Experienced Tennessee Tech comes to Kinnick

OK, goal No. 1 is don't end up Appalachian State'd. Everyone Big Ten knows that's the first thought when an FCS school is the first team on your schedule.

Of course, this is a reference Appalachian State's victory at Michigan in 2007. Iowa dodged a monumental bullet in 2009, when the Hawkeyes blocked two field goal attempts in the last seconds to hold off Northern Iowa, 17-16.

Appalachian State and Northern Iowa are two of the heavyweights of the Football Championship Subdivision. App State won three FCS titles in a row (2005-07) and knocked off UNI for the title in 2005.

Tennessee Tech doesn't have blue blood FCS pedigree. The Golden Eagles do have 21 returning starters, including all 11 on offense, from a team that finished 5-6 with a comeback victory over No. 4 Jacksonville State, picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference this season, in the season finale. Tech had nine starters out of action for the game.

With 52 letterwinners on the roster, Tech (0-0) will hardly be an ingenue when it walks into Kinnick Stadium on Saturday for its matchup with the Hawkeyes (0-0).

"Excited," Tech coach Watson Brown said, "we finally have an older team. You could pull out any of the interviews over the past few years and it's young team.

"Can't say that anymore."

Wide receiver Tim Benford enters the season with 151 career receptions, just six away from joining the OVC career top 10. Benford was a first-team all-OVC selection last season with 47 passes for 779 yards and nine TDs. Guard Scott Schweitzer also is a preseason all-OVC selection. Linebacker Marcus Edwards returns with an OVC-best 7.5 sacks last season.

That experience didn't blow away voters in the 2011 Ohio Valley preseason poll. The Eagles were picked to finish fifth, behind Southeast Missouri and away of Tennessee-Martin.

"I think we're the deepest team in the league," Brown said. "We can go three deep at a lot of spots with players who've played in OVC games. We may not have the best player across the board at every place. We've got to play to our depth and experience and hopefully that will improve us."

So, Tech has experience. It also runs a spread offense and bills itself as "the fastest 60 minutes in football." This means "no huddle," something Iowa will again see this year with Iowa State and Pittsburgh.

Quarterbacks Tre Lamb will trigger the "fastest 60." Lamb threw for 974 yards and 11 touchdowns before a knee injury knocked him out for Tech's final three games. During a scrimmage on Aug. 20, Lamb completed 8 of 8 for 73 yards and a TD. He also rushed for 38 yards.

"Tre's going into his third year and he's been a full-year starter," Brown said. "He's really playing good right now and we've got to keep him healthy."

Benford, 6-1, 195 pounds, is Tech's featured player on offense.

"He's a gamer, loaded with ability and very, very competitive," Brown said. "I've always thought in my 40 years of this crazy business, I'd rather coach one down than coach one up. We're always trying to keep Tim calmed down and under control."

Tech isn't new to FBS-level opponents. The Eagles opened at Arkansas and then traveled to Texas Christian. It lost those games by a collective score 106-10.

Since 1984, the Eagles are 0-25 against FBS teams. The closest of the 25 losses was a 21-7 decision to South Florida in 2004 when USF was new to FBS. The total score in those 25 games is 1,057-199 with the average being 42-8. Tech hasn't reached 17 points in any of these matchups.

Tech did hold a 3-0 lead at Arkansas after one quarter. So, there's that. Arkansas and TCU went to BCS bowls last season. So, there's that, too.

"We're poised to play better," Brown said. "I'll be very disappointed if we don't do that."

Better or best still won't be enough to pull an Appalachian State in Kinnick.