Written By
Written By
Written By
Written By
No. 12 Tennessee Tech (7-1, 4-1 SoCon) plays at No. 16 East Tennessee State (6-2, 4-0) at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, and the game streams on ESPN+. Ranks are from our Week 8 FCS Top 25.
ETSU is the only Southern Conference team without a league loss. Tennessee Tech, in its first SoCon season, is one game back. The winner takes control of the race for the league's automatic FCS playoff bid.
Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT) on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium in Johnson City, Tennessee. The game streams on ESPN+, and it's ETSU's homecoming.
ETSU leads at 4-0. Tennessee Tech and Chattanooga are 4-1, and No. 17 Mercer is 3-1.
An ETSU win would put the Bucs at 5-0 and drop Tennessee Tech two games back in the loss column. A Tennessee Tech win would tie the two teams at one league loss, and the Golden Eagles would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Tech still hosts Mercer on Nov. 14.
Third-year head coach Bobby Wilder's team opened by beating Monmouth 38-14 and won 24-9 at Chattanooga in a nonconference game. Its only loss came 44-20 at Western Carolina on Oct. 3.
The Golden Eagles have won three straight since then. They beat Furman 20-15 and Eastern Kentucky 49-20, then won 28-13 at The Citadel last week, holding the Bulldogs to 9 passing yards. Tech scores 33.3 points per game and gives up 21.5.
ETSU lost its opener 49-37 to Campbell at home and lost 35-3 at FBS North Carolina. It hasn't lost since. Second-year head coach Will Healy's team has won five straight, including a 58-31 win over Western Carolina and a 14-3 win over Chattanooga.
The Bucs came off a bye and won 38-0 at VMI last week. They held the Keydets to 143 total yards, and it was ETSU's first road shutout since 2001. ETSU scores 33.4 points per game and allows 21.9.
Healy has leaned into the big games. "I enjoy putting all that pressure on our guys right now; they've responded well to it," he said Monday, as reported by WCYB's Andrew Watson.
Tennessee Tech throws for 264.4 yards per game. ETSU runs for 182.4. Each team has three common opponents with the other, and the results tell a story. Both won at The Citadel and both beat Chattanooga, but Western Carolina beat Tech by 24 and lost to ETSU by 27.
TTU QB Jax Leatherwood (senior): The 6-foot-8 SEMO transfer has completed 188 of 274 passes for 2,099 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions. His 21 touchdown passes are the second-most in a season in school history, according to Tennessee Tech Athletics.
TTU WR Gabe Nunez (redshirt senior): Nunez leads the Golden Eagles with 39 catches for 562 yards and three touchdowns.
TTU WR Tre' Holloway (redshirt graduate student): Holloway caught five passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns at The Citadel.
TTU RB M.J. Flowers (redshirt senior): Flowers has 521 yards and five touchdowns on 98 carries. He ran for 124 yards and two scores last week.
TTU DL Hudson Tucker (senior) and LB Greg Turner III (redshirt junior): Tucker leads the team with five sacks. Turner leads it with 54 tackles.
ETSU QB Mason Mims (redshirt freshman): Mims has completed 155 of 215 passes for 1,724 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions. He went 22 of 25 for 173 yards and two scores at VMI.
ETSU RB TJ Peyton (sophomore): Peyton has 737 yards and seven touchdowns on 111 carries. He matched his career high with 121 yards at VMI.
ETSU WR Suderian Harrison (senior): Harrison leads the Bucs with 28 catches for 381 yards. He also threw a touchdown pass on a trick play at VMI.
ETSU LB Dre Delinois (senior) and JACK Charles Woodard (junior): Delinois leads the team with 67 tackles. Woodard leads it with 2.5 sacks.
Ball security matters here. Both teams are minus-2 in turnover margin, and Tech lost two fumbles inside The Citadel's 25-yard line last week.
This is the first meeting since 1984, when ETSU won 10-3 at Tucker Stadium in Cookeville. The schools played almost every year from the 1950s through the 1970s as Ohio Valley Conference rivals.
Our bracket projection after Week 7 had both teams in the field, with ETSU as the SoCon's automatic qualifier and Tennessee Tech as the No. 11 seed. As far as Redshirt Sports knows, the committee doesn't use our poll, but it can be a good indicator.
Neither team made the committee's first top 10, though Tennessee Tech was listed among others receiving votes. The loser likely needs an at-large bid, and the winner gets a clear path to the automatic one.
