Keep your browser loaded for live and ongoing updates as ETSU hosts Tusculum. The Bucs are looking for their first win of the season after a disappointing loss to Campbell last week. It’s also the return home for several former ETSU staffers who now coach at Tusculum, including head coach Billy Taylor and defensive coordinator Teddy Gaines.
Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m.
FINAL: ETSU 48, Tusculum 14
That will do it from Johnson City. We’ll have a detailed recap, analysis, and game notes here at I-81 Sports tonight and tomorrow. Plus, check our social media channels tomorrow for video from the post game press conference.
Touchdown ETSU
The Bucs kept it on the ground to try and shorten these final minutes and D’Marius Rucker runs it 10 yards for the touchdown. The PAT makes it 48-14 ETSU. Makes you wonder if Healy and ETSU weren’t just trying to run out the clock, given the former Buc players and coaches on the opposing sideline.
Jadyn Davis, I presume
With the outcome in hand, we’re getting our first look at Jadyn Davis in an ETSU uniform on this drive. Davis and the Bucs started with great field position after a 59-yard kickoff return by Izay Bridges set up ETSU from the Tusculum 40.
Touchdown Tusculum
Big play by Pioneers backup QB Lavante Adams, who got loose down the ETSU sideline on a 57-yard touchdown run. They play included a moment by ETSU DB Caleb Cooper that he’s not going to enjoy reliving during film study of this game. Cooper laid out to make a diving tackle on Adams, and missed.
Tusculum now has 322 total yards of offense, nearly 20% of which came on that one play.
Touchdown ETSU
Jason Albritton punches it in from 2 yards out, and the Bucs are now up to a 41-7 lead with 6:25 remaining. It’s the highest point total for ETSU since a 52-35 win at Western Carolina last November.
Century territory for Peyton
A 20-yard gallop by TJ Peyton puts him into triple digits at 121 yards. A 24-yard dash by Jaiden Daniels on the same drive gives Daniels a personal best of 53 yards rushing had the Bucs are set up at second-and-goal from the Tusculum 4 with 7:11 remaining.
End of the third quarter: ETSU 34, Tusculum 7
Probably the best quarter of football ETSU has played all season. Two touchdowns and 143 yards of total offense, including Mims going a perfect 5-for-5 throwing the ball.
TJ Peyton is one yard away from his first career 100-yard rushing performance.
Another big pass play
It means a lot less when you are ahead by four scorers but Tusculum gained 27 yards on another chunk play where the ETSU defensive back was out of position. What are Southern Conference offensive coordinators and quarterbacks thinking right now as they watch this defense?
ETSU 34, Tusculum 7
Charlie Browder just scored his second career touchdown as a Buc. He liked up as an eligible extra tackle, ran up the middle of the field and had nothing around him but open air and maybe a mosquito or two, as Mims found him for the 20-yard touchdown. The PAT puts the Bucs ahead by 27 with 5:44 showing in the third quarter.
Mims is 5-for-5 for 110 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.
That’s more like it
Mason Mims completes all three passes on ETSU’s opening drive of the second half, including a 45-yard heave to a diving Brandon Winton for a touchdown. The PAT is good and ETSU leads 27-7.
A change under center
Tusculum starting QB Tedros Gleaton got shaken up on that opening drive of the second half, but only missed a play and is now back in. ETSU committed a facemask penalty on the play that forced an jury timeout, and the grab was apparently so egregious that three different officials flagged it.
Halftime stats
ETSU
221 total yards on 33 plays, 11:24 time of possession
193 rushing yards (TJ Peyton 7 rush, 94 yards, 2 TD; Jaiden Daniels 5 rush, 27 yards)
Mason Mims 6/14 passing for 93 yards with 1 INT
Suderian Harrison 2 catches for 60 yards, with a 55-yard TD
Brandon Winton has been targeted five times but only made one catch
Tusculum
162 total yards on 34 plays, 18:36 time of possession
83 rushing yards (QB Tedros Gleaton leads the way with 41 yards; Cam Ferguson had a 1-yard rushing TD)
Gleason is 5 of 9 passing for 79 yards with the 45 yarder to Zion Job
Halftime: ETSU 20, Tuculum 7
Tusculum has put together a nice drive coming off that ETSU touchdown, and Will Healy is all over the officiating crew for some infraction he’s picking up. The drive finally stalled at the 25 yard line, and the Pioneers attempted a 42-yard field goal. Science Hill product Max Turan missed the kick.
ETSU 20, Tusculum 7
A short TD run by Peyton widens the Bucs lead. Peyton also had the key play on the drive, taking the handoff weak side and racing 30 yards, getting forced out of bounds inside the Tusculum 5. The Pioneer coaches box, which is located right next to the media seating, was screaming for a hold. I don’t think they’re wrong.
ETSU leads 20-7 with 1:26 to go until the half. Peyton has 94 yards on the ground on seven carries, with two touchdowns.
Hossed
Tusculum punts after moving the sticks once, and a promising punt return by Gaillardetz gets called back for a holding flag. Will Healy was very displeased with the official who threw the penalty.
The Bucs open the ensuing drive with an 11-yard pass play to Tyler Griffin, who just manhandled the defender.
It’s now third-and-3 from the Tusculum 37 as we reach the two minute warning.
