OVC Football Report - Aug. 29 8/29/2011 8:59:00 PM This Week's ScheduleThursday, September 1Murray State at Louisville, 5:00 p.m. (ESPNU)*UT Martin at #9 Jacksonville State, 6:00 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)Illinois State at Eastern Illinois, 6:30 p.m. (Comcast Chicago)Saturday, September 3Tennessee Tech at Iowa, 11:00 a.m. (BTN)#17 Southern Illinois at Southeast Missouri, 6:00 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)Southern at Tennessee State, 6:00 p.m. (OVCSports.TV)Austin Peay at Cincinnati, 6:00 p.m. (Fox Sports Ohio/ESPN3.com)Eastern Kentucky at Kansas State, 6:00 p.m. (K-StateHD.TV) This Week's OVC Highlights/StorylinesThe 64th season of football in the Ohio Valley Conference will get underway on Thursday night as four OVC teams are in action, including two against each other in the first Conference game of the season; the remaining five OVC schools open up the 2011 season on Saturday...Thursday's game include preseason favorite Jacksonville State hosting UT Martin; Jacksonville State is ranked No. 9 nationally in each the Sports Network/Fathead.com and FCS Coaches Top 25 polls while UT Martin received a vote in the Sports Network poll...Last season JSU was ranked as high as No. 2 in the national polls and was ranked in the Top 10 for 12 weeks (the longest stretch for an OVC school since 1991-93) and overall has been ranked in the Top 25 for 31-straight weeks...In other Thursday action Eastern Illinois will do battle with in-state rival Illinois State for the 100th in a series that has been re-branded the "Mid-American Classic"; that game will air on Comcast SportsNet Chicago...The other Thursday game features Murray State playing at FBS foe Louisville in a game that will air on ESPNU...On Saturday three OVC schools will play at FBS schools as Tennessee Tech plays at Iowa (Big Ten Network), Austin Peay is at Cincinnati (Fox Sports Ohio/ESPN3.com) and Eastern Kentucky is at Kansas State...Also on Saturday defending champion Southeast Missouri State will host No. 17 Southern Illinois and Tennessee State hosts Southern in the 13th annual John Merritt Classic.Notes From Around the GridironLet's Get It Started: The 64th season of Ohio Valley Conference football will get underway on Thursday, Sept. 1 when four OVC squads take to the gridiron; the remaining five schools will play on Saturday, Sept. 3. The OVC is made up of nine football-playing schools in 2011. Since its beginning, 15 of the 18 total schools that have played football in the league have claimed at least one championship.OVC Teams Versus FBS Foes: In week one of this season four OVC schools will square off in games against teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS); overall OVC schools will play 10 games against FBS teams during the 2011 season. OVC schools are 18-139-1 all-time against FBS foes. Last year the league snapped a 50-game losing streak to FBS opponents when Jacksonville State topped Ole Miss 49-48 in double overtime to begin the season. That victory was one of seven for Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) foes over FBS teams in 2010.OVC Teams in Top 25: Entering the 2011 season only one OVC team is ranked in the two major FCS polls, as Jacksonville State comes in at No. 9 in both the Sports Network/Fathead.com and FCS Coaches polls. Five other OVC schools received votes in the polls, including Southeast Missouri State, Murray State, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin. Jacksonville State has been ranked for 31 consecutive weeks entering this season.Murray State's Brockman on Walter Payton Award Watch List: Murray State junior quarterback Casey Brockman is one of 20 candidates on the 2011 Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch list, released by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com. Brockman is one of 12 quarterbacks on the initial list honoring the top offensive player in the FCS. The Walter Payton Award was established in 1987, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this season and is presented annually to the most outstanding college football player on the FCS level. When the award was established, it was the only such award to be presented to an individual player in FCS football. It has since been joined by the Buck Buchanan Award, which was established in 1995 and honors the outstanding defensive player in the FCS. The OVC has had one player previously win the Walter Payton Award, when Eastern Illinois quarterback Tony Romo took home the award in 2002 after passing for 2,950 yards and 33 touchdowns while leading the Panthers to a playoff berth. The Payton Award Watch List will undergo revision during the 2011 season. Ballots will be sent to a panel of about 200 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries after the regular season on Nov. 21. Three finalists will be announced on Dec. 1 and invited to The Sports Network/Fathead FCS Awards Presentation. EKU's Caldwell on Buck Buchanan Award Watch List: Eastern Kentucky senior cornerback Jeremy Caldwell is one of 20 candidates on the 2011 Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch List released by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com. Caldwell is one of six senior defensive backs named to the list (five or which are cornerbacks). The Buchanan Award is in its 17th season and will be presented to the FCS' outstanding defensive player at the national awards banquet Thursday night, Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas. The OVC has never had a player win the Buchanan Award. The Buchanan Award Watch List will undergo revision during the 2011 season. Ballots will be sent to a panel of about 200 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries after the regular season on Nov. 21. The Buck Buchanan award is named for Junious "Buck" Buchanan, the NAIA All-American and Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman who played for Grambling State University from 1959 through 1962. As a freshman, Buchanan came to Grambling on an "if" scholarship, to receive financial help if he played well. After a season of playing both varsity basketball and football, Buchanan decided to concentrate solely on football. By the time he finished four years at Grambling, his coach, Eddie Robinson, asserted that Buchanan was "... the finest tackle I have ever seen."Spoo Tied for Fourth All-Time in OVC Wins; Will Retire After 2011 Season: With a victory over Tennessee State on Nov. 6 of last season, Eastern Illinois head coach Bob Spoo moved into a tie for fourth place on the OVC all-time career Conference victory list. Spoo has now won 67 OVC games in his tenure at EIU, which has spanned the school's entire time in the OVC (1996 through the