2019 Tennessee State Tigers football team

American college football season

2019 Tennessee State Tigers football

Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	3–9 (2–6 OVC)
Head coach	Rod Reed (10th season)
Offensive coordinator	Shannon Harris (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Garry Fisher (3rd season)
Home stadium	Nissan Stadium Hale Stadium
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 8 Austin Peay +^	7	–	1	9	–	3
No. 17 Southeast Missouri State +^	7	–	1	9	–	3
UT Martin	6	–	2	7	–	5
Eastern Kentucky	5	–	3	7	–	5
Tennessee Tech	3	–	5	6	–	6
Jacksonville State	3	–	5	6	–	6
Murray State	2	–	6	4	–	8
Tennessee State	2	–	6	3	–	9
Eastern Illinois	1	–	7	1	–	11

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2019 Tennessee State Tigers football team represented Tennessee State University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by tenth-year head coach Rod Reed and played their home games at Nissan Stadium and Hale Stadium. Tennessee State finished the season 3–9 overall and 2–6 in OVC play to tie for seventh place.

Preseason

Preseason coaches' poll

The OVC released their preseason coaches' poll on July 22, 2019. The Tigers were picked to finish in fifth place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Jacksonville State	135 (15)
2	Southeast Missouri State	115
3	Eastern Kentucky	99
4	Austin Peay	84
5	Tennessee State	75
6	UT Martin	58
7	Murray State	55
8	Eastern Illinois	38
9	Tennessee Tech	16

Preseason All-OVC team

The Tigers had four players selected to the preseason all-OVC team.^[2]

Offense

Chris Rowland – WR

Thomas Burton – C

Raekwon Allen – OG

Defense

Dajour Nesbeth – DB

Headlines

On August 20, 2019, it was announced that starting quarterback Demry Croft had been charged with six counts of felony rape and two counts of sexual battery, from an incident that took place on December 1, 2018.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	Mississippi Valley State*	Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN (John Merritt Classic)	ESPN+	W 26–20	13,458
September 7	6:00 p.m.	at Middle Tennessee*	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium Murfreesboro, TN	ESPN3	L 26–45	20,912
September 14	6:00 p.m.	vs. Jackson State*	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Southern Heritage Classic)		L 44–49	48,347
September 21	2:00 p.m.	Arkansas–Pine Bluff	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	L 31–37	8,683
September 28	5:00 p.m.	at Eastern Kentucky	Roy Kidd Stadium Richmond, KY	ESPN+	L 16–42	8,861
October 5	6:00 p.m.	at No. 21 Jacksonville State	JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	L 23–31	16,589
October 12	2:00 p.m.	Murray State	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	L 17–31	5,324
October 19	4:30 p.m.	No. 20 Austin Peay	Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN (Sgt. York Trophy)	ESPN+	W 26–24	16,389
November 2	2:00 p.m.	No. 18 Southeast Missouri State	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN3	L 13–32	4,378
November 9	2:00 p.m.	Eastern Illinois	Hale Stadium Nashville, TN	ESPN+	L 38–49	4,131
November 16	2:00 p.m.	at UT Martin	Graham Stadium Martin, TN (Sgt. York Trophy)	ESPN+	L 17–28	1,776
November 23	1:30 p.m.	at Tennessee Tech	Tucker Stadium Cookeville, TN (Sgt. York Trophy)	ESPN+	W 37–27	2,728
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[4]^[5]

Game summaries

Mississippi Valley State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Delta Devils	0	6	7	7	20
Tigers	7	3	10	6	26

At Middle Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	6	0	13	7	26
Blue Raiders	0	10	14	21	45

Vs. Jackson State

	1	2	3	4	Total
JSU Tigers	21	7	14	7	49
TSU Tigers	7	7	9	21	44

Arkansas–Pine Bluff

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Lions	7	12	6	12	37
Tigers	7	3	14	7	31

At Eastern Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	3	6	7	0	16
Colonels	7	14	7	14	42

At Jacksonville State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	17	3	3	0	23
No. 21 Gamecocks	3	14	7	7	31

Murray State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Racers	7	14	0	10	31
Tigers	7	3	0	7	17

Austin Peay

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Governors	10	7	7	0	24
Tigers	0	9	7	10	26

Southeast Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Redhawks	9	6	10	7	32
Tigers	0	0	7	6	13

Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	14	7	14	14	49
Tigers	14	21	3	0	38

At UT Martin

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	7	3	7	0	17
Skyhawks	7	0	7	14	28

At Tennessee Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	10	13	14	37
Golden Eagles	14	13	0	0	27

Players drafted into the NFL

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
7	227	Lachavious Simmons	OG	Chicago Bears

References

^ "Media Pollsters Tab Jacksonville State as 2019 OVC Football Preseason Favorites". ovcsports.com. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
^ "JSU's Cooper, SEMO's Hall Named 2019 OVC Preseason Football Players of the Year". ovcsports.com. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
^ Organ, Mike. "Tennessee State QB Demry Croft charged with six counts of rape, two counts of sexual battery". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
^ "Football | Schedule | Official Site of Tennessee State Athletics". TSUTigers.com. Archived from the original on August 16, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
^ "2019 Tennessee State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved August 9, 2019.

v t e Tennessee State Tigers football
Venues	Sulphur Dell Hale Stadium (1953–1998, 2012–2020) Nissan Stadium (1999–2019, 2021–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin: Sgt. York Trophy Jackson State: Southern Heritage Classic
Culture & lore	Tigre
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1916 1917–1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941–1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
National championship seasons in bold