What's going on in the OVC?

[TTUEagles]

Sept. 18:
SE Missouri with a HUGE upset over Southern Illinois
- SEMO beat Murray St last week on the road
Murray St barely lost to Central Arkansas in an away game
- Central Arkansas went to Illinois last week and drilled Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois continues to surprise as they fell at UT-Martin
- UT-M lost at SE Louisiana, who lost tonight to first-year program Lamar
EKU is 0-3 with a close loss at Louisville, and 2 bad scores, losing to Missouri St
and Chattanooga
Jacksonville St's season is well documented, but a HUGE surprise (to me) with an OT
win at first-year program, Georgia State
Austin Peay won at TSU, so, we can't deduce much from that, as well as TTU losing to two top 15 FBS schools and playing only 2 quarters Thurs to beat a BAD D-II school...
Any thoughts on who's leading this conference, explanations, etc.? (JSU still the front-runner, obviously...or is it obvious?)

[JSU02]

(JSU still the front-runner, obviously...or is it obvious?)
No, it is...

[TTUEagles]

So, what happened today vs Georgia St?

[WestCoastAggie]

The OVC is WIDE OPEN. SEMO will be ranked & Murray St. will win at least 3 OVC games. TTU, Tenn St & AP are serious sleeper teams. EKU & E. Ill. just don't have it this year. It's still Jax. St's to lose but the OVC will not be a cake walk for them especially if they play like they did against Ga State tonight.

[Franks Tanks]

The OVC has some high quality teams this year. It not just Jax State and everyone else.

[JSU02]

So, what happened today vs Georgia St?

What happened is that we underestimated them. They were much more excited about playing us than we were them.

[JSU85GRAD]

Any number of teams could win. JSU probably the favorite but we could be looking at a 1 or 2 loss league champion. We'll know more as October approaches.....

[hawkeye]

While Jx St. is front runner I dont think it will last. Sure they beat Ole Miss but who hasnt? Oh.........Tulane.

[jsudrumguy]

So, what happened today vs Georgia St?

One big thing that happened is that it was one of the most horribly officiated games I have ever seen. There were so many bad calls both ways. It seemed like every time we had a decent defensive play that there was a late flag thrown that was abserd. They even called 3 flags on players that weren't in the game. It was a sloppy game and we weren't at our best and Jack Crowe is a complete idiot and shouldn't be coaching a high school team. But the players have a desire to win and maybe we can get over a terrible coach.

[Redbirdz]

In a few weeks, it will just be recalled as a W or L. In our case a W.

[UCABEARS75]

Agreed. We were a much better team than EIU as their Offense is very, very limited.

Murray is very well coached (we know all to well about Hatcher coached teams at UCA) and they will be a factor in the OVC for years to come.

[eiu1999]

EIU has looked horrible this year. The o-line has been total patch work. The Central Arkansas game had 2 fumbled punts lost, plus the QB threw 2 or 3 picks and was sacked and lost another fumble. Against UT-Martin on Saturday the QB was sacked and fumbled twice.

[Bam]

JSU is the favorite & the rest all battling for #2 (except EKU). EKU has no running game to mention, so it could be back to back loosing seasons in Richmond. :(

[Lehigh Football Nation]

The weirdest part of the season, so far, to me is that EIU and EKU are 0-3. In years past you could simply write in "EKU" or "EIU" as your pick for OVC champion and you'd probably be right. Now, Jax State is clearly the class of the league, with TTU not that far off. SEMO and Austin Peay even might get into the mix, too. SEMO to me is the most interesting of all. Their triple-option is well put together and might be really hard for teams to prepare for and beat.

[WestCoastAggie]

Agreed. We were a much better team than EIU as their Offense is very, very limited.

Murray is very well coached (we know all to well about Hatcher coached teams at UCA) and they will be a factor in the OVC for years to come.

The Racers may be very well coached but we are still learning how to finish out games. We completely collapased against SEMO and we couldn't maintain the lead against UCA. But we are improving and thats all I can ask for. These kids are really working hard for the Hatch Attack. I hope UTM is ready to play.

[UCABEARS75]

I hear you but you were on the road, it was hot, and your coaching staff has only had months with your team. Bottom line, I think they were very well coached and well prepared. We took the middle two quarters off and found a way to win when we were outplayed for a big part of the game. I attribute a lot of that to the preparation of your team, players and coaches, giving them credit. I know our coach has a ton of respect for Hatcher and strongly believes you will be an improved team in the years to come.

We should be better next year also as we are extremely young. I look forward to the trip to Murray next year which I understand is the first game of the year. Maybe the heat index will be somewhere south of 105. Best of luck to ya'll the rest of the year. I think that when Thanksgiving rolls around you will be happy with the progress you have made.