Tennessee State relied on playmaker Charles Anthony to hand UTM and first-year head coach Matt Griffin a 41-10 loss Saturday night in The Coliseum.

It was the 2003 OVC football opener for both teams.

With the loss, UTM falls to 1-4 for the year, while Tennessee State improves to 3-2.

UTM returns to Hardy Graham Stadium tomorrow for homecoming against Tennessee Tech. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. Anthony and the Tigers jumped out in front of the Skyhawks 7-0 with 11:25 to play in the first quarter. Anthony scored on a 1-yard run.

The Skyhawks answered back in the second quarter when Andrew Staten scored on a 10-yard run.

Staten’s touchdown run was set up when sophomore Jason Coleman intercepted TSU quarterback Riley Walker. Coleman tacked on a 15-yard return and the Skyhawks set up shop at their own 20-yard line.

Freshman Ben Harrison busted loose for 21 yards on a fourth-and-one from the TSU 35-yard line to keep the scoring drive alive.

Anthony wasn’t to be outdone by the Skyhawks. He followed up Staten’s score with a 52-yard touchdown run with 5:26 to play in the second quarter.

TSU closed out the first half with yet another big play when Walker and Carlos Wright connected on an 82-yard TD strike. Trailing 21-7, the Skyhawks tacked on a 46-yard Brent Harris field goal as time expired in the first half.

Anthony tacked on his third TD of the game early in the third quarter as he scored on a 49-yard run.

The Tigers were denied the point when Skyhawk freshman Jack Greenwood blocked kicker Joey Hudak's attempt. Greenwood, a 6-1, 185-pound freshman from Houston, Texas, had seven total tackles in the game, the blocked PAT and an interception with a 19-yard return. His effort was just a small part of the Skyhawks' defensive presence.

Freshman Markeseo Jackson, a 6-0, 220-pound linebacker from Memphis, led the Skyhawks with nine total tackles, three tackles for a loss and 1.5 quarterback sacks.

The Skyhawks recorded six quarterback sacks in the game, that's one more sack than they recorded against ETSU in the second week of the season.

Added to the half dozen sacks for a loss of 42 yards, were three interceptions.

Greenwood had one in the third quarter, while sophomore Jason Coleman (corner back, 5-11, 175 pounds, Fairburn, Ga.) had two picks for 10 return yards.

Offensively, the Skyhawks were led by redshirt freshman quarterback Bart Browder from Selmer.

Browder replaced freshman Brett Hall who will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury he suffered in the closing minutes of the first half last week against No. 2 ranked Western Illinois.

Browder completed 16-off-33 passes for 170 yards. He was never intercepted, but he was sacked three times.

Anthony, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in each of TSU’s first four games, racked up 169 yards of rushing on 18 carries against the Skyhawks. Anthony entered the game as the OVC’s leading rusher and leading scorer.

“The big play hurt us,” Griffin said. “We are not finishing and we have to address that.”