present, although he was not on the sidelines for the 2006 season). Spoo trails only Roy Kidd (207 OVC wins at EKU), Boots Donnelly (102 wins at Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee) and Charles Murphy (73 wins at Middle Tennessee) on the all-time list and he is currently tied with Jimmy Feix (67 wins at Western Kentucky). Following the end of the 2010 season, Spoo announced he would retire at the conclusion of the 2011 season, which will be his 25th as the Panthers head coach.Sgt. York Trophy Enters Fifth Season in 2011: The Sgt. York Trophy is a challenge trophy which goes to the annual winner of the quadrangular season series between the four OVC institutions in the state of Tennessee (Austin Peay, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech and UT Martin). In July 2007, the Nashville Sports Council and the Ohio Valley Conference announced the creation of the trophy, which is only the second traveling trophy involving more than two schools nationwide (the other is the Commander in Chief's Trophy). It is named after Sgt. Alvin C. York, a native of Pall Mall, Tenn. and a Soldier who was one of the most honored of World War I. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor after the war and returned to his home state to dedicate his life to improving education and facilitating educational opportunities for children in the state of Tennessee. The trophy goes to the team with the best record against the other schools, and in case of a tie there will be co-champions and the actual trophy will go to the institution that has gone the most seasons without winning the trophy. In 2007 Tennessee State and Austin Peay finished in a tie for the trophy with identical 2-1 records; both shared the award but Tennessee State went home with the hardware due to a 1-point win in the head-to-head meeting during the season. Tennessee State went 3-0 in Sgt. York play in 2008 to claim its second trophy. In 2009 Tennessee Tech claimed the trophy after going undefeated in Sgt. York games and a year ago UT Martin became the third-straight OVC team to go 3-0 and win the trophy in claiming its first title.A Look at the Coaches: All nine head coaches from last season return to their schools in the Ohio Valley Conference this season. The Dean of OVC Coaches is Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo who is in his 25th and final season with the Panthers in 2011. Spoo has 88 total wins while EIU has been a member of the OVC, a mark that ranks fifth in OVC history. Spoo also has 65 Conference victories, which is also fifth all-time. He is just two OVC wins away from passing WKU's Jimmy Feix (67 OVC wins) and moving into fourth place on the all-time list. Jacksonville State's Jack Crowe is the second longest tenured coach in the league (in his 12th season at JSU) while Murray State's Chris Hatcher and Tennessee State's Rod Reed have been at their schools the fewest years, as each are in their second seasons.Preseason Forecasts: For the third time in the past four seasons Jacksonville State University was picked the favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference football race. The Gamecocks picked up 13 of the 18 first-place votes in the 2011 poll which is a vote of league head coaches and sports information directors. Jacksonville State was one of three schools to receive at least one first-place vote in the poll and the Gamecocks received 123 total points, which was 17 points ahead of second-place Murray State. The Racers received four first-place votes and were tabbed second in the poll (106). Eastern Kentucky (93) was picked third and defending champion Southeast Missouri (81) was picked fourth and received the remaining first-place vote. The poll is rounded out by Tennessee Tech (73), UT Martin (64), Eastern Illinois (57), Tennessee State (33) and Austin Peay (18). Is being picked first in the preseason poll necessarily a good thing? In the past 33 years of preseason polls (all that were available), the preseason predicted champion has only gone on to win the OVC Championship 12 times (36.4%). Over the past eight years not once has the eventual champion been predicted in the preseason poll (it was last done correctly in 2002).Murray State's Brockman, Jacksonville State's Lewis and Tennessee State's Council Headline Preseason All-OVC Team: Murray State junior quarterback Casey Brockman was named 2011 Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while Jacksonville State senior defensive lineman Monte Lewis and Tennessee State senior linebacker Rico Council were tabbed OVC Preseason Co-Defensive Players of the Year in a vote on by the league's head football coaches and sports information directors. Eastern Kentucky led the way with seven selections on the preseason team while Jacksonville State and Murray State had five players apiece on the squad. Each of the league's nine teams had at least one player on the preseason squad. Returning players who were first-team All-OVC selections last season (nine in total) were automatic selections to the preseason team this year. The squad also included 10 players who were second-team selections in 2010. Of the 31 total selections, 21 were seniors, seven were juniors and three were sophomores. I-AA No More: Although some people may accidentally still refer to it as I-AA football, the term that represents the level of Division I football in which the Ohio Valley Conference competes has been retired. Beginning with the 2006 National Championship game, the term Football Championship Subdivision (or FCS) is to be used. FCS is the only Division I football rank to host a NCAA-sponsored national championship (one of 89 championships the NCAA sponsors). The division formerly known as I-A was changed to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and those teams compete for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) national championship. Teams who play at the FCS level can offer a maximum of 63 scholarships (FBS teams can offer 85) and compete in a 20-team playoff at the end of the season to determine the national champion. OVCSports.TV: For the sixth consecutive year, fans can watch every Conference matchup and all non-conference home contests at OVCSports.TV. The venture with NeuLion (formerly JumpTV Sports) allows fans to access live and on-demand streaming video and audio of all conference matchups on their home computer. The premium Web site was launched in July 2006 and streamed over a thousand events in its first five seasons, including all Conference matchups in football and men's and women's basketball as well as select baseball, soccer, softball and volleyball games and OVC Championship events. Packages are available on a yearly, seasonally, monthly or per-event basis.