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Eastern Illinois (3-2, 2-0 OVC) at UT Martin (3-2, 1-1 OVC)
Graham Stadium (7,500)   •   Martin, Tenn.
October 6, 2012   •  2 pm   •   OVCDigitalNetwork

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois is coming off its biggest win over an OVC opponent with a 65-15 victory against Austin Peay on Saturday.  EIU did all of its offensive damage in the first three quarters as the 65 points ranks as the fourth best scoring total in school history.

The Panthers are 3-0 at home this season and currently stand at 2-0 in the OVC.  EIU's offense is third in the nation in both total offense and scoring.  EIU will be looking for its first road win of the year when the Panthers play at UT Martin.  EIU's last win at Graham Stadium was back in 2001, a 56-16 win.

UT Martin fell to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at home suffering their second loss of the season.  The other loss was to Northern Illinois.  The Skyhawks did pick up a season opening 20-17 win at Memphis.  UTM features the nation's No. 19 scoring defense allowing just 18.4 points per game.

THE SERIES
Eastern Illinois holds a 12-5 lead in the all-time series including nine straight wins between 1995 and 2003.  UT Martin has won the last two meetings in the series including a 24-23 win over EIU at O'Brien Field last season.  EIU has not won at Graham Stadium since 2001.  With the exception of a 49-13 blow out win by EIU over UTM in 2009, five of the last seven games have been decided by ten points or less including four decided by less than a touchdown.

• Jimmy Garoppolo was named the College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Week.  Garoppolo passed for 453 yards and five touchdowns.  This is the second time this season he has won the CFPA National Performer Award.

• EIU had three receivers finish with 100 or more yards for the first time in school history on Saturday.  Erik Lora (139 yards), Chris Wright (137 yards) and Keiondre Gober (132 yards) became the first combination in school history to accomplish that feat with all three catching at least one touchdown pass.

• Erik Lora hauled in seven passes for 139 yards as he had his fifth straight game with over 100 yards receiving.  Lora holds the school record for consecutive games with 100 yards receiving.  Lora moved into fourth on the EIU career 100-yard receiving games list with six.

• Erik Lora continues to lead the nation in pass receptions and receiving yards heading into week six.  Lora has 55 receptions for 786 yards with eight touchdowns.  He ranks 11th in the nation in all purpose yards and 13th in scoring.

• Erik Lora moved up to sixth on the EIU career receptions chart with 128.  His 55 receptions this season are two shy of breaking into the EIU single season top ten.  The EIU single season reception record is 76 set by Jerry Wright in 1984.

• Chris Wright caught two touchdown passes on Saturday to move his career total to 26 which ranks third all-time in touchdown receptions at EIU.  Wright's 26 scores also moved into 9th all time for touchdowns scored at EIU. 

• Chris Wright had his fourth career 100 yard receiving day against Austin Peay as he passed the 2,000 yard receiving mark for his career.  Wright now has 2,002 yards and ranks sixth all-time on EIU's receiving yards list.

• Freshman Keiondre Gober made an immediate impact on the field hauling in three passes including two long touchdown grabs of over 50 yards.  Gober's first collegiate catch was a 66-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.

• Jimmy Garoppolo threw five touchdowns against Austin Peay marking the third time this season that he has passed for five touchdowns.  All five of his touchdown passes on the day were from 50 yards or more.  He also added a rushing touchdown.

• EIU passers combined to pass for 509 yards against Austin Peay which ties the school record for passing yards in a game.  The previous mark was set by Sean Payton with all 509 yards passing against Saginaw Valley in 1985.

• EIU's 65 points against Austin Peay was the fourth highest scoring output by the Panthers in history.  The record is 82 points against Merom (Ind.) Academy back in 1920.  EIU has been over the 60 point mark four times as a Division I school, the last coming with a 62 point game against Lock Haven back in 1991.

