<p>Tennessee State placekicker Antonio Zita is turning heads — and probably making some Power Five coaches wonder how he never made it on their recruiting radar.</p>
<p>Zita earned his second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference special teams player of the week award after booming field goals of 51 and 62 yards and then connecting on a chip shot from 35 yards as time expired to give the Tigers a 21-20 victory against Eastern Illinois. A week earlier, he hit three more field goals in a loss to Jacksonville State.</p>
<p>The 51-yarder was a career long for Zita, and tied for the sixth-longest field goal in praoram history. The 62-yarder is one shy of the longest in FCS history of 63 yards.</p>
<p>For the season, the junior has made eight of 10 attempts and 40 of 48 in his career.</p>
<p>After the victory, coach Rod Reed said Zita asked him, `Why did you let me kick the ball?’ I said `because you told me you could.’ He’s one of our better weapons on the team so why not use him?"</p>
<p>HERE COMES VMI</p>
<p>Virginia Military Institute has accomplished something it hadn’t managed since 1981 by winning its first three games of the season. The Keydets beat Mercer 41-14 on Saturday.</p>
<p>Balance and defense were key for VMI as they piled up 212 yards rushing, 258 passing and 29 first downs while limiting the Bears (1-5) to just 170 yards and 10 first downs. </p>
<p>“To start 3-0 for the first time since 1981 is huge and a tremendous accomplishment,” sixth-year coach Scott Wachenheim, whose record is now 14-45, said. “We had two themes this week: to be humble and hungry.” </p>
<p>It was also in 1981 that the Keydets last had a winning record, finishing 6-3-1.</p>
<p>The Keydets travel to Samford on Saturday.</p>
<p>BATTLING BISON</p>
<p>North Dakota State is continuing to make things interesting in the spring.</p>
<p>The Bison, winners of eight of the last nine Football Champion Subdivision national championships, were stunned 38-14 by Southern Illinois in their second game of the spring, and needed to turn to a freshman quarterback on Saturday to beat Illinois State.</p>
<p>Cam Miller capped a 13-play, 84-yard drive with a 6-yard scramble for a touchdown with 3:39 to play to clinch North Dakota State’s 21-13 win over Illinois State.</p>
<p>Miller entered the game with no pass attempts and two runs for 7 yards.</p>
<p>Bison rival North Dakota, meanwhile, is off to a 4-0 start, including a 44-21 victory against Southern Illinois. The Bison and Fighting Hawks meet Saturday at North Dakota State, where the Bison have a 31-game winning streak.</p>
<p>DUKES PAUSE</p>
<p>James Madison, among the top FCS programs annually, has paused all football activities because of COVID issues and will not be able to play on Saturday against Richmond.</p>
<p>The Dukes also missed last week’s game against William & Mary.</p>
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<p>More AP college football: <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/college-football">https://apnews.com/hub/college-football</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
