The 2024 Tennessee Tech football season came to a close on Saturday, Nov. 23, after a senior day victory over Eastern Illinois 23-6.
With Saturday’s win, Tech finishes the season 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the conference. This was enough to win a share of the 2024 Big South-OVC regular season championship.
Along with Tech, three other teams won a share of the title as well, as it was a four-way tie for the OVC crown. TSU, SEMO, and UT Martin joined the Golden Eagles as champions of the conference in what was a wild finish to the regular season.
For starters, the Golden Eagles went on the road and took down conference rival UT Martin with a final score of 10-9. This began the chaos for the OVC title as it created a scenario for four teams to get a share of the championship.
It was a historic day on Nov. 16, as it was the first time that Tech had beaten the Skyhawks since 2012. Junior defensive end Daniel Rickert (55) won FCS National Defensive Player of the Week with his performance against the 18th-ranked Skyhawks at the time.
Rickert finished with nine total tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. The Tech defense as a unit kept UT Martin under 200 yards of total offense, which proved to be enough to take down the Skyhawks and bring home the Sergeant York Trophy.
This win provided a unique opportunity for Tech this past Saturday as they played for not only a share of the conference title, but also a possible playoff berth. However, the Golden Eagles were left out of the FCS bracket on Sunday, Nov. 24.
Nonetheless, Tech was still able to take care of business on senior day against Eastern Illinois with a final score of 23-6.
Grad-transfer running back Jalen Mitchell (0) led the way in rushing yards with 131 yards on the ground in his last game as a Golden Eagle.
Tech’s offense was able to accumulate 200 yards rushing as a team, something that this team has prided themselves on all year long, which is being able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, Tech kept the Panthers to just 80 yards on the ground as well as 161 through the air. The Golden Eagles were also, once again, able to win the turnover battle forcing two turnovers on defense and committing zero turnovers on offense.
The first EIU turnover was an interception by junior linebacker Kalvyn Crummie (42) in the second quarter. The second turnover came in the third quarter as freshman defensive lineman Xavier Randolph (76) forced and recovered his own fumble.
The Golden Eagles found pay dirt twice on the ground; once with grad-transfer wide receiver Jordan Yates (1) and once with freshman running back Tyler Wilson (20).
All in all, year one under head coach Bobby Wilder was a success as the Golden Eagles sent out this talented senior class with a 6-2 conference record, a win against bitter rival UT Martin for the first time since 2012, a five-game winning streak which is the longest streak since 1999 and a share of the 2024 Big South-OVC conference championship.
Wilder and his staff will now take to the recruiting trail as they search for new talent to add to the 2025 roster via both the transfer portal and the high school ranks.
