On paper it appears that Tennessee State University has wrapped up the OVC football championship.

After four games the Tigers are tops in rushing defense and they have the league’s all-time leading receiver, the league’s top scorer and the league’s leading rusher.

Senior C.J. Johnson became the OVC’s leading receiver last week when he hauled in four catches for 61 yards. He now has 3,006 yards of receiving.

Charles Anthony went over the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game and is averaging 135.5 yards per game, that’s the best in the conference.

Anthony also has eight touchdowns this season and that leads the OVC.

The bottom line is Tennessee State is 2-2 with wins against Florida A&M and Jackson State, and 2-2 is a long way from winning the league’s championship. Ready to cage the Tigers on the field and on paper is UTM

Tennessee State will host UTM at 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 27 in The Coliseum in Nashville.

For UTM (1-3), Saturday’s game against Tennessee State is the beginning of a new season.

For starters, the game is the OVC opener for both teams. It's also the first conference game for UTM head coach Matt Griffin.

“We are going to get back,” Griffin said. “We are not going to stop fighting, we will keep fighting the fight every snap.”

The Skyhawks welcome the conference opener after playing a tough four-game non-conference slate that included road games at Arkansas State (Division 1-A) and No. 2 Western Illinois (Division 1-AA).

The Skyhawks lost both of those games by a combined score of 119-6. The Skyhawks opened the season with a 21-20 win over visiting Austin Peay. In game three, the Skyhawks dropped a 14-7 overtime decision against visiting ETSU.

Griffin had no regrets about playing No. 2 ranked Western Illinois this past week, even after his Skyhawks lost 56-0.

“This is not a game I did not want to play,” Griffin said. “I wanted to play this game back in May. This is good for us. Our kids need to see the speed from a top 10 team.”

The non-conference slate has forced the Skyhawks to deal with several injuries.

Sophomore quarterback Brady Wahlberg completed 82 percent of his passes against Austin Peay, but hasn't played since the opener because of an arm injury.

Freshman quarterback Brett Hall was sacked before the half last week against Western Illinois and didn’t play the second half against the Leathernecks because of a shoulder injury. Hall has been named the starter for this week’s game against Tennessee State.

Also shaken up in the Western Illinois game was punter/kicker Brent Harris, a Westview High School product. Despite the injury this past Saturday, Harris has been named the starter for the TSU game.

On paper, the Skyhawks are last in the OVC in scoring defense, allowing 38.2 yards per game.

Paper stats won’t count when these two teams meet. The Skyhawks are hungry for a win and they are attempting to end a 42-game conference losing streak.

The last time the Skyhawks defeated an OVC opponent was in 1996 when they defeated Southeast Missouri State 7-6.