title image via Brandon King/sneakershoptalk.com
In what was easily their best performance of the year, Tennessee State was able to defeat the Bison, completing a refutation of our prediction earlier in the week, Howard University 24-7.
Tennessee State struck first taking the contest’s opening kickoff and traveling 79 yards in 7 plays, reaching the end zone when Bryon McNair connected with Snap Reed on a 10-yard scoring toss that put TSU out in front 7-0 at the 10:59 mark of the period. That touchdown was the only bit of offensive action in the quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Howard took advantage of a short field following Antonio Hunter’s return of a Mark Shenouda punt, which set up the Bison offense at the TSU 32-yard line. Nine plays later, Anthony Reagan Jr’s 2-yard plunge up the middle knotted the game at 7 with 7:01 to go in the first half.
After a Tyriq Starks pass was intercepted by Micah Gay, which was itself preceded by a McNair fumble that was forced by a CJ Sesley sack, the Tennessee State offense was in business at the Howard 35-yard line.
The Tennessee State offense soon turned that into points when Byron McNair connected with Connor Ruth on a 6-yard touchdown pass that pulled the Tigers back in front 14-7 with just 24 ticks left in the opening half.
Neither offense got much done for most of the third quarter, as the teams exchanged punts. Sophomore linebacker Sammy Taylor got his mitts on a Howard punt, leading to the kick traveling 19 yards before being downed at the TSU 49-yard line. The Tigers needed just 6 plays to capitalize on the efforts of their special teams when McNair threw his third touchdown pass of the night, finding DeVaughn Slaughter from 8 yards out, extending the Tennessee State lead to 21-7 at the 1:28 mark of the period.
Freddy Perez’s 34-yard field goal at the 3:17 mark of the fourth quarter extended Tennessee State’s lead to 24-7 and closed out the scoring on the evening.
Byron McNair completed 18 of 22 pass attempts for 174 yards and 3 touchdowns; he also led the Tigers with 47 rushing yards on 6 attempts. Kendric Rhymes had a pair of receptions for 46 yards.
In a losing effort, Howard quarterback Tyriq Starks threw for 116 yards and 2 interceptions, completing 14 of his 27 passes. CJ Neely led the Bison with 4 receptions for 56 yards, while Anthony Reagan Jr tallied 44 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
Howard kicks off MEAC play Saturday against North Carolina Central. The Eagles beat up the Bison 26-3 in their previous matchup, which took place on November 14, 2024.
Tennessee State gets back into Big South-OVC play next Saturday when they play host to Western Illinois. Last season the Tigers defeated the Leathernecks 45-20 in the inaugural meeting between the two schools.