Tennessee Tech rides Mitchell and five-game winning streak to 4-way share of Big South-OVC title

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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jalen Mitchell ran for 131 yards on 20 carries and Tennessee Tech beat Eastern Illinois 23-6 on Saturday.

The Eagles (7-5, 6-2 Big South-OVC Association) wrapped up the regular season with five straight wins and earned a four-way share of the conference title with Southeast Missouri State, UT Martin and Tennessee State.

SEMO and Tech each have 2-1 composite records versus TSU and UT Martin, who have 1-2 records. The tiebreaker shifts to head-to-head results between SEMO and Tech in which SEMO won to secure the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.

Dom LeBlanc gave the Golden Eagles a 6-0 lead with field goals of 46 and 20 yards before Jordan Yates made it 13-0 with a 9-yard touchdown run to end a nine-play, 80-yard drive with 3:49 before halftime.

LeBlanc added a 22-yard field goal midway through the third for a 16-point lead. Jay Pearson accounted for the lone score for the Panthers (3-9, 2-6) with a 2-yard touchdown run at the end of a 10-play, 75-yard drive that lasted nearly five-and-a-half minutes. The two-point conversion failed.

Tyler Wilson's 9-yard touchdown run with 11:04 left in the game capped the scoring.

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