Tennessee State head football coach Eddie George was reminded of the last time Tennessee State had a chance at an OVC conference title.
It was 1999, the same year he—then a star running back for the Tennessee Titans—lost in the Super Bowl to the then-St. Louis Rams.
George referenced that game’s ultimate play during the Big South/OVC coaches media call as the Tigers prepare to host conference-leader Southeast Missouri on Saturday.
“We’ve got the chance to cross the goal line,” George said, alluding to Kevin Dyson being tackled at the one-yard line by Mike Jones as time expired. “We all understand what’s on the table, what’s at stake. We had to keep the faith, control what we can control and see how it all shakes out.”
Tennessee State, 8-3 overall, is locked in a three-way tie for second place with Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin at 5-2, while the Redhawks have a 6-1 conference mark.
The math isn’t very complicated, though it involves several steps. For the Tigers to earn the Big South-OVC auto bid to the playoffs, they must beat Southeast Missouri, while UT-Martin would have to lose to Lindenwood, and Eastern Illinois would have to defeat Tennessee Tech.
If that scenario works out, this would be TSU’s first OVC-related football title since 1999 and secure their first FCS playoff appearance since 2013.
George says that his team is ready for the task at hand.
“This is what you play the games for. You go through the process of winter, spring, and summer to get to this point, to play a meaningful game in November against a worthy opponent,” he explained. “This is a great opportunity for us, we worked hard to get here, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do, we’ve still got to get better, we’ve still got to get better, and we’ve got our hands full this week.”
Game time is 4:30 EST and will be streaming on ESPN Plus.
