Eddie George says TSU football becoming elite after giving Montana scare in FCS playoffs
Tennessee State football's best season in more than a decade came to an end Saturday night, but not before the Tigers gave Montana a scare in the first round of the FCS national playoffs.
After falling behind by 21 points late in the third quarter the No. 19 Tigers fought back and closed the gap to a touchdown before Eli Gillman scored on a 59-yard run to give the No. 13 Grizzlies a 41-27 win in front of 12,479 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Montana.
"We didn't play our best game, but we kept fighting," TSU coach Eddie George said. "We made it a game getting it into the fourth quarter. We want to continue to close the gap against these upper echelon FCS teams. The only way we can do that is by coming out here, seeing the culture, the environment, the facilities, everything about it. We're taking notes and saying, 'This is what we need to do to get TSU to this level.' "
It was the first time in the playoffs for TSU (9-4) since 2013. No. 14 seed Montana (9-4) is in the playoffs for a record 28th time. The Grizzlies advanced to play No. 3 seed South Dakota State in the second round.
'God willing' Eddie George sticking around until TSU is elite
George, a Tennessee Titans four-time All-Pro running back, led TSU to its first winning record in six years last season at 6-5.
After finishing his fourth season with the Tigers, George said he is committed to making sure the improvement continues.
"I'm excited. I'm really excited," George said. "It hurts that we can't go on (in the playoffs), but in order to get there we had to go through it. This is part of the process. God willing, if I'm here for the next five or six years, it's going to take us time to become an elite program where we're consistent and we're sustainable."
TSU won seven of its last eight games heading into the playoffs, which included beating Southeast Missouri 28-21 in the regular season finale and earning a share of the Big South/OVC championship.
The last time the Tigers won the conference title was in 1999.
"Now we know what takes," George said. "This is what we have to do to get there. This was a great learning experience both on the field and off the field."
Draylen Ellis brought TSU's offense to life
TSU senior quarterback Draylen Ellis completed 29-of-39 passes for 296 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. It was the third-most passing yards for Ellis this season.
After Montana went up 27-6 on Junior Bergen's 52-yard punt return for a touchdown with 1:28 left in the third quarter, Ellis sparked the Tigers' comeback.
He threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in the final 16 minutes of the game. His 11-yard touchdown run cut Montana's lead to 27-20 and his second touchdown pass − 15 yards to Karate Brenson − trimmed the lead to 34-27 with 3:03 remaining.
Brenson had a game-high 11 catches for 122 yards and Jalal Dean had six catches for 47 yards.
Ellis finished his TSU career with 6,131 passing yards. During the game he moved ahead of Kenneth Biggles (5,993) into sixth on the program's career passing yards list.
Montana stuffed Tennessee State's run game
Ellis had to get the offense in gear with his arm because Montana shut down the Tigers' rushing attack. TSU finished with minus-19 yards on 21 attempts.
"We did well in a lot of areas, but we got beat at the line of scrimmage," George said. "We just never got into a good rhythm with our run game."
The Tigers' offensive line was flagged four times for offsides.
Montana replaced starting quarterback Logan Fife with Keali'i Ah Yat after Fife had two second-half fumbles. Fife and Ah Yat combined for only 115 passing yards.
TSU's defense, however, struggled against Montana's rushing game, which compiled 254 yards led by Gillman, who had 136 yards on a season-high 20 carries.
The Grizzlies' special teams also gave TSU fits. Along with his punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter Bergan scored on a 54-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.