2018 Ohio Valley Conference Football Report Austin Peay | Eastern Illinois | Eastern Kentucky | Jacksonville State | Murray State | Southeast Missouri | Tennessee State | Tennessee Tech | UT Martin November 12, 2018 Ohio Valley Conference FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 215 Centerview Drive, Suite 115 Contact: Kyle Schwartz Brentwood, TN 37027 Phone: (615) 690-6685 OVCSports.com Email: [email protected] Twitter: @OVCSports OVC STANDINGS (In games through November 10) OVC OVERALL W L PCT. PF PA W L PCT. PF PA Home Away Neutral Streak Jacksonville State # 7 1 .875 319 161 8 2 .800 407 181 5-0 3-1 0-1 W3 Southeast Missouri 5 2 .714 284 196 7 3 .700 393 309 4-0 3-3 0-0 L1 Murray State 5 2 .714 251 213 5 5 .500 284 336 3-2 2-3 0-0 W1 Eastern Kentucky 4 2 .667 119 174 6 4 .600 259 310 4-2 2-2 0-0 W3 Eastern Illinois 3 4 .429 254 249 3 7 .300 325 407 2-3 1-4 0-0 W1 Tennessee State 2 4 .333 172 227 3 5 .375 233 261 2-1 1-4 0-0 L2 Austin Peay 2 5 .286 190 229 4 6 .400 292 314 3-1 1-5 0-0 L2 UT Martin 2 5 .286 215 201 2 8 .200 290 347 2-3 0-5 0-0 W1 Tennessee Tech 1 6 .143 160 314 1 9 .100 192 470 1-3 0-6 0-0 L1 # - OVC Regular Season Champion THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE LAST WEEK’S RESULTS Saturday, November 17 Saturday, November 10 *Eastern Illinois at #23 Southeast Missouri, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN3) @Murray State 40, #19 Southeast Missouri 38 *Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee Tech, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN+) @Eastern Illinois 52, Austin Peay 21 *UT Martin at Tennessee State, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+) #8 Jacksonville State 41, @Tennessee State 14 #6 Jacksonville State vs. #2 Kennesaw State, 2:00 p.m. (FSSE) @UT Martin 38, Tennessee Tech 13 (SunTrust Park – Atlanta, Ga.) @Eastern Kentucky 40, Robert Morris 39 (OT) *Murray State at Austin Peay, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+) * Indicates OVC Contest ALL TIMES CENTRAL THIS WEEK’S OVC HIGHLIGHTS/STORYLINES With a win at Tennessee State and a loss by Southeast Missouri at Murray State, Jacksonville State claimed its fi fth-straight OVC Cham- pionship and earned the League's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs...JSU is the fi rst OVC team to win fi ve-straight championships (all of which have been outright)...Despite its loss, Southeast Missouri can fi nish the season 8-3 and put itself into consideration for an at- large playoff spot with a win over Eastern Illinois this week; the Redhawks have only been to the FCS Playoffs once in program history (2010)...The 24-team FCS Playoff fi eld will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 11:30 a.m. CT on ESPNU...Murray State overcame a 31-0 defi cit to Southeast Missouri, only to fall behind with 20 seconds left in the game; Racer junior Malik Honeycutt then returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown to give MSU the improbably 40-38 victory...Honeycutt's play as No. 1 on SportsCenter and earned him National Special Teams Player of the Week by STATS...Jacksonville State is ranked No. 6/7 in the Top 25 polls while Southeast Missouri is No. 23 this week...UT Martin can win the Sgt. York Trophy outright with a win at Tennessee State; if the Skyhawks lose, they will fi nish in a tie with Austin Peay (2-1) and as defending champions the Governors will retain the actual trophy...SEMO's Zach Hall now ranks fi rst nationally in tackles (13.4/game), seventh in fumble recoveries (0.4/game) and 16th in interceptions (0.4/ game)...This week's games include Eastern Illinois at Southeast Missouri, Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee Tech, UT Martin at Tennes- see State and Murray State at Austin Peay...In non-conference action it will be a battle of Top 10 teams as No. 6 Jacksonville State and No. 2 Kennesaw State play the fi rst-ever football game at SunTrust Park in Atlanta (home of the Atlanta Braves)...This season 36 OVC football games will be streamed on ESPN+, after the OVC agreed to an extension on its media rights deal with ESPN; the ESPN+ broadcasts replace games formerly on the OVC Digital Network. 