An offensive penalty followed by a sack moved Tennessee State football back to the 20-yard line on fourth down, but still well within reach of kicker Preston Hurless, who had a 47-yarder against Jackson State earlier in the John Merritt Classic at Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium on Aug. 29.
Hurless never got the chance to attempt what would have been a 37-yard field goal. Holder Truette Tumey had trouble handling a bad snap by Jaydon Vester, and Hurless was unable to even attempt to kick the ball.
Jackson State (1-0) held on for a 26-24 win in front of a near-capacity crowd of 32,467 in the season opener for both teams.
Second-year TSU coach Reggie Barlow said all three facets in the field goal kicking game failed on the bungled play.
"I think the
snap was a little bit low and the holder had a little issue with timing to actually get it down," Barlow said. "And when he got it down, you know, for those kickers once they've got that rhythm before the ball gets placed, it kind of threw off production there."
Hurless' 47-yard field goal had put TSU (0-1) up 17-7 late in the first half. It was the last of three straight scores for TSU, including a 9-yard touchdown run by freshman Brenton Paul and a 2-yard touchdown run by quarterback Daylin Lee.
"It kind of sucks for us to come up short like that at the end of the game," Lee said. "But that last play didn't cost us the game. We were trying to score a touchdown on that last drive, so we could have done that. And there were other opportunities in the game."
Lee had gotten TSU to the JSU 8 on a 20-yard pass to Dylan Rodd followed by a 26-yard pass to Jayden Guy. The offense got moved back on a delay of game penalty after that, and Lee was sacked for a 7-yard loss on third down.
QB Daylin Lee, WR Jayden Guy energized TSU's offense
Lee, a transfer from Winston-Salem State, staged a better performance than any of the three quarterbacks TSU tried in 2025 — Byron McNair, Jonathan Palmer or Caleb McCreary — when it suffered through one of its worst seasons in recent history, going 2-10.
Lee completed 23-of-41 passes for 265 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He was also TSU's leading rusher with 47 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.
"We drove the ball really well, and I thought we had a lot of explosive plays," Lee said. "We showed how good of an offense we can be. There were some mistakes that we're going to correct and come back better next week."
Lee completed passes to six receivers, including former Blackman standout Jayden Guy, who was the game's leading receiver with nine catches for 148 yards.
"There were some guys that made some big plays out there; Jayden Guy comes to mind," Barlow said. "Obviously, Daylin being our quarterback and doing a good job for us. We have it on tape now; we have the chance to go back and make the corrections."
Reach MIke Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee State football comes up short, but finds resurgent offense in loss
