TAMPA, Fla, — Steady offense and another strong performance by the defense lifted the Tennessee State football team to a 24-13 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium in the FAMU Tampa Classic. The win moves TSU to 3-0 to start the season for the second year in a row.
The Tigers held a 10-6 edge over the Rattlers (1-2) at the half before outscoring FAMU by a 14-7 margin the rest of the way.
Quarterback Treon Harris threw touchdown passes to Steven Newbold and Patrick Smith on the night, while sophomore running back Seth Rowland added another touchdown on the ground for the Tigers.
Newbold was named MVP for TSU in the game.
WHAT’S NEXT:
The Tigers will open Ohio Valley Conference play with a trip to UT Martin on Saturday, Sept. 23.
NOTES
- Tennessee State is ranked 22nd in the STATS Top 25 and 24th in the FCS Coaches Poll
- Captains for TSU were Chris Collins, Patrick Smith, Ebo Ogundeko and Lane Clark
- FAMU won the coin toss and deferred the opening kickoff.
- Official attendance for the FAMU Tampa Classic was 17,102
- Tennessee State now leads the all-time series versus Florida A&M by a 30-25 margin.
- TSU has won six in a row versus the Rattlers.
- TSU is 3-0 for the second year in a row.
QUOTES
Senior Defensive Lineman Jason Marrow
“It’s always good to win. I’m going to say what I said last week, it’s still early in the season. We still have to go out there and keep working because we still have a long road ahead of us. We’ve got a lot of teams that we need to beat on our schedule.”
— On the win tonight
“Being relentless and coming off the ball. Not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Points are points. We have to do whatever we can to keep the offense off the board.”
— On blocking the kicks
“It was just in the moment. I just did what I was taught. I just wanted to get back there and make something happen.”
— On how he blocked the kicks
Senior Wide Receiver Patrick Smith
“We stepped it up, especially after the first two games. In the first half, we started off slowly, but we saw that we could do what we wanted to do. We picked it up in the second half. As we keep going on throughout the season, especially going into conference play, we need to keep getting better.”
— On the play of the offense
“It’s very important to be 3-0 right now. It builds confidence in the team. It helps you think about being 4-0, 5-0 and take it one game at a time. We feel like the only people who can stop us is us. You can tell from this game. We had a lot of mistakes that took us back on offense, but once we get it together, we’ll be very, very explosive and hard to stop.”
— On being 3-0
Senior Defensive Lineman Latrelle Lee
“We missed a couple tackles here and there. We weren’t as precise and fundamentally sound as we’ve been, but we played a good game and got the win.”
— On the defense
“That’s big. Just mentally being 3-0 is always a good thing. To be undefeated heading into conference and keeping that streak alive, we want to keep it going.”
— On being undefeated through three games
“It’s always good to beat your rivals. It’s a storied rivalry, so it’s great to get the win.”
— On beating Florida A&M
Junior Quarterback Treon Harris
“Controlling the line of scrimmage was big. We controlled the line of scrimmage from the offensive line. They did a great job of moving their guys out of the way to create some lanes to run the ball and throw the ball.”
— On the success of the offense
“It means a lot. Nobody wants to leave the stadium with a loss in a classic game and a rivalry game like this. We prepared all week and we got better. We executed the plan that we had.”
— On beating FAMU
“In my home state. It was great. I had my mother, my dad, my grandma, my auntie and friends here. And my daughter, this was her first game seeing me play, so it’s special.”
— On winning in the state of Florida
Courtesy: TSU Athletics
