Tennessee State Tigers (3-7, 2-4 OVC)
at #13 Eastern Illinois Panthers (8-2, 6-1
OVC)
Thursday, Nov. 19 • 5:30 p.m. CT
O’Brien Field
(10,000) • Charleston, Ill.
TV: ESPNU (Charlie Neal, Jay Walker)
Live Stats: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/eiu/football/index.htm
Series Record: Eastern Illinois leads 7-5
Last
Meeting: Tennessee State won 45-24 (11/8/08)
James
Webster at Tennessee State: 24-31 (5 yrs.)
James Webster
Overall: same
Bob Spoo at Eastern Illinois: 140-111-1 (22
yrs.)
Bob Spoo Overall: same
Tennessee State Last Week: L, 24-21 at Austin Peay
Eastern Illinois Last Week: W, 49-13 vs. UT Martin
GAME NOTES: The outright OVC
Championship is on the line this Thursday when Eastern Illinois hosts Tennessee
State. EIU already has at least a share of its fifth overall title, but can be
the sole winner (and the OVC’s representative in the FCS Playoffs) with a
victory. If Tennessee State wins the game, Eastern Illinois will need Eastern
Kentucky to lose at Jacksonville State on Saturday to give EIU the automatic
berth into the playoffs. EIU and TSU have played 12 times previously, with the
Panthers coming out on top seven times. TSU, however, won a season ago, 45-24 in
Nashville when they were ranked 18th nationally. That win snapped a four-game
EIU winning streak in the series. The Tigers scored the first 24 points of the
game and quarterback Antonio Heffner tossed four touchdown passes while Javarris
Williams rushed for 93 yards and a score (TSU had 309 total yards of rushing for
the game).
SCOUTING TENNESSEE STATE:
Tennessee State lost its fourth straight game (since topping nationally-ranked
Eastern Kentucky on the road) on Saturday, falling 24-21 at Austin Peay. It
snapped a three-game winning streak over the Govs and was the first time the
Tigers had lost to them since the 1995 season. Quarterback Calvin McNairl was
sharp early in the game, leading TSU to three touchdown drives as the Tigers
built a 21-7 advantage with 13:59 to play in the third quarter. McNairl was
17-of-23 for 189 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 42 yards to
account for 231 yards of total offense. But TSU allowed three APSU touchdowns in
the third quarter, including a 71-yard punt return which capped the Governors
comeback and proved to be the game-winner. Tennessee State had four possessions
in the fourth quarter but could get no closer than the Austin Peay 42-yard line
(where a 4th down attempt was no good). Junior linebacker John Jones, Jr., a
transfer from Florida, had 10 tackles for the game.
SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS: Eastern Illinois took care of business on Saturday and topped UT Martin
49-13 to clinch at least a share of the OVC Championship. EIU scored the first
14 points of the game before seeing the Skyhawks get on the board and cut the
advantage to 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. But the Panthers responded by
scoring 35 unanswered points and rolling up 457 yards of total offense.
Quarterback Jake Christensen was named OVC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after
completing 18-of-21 passes for 322 yards and four touchdowns. Christensen
currently ranks 18th nationally in passing efficiency (145.74). He completed
passes to eight different receivers with Charles Graves pulling down four
catches for 108 yards and two scores. Jimmy Potempa and Lorence Ricks also
caught touchdowns. Potempa, a transfer from Michigan, rushed for 17 yards and
caught three passes for 46 yards while also making two solo tackles on kickoffs.
Junior running back Mon Williams rushed for 54 yards and a score, but the EIU
attack was balanced as the team rushed for 135 total yards on 40 carries.
Defensive back CJ James was named OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week after
intercepting a pass and returning it 79 yards for a touchdown. James also added
four tackles. Senior kicker Austin Signor converted all seven of his extra point
attempts on the day and has made all 32 on the season.
Eastern
Kentucky Colonels (5-5, 5-2 OVC)
at #15 Jacksonville
State Gamecocks (7-3, 5-1 OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 21 • 12:00 p.m.
CT
Paul Snow Memorial Stadium (15,000) • Jacksonville,
Ala.
TV: OVCSports.TV
Live Stats: http://www.jsugamecocksports2.com/livestats/football/xlive.htm
Series Record: Series tied 3-3
Last Meeting:
Eastern Kentucky won 38-35 (10/11/08)
Dean Hood at
Eastern Kentucky: 13-9 (2 yrs.)
Dean Hood Overall:
same
Jack Crowe at Jacksonville State: 64-45 (10
yrs.)
Jack Crowe Overall: 78-75 (15 yrs.)
