
GRIDIRON SKYHAWKS TO WELCOME 10TH RANKED GAMECOCKS TO GRAHAM STADIUM THIS WEEKEND
3/9/2021 4:41:00 PM | Football
The University of Tennessee at Martin football team will host nationally ranked Ohio Valley Conference foe No. 10 Jacksonville State on Sunday, March 14. Kickoff from Hardy Graham Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
UT Martin enters the contest at 1-1 (1-1 OVC) on the season after picking up a 28-15 win over Eastern Illinois in the team's home opener last week. The Skyhawks scored 21-unanswered points to open the contest while quarterback John Bachus III threw three touchdown passes finding Rodney Williams for a pair and Donnell Williams for the other. Junior linebacker John Ford also tallied his first career interception and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown to pick up their four win against the Panthers in the last five matchups.
With the win against Eastern Illinois, UT Martin extended its home winning streak against OVC teams to six games dating back to the 2018 season, beginning with a 38-13 win against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 10, 2018.
Today's coaching matchup features two of the league's winningest head coaches in UT Martin's Jason Simpson and Jacksonville State's John Grass. Simpson ranks sixth in OVC history with 88 career victories while Grass recently moved into the Top-10 with a 63-19 overall mark.
Jacksonville State is 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the conference slate. The Gamecocks were one of 17 FCS programs that opted to play non-conference games in the fall and has a full schedule of 11 games between four fall games and seven spring games. With a five-game winning streak, JSU brings the longest active win streak in the FCS into this week's game.
The Gamecocks went to the road and picked up a 38-16 win at Tennessee State last weekend behind 452 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. Quarterback Zion Webb leads the Gamecocks by completing 66 percent of his passes for 520 yards and four touchdowns this season while the ground attack has added 12 touchdowns as well. Defensively, the team has tallied seven interceptions while Nicario Harper leads the squad with 48 tackles in six games.
This marks the 42nd meeting between the two programs in a series which dates back to 1967 and the final matchup as conference opponents as Jacksonville State is set to leave the OVC for the ASUN Conference in July. JSU holds a commanding lead in the series with a 33-8 mark. The Skyhawks snapped a six-game losing streak last season with a 22-17 victory on Homecoming over the then-17th ranked Gamecocks back on Nov. 2, 2019 in Graham Stadium.
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ while Tom Britt (play-by-play), Chris Brinkley (analyst) and John Hatler (analyst) will be on the call locally on WCMT Radio 1410 AM/100.5 FM. Those links - in addition to a link for live stats - can be found at the top of the webpage.
UT Martin enters the contest at 1-1 (1-1 OVC) on the season after picking up a 28-15 win over Eastern Illinois in the team's home opener last week. The Skyhawks scored 21-unanswered points to open the contest while quarterback John Bachus III threw three touchdown passes finding Rodney Williams for a pair and Donnell Williams for the other. Junior linebacker John Ford also tallied his first career interception and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown to pick up their four win against the Panthers in the last five matchups.
With the win against Eastern Illinois, UT Martin extended its home winning streak against OVC teams to six games dating back to the 2018 season, beginning with a 38-13 win against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 10, 2018.
Today's coaching matchup features two of the league's winningest head coaches in UT Martin's Jason Simpson and Jacksonville State's John Grass. Simpson ranks sixth in OVC history with 88 career victories while Grass recently moved into the Top-10 with a 63-19 overall mark.
Jacksonville State is 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the conference slate. The Gamecocks were one of 17 FCS programs that opted to play non-conference games in the fall and has a full schedule of 11 games between four fall games and seven spring games. With a five-game winning streak, JSU brings the longest active win streak in the FCS into this week's game.
The Gamecocks went to the road and picked up a 38-16 win at Tennessee State last weekend behind 452 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. Quarterback Zion Webb leads the Gamecocks by completing 66 percent of his passes for 520 yards and four touchdowns this season while the ground attack has added 12 touchdowns as well. Defensively, the team has tallied seven interceptions while Nicario Harper leads the squad with 48 tackles in six games.
This marks the 42nd meeting between the two programs in a series which dates back to 1967 and the final matchup as conference opponents as Jacksonville State is set to leave the OVC for the ASUN Conference in July. JSU holds a commanding lead in the series with a 33-8 mark. The Skyhawks snapped a six-game losing streak last season with a 22-17 victory on Homecoming over the then-17th ranked Gamecocks back on Nov. 2, 2019 in Graham Stadium.
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ while Tom Britt (play-by-play), Chris Brinkley (analyst) and John Hatler (analyst) will be on the call locally on WCMT Radio 1410 AM/100.5 FM. Those links - in addition to a link for live stats - can be found at the top of the webpage.
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