WEEK 5 SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, SEPT. 28 TIME WATCH SERIES
LINDENWOOD at EASTERN ILLINOIS *
2:00pm CT ESPN+ series tied, 1-1
Northwestern State at #13/14 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
3:00pm CT ESPN+ SEMO leads series, 1-0
TENNESSEE TECH at GARDNER-WEBB *
4:00pm ET ESPN+ series tied, 2-2
UT MARTIN at Kennesaw State
5:00pm CT ESPN+ KSU leads series, 1-0
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN at TENNESSEE STATE *
5:00pm CT ESPN+ CSU leads series, 1-0
McKendree at WESTERN ILLINOIS
6:00pm CT ESPN+ 1st meeting
All Times subject to change
* – Big South-OVC Association game
Big South-OVC Association member in ALL CAPS
2-MINUTE OFFENSE
OPENING KICKOFF:
Southeast Missouri’s No. 13 position in the Stats Perform Poll is tied for the highest national ranking by a Big South-OVC Football Association member in the league’s brief history. Last season, both SEMO and UT Martin were rated 13th in the country during the campaign. In 2023, SEMO was ranked No. 13 in Week 3, while the Skyhawks landed at No. 13 in Week 9.
1st DOWN:
New head coaches CRIS REISERT (Gardner-Webb) and BOBBY WILDER (Tennessee Tech) earned their fi rst wins at their respective schools this past week, and one of those two leaders will pick up his second victory this Saturday as the schools go head-to-head. Meanwhile, new Western Illinois head coach JOE DAVIS is seeking his first head coaching triumph this week as well.
2nd DOWN:
The Association picked up its second win over a nationally-ranked opponent when SEMO defeated then No. 7/7 Southern Illinois last week. The victory marked the highest-ranked non-conference victory in Big South-OVC Association history — just two weeks after the league achieved its fi rst win over a Top 15 program.
3rd DOWN:
Southeast Missouri WR DORIAN ANDERSON has tied the Big South-OVC Association record with three consecutive 100-yard receiving games. Anderson has totaled 353 yards in that span (117.7 average). 4th DOWN: Lindenwood’s 64-0 win over St. Thomas last week was the second-highest point total against an FCS foe in league history — and two points shy of the record
SLANT ROUTES
* CHARLESTON SOUTHERN:
The Buccaneers are looking to start 1-0 in conference games for the second consecutive season … CSU won last year’s first-ever meeting with Tennessee State, 35-21.
* EASTERN ILLINOIS:
The Panthers are looking to start 1-0 in conference games for the first time since 2022 … EIU defeated Lindenwood last season, 16-10, as part of its 4-game win streak to close out the year.
* GARDNER-WEBB:
The Runnin’ Bulldogs are looking to start 1-0 in conference games for the first time since 2022 … GWU is looking for its second-straight win over Tennessee Tech, as Gardner-Webb blanked TTU last season, 35-0.
* LINDENWOOD:
The Lions are looking to start 1-0 in conference games for the first time since 2021, as well as the first time at the FCS level … Lindenwood won the first-ever meeting with EIU in 2022, 37-34 in 2OT.
* SOUTHEAST MISSOURI:
The Redhawks can match last season’s overall victory total with a win on Saturday … SEMO won the lone previous meeting with Northwestern State in 2022, 51-6.
* TENNESSEE STATE:
The Tigers are looking to avoid their first 0-2 conference start since the 2021 Spring season … TSU has won five of its last six home games, dating back to last year.
* TENNESSEE TECH:
The Golden Eagles are looking to start 2-0 in conference games for the first time 2011 … TTU has had a different leading rusher in every game this season.
* UT MARTIN:
The Skyhawks are playing their second FBS opponent of the season on Saturday, which also marks UTM’s final non-conference contest this year … UT Martin dropped the lone previous meeting with KSU in 2022 (L, 44-27).
* WESTERN ILLINOIS:
Western Illinois plays its home opener Saturday against McKendree, which also marks the Leathernecks’ final nonconference game of the year … WIU is looking to snap an 11-game home losing skid.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK – SEPT. 23
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Paxton DeLaurent, Southeast, Missouri, QB • 6-5, 229, Sr. • Camdenton, Mo.
