By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – On the same day in which he eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards for his career, senior running back Peyton Logan’s 75-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as the No. 13 University of Tennessee at Martin football team extended its winning streak to six games after knocking off Southeast Missouri, 38-30, at Hardy M. Graham Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Skyhawks improved their record to 6-1 on the season after picking up a non-conference win against their Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri. The win snapped a three-game losing streak to the Redhawks – including back-to-back loses at Graham Stadium to the Redhawks in 2018 and back in April of this year. UT Martin now holds a slight 19-18 series advantage while the two programs will meet for their regularly schedule conference matchup on Saturday, Nov. 20 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
With the victory UT Martin recorded its fourth non-conference win of the season – marking the most in a single campaign since 1988. The Skyhawks also stretched their winning streak out to six games which ranks as the second-longest of its kind in program history, only trailing a pair of eight-game winning streaks during championship campaigns in 1988 and 2006.
“I thought in spots that we played really, really well,” UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. “Wins are hard to come by and I’m very proud of the kids but there are some things that we have to learn to do. We almost expect when we do rally, make plays and take a lead that we expect for teams to quit. We have to keep playing through that and just dominate the rest of the game. I thought we kind of lost ourselves there in the third quarter and it almost came back and bit us but it didn’t. We’ll regroup, put a good plan together, get our team’s mindset right, try to grow from the mistakes we made this week but also try to capitalize on some things that we did well. Sometimes we dwell too much on the things we didn’t do well but we also need to celebrate some of the things that we did well. I’m proud of those kids, proud of their effort, proud of the coaching staff. Hopefully, we’ll stay hungry and try to go 1-0 next week.”
Along the road to today’s victory was a career milestone for Logan. Entering the contest, the senior running back needed just 12 yards to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards for his career. That total was met and then some as he rattled off 159 yards on 15 carries while tallying one touchdown. With his sixth career 100-yard rushing performance, Logan became the ninth member to join the 2,000-yard rushing list at UT Martin while jumping all the way up to fifth place with 2,147 yards. While he was highly efficient on the day by totaling 174 all-purpose yards and averaging 10.2 yards per touch, it was his 75-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter which marked the team’s longest play from scrimmage this season and proved to be the game-winner.
When asked what it meant to have his name listed amongst some of the all-time greats as a 2,000-yard rusher, Logan said “It’s very important to me – I love that I made that list because it’s a big accomplishment but it’s more about my offensive line. I am so thankful for them – they’ve blocked for me for the past five years I’ve been here. They got those 2,000 yards, not me.”
“Peyton is as good as gold,” Simpson said. “I’ve enjoyed every game of his career. I was thinking today that for five years, that guy’s been out there every game for the most part. He’s a good player. I’m proud of our depth and our recruiting – last week, we had a 100-plus yard back, this week we had another 100-plus yard back. That’s a good job in recruiting and development of players by our coaching staff and our strength coach.”
Quarterback Keon Howard did a nice job of leading the offensive unit to 457 yards of total offense on the day while keeping the defense off the field as the Skyhawks controlled the time of possession for nearly 35 minutes of the contest. Howard completed 17-of-25 pass attempt for 221 yards while throwing for two touchdowns. He also had 10 carries for 20 net yards while scoring two rushing touchdowns. With his work on the ground, Howard set a pair of single-season records by a quarterback for multiple rushing touchdown performances (three) and rushing touchdowns (eight).
Six different receivers were involved in the pass game which caught a pair of touchdown passes and tallied 221 yards through the air. Tight end Rodney Williams II led the group with four receptions and a season-high 92 yards while hauling in a 51-yard touchdown reception. The senior duo of Donnell Williams and Marqwell Odom both caught three balls each tallying 40 and 34 yards, respectively, while freshman Zoe Roberts tallied his fourth touchdown reception of the season on an eight-yard strike at the end of the first half.
Not to be lost in the team’s success is the key play of the Skyhawks’ offensive line. The foursome of Michael Shanahan (left tackle), Chris Jackson (left guard), Matthan Hatchie (center) and Gavin Olson (right guard) have started all seven games and nearly every snap. Newcomer Lamar Morgan (right tackle) started the first six games of the season before being slowed down by an injury with Malcolm Miller and Cru Birdyshaw filling in nicely. The group affectionately known as the “Boss Hogs” lead the OVC and rank seventh nationally in sacks allowed (six) while blocking and protecting for the league’s top scoring offense (33.9 ppg) and rushing attack (228.7 ypg).
