Tech’s 1,000th football game in its 100th year of existence will kick off against Texas A&M-Commerce for the first time since the Tangerine Bowl in 1953 at home in Tucker Stadium on Saturday.
“We’re disappointed,” head coach Dewayne Alexander said after last week’s 56-10 loss to the Kansas University Jayhawks, “but there was nothing tonight that we can’t fix. This game is over, let’s move on to the next one and focus on what we’re still trying to do.”
With the loss, the Golden Eagles sank to 0-1 overall. The Texas A&M-Commerce Lions are entering week two 1-0 after a 52-7 win over Lincoln University (California). In the game, Lion quarterback Eric Rodriguez completed 12 passes for 269 yards with a whopping five touchdowns against Lincoln (NAIA). All together, they put up 432 yards of offense.
The Lions just moved up as a Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program this year, and could prove to be a problem for the Golden Eagles.
“They have a very experienced staff,” Alexander said. “He’s coached in Texas for a long time. Texas loves football. They were a national championship team in Division II. They have a lot of speed on both sides of the ball. We don’t have a lot of film on our opponent, so the best thing we can do is take care of the Golden Eagles.”
Last week in Kansas, there were some bright spots for Tech. TTU only turned the ball over once against their Big-12 opponent, and they had four penalties for just 19 yards. Tech also forced a turnover deep in their own territory on their 2-yard line. In total, the Jayhawks had three turnovers.
Tech neared 100 yards both through the air and on the ground. Their first touchdown came after a pitch from quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall went to Heath Price went around the edge and four yards into the endzone.
Oatsvall led the purple and gold on the ground with 42 rushing yards, while Willie Miller led Tech’s receiving efforts with
“Overall, I was pleased with our team,” Alexander said. “We kept fighting. We kept playing all the way to the end. We’ve had a great week of practice and we can’t wait to play this week. We’re very excited about this football season, and we’re going to be recognizing our first OVC Championship team.”
At the Legends Weekend game, Tech will honor the 1952 Ohio Valley Conference Championship winners. It is their 70th anniversary of winning the championship.