Eastern Kentucky Last Week: L, 24-7 vs. Western Carolina
Jacksonville State Last Week: W, 55-28 vs. Tennessee Tech
GAME NOTES: Eastern Kentucky,
with a shot to still win a share of the OVC Championship and the league’s
automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs, will have its hands full this weekend when
it travels to nationally-ranked Jacksonville State. The Colonels need Eastern
Illinois to lose to Tennessee State on Thursday night and then top the Gamecocks
(who are undefeated at home this season) on Saturday to make that happen. EKU
has lost its last two games (both non-conference) while JSU has won three in a
row. The two teams have played six times since Jax State joined the league and
both teams have won three times. EKU has won the last two and three of the last
four matchups overall. EKU has won each of the last two games in Jacksonville.
Last season the Colonels won 38-35 in Richmond, topping the Gamecocks who were
ranked 16th at the time. The EKU defense picked off Ryan Perrilloux five times
and sacked him twice in winning the game. C.J. Walker rushed for 52 yards and
two touchdowns in the victory for EKU.
SCOUTING EASTERN KENTUCKY:
Eastern Kentucky not only needs a win to have a shot at the OVC Championship
this weekend, but the Colonels are trying to avoid its first losing season since
1972 (the longest active streak in all of Division I). EKU hosted Southern
Conference foe Western Carolina on Saturday, falling 24-7. It was the team’s
second straight loss and third loss in its last four games. The team did not
force a turnover (although they rank 34th nationally in turnovers forced) and
fell to 0-4 this season when not forcing a turnover. It also marked the first
time in seven games the Colonels did not block some type of kick in the game.
T.J. Pryor passed for 174 yards and rushed for 43 additional yards. Pryor ranks
38th nationally in total offense (216.6 yards/game). Orlandus Harris caught nine
passes for 88 yards; over the past two weeks he has 14 catches for 185 yards.
Patrick McClellan had 10 tackles to lead the Colonels defense.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE STATE: Jacksonville State continued to put up big numbers scoring 55 points in a
win over Tennessee Tech. Senior quarterback Ryan Perrilloux was named National
Player of the Week by College Sporting News after accounting for five
touchdowns. He passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for a
career-high 103 yards and two more touchdowns in the victory. Perrilloux
continues to rank first nationally in passing efficiency (176.87) and third in
points responsible for (19.33/game). He has accounted for five touchdowns in
three different games this season. Senior linebacker Alexander Henderson was
named OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week after recording his sixth-straight
games with double-digit tackles (12). Henderson leads the OVC and ranks 21st
nationally in tackles (10.1/game). Senior wide receiver Greg Smith, a transfer
from Georgia Tech, was named OVC Newcomer of the Week after catching six passes
for 82 yards and two touchdowns. As a team Jax State had 351 rushing yards and
584 yards of total offense. It marked the second time this season the Gamecocks
had 500 or more yards of total offense.
Austin Peay
Governors (4-6, 3-4 OVC)
at UT Martin Skyhawks (4-6, 3-4
OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 21 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Graham Stadium
(7,500) • Martin, Tenn.
TV: OVCSports.TV
Live Stats: http://www.utmsports.com/livestats/football/xlive.htm
Series Record: UT Martin leads 30-25-2
Last
Meeting: UT Martin won 31-17 (9/20/08)
Rick Christophel
at Austin Peay: 13-19 (3 yrs.)
Rick Christophel Overall:
same
Jason Simpson at UT Martin: 25-20 (4
yrs.)
Jason Simpson Overall: same
Austin Peay Last Week: W, 24-21 vs. Tennessee State
UT Martin Last Week: L, 49-13 at #13 Eastern Illinois
GAME NOTES: Rivals Austin
Peay and UT Martin will meet this weekend in what will turn out to be a battle
for fourth place in the league standings, with the winner potentially having a
shot to finish tied for third overall. The two teams have played 57 times
previously with the first meeting taking place in 1930. UT Martin has won five
of the last six meeting including 31-17 a season ago in Clarksville. That game
was close until UT Martin scored a touchdown with 5:26 to play to give the
Skyhawks a 14-point lead. Cade Thompson completed 17-of-28 passes for three
touchdowns while the team combined to rush for 134 yards with Miguel Barnes
rushing for 62. Mike Hicks had a big day, pulling down nine passes for 155 yards
and a score.
SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY: Austin
Peay snapped a two-game losing streak with a 24-21 victory over rival Tennessee
State on Saturday in Clarksville. The win was the first over the Tigers since
the 1995 season (although the teams had only played three total times since
then). The Governors fell behind 21-7 when TSU scored with 13:59 to play in the
third quarter. But Austin Peay would score three times in less than seven
minutes in the third quarter as Terrence Holt scored on a 22-yard run to start
the comeback and his 71-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:13 to play in
the quarter capped the comeback. Holt was named OVC Special Teams Player of the
Week for the second straight week after accounting for 222 all-purpose yards.