“It was a good job by our offensive line – I want to give those guys a shoutout,” Simpson remarked. “We ran for 221 yards today – we’ve been over 200 yards rushing all but one game this year. That’s bigtime – we haven’t done that in years around here. It starts with our center Matthan Hatchie and all those reps those guys take in practice. You go to left tackle Michael Shanahan, who’s really matured, grown and is doing some good things. Big Chris Jackson has been around here for a long time and wanted to come back because he wanted to play his sixth year. Right guard Gavin Olson and how he’s been able to grow from a tackle to the guard spot. And then today Lamar Morgan – our starting right tackle – was hurt and we had to go with Malcolm Miller and he got hurt so big Cru Birdyshaw had to go in. So we had another group in there. I tip my hat to them – they come and compete every week and they’re giving Keon a chance to make some plays.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Skyhawks had a tough matchup on their hands with one of the nation’s top running backs in Southeast Missouri’s Geno Hess across the line. Entering today’s game, Hess led the nation in rushing touchdowns (11) and ranked fourth in rushing yards (762). Outside of a 66-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, he was held in check for much of the contest – finishing with 71 yards on his other 17 carries for an average of 4.1 yards per attempt.
The Skyhawks also forced a pair of turnovers in the contest for the fourth time this season. Senior transfer Shawn Shamburger tallied his first interception of his Skyhawk career in the first quarter which later set up a scoring drive. Then during a span in which the defense kept the Redhawks off the scoreboard for over 21 minutes, the Skyhawks forced another turnover on the opening kickoff of the second half as Tevin Shipp tripped up the returner and Carson Evans jumped on a loose ball for the fumble recovery.
Senior safety Deven Sims led the team with eight tackles on the day while classmates Takeem Young and JaQuez Akins both tallied six tackles each. Seven players contributed to the team’s 7.0 tackles for loss while Jay Rogers paced the squad with 2.0 individual TFLs. Meanwhile in the secondary, Oshae Baker led the unit with two pass breakups while both Shamburger and Young notched breakups of their own.
Southeast Missouri jumped on the board less than three minutes into the game on a 31-yard field goal by Kenny Doak to take an early lead. The score would remain the same until a lengthy 13-play, 73-yard scoring drive which eclipsed 6 minutes and 44 seconds was capped off by a one-yard rushing touchdown by Howard to give the Skyhawks their first lead with 11:25 to play in the second quarter.
The Redhawks quickly responded just 78 seconds later as they moved down the field before a three-play drive ended with a 66-yard touchdown as Hess broke through a loaded box and raced down the middle of the field and into the endzone to take a 10-7 advantage.
Once the Skyhawks tied the game with 3:31 to play in the second quarter off a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Larco, it kick-started a stretch of 24 unanswered points for UT Martin which ran through the final minutes of the third quarter. Wanting to take a lead into halftime, the home team found it’s go-ahead score with 34 seconds to play on an eight-yard pass from Howard to Roberts to give the Skyhawks a 17-10 advantage at the break.
After the fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half gave UT Martin starting position on SEMO’s end of the field, the squad quickly found the endzone five plays later on a five-yard touchdown run by Howard for his eighth of the season. The Skyhawks then added their final touchdown of their 24-point run just under four minutes later when Howard found Rodney Williams II who tip-toed down the sideline and into the endzone for a 51-yard score to give the home squad a 31-10 lead.
Southeast Missouri did not throw in the towel however after facing the 21-point deficit as the Redhawks scored 10 points in the final minutes of the third quarter off a 37-yard field goal by Doak followed by a 31-yard touchdown completion from CJ Ogbonna to Johnny King – making it 31-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Redhawks cut the margin down to single-digits in the opening minutes of the fourth when Doak booted his third field goal of the day – this time from 38 yards – to make it 31-23. That margin would be short-lived however as Logan responded by ripping a 75-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the following drive to push the lead back out to 15.
SEMO found one final strike in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard connection from Ogbonna to King again to make it 38-30, but that would be as close as the Redhawks would get as time ran out on their comeback attempt.
UT Martin will return to OVC play when welcoming Austin Peay to Graham Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information