Lindenwood’s Sanjay Strickland and Jacob Waller bring down Tennessee State’s DuJuan Sharp during the first quarter of Saturday’s NCAA Football game at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
| NCAA Football | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee State (4-2, 2-1) | 7 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 24 |
| Lindenwood (2-4, 1-1) | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
ST. CHARLES, MO — The Lindenwood Lions held a 20-7 halftime lead over the Tennessee State Blue Tigers in Saturday’s Big South-OVC Football Association game at Hunter Stadium.
But Lindenwood didn’t score any points in the second half, Tennessee State scored 17 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to hand the Lions a tough 24-20 loss.
“That one’s going to sting bad all week,” Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart said. “I thought we played a good first half and gave ourselves a good lead. But that team (Tennessee State), you have to hold them down and keep them down, because they keep coming. They’ll make plays and build momentum and if you don’t cut them off, they can take one away from you… That’s what happened today.”
In what proved to be a very even matchup, turnovers were the key factor on Saturday. Tennessee State had one turnover, which resulted in a Lindenwood touchdown. But the Lions had three turnovers — all in the decisive second half — which aided the Blue Tigers’ comeback.
The biggest turnover was a muffed punt by Lindenwood freshman Rico Bond early in the fourth quarter. Bond was lined up as Lindenwood’s return man, but the punt was shorter than he expected.
It initially looked like Bond wasn’t going to try to field the kick, but at the last moment, he decided to try to catch it. The ball bounced off his hands and was recovered by a Tennessee State defender.
“That’s probably one he should’ve let go,” Stugart said. “But he was trying to save us some field possession. The ball was going to bounce behind him and probably get downed inside the 10. He was trying to help us with that and tried to make the catch when he probably should’ve just let it go.
“That’s one of those things. He’s a young player. He made a mistake. He’ll learn from it. And we made a lot of mistakes today. I wouldn’t say that one thing cost us the game. We missed some throws, dropped a couple of passes, missed some reads on defense. A lot of things contributed to us not winning today. Not just that one play.”
Six plays after the muffed punt, Tennessee State’s Tevin Carter busted over the goal line for a touchdown that gave the Blue Tigers their first lead of the day.
Lindenwood had three possessions in the final seven minutes, but the Lions never got past the 50-yard line. The final drive ended when quarterback Nate Glantz fumbled on a quarterback draw play. It was recovered by Tennessee State, which then ran out the clock to win the game.
“Ball security is obviously something we need to work on,” Stugart said. “We had three fumbles and all of them were the product of guys trying to make a play to help the team.
“The first one, (Cortezz Jones) was just fighting for extra yards and the ball got knocked out. Rico was trying to help us on a punt. And Nate had run for about 10-15 yards to get us started on that last drive, and then the ball got knocked out of his hands. Just a tough day for us.”
The Lindenwood defense lines up against Tennessee State offense during Saturday’s NCAA Football game at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
Saturday’s game didn’t finish anywhere near the way it started. Lindenwood, which had struggled at the beginning of almost all of its games this season, came out blazing on Saturday.
The Lions scored two touchdowns in the first three-plus minutes of the game. Glantz hit receiver Jeff Caldwell for a 34-yard touchdown on Lindenwood’s third play of the game.
Lindenwood’s Jeff Caldwell (1) celebrates scoring the first touchdown of the game, Saturday against Tennessee State. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
Then just three plays after that, senior defensive lineman Jonah Rubadue tipped a pass that was intercepted by fellow senior Frank Caldwell, who returned it 15 yards for a touchdown, that along with Logan Seibert’s two extra-points, gave the Lions a 14-0 lead.
“We talked to the guys about the importance of coming out fast and starting strong,” Stugart said. “You probably couldn’t have a better start than that. But it’s a full 60-minute game and we started fast, but we didn’t finish.”
Lindenwood’s Frank Caldwell celebrates scoring a pick-six touchdown in Saturday’s NCAA Football game against Tennessee State. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
Lindenwood’s only scores the rest of the game were a pair of field goals by Seibert — a 23-yarder and a 21-yarder — that both came in the second quarter.
Carter, Tennessee State’s backup quarterback, had two touchdown runs and starter Draylen Ellis threw for one touchdown to power the Blue Tigers, who are now 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.
Lindenwood fell to 2-4 on the year and 1-1 in the Big South-OVC.
The Lions will get a chance to get back on the winning track, next week, when they’ll host Charleston Southern. Kickoff on Saturday at Hunter Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
SCORING SUMMARY
| Qtr | Time | Scoring Play | TSU | LU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 13:04 | LU – Caldwell, Jeff 34 yd pass from Glantz, Nate (Seibert, Logan kick) 3 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:21 | 0 | 7 |
| 1st | 11:44 | LU – Caldwell, Frank 15 yd interception return (Seibert, Logan kick) | 0 | 14 |
| 1st | 06:04 | TSU – Carter, Tevin 3 yd run (Lowery, James kick), 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:40 | 7 | 14 |
| 2nd | 06:04 | LU – Seibert, Logan 23 yd field goal 12 plays, 74 yards, TOP 06:52 | 7 | 17 |
| 2nd | 00:00 | LU – Seibert, Logan 21 yd field goal 8 plays, 33 yards, TOP 04:09 | 7 | 20 |
| 3rd | 07:59 | TSU – Evans, CJ 74 yd pass from Ellis, Draylen (Lowery, James kick) 1 plays, 74 yards, TOP 00:13 | 14 | 20 |
| 3rd | 00:22 | TSU – Lowery, James 40 yd field goal 7 plays, 1 yards, TOP 03:57 | 17 | 20 |
| 4th | 07:21 | TSU – Carter, Tevin 1 yd run (Lowery, James kick), 6 plays, 22 yards, TOP 02:59 | 24 | 20 |
2024 LINDENWOOD LIONS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 12, 2024 (Saturday) | 1:00 p.m. | Home | Charleston Southern | St. Charles, Mo. / Hunter Stadium |
| October 19, 2024 (Saturday) | 3:00 pm | Away | Gardner-Webb | Boiling Springs, N.C. |
| October 26, 2024 (Saturday) | 2:00 p.m. | Home | Western Illinois | St. Charles, Mo. / Hunter Stadium |
| November 2, 2024 (Saturday) | 1:30 pm | Away | Tennessee Tech | Cookeville, Tenn. |
| November 9, 2024 (Saturday) | 1:00 p.m. | Home | Southeast Missouri State | St. Charles, Mo. / Hunter Stadium |
| November 23, 2024 (Saturday) | 2:00 pm | Away | Tennessee-Martin | Martin, Tenn. |