Eastern came 30 minutes away from pulling off the biggest upset of the 2003 Ohio Valley Conference season but were outscored 15-0 in the second half to fall 24-14 Saturday evening.

“It was probably the single-most impressive performance of the season,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “It was a replay of the Murray State game in regards to excitement.”

The game came down to the Panthers inability to run the football and control the time of possession to keep Tennessee State’s offense off the field.

“We had a goal to control the football and we simply didn’t do that as well as we thought,” Spoo said.

Part of that problem is Eastern’s roster contains three tailbacks all of whom nagging injuries, forcing the Panthers to start a true freshman at the position for the first time this season.

“We had to start Ademola Adeniji and it was just a struggle to get anything going,” Spoo said.

Tennessee State started off its homecoming game with a 30-yard field goal by Joey Hudak and the Tigers took an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter.

Early in the second, the Tigers got into the end zone for the first time when Bryson Rosser found wide receiver C.J. Johnson for a nine-yard touchdown pass. With a failed two point conversion run, the Tigers held a 9-0 lead and looked to hold the momentum.

However, the Panthers went on a long drive that ended with sophomore quarterback Andrew Harris hooking up with receiver Dawanzelle Hopson from five yards away to make it a two-point game at 9-7.

“(Andrew Harris) played extremely well and ran the football well when nothing was there,” Spoo said.

On the ensuing kickoff, Eastern scored on a weird play when the Tigers kick returner Gerald Morrow attempted to lateral the ball to a teammate but was fumbled. Freshman cornerback B.J. Brown picked up the ball and went nine yards untouched to make the score 14-9.

“It was a great game for guys in that included a great effort from young players,” Spoo said.

Walk-on freshman Matt Johann came on and converted both of the extra point attempts in the game as he replaced the injured sophomore kicker Steve Kuehn.

Kuehn was scratched from play after he pulled a muscle in his groin at practice on Friday.

“Steve pulled that muscle and it might have a tear in it,” Spoo said. “To be honest we’re really not sure how bad it is yet.”

The Panthers went into the locker room up by five and hoping they could contain the OVC’s top offense but were unable to weather the storm.

Tennessee State was able to put up a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter with a 22-yard touchdown pass by Bryson Rosser.

“We gave them our first turnover and they scored to make it 17-14 and that changed the game,” Spoo said.

Eastern took 42 underclassmen to Nashville and Spoo was pleased with the effort.

“We just didn’t have enough firepower in this contest, but overall I was pleased with the effort,” Spoo said.

To ice the game, Tennessee State scored a late touchdown on a 10-yard touchdown run by Rosser.

“We had some situations that we had to overcome and the kids show a lot of character and fight,” Tennessee State head coach James Reese said.

Eastern must now win out to finish at 6-6 and must get help to have any shot of qualifying for the OVC championships.

“We have to win our last three to prove we can affect on the outcome of the conference,” Spoo said.