those games. But your point still stands. The paper also notes that TSU wide receiver Mike Mason didn't start Saturday's game, but he did play for the first time since injuring his knee aganst Jackson State more than a month ago. Also, after complaining that the refs were abusing his team, James Webster must feel good about the guys in stripes today. TSU finished with seven flags, its lowest total in an OVC game this year. JSU, meanwhile, was penalized six times. The paper says that's the most for a TSU opponent this season. That's true of conference games, but all of the Tigers' non-conference opponents (in games called by OVC refs, mind you) had more flags than that.