After more than five grueling hours and two weather delays, the Lindenwood Lions (3-4, 2-1 OVC/Big South) couldn’t pull off the upset and fell to unbeaten Tennessee Tech (7-0, 4-0 OVC/Big South), 52–28 in Saturday’s stormy showdown.
The marathon matchup stretched from early afternoon into the evening, with two lightning delays totaling nearly three hours. By the time the final whistle sounded just before 7 p.m., most of the stands were empty and the soaked field told the story of a long, frustrating night for the Lions.
“Probably the longest football game I’ve ever been a part of,” head coach Jed Stugart said after the game. “I was really proud of our guys’ fight tonight.”
Despite battling through the elements and an elite opponent, self-inflicted mistakes once again proved costly for Lindenwood.
Golden Eagles Weather the Storm
Tennessee Tech showed why it remains undefeated, responding to every Lindenwood challenge and taking control after grabbing a 17–14 lead in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles never trailed again, scoring 21 unanswered points in the second half to pull away late.
“We knew we were playing a top-10 team in the country,” Stugart said. “You just can’t make self-inflicted mistakes against good football teams, and we did tonight.”
What Can’t Glantz Do?
Nate Glantz continues to put up fantastic numbers in his second year at Lindenwood as even with the weather to contend with he slung it around the field to the tune of 294 and four passing touchdowns to four different wide receivers. He also led the team in rushing for the second straight week, gaining 22 net yards after sacks.
“I thought Nate played really well tonight,” Stugart said. “We had some drops that typically don’t happen, maybe because of the wet ball, but he kept making plays.”
Seven different receivers caught a pass from Glantz on Saturday with Jalen Smith leading the way for the second straight game hauling in five passes for 102 yards and a score. It was the second straight game Smith eclipsed the century mark in yards after having 146 yards against UT Martin.
Darrin Fugitt, finally healthy after dealing with a wrist injury, had a breakout game catching passes for 64 yards and his first touchdown of 2025.
“Darrin’s been a great leader for us, on and off the field,” Stugart said. “He’s been playing through a broken bone in his wrist and still making plays. That says a lot about his toughness.”
Jared Rhodes and Gavin Hulet also each hauled in their first receiving touchdowns of the year both came on beautifully designed trick plays by offensive coordinator Dusty Hovorka. Rhodes was a 35 yards catch and run after Glantz faked a swing pass to the short side of the field and then with the rush bearing down on him flipped his hips and threw it back across the field to Rhodes who had plenty of blockers out in front and streaked all the way to the end zone to put Lindenwood up 7-0 early.
Hulet’s touchdown catch came early in the fourth with Lindenwood trailing 38-21 on a trick play where Hulet reported as eligible and as Glantz rolled to his right looking to possibly run it in himself he again, turned and threw it back across the field to a wide open Hulet who made the catch and cut the lead to 38-28.
Special Teams Demons Continue
The demons that had plagued the Lindenwood kicking game unfortunately reared its ugly head on Saturday but in the punt game as twice Lindenwood punter, A.J. Vinatieri had trouble getting a punt off and both turnovers led to Tennessee Tech touchdowns.
“The mishandled punt and the blocked punt were 14 points right there,” Stugart said. “You just can’t do that against good football teams. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and fix that execution.”
The first came early in the second quarter when the snap came a little high to Vinatieri who watched as the ball slipped right through his hands and the rush bore down on him as wasn’t able to try and re punt it and was tackled at the Lindenwood 11 yard line setting up the Golden Eagles with a short field and quarterback, Kekoa Vispares, would run it in for a touchdown.
The second botched punt came midway through the third quarter when the Golden Eagles rushed six at Vinatieri and the blockers in front couldn’t contain the rush and the punt was blocked and recovered by Tennessee Tech at the Lindenwood seven once again setting them up with a short field in which they would capitalize on a Visperas three yard touchdown pass putting the Golden Eagles up 31-14.
“Everything that went wrong tonight is fixable,” Stugart said. “We’ve just got to get back to work, keep fighting, and play our best football down the stretch.”
The Battle in the Trenches was Lost
After it felt like Lindenwood won the battle in the trenches against UT Martin two weeks ago the Golden Eagles came in and dominated things up front to the tune of 311 yards rushing on offense and holding Lindenwood to just 17 yards rushing as well as tallying four sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
Quintell Quinn led the way for the Tennessee Tech rushing attack carrying the ball 16 times for 135 yards and a long 58 yard touchdown run that was the dagger in the Lions hearts late in the fourth.
“They’ve got a big back who runs hard,” Stugart said. “We just didn’t tackle well tonight. That’s been a strength for us lately, but we didn’t get it done.”
Q’Daryius Jennings was the thunder to Quinn’s lighting as the senior rushed 14 times for 85 yards and a touchdown of his own. As a team, the Golden Eagles averaged 6.8 yards per carry.
Visperas showed off his dual threat ability carrying the ball nine times for 75 yards, a rushing score of his own as it seemed like whoever the Golden Eagles put in the backfield the Lions couldn’t contain them and the Tennessee Tech offensive line was getting a great push up front on every play.
“We were right there coming out of that second delay,” Stugart said. “It was a 10-point game, and we had a chance to make it a one-score game. Then the dam kind of broke, a few missed tackles, a long run, and suddenly it got away from us.”
On the other side of the ball, the Tennessee Tech defensive line dominated keeping Lindenwood behind the sticks and stalling out drives when Lindenwood needed points as they held the Lions rushing attack to just 0.6 yards per carry on 30 attempts as well as holding the Lions to 3/14 on third down and 2/4 on fourth as the Golden Eagle defense is what sealed the win for Tennessee Tech as Lindenwood had the ball in the fourth down 38-28 and a chance to cut the lead to one possession out of the second weather delay but the Lions went three and out and the Golden Eagles sealed the game with two late touchdowns.
“We told the guys before the game, whatever team handles adversity the best will come out on top,” he said. “We came out of the first delay and scored right away, so I thought we handled that well. But we’ve got to finish. That’s what great teams do.”
There’s Still of Plenty of Season Left
The loss is only the Lions second in conference this season and does drop them below .500 at 3-4 but there is still plenty of season to be played and while an at-large berth to the FCS playoffs seems far out, Lindenwood still has plenty of opportunities to stack wins in front of them.
“We’re sitting at 2-1 in conference,” he said. “This isn’t an end-all, be-all game. There’s a lot of football left, and all of these things are fixable.”
They stay home as they play host to the Gardner Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. streaming on ESPN+ and can be listened to on 89.1 KCLC.
