By John Frierson
Staff Writer
If the Tennessee Tech football team beats Austin Peay on Saturday, the No. 21-ranked Golden Eagles will earn at least a share of the Ohio Valley Conference championship — the program’s first since 1975 — and Tech’s first-ever trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs.
And leading the way for the Golden Eagles (6-3, 5-2) is a group of players from the Chattanooga area, including wide receiver Tim Benford.
“We’ve got a bunch of kids from the area helping out and making plays,” Benford said.
He leads the OVC with 55 receptions for 783 yards and five touchdowns. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound former Red Bank High School standout ranks in the top 20 nationally in both receptions and receiving yards per game.
Benford’s overall numbers are down slightly from other top wideouts because TTU is playing a 10-game schedule, but the senior will surely be named first-team All-OVC for the third straight season.
“We’re winning — that’s my main goal,” Benford said. “As long as we win, I’m good.”
Benford has put up big numbers — he has four games with 116 yards or more — despite drawing extra attention from defenses.
“I just have wait for my time when I’m lined up one-on-one, and if that doesn’t happen then the coaches just try to get the ball in my hands as much as possible when they can,” he said.
Tech coach Watson Brown said Benford has been a crucial part of the offense in recent seasons.
“We have used him in a way, for the last few years here, of ‘ball goes to Tim,'” Brown said. “He’s meant a lot to our running game. When you’ve got to pay attention to Tim all the time, it’s harder to crowd the box when you do that.
“We always know where No. 3 is in everything thing we’re doing.”
Throwing the ball to Benford is Tre Lamb, the son of Calhoun (Ga.) High School coach Hal Lamb. A junior, Lamb has completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,939 yards, and ranks third in the OVC in passing efficiency.
Tech’s running game has gotten a boost lately from another former Calhoun player, Adam Urbano. The transfer from Georgia Southern missed four games this season because of injury but has rushed for 351 yards in TTU’s past three games.
Senior linebacker Jake McIntosh of Dalton is fourth on the team with 58 tackles. And running the defense is associate head coach Billy Taylor, who was the defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for three seasons before leaving after the 2007 season.
Being in the position the Golden Eagles are in — a win over Austin Peay (3-7, 2-5) away from the program’s first playoff birth — means a lot to Benford.
“It feels good because we’ve never been here before, so it’s a new thing,” Benford said. “It’s a new beginning for Tech football.”
With a Chattanooga-North Georgia core leading the way.