UT MARTIN SURGES TO 40-7 FAMILY WEEKEND VICTORY OVER MURRAY STATE

Saturday, September 28

Martin, Tenn.

6 p.m.

UT Martin

2-2 , 1-0

Murray State

2-3 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Murray State

UT Martin

UT MARTIN SURGES TO 40-7 FAMILY WEEKEND VICTORY OVER MURRAY STATE

9/29/2019 12:20:00 AM | Football

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MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin football team posted a dominating performance on Saturday night, treating a near-capacity crowd to a 40-7 Ohio Valley Conference opening victory against Murray State.

The Skyhawks (2-2, 1-0 OVC) jumped out to an early lead, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter before filling the scoring column in every quarter of the contest. UT Martin would post season-highs in plays (95), yards of total offense (500) and forced turnovers (three) en route to a dominating victory.

UT Martin played with an increased tempo throughout the game behind the strong play of freshman John Bachus III who tallied career-highs with 26 completions for 312 yards and two touchdowns – including one through the air and one the ground. Senior Joe Hudson also appeared in the game, completing a pair of passes for 20 yards while tossing a touchdown.

Junior Peyton Logan paced the ground attack with 14 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown while senior Terry Williams tallied seven receptions to lead the Skyhawks through the air. A total of eight different players tallied carries in the contest while eight additional players recorded receptions – including touchdown grabs by Donnell Williams and Lamarcus Young.

Defensively, UT Martin held Murray State to just 267 yards of total offense while completely eliminating the ground attack by allowing just 17 yards. Junior JaQuez Akins and senior Sherrod Pittman led the team with nine tackles on the evening while Akins both forced and recovered a fumble in the contest. Junior Takeem Young also tallied a fumble recovery while freshman Kameron Bowdry forced a pair. The Skyhawks recorded its third turnover of the game via an interception in the endzone by graduate Cam Ordway.

"We really appreciated the crowd," UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. "I really appreciate it. I have an idea – let's just call every Saturday "Family Day" and get them here. This is a family atmosphere, why would you not want to come to the games here? If we could get this every Saturday, our goals would only go up."

Gallery: (9/28/2019) Football vs. Murray State

"Tonight was a great win – I am very proud of those guys in that locker room," Simpson continued. "We left the Southern Illinois game with a bad taste in our mouth knowing we are a better football team than we played like that day. These two weeks, we have ground it out and these guys responded. We made some personnel changes on offense and I'm proud of those guys. It certainly wasn't as clean as we wanted it to be but I really liked John's calmness and his execution tonight. We were able at times to control the line of scrimmage and mix some things up – kind of call the game backward, throwing on first down or throwing on second-and-long. Then I was pleased with our defense only giving up seven points. I got after them a little bit at halftime only because I felt like we had a little lull and was a little relaxed there. We think we have a good defense. If we keep our concentration, we can play at a very high level."

The game's scoring would open on a seven-yard rushing touchdown by Terry Williams on the team's first drive of the game before a connection from Bachus to Lamarcus Young went 47 yards for a touchdown. The Skyhawks would cap off the first half's scoring output with a 27-yard field goal by Ryan Courtright followed by a one-yard scamper by Bachus to put the home squad up 24-7 heading into halftime.

From there the Skyhawks would record a second-half shutout for the second time at home this season while scoring 16 points in the final two quarters. Courtright would tally the team's lone points in the third with his second field goal of the game, this time from 19 yards. UT Martin would then add two additional touchdowns in the fourth quarter to pad its advantage on a 17-yard rush by Logan before the final play of the game saw Donnell Williams wrangle a tipped ball out of the air and score a touchdown from senior Joe Hudson.

UT Martin will look to build upon its victory with back-to-back road contests, beginning with a matchup at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 5. Kickoff from Roy Kidd Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be featured as the OVC ESPN3 Game of the Week.