The Murray State Racers scored on their first two drives of the second half to make a run at the East Tennessee State Buccaneers Saturday, but ultimately fell 45-17 at Bank of Tennessee Field at William Greene Stadium in Johnston City.
 
The Racers (0-1) come home Saturday (Sept. 6) on MSU Family Weekend to host the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in a 6 p.m. kick off at Roy Stewart Stadium.
 
Playing their 101^st season opener and ETSU for the first time since 1978, the Racers trailed 24-3 when they took the ball to start the third quarter.
 
The Racers scored their first touchdown of the season on Jewaun Northington's 10^th career TD to cap a 6-play 65-yard drive to make it a 24-10 game at 12:36.
 
After the kick off, MSU scored a defensive stop on a sack and forced fumble by Ja'Quan Redfern, which was recovered by Klayton Ingraham at the ETSU 35 yard line. The Racers took advantage and scored on a 15-yard TD pass on 4^th & 5 from Jim Ogle to Brooks Kleinpeter.
 
Suddenly, the Racers had hit the Bucs with 14-straight points to make it a 24-17 game with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter.
 
However, the Racers couldn't score the rest of the day and couldn't slow down the up-tempo ETSU offense as the Bucs scored the final 21 points and ended the day out-gaining the Racers 572-260 yards.
 
Game Notes

• Captains for the Racers were (30) Jewaun Northington (RB, Sr., Louisville, Ky.), (4) Jim Ogle (QB, RFr., Jacksonville, Ala.) and (9) Dylan Rowsey (DB, Jr., Rienzi, Miss.).
• Murray State won the coin toss and deferred possession to the start of the second half.
• Brooks Esplin's first quarter interception was the Racers' first in a season opener since 2023 when MSU's Charles Alberty picked off a pass in the fourth quarter in the Racers 1000^th game in program history (09-02-23) in a 41-10 victory at home against Presbyterian.
• When the Racers scored on the first possession of the second half, it marked their first since 2021 when they scored at home against Eastern Illinois. On the first drive of the third quarter, MSU's Cortezz Jones scored on a 26-yard run as the Racers beat EIU 20-13.
• The 11 catches in Darius Cannon's first game as a Racer after his transfer from Kentucky, saw him catch 11 passes from Jim Ogle.
• Cannon is the first Racer with double-digit receptions in 50 games for the Racers since the 2020 season, when LaMartez Brooks caught 10 passes at Tennessee Tech (03-14-21 played spring Covid season) for 115 yards and one touchdown.
• Brooks is also the last Racer to catch 11 or more passes with 12 against Eastern Kentucky (10-19-19).
• In Ogle's first start at MSU, he set several personal career highs in completing 22-of-35 passes for 226 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions.
• Ogle's game is the best for the Racers since Jayden Johansen threw for 256 yards last season at Indiana Stte (10-12-24).
• Cannon caught 10 of Ogle's 22 completions for 86 yards, in which 74 of those yards were after the catch.
• Ogle was sacked four times today, while the MSU defense had one sack.
• The Racers had a tough time running the ball against ETSU with 34 yards on 28 carries.
• MSU's Dylan Rowsey had 15 solo tackles today for a total tackle stat of 18.
• Rowsey's day on defense is the best for a Racer since Anthony Koclanakis who had a pair of 18-tackle days at UT Martin (09-28-19) and home vs Tennessee Tech (11-02-19).
• Murray State Athletics announced plans to retire the jerseys of MSU Football legends, Rick Fisher and Jack Wolf, when the Racers host Southeastern Louisiana, Sept. 6, in a 6 p.m. kick off.
• Teammates at Murray State in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Fisher will see his No. 31 enshrined at Roy Stewart Stadium and Wolf's No. 81, as a big part of MSU's annual Family Weekend.
• Fisher was inducted into the Murray State Hall of Fame in 1981 and Wolf was honored with induction in 2024.
• The Racers and ETSU were regular opponents in the Ohio Valley Conference from their first meeting in 1969 to their last meeting in 1978.

 
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