DeLaurent led Southeast Missouri to a 38-21 win at No. 7 Southern Illinois by accounting for 326 yards of total offense and four touchdowns as the Redhawks reclaimed the “War for the Wheel” trophy. The senior completed 25-of-40 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns and rushed the ball six times for 25 yards. DeLaurent had touchdown passes of 12 and 19 yards in the first quarter to give SEMO the early lead. After the Redhawks fell behind for the first time late in the third quarter, he led back-to-back-to-back scoring drives, capping the first two of those with touchdown scores of 19 and 3 yards. On the fi nal drive SEMO went 66 yards in 6:22 and scored to clinch the game. It marked the team’s fourth win over a Top 10 opponent under head coach Tom Matukewicz. Nationally DeLaurent ranks second in passing touchdowns (12) and points responsible for (74), sixth in completions (25.0/game), seventh in passing yards (1,068) and ninth in total offense (271.5 yards/game).
Others Nominated:
MJ Flowers (Eastern Illinois), Carson Gresock (Gardner-Webb), Obie Sanni (Tennessee Tech)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Hudson Tucker, Tennessee Tech, DL • 6-2, 260, Jr. • Kingland, Ga.
Tucker played havoc in the Tennessee State backfield as Tennessee Tech opened Association play with a 24-14 win over the Tigers. The junior had six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss (for minus-16 yards) and 2.0 sacks (for minus-14 yards). Tucker also had four quarterback hurries. He was part of a defense that allowed zero net rushing yards and just 246 yards of total offense.
Others Nominated:
Kaelin Drakeford (Eastern Illinois), Jayden Patrick (Lindenwood), McCoy Casey (Southeast Missouri), Boogie Trotter (Tennessee State), Chris Hunter Jr. (UT Martin)
CO-SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jacob Horvath, Eastern Illinois, P • 6-1, 190, So. • Bentleigh, Australia
Horvath averaged 51.2 yards on six punts in Eastern Illinois’ loss at nationally-ranked Illinois State. The sophomore had three of his six punts downed inside the 20-yard line and did not have a touchback. Overall half of his punts went for 50 or more yards. Horvath ranks sixth nationally in punting average (46.4).
Logan Seibert, Lindenwood, K • 5-10, 191, Jr. • Belleville, Ill.
Seibert tallied 16 points on kicking as Lindenwood dominated St. Thomas 64-0 for its fi rst victory of the season. The junior hit 3-of-3 fi eld goals (42, 36, 46 yards) and was 7-of-8 in PATs on the afternoon. The 16 points were the second-most from kicking in program history as Seibert moved into fourth place on the school’s career scoring list (230). Seibert also averaged 59.0 yards on nine kickoffs with two touchbacks.
Others Nominated:
Nick Bigelow (Gardner-Webb), Dom LeBlanc (Tennessee Tech) FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK Payton Brown, Southeast Missouri, RB • 6-1, 216, Fr. • Hillsboro, Mo. The true freshman Brown rushed for 124 yards on 18 carries and scored the final touchdown of the night as Southeast Missouri knocked off No. 7 Southern Illinois 38-21 to win the “War for the Wheel” rivalry. It marked the first 100-yard game of Brown’s young career, as he averaged 6.9 yards per carry and also caught a pair of passes for 27 receiving yards. After SIU took its first lead of the game late in the third quarter, Brown ripped off a 52-yard run on the first play of the ensuing drive which eventually led to the go-ahead score. He capped the victory with a one-yard touchdown run with 3:35 to play. Others Nominated: Dom LeBlanc (Tennessee Tech)
AROUND THE ASSOCIATION…
PASSIN’ PAXTON
Southeast Missouri QB PAXTON DeLAURENT leads the Association with 1,068 passing yards, 12 passing TDs, 100 completions and 267.00 passing yards per game. He is just the second quarterback in Association history to throw 10 TD passes in a 2-game span, as he had six in Week 2 and four in Week 4. In Week 2 against UT Martin, he set Association single-game records for plays (69) and pass attempts (63), tied the single-game mark for touchdown passes (6) and had the second-most completions (34) and passing yards (376) in a contest. He is the only Association quarterback to throw a TD pass in every game this season.
