Photo by Tab Brockman
The Murray State football team ended its season with 48-33 loss to Tennessee State Saturday at Roy Stewart Stadium in Murray.
The game started off rough for the Racers, as TSU began the game with 20 unanswered points, putting the Racers in a big hole early into the second quarter. Murray State did finally get on the boards after Tennessee State’s third touchdown with a 21 yard pass from KD Humphries to Nevar Griffin. TSU, however, would go onto add two more scores in the quarter to take a 34-7 lead into the locker room at the break.
The second half began with promise for MSU, as the Racers held the Tigers to a three-and-out for the first time in the contest on their opening drive. Murray State then followed that with a seven play, 75 yard drive that ended with a 36 yard pass from Humphries to Jordon Gandy, for the first touchdown of his collegiate career.
After another TSU touchdown, Humphries went back to work on another big drive. His 36 yard pass to Jesse Blackburn gave him over 300 yards for the fifth time this season and fourth time in as many weeks. After two Nick Taylor rushes of 13 and two yards, Humphries finished the drive with his third touchdown pass of the game, this time on a two-yard strike to DeQavius Walker.
The Racers would go on to score twice in the fourth quarter on passes of 19 and 22 yards from Humphries to Davis, but it would not be enough as they fell 48-33. Despite a terrific offensive performance from KD Humphries and the MSU receiving corps, it was ultimately the eight TSU sacks for a loss of 51 yards, three interceptions and a fumble that doomed the Racers in the contest.
Humphries finished the game at 33-for-52 for 467 yards with five touchdowns, marking his third 400-plus yard game of the season and third with five or move touchdown passes. Janwaski Davis caught eight passes for 101 yards and two scores, finishing the season with 13, the second most in MSU single-season history.
Jonathan Jackson led Murray State with 13 tackles, while Bishop Woods followed with 10. Jackson ends his sophomore season with a team-high 134 tackles, the ninth best single-season total in program history. Other defensive highlights include a forced fumble by DeQuinten Spraggins and an interception by Shawn Samuels Connell.
In just his first season as QB1 for the Racers, Humprhies’ 2014 campaign will down as one of the most successful in program history. He is now third all-time in single-season passing yards with 3488 and single-season attempts at 473, second in single-season completions at 319 and tied for second in single-season touchdown passes with 27. He is now just the second QB in MSU history to pass for 3,000-plus yards in a season, have 300-plus completions and 25-plus touchdown passes in the same season.
With the loss, MSU ends its season at 3-8 and 1-7 in the OVC, while TSU’s year comes to a close with an overall record of 6-6 and a 4-8 mark in league play.
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