2018 OVC Football Weekly Release - November 12 • 1 OVC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK OVC MEDIA INFORMATION CO-OFFENSIVE Kyle Schwartz Asst. Commissioner/Strategic Communications Isaiah Johnson, RB • 6-1, 215, Sr. • Clarksville, Tenn. • Eastern Illinois Phone: (615) 690-6685 Johnson carried the ball 23 times for 187 yards (8.1 ypc) and a trio of touchdowns in Cell: (615) 775-1937 Eastern Illinois' 52-21 victory over Austin Peay. The senior also caught a team-high six E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.OVCSports.com passes for 26 yards and had 12 return yards to fi nish the game with 225 all-purpose yards. Johnson had touchdown runs of 10 and 20-yards in the fi rst quarter to put the ONLINE PRESS BOX: The OVC Football Online Press Box is a Panthers on top 14-0 as the team would build a 35-0 advantage. He added a four- one-stop shop for gathering information about the OVC and its member schools. Media can access it at www.OVCSports.com/ yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Johnson had a long run of 76 yards on the footballpressbox or through links at OVCSports.com. day, a second quarter scamper that setup an EIU touchdown a play later. The 187 rushing yards were the third-most by an OVC player this season. SOCIAL MEDIA: Get breaking news about the OVC by follow- ing the OVC through Social Media. Check out the OVC sites at http://www.twitter.com/OVCSports and http://www.facebook. CO-OFFENSIVE com/ovcsports. Also check out www.YouTube.com/ohiovalley- Drew Anderson, QB • 6-4, 221, R-Sr. • Orinda, Calif. • Murray State conference and the league’s blog at OVCExtra.com. Anderson shook off a bad opening half, that saw him throw three interceptions and WEEKLY NOTES: The OVC will release its Players of the lose a fumble, to toss four touchdowns and help Murray State overcome a 31-0 Week each Sunday afternoon throughout the season. The full defi cit to top No. 19 Southeast Missouri 40-38. The transfer from Buffalo fi nished weekly notes report will be released each Monday throughout the season by 5 p.m. CT. The report is available via e-mail, and the game 37-of-63 for 412 yards and four touchdowns while adding 40 yards on the is posted on the league’s Web site in text and PDF versions. ground. Anderson, who was 18-of-28 passing in the second half, tossed a two-yard Statistics are updated after each gameday on the OVC Web site. score right before halftime to put Murray State on the board. He added a nine-yard touchdown with 5:15 to play in the third and after his defense intercepted SEMO's 2018 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK next pass, tossed a touchdown with 3:55 to play to trim the margin to seven points. OFFENSIVE His fi nal touchdown of the game came with 1:42 to play and gave MSU a 34-31 lead. Sept. 2 Alexander Hollins, Eastern Illinois Sept. 9 Daniel Santacaterina, Southeast Missouri Others Nominated: Zerrick Cooper, Jacksonville State; Shawn McColley, Tennessee Dresser Winn, UT Martin Sept. 16 Marquis Terry, Southeast Missouri State; Andrew Goldsmith, Tennessee Tech. Sept. 23 Josh Pearson, Jacksonville State Sept. 30 Zerrick Cooper, Jacksonville State Oct. 7 D.J. Penick, Murray State DEFENSIVE Oct. 14 Drew Anderson, Murray State Justin Swift, OLB • 6-0, 220, Jr. • Memphis, Tenn. • Southeast Missouri Oct. 21 Micheal Hughes, Tennessee State Swift scored a pair of defensive touchdowns (a 60-yard fumble and 76-yard intercep- Oct. 28 Kristian Wilkerson, Southeast Missouri Nov. 4 Marquis Terry, Southeast Missouri tion) on back-to-back possessions in Southeast Missouri's game at Murray State. Swift Bailey Fisher, Tennessee Tech also added eight tackles and assisted on a sack in the game. Late in the fi rst quarter, Nov. 11 Isaiah Johnson, Eastern Illinois the junior scooped up a MSU fumble and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown to put Drew Anderson, Murray State his team ahead 17-0. It marked the fourth-longest fumble return in school history. A Nov. 18 little over two minutes later, he intercepted a pass and ran 76 yards for a score to put DEFENSIVE the Redhawks up 24-0. That interception return for a score was the second-longest Sept. 2 Zach Hall, Southeast Missouri Sept. 9 Leodis Moore III, Eastern Kentucky in school history. Swift was part of a defense that forced fi ve turnovers in a game, Sept. 16 Steven Crowder, Eastern Kentucky before losing by two points on a kickoff return for a score. Sept. 23 Garrett Wall, UT Martin Sept. 30 Quincy Williams, Murray State Oct. 7 Nate Howard, Austin Peay Others Nominated: Jaison Williams, Austin Peay; Josh Price, Eastern Illinois; Steven Oct. 14 Gavin Bryant, Eastern Kentucky Crowder, Eastern Kentucky; Jalen Choice, Jacksonville State; Kendrick Catis, Murray Oct. 21 Justin Swift, Southeast Missouri Oct. 28 Zach Hall, Southeast Missouri State; Jeremiah Caine, Tennessee State; James Gilleylen, UT Martin. Nov. 4 Leodis Moore III, Eastern Kentucky Nov.