Holt, the FCS leader in all-purpose yards (206.10/game), has 2,061 all-purpose
yards on the season, second most in APSU history, just 92 yards away from the
record. Holt now has 14 touchdowns on the season and ranks 15th nationally in
scoring (8.40 points/game). Running back Ryan White rushed for 114 yards (his
sixth career 100-yard rushing game - most among active OVC players), and broke
the 1,000-yard barrier for the year, becoming just the sixth APSU back to rush
for 1,000 or more yards in a season. White ranks first in the OVC and 10th
nationally in rushing (102.3 yards/game). Senior defensive end Chris Newell
capped the Senior Day festivities with seven tackles, a sack and a quarterback
hurry in the game.
SCOUTING UT MARTIN: UT Martin
suffered a setback at No. 13 Eastern Illinois on Saturday, falling 49-13 in its
win road game of the season. The Skyhawks are now 0-12 all-time at O’Brien Field
in Charleston. UTM was outgained 457-297 on the day. Senior wideout Mike Hicks
pulled down six catches to move to seventh place on the UTM all-time receptions
list (106). Senior kicker Tom Hansen continued his climb up the Skyhawk all-time
scoring list, moving to third place with 182 career points. Junior linebacker
Josh Bey had nine total tackles on the game and is 38th nationally in
tackles/game (9.10/game). Bey has 15.0 tackles-for-loss this season. Redshirt
freshman Jason McNair scored his fifth touchdown of the season (a 16-yard run in
the fourth quarter) and finished the game with six carries for 36
yards.
#1 Southern
Illinois Salukis (9-1, 8-0 MVFC)
at Southeast Missouri
State Redhawks (2-8, 1-7 OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 21 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Houck Stadium (10,000) • Cape Girardeau,
Mo.
TV: OVCSports.TV
Live Stats: none
Series Record: Southeast Missouri leads 36-30-8
Last Meeting: Southern Illinois leads 58-23 (9/1/05)
Dale Lennon at Southern Illinois: 18-4 (2 yrs.)
Dale Lennon Overall: 120-37 (13 yrs.)
Tony Samuel
at Southeast Missouri: 13-31 (4 yrs.)
Tony Samuel
Overall: 47-88 (11 yrs.)
Southern Illinois Last Week: W,
44-24 vs. Missouri State
Southeast Missouri Last Week: W,
49-13 vs. Murray State
GAME NOTES: Two regional
rivals whose campuses are separated by less than 50 miles are renewing their
rivalry (which dates back to 1913) after a three-year break. Southeast Missouri
and Southern Illinois have played 74 times prior, with Southeast holding a
slight edge in the series. Interesting enough the series is deadlocked at 18-5-4
in SEMO’s advantage both in Cape Girardeau and Carbondale. SIU has won the last
three in the series and did so in convincing fashion, winning by a combined
margin of 128-33. Prior to those three victories, Southeast Missouri won three
straight from 2000-02. In the last meeting in 2005, SIU jumped out to a 23-0
advantage and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to win 58-23. The Salukis
rushed for 197 yards and passes for 348 in the win. Southern Illinois is the
first No. 1 team in the country to visit Houck Stadium since undefeated
Tennessee State paid a visit on Nov. 20, 1999 (a game TSU won
35-28).
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS:
Southern Illinois enters the week as the No. 1 team in the Sports Network Top 25
poll (SIU is No. 2 in the FCS Coaches Poll). The Salukis lost their
season-opener by three points (31-28) at Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) foe
Marshall and have not lost since, winning nine straight and going undefeated in
the Missouri Valley Football Conference. SIU has won 14 straight MVFC games, a
new conference record. SIU is also winning by big margins, as only two of their
nine wins have come by 10 or fewer points and seven of the nine wins have come
by 19 or more points. The Salukis are led by All-American running back candidate
Deji Karim, who has rushed for 1,357 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. He is
third nationally in rushing (135.6 yards/game) and had 273 yards rushing in a
win over Illinois State earlier this season; that performance is tops in the
country this season.
SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI: Southeast Missouri got the monkey off its back on Saturday, snapping an
eight-game losing streak by topping Murray State 49-13 at home. The win was the
first since the season opener for SEMO and prevented the first winless OVC
season in program history. It also marked only the seventh win over the Racers
in 44 total meetings. The win came after playing nearly every opponent on its
schedule tough this season, as the team’s last seven losses had come by an
average of 11.3 points, with four of them coming by 10 points or less. The
Redhawks, who rank second in the OVC in rushing (and 16th nationally), used that
attack to topple Murray State. The team rushed for 302 total yards, the first
time since the 2006 season the team had 300 or more rushing yards in a game.
