Jalen Smith was admitting defeat.
Early in the season, when the Lindenwood wideout ran a route along the sideline, he allowed defenders to force him to the boundary and he did not battle for a contested catch.
“A couple of times I had the opportunity to go up for a ball and make a play, and I didn’t,” said Smith, a redshirt sophomore. “Ever since then, I’ve been working to go up and make those plays, to make the spectacular play.”
Smith made three spectacular plays Saturday, including an electric 62-yard touchdown that helped Lindenwood earn a 30-14 victory over Tennessee-Martin in an Ohio Valley-Big South Conference clash at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles.
Lindenwood (3-3, 2-0), which defeated UT-Martin for the first time, has started conference play 2-0 for the first time since joining the OVC-Big South four years ago.
“It’s hard to win college football games in general, but that’s a special win for us. (UT-Martin) was co-champion of the league last year,” Lindenwood coach Jed Stugart said.
Lindenwood was the new kid on the conference block in 2022 when the Lions lost at Tennessee-Martin 56-26. With less than a minute remaining, the Skyhawks threw three passes into the end zone to try to pad the score.
“I told (then redshirt freshman) Kobe McClendon, ‘There’s going to come a day when we’re going to be in victory formation, we’re going to take a knee, and we’re going to celebrate against that team, and he remembered it,’” Stugart said. “We’re going to enjoy this one for a little bit.”
The Lions will have additional time to enjoy the win, as they are in the midst of their bye week and fall break before ramping up preparations for Tennessee Tech (5-0, 2-0) for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday, Oct. 18 at Hunter Stadium.
“The bye week is coming at a good time for us, especially coming off a really good win,” Stugart said. “Some of our weapons haven’t been completely healthy and they’ll have a chance to get rested.”
The perfect weapon Saturday was Smith, who began his breakout performance on the opening drive. Streaking down the right sideline, Smith outdueled a Skyhawks’ cornerback for a 42-yard contested catch to set up the Lions at the UT-Martin 14-yard line.
“(Smith) was challenged early on. He’s taken coaching, and he’s been a lot more combative going up and going after balls,” Stugart said.
Two plays later, Lions’ quarterback Nate Glantz found freshman Rico Bond boxing out a defender near the front pylon to give Lindenwood a quick 7-0 lead.
Tennessee-Martin quarterback Jace Bauer, who entered the game as the OVC-Big South Offensive Player of the Week, escaped for a 17-yard quarterback draw to tie the score, 7-7 at halftime. It was the longest, most explosive play from scrimmage for the Skyhawks during the game.
Smith had two more sticks of dynamite in his bag.
After Glantz found Drew Krobath on a 14-yard skinny post to open the second half scoring, he uncorked a bomb down the left sideline to Smith, who was in a one-on-one battle with UT-Martin senior cornerback Doug Newsome. Smith made the catch, then fended off Newsome with a series of stiff arms before reaching the end zone on an electric 62-yard touchdown.
Less than five minutes later, and as the final seconds were set to expire in the third quarter, Glantz heaved another rainmaker in the direction of Smith, who hauled it in for a 42-yard gain to put Lindenwood deep into UT-Martin territory.
Smith had three catches for 146 yards – a robust 48.7 yards per reception.
“This was definitely a first for my career. I’ve had a couple of long (receptions) but never back-to-back-to-back like that,” Smith said. “It was a big day, an explosive day. It definitely boosts the confidence. I’ve been waiting to have one of these games.”
In his first two games this season, Smith collected only one reception in each and then dropped his first target in game three. Since then, he’s amassed 16 catches for 327 yards, and on Saturday, scored his first career touchdown.
“He’s humble, he’s a team player, he’s the epitome of all those things. Sometimes you have to remind (players) how good they are and how good they can be,” Stugart said.
Leading 24-7, Lindenwood produced one more splash play that erased any doubt of the outcome when Glantz escaped around right end and raced 59 yards before sidestepping out-of-bounds deep into UT-Martin territory.
“That play – you kind of felt the wind go out of their sails, and you felt the energy on our sideline. I don’t like to say it was over, but you kind of felt it was over,” Stugart said.
Steve Hall, looking as quick and elusive as he has all season, took an option pitch into the end zone for the final Lindenwood touchdown as the Lions reached 30 points for the third time this season.
Glantz threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns, Hall rushed for 55 yards and a score, and the sure-tackling Lindenwood defense held UT-Martin to less than 300 yards of total offense and just 6.5 yards per completion.
“I just sensed a type of workmanship this week,” Stugart said. “We had a great week of practice, and it was great to see the guys come out and play with that kind of effort.”
For a photo gallery from this game, click the link below:
https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Football/Football-2025/Lindenwood-2025/UT-Martin-at-Lindenwood-10-04-25