SPINNING WEBBS
Gardner-Webb became just the second team in Big South-OVC history to have two 100-yard rushers in the same game when CARSON GRESOCK (134 yards) and QUASEAN HOLMES (132) achieved the feat this past week at Presbyterian. The duo also combined for five rushing touchdowns in the victory over the Blue Hose, as Gresock had three scores followed by Holmes’ two. LOGAN’S KICK Lindenwood K LOGAN SEIBERT established a Big South-OVC Association single-game record for kick scoring this past week with 16 points in the Lions’ 64-0 win over St. Thomas. He converted seven PATs and three fi eld goals in his record performance. The old mark was 13 points, set by Tennessee State’s JAMES LOWERY last season against Lindenwood on Oct. 28.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
Big South-OVC Association members have combined for six defensive touchdowns after four weeks of the season (4 interception returns and 2 fumble returns) — with Tennessee State leading the way with two (fumble and interception). Joining the Tigers are Eastern Illinois (fumble), Gardner-Webb (interception), Tennessee Tech (interception) and UT Martin (interception). Last year, the Association membership combined for 19 defensive TDs (12 INT, 6 FUM). Meanwhile,
TSU’s BOOGIE TROTTER
recorded a 69-yard pick-six this past week against Tennessee Tech — the third-longest interception return in Association history.
UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE
Lindenwood set the Big South-OVC record for longest pass completion this past week against St. Thomas when QB NATE GLANTZ connected with WR JEFF CALDWELL on a 93-yard pass play for a touchdown in the Lions’ victory. It eclipsed the old record of 90 yards set last season by Tennessee State against Lindenwood. Caldwell also holds the fourth-longest catch in league annals with his 79-yarder against Missouri State in 2023.
UT MARTIN SETS ASSOCIATION RECORD FOR FEWEST NET RUSHING YARDS ALLOWED
In its Week 2 match-up with Southeast Missouri, UT Martin limited the Redhawks to minus-11 net rushing yards, a Big South-OVC Association single-game record. It was the first time a league member did not allow positive rushing yards in a contest and surpassed the previous record of five (5) net rushing yards allowed, which was also set by UTM last season in its meeting with SEMO on Nov. 11. SEE OF RED SEMO recorded the Association’s first-ever win featuring a ranked Big South-OVC team against a ranked non-conference opponent, as this past week the then-No. 21/21 Redhawks beat then-No. 7/7 Southern Illinois, 38-21. It was just the second-ever head-to-head match-up of a ranked Big South-OVC squad against a ranked out-of-conference foe, as the first was between the same two squads last season.
NATIONAL BAROMETER Through four weeks, the Association is 9-9 against non-conference FCS opponents, which includes two wins among six contests against nationally-ranked foes. Charleston Southern earned the league’s first victory of the season against a Top 25 squad when the Buccaneers defeated then-No. 15/16 Furman, 24-20, in Week 2. Two weeks later, SEMO downed then-No. 7/7 Southern Illinois for the Association’s first-ever triumph over a Top 10 progam.
STATE OF MIND
This season, the Big South-OVC Association will play nine non-conference games against “State”- named FCS schools and is 2-5 thus far with wins from Eastern Illinois (vs. Indiana State) and Tennessee State (vs. Mississippi Valley State). In 2023, the Association was 9-2 in such games. In those matchups last season, Eastern Illinois led the way at 3-0 (Indiana State, Illinois State and Northwestern State), followed by Tennessee Tech (Kennesaw State and South Carolina State) and Tennessee State (Kennesaw State and Norfolk State) at 2-0 each. UT Martin (Missouri State) and Charleston Southern (Kennesaw State) went 1-0.
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
The Buccaneers were idle last week and returned to action Saturday in their Association opener at Tennessee State. CSU won last year’s meeting, 35-21 … In CSU’s loss at Richmond in Week 3, GILBERT BROWN averaged 50.1 yards on his eight punts against the Spiders — the fourth-highest single-game punting average in Association history, based on 5-9 punts, with a long of 67. He ranks second in FCS with his league-leading 48.00 season average.
EASTERN ILLINOIS
In the Panthers’ setback at Illinois State, JACOB HORVATH set a Big South-OVC Association single-game record for punting average, based on 5-9 punts, with his 51.2 clip against the Redbirds. He booted six balls for 307 yards with a long of 66. RB MJ FLOWERS ran for a season-high 117 yards and scored EIU’s lone touchdown in the game, while the Panthers amassed a season-best 105 yards on the ground.
