Tennessee Tech piled up 618 total yards Saturday – including 166 on the ground – in a 66-20 OVC-Big South victory against Western Illinois. (Photo by TTUSports.com)
By Barry Bottino
Western Illinois lost its first Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Football Association road game of the season Saturday, but gained a potent spark on offense.
True freshman Cason Carswell, in his first career start, threw for 343 yards and two touchdowns for Western (1-5 overall, 0-2 conference) in a 66-20 loss to defending conference champion Tennessee Tech (5-0, 2-0), the nation’s No. 9 ranked team.
Carswell, who played the second half of WIU’s loss to Eastern Illinois last week, finished 34-for-48 passing against the Golden Eagles and completed two passes of 40-plus yards.
“There’s a lot of positives to build from,” WIU head coach Joe Davis said. “He goes out and completes 70% of his passes and made some big plays. Cason’s got a lot of talent. We’d seen some of these things in practice.”
Midway through the third quarter, TTU’s Andrew Smith returned an interception 16 yards for a touchdown to give Tech a 52-17 lead. The TD finished a run of 28 consecutive points for TTU, which led only 24-17 midway through the second quarter.
Carswell was sacked at WIU’s 23 in the fourth quarter, which TTU returned 14 yards. The Golden Eagles scored two plays later.
Davis said his young quarterback still has room to grow.
“You saw some freshman mistakes too,” Davis said. “The turnover when we were backed up. We fumbled when we were backed up. We still missed some stuff in the pass game and the run game, decision-making. It’s to be expected from a freshman.”
Tech quarterback Kekoa Visperes, a transfer from Eastern Washington, finished the day 24-for-38 passing for 358 yards and four touchdowns. He also was TTU’s leading rusher, gaining 73 yards on eight carries.
“That’s a quality player at quarterback,” Davis said. “We knew he’d be a challenge. They really unleashed him. We did not have a very good plan to defend their passing game.”
Western, which averaged 193.3 rushing yards a game over the last three weeks, was limited Saturday to 32 yards on 23 carries.
“They’re stout up front,” Davis said of TTU’s defense. “I don’t know anybody that’s run the ball on them very successfully.”
Western’s offense converted 13% of its third downs.
“It was very poor,” Davis said. “Two-for-15 on third down, it’s hard to stay in it.”
On the flip side, the TTU offense successfully converted 62% on third down (8-for-13).
“In the third quarter there, if we had any chance to get back in the game, they had three or four huge third-down conversions, a couple that we gave them on penalties and a couple that they were able to execute.”
“That just deflated us on defense,” Davis said.
WIU receiver Demari Davis returned after missing the past two games with injury and caught five passes for 99 yards. He also had a 40-yard reception.
Game changers
8:17, 1st quarter: On WIU’s second possession of the game, Carswell hit Williams with a 23-yard pass to complete a 75-yard drive and give WIU a 7-3 lead.
4:45, 2nd quarter: After Western trimmed the TTU lead to 24-17, Visperas connected on a 25-yard TD pass to Brian Courtney to put Tech up by two scores.
6:28, 3rd quarter: Smith’s 16-yard interception return for a TD completed a stretch of 28 consecutive points for TTU.
Nifty ‘Necks
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Western Illinois players in Saturday’s game:
Carswell, QB: The true freshman threw for 343 yards in his debut as a starter and threw a pair of touchdowns.
Christian Anaya, WR: Western’s leading receiver led all players Saturday with 13 catches for 132 yards, including a 47-yard reception.
Kevin Washington Jr., LB: The WIU middle linebacker posted 10 tackles, including six solo stops, to lead all defensive players in the game.
What it means
The Leathernecks opened conference play 0-2 for the second time in three years. WIU last went 0-2 in 2023 during its final season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
What’s next
The Leathernecks travel to UT Martin (1-5, 1-1 OVC-Big South) for a 2 p.m. kickoff Oct. 11. Martin lost on the road at Lindenwood, 30-14, on Saturday.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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