It’s a turnover
Mason Mims has thrown his first interception as a college QB. Mims went deep to the end zone to Trey Weary, and Judah Knight the freshman with the big pass break up earlier, leapt and grabbed the ball out of the air at the 1-yard line. Looks like Mims underthrew the ball.
That was shaping up as a strong drive by the Bucs, who had run seven plays for 23 yards with a slow and steady approach. Now, Tusculum has the ball back, but on its own 1-yard line.
Paper or plastic?
As in sack, which is how ETSU ended that drive. Jarvis Johnson and Tyreek’e Robinson combined to throw Gleaton for a 6 yard loss. Xavier Gaillardetz with the 23 yard return of a 39-yard punt, and got walloped at the end of the run.
Another three-and-out
A quick possession for ETSU. Tusculum fielded the punt near the 50, but the return man Ashton Hagans fumbled his catch and had to fall on it.
It’ll be Tusculum ball, with the Bucs up 13-7, and 12:19 to go in the half.
Off the mark
A bit of a break for ETSU. Tbird-and-long for Tusculum and a bullet pass to Javon Richardson (a former ETSU guy) goes just behind Richardson, who then got popped by Mike Jenkins. Had the timing been a little better, the Pioneers would have had the first down.
Tusculum downed the punt at the ETSU 2-yard line, for a net of 56 yards, so the Bucs begin backed up on their own doorstep.
End of the first quarter: ETSU 13, Tusculum 7
The Bucs have the lead, and the yardage advantage, 128-87.
Mason Mims has not been as sharp as he was last week. He’s 3-for-7 for 64 yards, and 55 of those yards came on the slant touchdown to Suderian Harrison.
Peyton’s place
Fantastic individual effort by TJ Peyton,who runs and rumbles 41 yards down the Tusculum sideline for a touchdown. WR Brandon Winton was blocking down field for him the whole way. That run is 8 yards shy of his career long, but more importantly it stakes ETSU back to the lead.
The Bucs got tricky on the conversion, faking the kick and attempting a pass that went incomplete. Charlie Browder was open but didn’t get the ball from kicker Ewan Johnson.
ETSU quickened the tempo, and three straight runs by Jaiden Daniels reaped 16 total yards as ETSU advances past the 50.
It’s 13-7 ETSU with 10 seconds left in the first quarter as Tusculum gets the ball back.
Tusclum 7, ETSU 7
Touchdown Tusculum, as Cam Ferguson with the 1-yard plunge. A PAT by Max Turan (Science Hill), and we’re all tied with 2:24 left in the first quarter. A fourth-and-2 run by Gleaton on the previous play set up a first-and-goal at the 2.
It all started with the busted coverage and 45-yard pass, though.
Another breakdown
Tusculum QB Tedros Gleaton ran for his life rolling out to his own sideline, then heaved the ball and found Zion Job down the field. It’s a huge pass play for 45 yards and the Pioneers have a first down in the red zone. Add it to the busted coverages that led to huge pass plays by Campbell last week.
This crowd, which is much smaller than last week’s against Campbell, is mighty quiet.
Sluggish in the heat
Neither offense is doing much since that big pass from Mims to Harrison. ETSU’s third possession was a three and out that went bad from the start when a jet sweep to Harrison ended in a 9-yard loss. Mims went deep on third down, but a nice pass break up by Tusculum freshman DB Judah Knight down the field in a one-on-one matchup with ETSU’s Tyler Griffin.
Early notes
- Mims’ play to Harrison matched the career-long completion, from a 55-yard route that also went to Harrison against Campbell.
- Tusculum went three-and-out on its opening possession.
- A pass interference ball got the Bucs set up on Tusculum’s half of the field, but the drive stalled, and Mims’ fourth-down pass failed to connect.
- Two possessions down for the Pioneers, with no first downs, and 1.8 yards per play, all on rushes, as you’d expect with a team that operates an option offense.
Quick change
Seeing someone on the ETSU sideline wearing the No. 96 jersey caught my eye since that’s the number for T.J. Cunningham, who is likely out for the season with injury, as Will Healy announced on his coaches show Monday. Turns out the guy wearing No. 96 was starting corner CJ Gilmore, who was part of the kick coverage team after the touchdown, ran to the sideline, shed the jersey with the assistance of a staffer, and then ran back to huddle with the defense wearing his usual No. 15.
ETSU 7, Tusculum 0
Well, that didn’t take long. On the Bucs’ third offensive play of the game, Mason Mims hit Suderian Harrison on a slant over the middle and Harris raced untouched 55 yards for the touchdown. Mims and Harrison connected on some big plays in last week’s loss to Campbell as well.
Now, let’s see how the defense looks against the Pioneer triple option.
Return policy
TJ Peyton brings out the ball from just inside the end zone and returns it out past the 40. Strong start for the Bucs.
Call it in the air
Tusculum wins the coin toss and defers. It’ll be ETSU ball to start the game.
It’s about that time
Five minutes to go until kickoff.
I didn’t notice any new individuals not dressed out for the Bucs as compared to last week’s inactive list.
Warmups
T-minus 54 minutes until kickoff. The ETSU depth chart for this game is unchanged from the one for Campbell. The Bucs are wearing gold jerseys, white helmets, and white pants with a gold and blue stripe. I’m not saying it looks like an Emory & Henry fit, but I’m not not saying it either.