By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – The No. 18 ranked University of Tennessee at Martin football team opened its quest for back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships on Saturday night with a commanding home victory over new league foe Lindenwood by a final score of 56-26 at Hardy Graham Stadium.
The Skyhawks (2-2, 1-0 OVC) opened conference play in impressive fashion on Saturday evening by tallying 541 yards of total offense while averaging 9.8 yards per play in just 55 offensive snaps. The ground attack was especially fruitful as the home squad racked up 343 rushing yards – the team’s highest rushing output since the 2015 season against Eastern Kentucky – while tallying five rushing touchdowns.
With a healthy offensive line back in action for the first full game this season, the running back duo of Zak Wallace and Sam Franklin flourished. Wallace made the most of his 11 carries by tallying 204 rushing yards – including a UT Martin record-breaking 97-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter for his second of the game which also marked the longest rush in the FCS this season. With his big day, Wallace added two touchdowns to his career tally, moving him into a tie for third place on the program’s career touchdown leaderboard with Jaimiee Bowe (2015-19) at 22. Also enjoying a breakout performance was Franklin who tallied six carries for 56 yards and three touchdowns – the first of his career. Franklin now joins Wallace as just the eighth player in program history to tally three rushing touchdowns in a single contest.
The ground attack wasn’t the only bright spot for the Skyhawk offense as quarterback Dresser Winn was efficient in the pocket by completing 19-of-26 pass attempts for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Winn also rose on program’s career touchdown leaderboard with his two touchdown throws, taking sole possession of ninth place with 28. The quarterback found DeVonte Tanksley for a game-high eight catches along with 57 yards – including a 25-yard touchdown connection on the opening drive of the game. Colton Dowell tallied 59 yards through the air while DJ Nelson recorded the Skyhawks final touchdown reception with a seven-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
UT Martin added to its scoring output with the team’s first defensive touchdown of the season as linebacker Rob Hicks tipped a pass on the squad’s opening possession on defense which safety Oshae Baker returned 41 yards for a touchdown. The Skyhawks forced another turnover in the third quarter as Tyler Gore stripped the Lions and Carson Evans jumped on the loose ball to set up another scoring drive.
The team flushed the Lindenwood pocket throughout the game while tallying four sacks and 7.0 tackles for loss in the contest. Sophomore Christian Dowell led the team in tackles in his first career start at nose tackle, tallying a game-high eight stops. Trailing close behind was safety Deven Sims who registered seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss while Baker and Evans notched six tackles each.
“Give Lindenwood credit, they played well offensively but we did what we needed to,” UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson said. “We challenged our offensive line and our tight ends. I get it – it’s not Boise State, but we just were trying to improve. It was good to run the football and get some things going there. The offensive line deserved that – to be able to run the football like that – and a good job by our backs of making some guys miss, going the distance and making some long runs. We haven’t done that up to this point. Hopefully that will carry over.”
Lindenwood (2-1, 0-1 OVC) suffered its first loss of the season in their OVC debut despite tallying 429 yards of total offense. Quarterback Cade Brister was versatile by escaping pressure and making plays down field while completing 25-of-42 pass attempts for 306 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Payton Rose was Brister’s primary target with seven catches for 156 yards.
UT Martin jumped out to a quick 14-0 advantage in the contest behind the long scoring drive offensively and the pick-six on defense. From there Lindenwood settled down and scored 13 unanswered points on a touchdown pass and a pair of field goals by Logan Seibert. Then in the final seconds of the first half, the Skyhawks padded their advantage on a 12-yard touchdown by Wallace to take a 21-13 lead into the break.
The Skyhawks came out of the halftime break looking to add some extra padding on the scoreboard and did just that. UT Martin rattled off three consecutive rushing touchdowns as a 97-yard scamper by Wallace was sandwiched between a pair of scores by Franklin to 29-point advantage. The fourth quarter saw Lindenwood cut into the deficit with a one-yard rushing touchdown by Andrew Martin just 42 seconds into the period before UT Martin responded with two more touchdowns by the redshirt-freshman pair of Franklin and Nelson to officially put the game out of reach as the home team’s margin spanned as large as 37 points.
UT Martin will continue its OVC schedule with the team’s Homecoming matchup against Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Oct. 1. The first game of the annual Sgt. York Trophy series will kickoff at Graham Stadium at 2 p.m.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information