Mike Jones led the way with 113 yards and two touchdowns, Henry Harris added 99
yards and two scores and quarterback Matt Scheible had 48 yards rushing and a
score. Scheible also completed 6-of-12 passes for 188 yards and two scores. Wide
receiver Chantae Ahamefule caught only three passes, but two of them were for
touchdowns as he netted 150 receiving yards (including a 75-yard scoring
strike). The 49 points was the most by the Redhawks in an OVC contest since the
2005 season.
Murray State
Racers (3-7, 2-5 OVC)
at Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
(5-5, 4-3 OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 21 • 1:30 p.m. CT
Tucker Stadium (16,500) • Cookeville,
Tenn.
TV: OVCSports.TV
Live Stats: http://www.ttusports.com/information/live_stats_page
Series Record: Tennessee Tech leads 40-33-1
Last
Meeting: Murray State won 51-21 (10/11/08)
Mark Lister at
Murray State: 0-0 (1 yr.)
Mark Lister Overall:
same
Watson Brown at Tennessee Tech: 12-21 (3
yrs.)
Watson Brown Overall: 106-172-1 (25
yrs.)
Murray State Last Week: L, 49-13 at Southeast
Missouri
Tennessee Tech Last Week: L, 55-28 at #15
Jacksonville State
GAME NOTES: Murray State and
Tennessee Tech will conclude the season on Saturday with a matchup in
Cookeville. Tennessee Tech needs a win to secure its first winning season since
2004 (6-5) and only its second in the last eight years. Murray State will be
playing for the first time without fourth year head coach Matt Griffin who was
fired on Monday after compiling an 11-33 record in four years at the school.
Griffin is 21-57 in seven years as a head coach (including three years at fellow
OVC school UT Martin). Defensive Coordinator Mark Lister will coach the team in
Saturday’s season finale. The Racers and Golden Eagles have played 74 times
previously dating back to the 1930 season. Tech holds a 40-33-1 advantage
although Murray State won 51-21 at home. The Racers scored multiple touchdowns
in every quarter except the first and led 44-7 at one point. Paul McKinnis ran
wild in the contest, carrying the ball 19 times for 170 yards (8.9 ypc) and
three touchdowns. As a team Murray State rushed for 284 yards and five
touchdowns. Quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt completed 22-of-29 passes for 330 yards
and two touchdowns as the Racers had 645 yards of total offense. Lee Sweeney
passed for 180 yards and two touchdowns for TTU.
SCOUTING MURRAY STATE: After
topping Austin Peay a week ago, the Racers could not make it two in a row,
falling 49-13 at regional rival Southeast Missouri on Saturday. That led to the
dismissal of head coach Matt Griffin on Monday. The Racers started the game with
a 40-yard field goal from Kienan Cullen and after a 33-yard pass from Casey
Brockman to Rashad Daniels Murray State was up 10-6 early in the second quarter.
But the team would be outscored 39-7 the rest of the way as SEMO outgained the
Racers 493 to 293. The true freshman Brockman was impressive in his second
career start, completing 20-of-36 passes for 205 yards and that touchdown. He is
the first Murray State quarterback to pass for 200 or more yards in back-to-back
games this season. Cullen kicked both a 40 and 48-yard field goal in the game,
the 48-yarder being a career long. Cullen also averaged 42.7 yards/punt on seven
punts including a long of 50 yards. Four of his seven punts were downed inside
the opponent’s 20-yard line.
SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Tennessee Tech went on the road and lost 55-28 to nationally-ranked
Jacksonville State on Saturday. The game was just a seven-point margin in the
second quarter when Lee Sweeney scored from one-yard out to make the score
21-14. But Jax State scored four straight touchdowns to pull away. Tech was
outgained 584 to 330 in total offense for the game. Sweeney completed 8-of-11
passes for 118 yards and ran for the score. He will finish his career third
all-time in OVC history for completions (608 entering this week’s game) and has
a chance to finish as high as fifth in league history for passing yards. Sweeney
currently has 7,004 yards (7th most) but is just 197 yards away from fifth
place. The next person he would pass on the list is former Middle Tennessee and
NFL quarterback Kelly Holcomb. Henry Sailes rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown
to lead the Golden Eagle rushing attack. Dustin Dillehay led Tech with eight
tackles and also recovered a fumble.