Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 2, 2023 35 GAME PREVIEW: TENNESSEE STATE fan. A defensive back for the Tennessee Volunteers in the late 1990s, he knows what college football looks like at the top from his days watching the game as a kid and playing it as a young adult. So Allen also knows how momen- tous an occasion this is for the athletics program he took charge of three years ago, aiming to get it back on track un- der a head coach whose name is syn- onymous with success in the sport. Tennessee State isn't at the height of its powers. It has won only one of its 12 Black College National Champion- ships since 1983. The rest came before then. Sound familiar? Only one of Notre Dame's 11 Division I national titles have come since 1978. Parallels exist even between two vastly different programs. George went 5-6 in his first season in 2021 and 4-7 last year. This game is about more than wins and losses, though. It's about more than numbers, even though the one that signifies how much Notre Dame paid Tennessee State to make it hap- pen has to be substantial. Swarbrick made a quip about that a year and a half ago. On paper, Notre Dame wins in a run- away. In optics and program position- ing for the future, it's hard to argue ev- eryone involved won't come out on the winning side of history. "At the end of the day, it's not a gim- mick," Allen said. "We want it to be real." "It's all about the opportunity for us as the University of Notre Dame to get the chance to play an HBCU," Freeman added. "And that's extremely, extremely exciting." ✦ 1. Eyeing A Move To The FBS Level Last year, Tennessee State athletics director Dr. Mikki Allen publicly stated his plans to elevate the stature of his school's football program. "I have a goal for this program to eventually become an FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] program and to do that we have to make the enhancements in terms of our facility profile and our competition venues," Allen told The Tennessean in February 2022. It would not be the first time that TSU has tried competing at that level. The Tigers were a Division I-A independent from 1977-79 before ultimately joining Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision), per The Tennessee Tribune. It is unclear right now how long it will take to make the move to the FBS, but the trip to South Bend will certainly move the program in the right direction. In addition to being afforded the exposure of a national television broadcast on NBC, Tennessee State will get a $1 million guarantee for its game at Notre Dame. That figure is considerably higher than what FCS schools usually receive for play - ing this type game. For comparison's sake, TSU got $525,000 for a 2021 game against SEC opponent Mississippi State, which is in line with what HBCU and FCS schools ordinarily get for playing road games against FBS teams. "We continue to make investments not only in our football program but holistically in our student-athlete development programs and in all of our facili - ties; to advance our programs we know that we need support," Allen said after the official announcement was made on April 6, 2022. "This game guarantee is something that will be special, but we're also getting private funding. People in our big blue community are really buying into what we're doing." 2. Limited Success Vs. FBS Competition Tennessee State has played only eight games against Football Bowl Subdivision competition dating back to 2006. The Tigers are 1-7 in those contests. Five of those games have been against FBS in-state foes. Tennessee State dropped all three games it has played against SEC-member Vanderbilt, getting blown out 38-9 in 2006 and 35-17 in 2016, before putting up more of a fight in a 31-27 setback in 2018. They are also 0-2 versus Middle Tennessee State of the Sun Belt Conference, losing 45-26 in 2019 and 49-6 in 2022. Tennessee State was also beaten badly by both Air Force of the Mountain West Conference (63-24 in 2011) and Mississippi State of the SEC (55-10 in 2021, cur - rent head coach Eddie George's first season in charge). The lone victory for the Tigers came in 2017, when they knocked off Georgia State of the Sun Belt Conference 17-10 in the two teams' season opener. 3. Not Here To 'Lay Down' Tennessee State players, already talking about Notre Dame because it's the Tigers' first game of the season, have made it clear that they don't intend on being doormats in South Bend. "People expect us just to go in there and lay over and be a cakewalk," Ten- nessee State senior offensive lineman Romello Tarver told The Tennessean. "It won't be that." While coach George and his players know what simply playing this game can do for their program — notably, putting it on national television — the Tigers say they plan on entering Notre Dame Stadium and competing with the Irish. "They put helmets and cleats on just like we do. We've been working all sum - mer," linebacker James Green told The Tennessean. "We haven't been waking up and running hills just to go to Notre Dame and lay down." — Jack Soble Graduate student linebacker James Green and his Tennessee State team- mates plan on giving Notre Dame all it can handle when they travel to South Bend Sept. 2. PHOTO COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE ATHLETICS Three Things To Know About Tennessee State