MURRAY, Ky. – Mike German broke the school record for career passing yards and the Tennessee State football team won at Murray State, 48-33, for the first time since 2003.
Playing in his final collegiate game, German finished the day 28-of-48 for a personal-best 463 yards and six scores including one on the ground. The redshirt senior is tops in school-history with 8,664 career passing yards.
Ryan Mitchell was German’s main beneficiary, catching 10 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.
German’s counterpart, KD Humphries had a fine day, too, totaling 467 yards. However, the TSU defense sacked the Racer quarterback eight times and forced four turnovers.
For the first time all year, TSU scored a touchdown on its opening possession. German was 5-of-7 for 72 yards on the drive, including a 14-yard score to Isaiah Freeman. Lane Clark’s ensuing point-after was good and the Tigers led, 7-0, with just over four minutes gone in the game.
German threw his second touchdown later in the first period when his deep-bomb was caught by Ryan Mitchell for 72 yards. The big play was set up by De’Ante Saunders’s fifth interception of the season.
Everything was going German’s way in the first half. He fumbled a snap to start the second quarter, but still had the awareness to pick up the ball and throw it 55-yards down-field to a wide-open Weldon Garlington. Two plays later, German hit Freeman for an 11-yard touchdown to put his team up, 20-0.
After a quick Murray State scoring drive, German again found the end zone, this time with his feet following an eight-yard scamper. The score put the Tigers up by 20 with 7:47 left until halftime.
German added one more touchdown before the halftime horn – a four-yard strike to Andrew Bather – to finish the first half with 302 yards and five touchdowns (one rush).
The Racers scored three second-half touchdowns and cut the lead down to 41-26 with eight minutes left to play, but German hit Mitchell with another deep-ball to up the score to 48-26. The toss went for 59 yards and officially iced the game.
MSU would add one more touchdown, but could not recover an onside kick and TSU won, 48-33.
The Tigers finished the season 6-6, marking the first time since 1984-86 that Big Blue has had three straight non-losing seasons.
Courtesy: TSU Athletics