GARDNER-WEBB
The Runnin’ Bulldogs tallied season highs of 485 yards of offense and 247 rushing yards in their 42-21 win over Presbyterian this past week. GWU held the ball for 37:22 and scored six times — including five rushing touchdowns that tied for the second-most rushing scores in a single-game in Association history … The Runnin’ Bulldogs have held their last two opponents to a total of 38 rushing yards on 41 carries (0.93 yards per attempt) and are the league leader in rushing defense at 76.75 yards allowed per game … Gardner-Webb’s three losses have been all one possession affairs — two of which were 1-point defeats, for a combined margin of defeat of nine points (3.0 average).
LINDENWOOD
Since moving to Division I, the Lions’ 64-0 win over St. Thomas was the largest in several categories against a fellow Division I team — most points (64), largest margin of victory (64) and the program’s second shutout at the FCS level. Lindenwood owns the highest (77) and third-highest (64) scoring outputs in Association history. CORTEZZ JONES rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns on just 10 carries in the St. Thomas win. JEFF CALDWELL finished with 153 receiving yards on five receptions with two scores. He is averaging a league-best 20.68 yards per catch this season (393 on 19).
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
The Redhawks earned the program’s first win over a Top 25 opponent since SEMO defeated then-No. 17 SIU on Sept. 10, 2022. In addition, it was the 9th win over a ranked FCS opponent for Head Coach TOM MATUKEWICZ. Those wins (and ones over FBS teams) are displayed in the “Brickyard” in the SEMO locker room as part of the team’s Brick-by-Brick mantra … RB PAYTON BROWN ran for a season-high 124 yards and a touchdown in the win over Southern Illinois, as SEMO gained a season-best 449 yards of offense. For the second-straight game, two Redhawks had 100 receiving yards as DORIAN ANDERSON (111) and TRISTAN SMITH (109) surpassed the century mark — the first time a Big South-OVC member achieved this feat twice in the same year. McCOY CASEY recorded 3.5 tackle-for-loss.
TENNESSEE STATE
This past week, Tennessee State erased a 14-0 deficit against Tennessee Tech with 14 unanswered points to tie the contest 14-14 before TTU pulled away. DRAYLEN ELLIS passed for 246 yards — his second-highest total of the season and connected with JALAL DEAN on a 25-yard scoring play for his seventh TD pass of the year. KARATE BRENSON had nine catches for 99 yards … The Tigers are looking to avoid consecutive losses for the first time this season.
TENNESSEE TECH
The Golden Eagles recorded seven sacks in last week’s win over Tennessee State — the most since recording eight vs. EIU in 2010. TTU also held the Tigers to zero net rushing yards on 27 attempts. HUDSON TUCKER recorded 2.5 TFL, 2.0 sacks and 4 QBH in the victory … Tech has kicked 115 consecutive PATs successfully with the last miss coming Sept. 28, 2019, at Eastern Illinois.
UT MARTIN
The Skyhawks are playing two FBS opponents in the same season for the first time since 2022 (Boise State and Tennessee). That season was also the first time UTM faced Kennesaw State … RB PATRICK SMITH is the lone Association player to lead his team in rushing in every game this season. He remains the league’s rushing leader with 353 yards, and is tied for the league-lead with four rushing scores … QB KAIYA SHERON was 20-of-27 passing ( =74.1 percent) for 213 yards and two TDs in last week’s setback against Missouri State. He is 37-of-48 ( =77.1) on the season, along with 394 passing yards and three scoring strikes.
WESTERN ILLINOIS
The Leathernecks were idle last week and return to action Saturday in their home opener against McKendree. It will be Western’s second of five first-time opponents of the year … The Leathernecks’ 34 points against Illinois State in Week 3 was their most in a game since scoring 40 against Lindenwood last season on Sept. 16 … WIU got within three points of the nationally-ranked Redbirds at 31-28 before ISU scored three-straight touchdowns to pull away for the victory … Western ran 94 plays for 503 yards, and won the time of possession battle (38:33 to 21:27).
