Twenty-five years ago, Eddie George was an All-Pro running back leading the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV while the Tennessee State football team was on its way to winning a conference championship and a berth in the FCS playoffs.
It was the last time TSU won a conference championship.
George is still in the game today, now as TSU’s coach, preparing the No. 25 Tigers (8-3, 5-2) for the chance to win the Big South/Ohio Valley Conference championship Saturday against No. 11 Southeast Missouri (9-2, 6-1) at Nissan Stadium (3:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+).
“Back then looking 25 years into the future I thought I would be on a boat somewhere smoking a Liga Privada (cigar) with my wife and kids,” George said, 51. “Or maybe playing a round of golf and bragging to my boys in the clubhouse about shooting a club record. It’s amazing how things work out.”
The coincidences keep coming. It was Southeast Missouri that TSU beat 35-28 to win the conference championship in 1999.
In his fourth season as TSU’s coach, George has led the Tigers to their most wins since 2013. A win Saturday would give the Tigers nine in the regular season for only the sixth time since John Merritt was the coach in 1982.
“In the Super Bowl, we fell one yard short of crossing the goal line and tying the game against the (St. Louis) Rams,” George said. “Here we are again with the opportunity to cross the goal line at home against a quality opponent.”
TSU, under former coach L.C. Cole, also won the OVC championship in 1998.
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TSU’s path to the conference championship is simple. The Tigers are locked in a three-way tie for second with Tennessee Tech and UT Martin and must beat first-place Southeast Missouri while Tech and UT Martin must lose.
Tech and UT Martin hold the head-to-head tie-breaker over TSU. Tech beat the Tigers 24-14 on Sept. 21 and UT Martin beat them 28-21 on Nov. 2.
If TSU, Tech and UT Martin win, each will finish in a four-way tie for first with SEMO. In that case, SEMO and Tech would each have 2-1 composite records versus TSU and UT Martin, who would have 1-2 records. The tiebreaker then shifts to a head-to-head results between SEMO and Tech, and SEMO would win that and claim the title.
Tech (6-5, 5-2) hosts to Eastern Illinois (3-8, 2-5) and UT Martin (7-4, 5-2) hosts Lindenwood (5-6, 4-3) Saturday.
The conference champion earns an automatic berth in the FCS playoffs, but TSU could still get in even if it loses the tie-breaker for the title after beating SEMO. The Tigers would have nine wins, more than either UT Martin or Tech, and a shot at an at-large berth.
The Tigers’ last berth in the playoffs came in 2013, when they finished second in the conference with a 9-3 record.
When defensive end Eriq George, Eddie’s son who starred at Montgomery Bell Academy, committed to TSU after the 2022 season, he expected the Tigers to make enough improvement quickly to get in the mix for the conference championship.
TSU was coming off a 4-7 season in 2022, its fifth straight losing record.
“I definitely thought we would be in this position,” Eriq George said. “When I came here, my mind was on winning championships. Playing for my father was something that people dream about, and I felt like we were ready for the moment.”
Eriq George is TSU’s tackles-for-loss leader with 11.5, which is fourth in the Big South/OVC.
TSU quarterback Draylen Ellis accepted an invitation to play in the HBCU Legacy Bowl.
The all-star game, presented by the Black College Football Hall of Fame, will be Feb. 22, 2025, at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium in New Orleans. It will be broadcast on the NFL Network.
Ellis, a senior from Olive Branch, Mississippi, who passed Joe Gilliam Jr. at ninth on TSU’s career passing yards list last week (5,216 yards), has completed 208 of 345 passes for 2,501 yards with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
