Freshman quarterback Ronald Butler took the snap from his center, surveyed the Eastern (7-1, 4-0) secondary and completed a pass to junior receiver Weldon Garlington in the flat for Tennessee State (7-2, 4-1).

Garlington then ran to his right, up the field and lunged toward the orange pylon for an 11-yard touchdown. The extra-point attempt was good, but the Tigers were still down 28-10 with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter.

The Eastern defense allowed only a 43-yard field goal by Jamin Godfrey in the first quarter until Butler’s touchdown pass to Garlington.

On Tuesday, Eastern coach Dino Babers said the game would come down to what the Panthers’ defense would do against the Tigers’ offense and not what Tennessee State’s defense would do against the Eastern offense.

On Saturday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn., the Panthers allowed 16 points, while Jimmy Garoppolo led the Eastern offense to 34.

The Tigers entered LP Field with the second best scoring defense, allowing 13.5 points per game through their first eight games and allowed 264 total yards per game, which was also second in the FCS.

But it was the Eastern defense that was able to stop the Tigers’ offense, which threw 212 yards on 45 attempts and ran the ball 32 times, averaging less than four yards per carry (3.9).

Tennessee State was allowing 154.1 passing yards in its first eight games, No. 1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and No. 8 in the FCS.

After completing a 54-yard Hail Mary to Jeff LePak, who was tackled a yard short of the goal line, Garoppolo had eclipsed the 200-yard passing mark in the first half for the eighth straight game.

Garoppolo finished the first half with 272 passing yards, a week after Tennessee State allowed 242 passing yards in the whole game against Tennessee-Martin.

Garoppolo would eventually accumulate 410 passing yards, throwing more than 100 yards to Keiondre Gober, Jeff LePak and Erik Lora each.

The senior quarterback threw four touchdowns, two apiece to Gober and LePak, and became the OVC’s single season passing touchdown all-time leader with 35, passing Tony Romo’s record of 34.

As the Panthers continued to score in the first half, building a 21-3 halftime lead, their defense was making Tennessee State punter Leon Holderhead a frequent contributor for the Tigers.

After Godfrey made his 43-yard field goal with 8:09 left in the first quarter, Tennessee State’s offense walked off the field to the sideline, being forced to punt seven times in the next 10 possessions.

The only times Holderhead did not punt was when Godfrey missed a 41-yard field goal in the second quarter and when the Tigers fumbled the ball over to Eastern.

The Panthers took advantage of the underwhelming Tiger offense in the second half, turning to running back Shepard Little to take as much time off the clock as possible.

For the second consecutive week, Little rushed for more than 100 yards.

In the second quarter, Little ran in for a 21-yard touchdown, putting Eastern ahead 14-3, making that his fourth touchdown run in the last two games, after scoring three against Southeast Missouri.

Little carried the ball 22 times for 138 yards, 12 more than five Tigers combined.

Although Tennessee State quarterback completed 24 passes, the same as Garoppolo, Butler’s longest completion was 27 yards. Butler threw the ball 45 times, averaging 4.7 yards per attempt.

Tennessee State entered the game against Eastern as one of the best defense’s in the country, but on Saturday the Panther defense outshined the Tigers, and leaped over them for first place in the OVC.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].