• EIU's combined 671 yards of total offense against Austin Peay is the third best single game total in school history.  The total trails only 683 yards against Winona State in 1986 and 676 yards against Saginaw Valley in 1985.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH DINO BABERS
A New ERA of Eastern Illinois football began on December 9, 2011 as Dino Babers was hired as the Panthers head football coach replacing 25-year veteran Bob Spoo.  Babers had been an assistant coach at EIU in 1987 as a member of Spoo's first Panthers coaching staff.  After one season as an assistant at EIU Babers moved on to coach at nine other programs, most recently as the receivers and special teams coach at Baylor.  Last season he was on an offensive staff that helped coach Robert Griffin III to the Heisman Trophy while ranking as one of the nation's most explosive offenses.  Baylor beat Washington in the Alamo Bowl as Babers coached in his 12th bowl game as a coach.  In addition to his time at Baylor, Babers has coached at UCLA, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, Arizona, San Diego State, Purdue, Northern Arizona, UNLV, Eastern Illinois, Arizona State and Hawai'i.  He was the assistant head coach at UCLA while serving as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Arizona.  Babers has coached numerous players who have played in the NFL including 27 wide receivers who have made NFL rosters.  A native of San Diego, Calif., Babers attended Hawai'i where he was a four-year starter (1979-80, 82-83) earning his degree in 1984.  He earned a master's from Arizona State in 1988.  EIU beat Southern Illinois 49-28 in Babers opener as the Panthers head coach.

UT MARTIN HEAD COACH JASON SIMPSON
  Jason Simpson is in his seventh season as the head coach at UT Martin where he has put together a 40-33 record.  Simpson led the Skyhawks to their first OVC championship during his opening season at UTM earning OVC Coach of the Year honors in 2006.  He has posted a 30-19 record in OVC games including a 4-2 record in games against Eastern Illinois.  Simpson is a graduate of Southern Mississippi where he was a letter winner in baseball.

SCOUTING UT MARTIN
UT Martin features a balanced offense with a solid defensive unit that ranks 19th in the nation in scoring defense allowing only 18.4 points per game.  Quentin Sims is a big play receiver for the Skyhawks hauling in 36 passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns.  UTM has three running backs that split time in the backfield with each posting 50+ carries gaining close to 200 yards each.  Ben Johnson is among the nation's top tacklers as he leads the OVC with 57 stops which ranks 9th nationally.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
October 6, 1951 - In Rex Darling's lone season as head coach the Panthers picked up a 19-12 win over Eastern Michigan.  Dave Cohrs rushed for 86 yards including a 72-yard touchdown in the first half.  The Panthers won the game with a triple option pass from Ed Soergel to Moe Ashley to Don Henderson covering 17 yards in the fourth quarter.

GAROPPOLO NAMED OVC OFFENSIVE PLAYER
For the second time this season quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Week.  Garoppolo passed for a career high 453 yards in the win over Austin Peay.  The 453 yards are the fourth highest single game passing total in EIU history.  It was the fourth time this season that Garoppolo has passed for more than 300 yards.  He finished 18-of-31 with five touchdowns coming out of the game late in the third quarter.  All five touchdown passes covered more than 50 yards as he passed for five touchdowns for the third time this year.

HOULIHAN NAMED OVC DEFENSIVE PLAYER
  Pete Houlihan was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week following the Panthers 65-15 win over Austin Peay.  Houlihan led the Panthers unit with 10 tackles including seven solo stops.  He recorded his first career sack and finished with 1.5 tackles for loss.  The junior corner added one pass break-up, one forced fumble and one quarterback hurry.  Houlihan is now fourth on the team with 33 tackles including 3.5 tackles for loss and four pass defenses.  He becomes the first EIU player to win OVC Defensive Player of the Week honors since CJ James won the award on Nov. 15, 2009 following the Panthers win over UT Martin.

GAROPPOLO MOVES UP RECORD BOOK
Jimmy Garoppolo passed Jeff Christensen for third place on the EIU career touchdown passes list on Saturday.  In the coming games Garoppolo will be chasing several more moves up the EIU career record book list as well as landing in the single season top ten in several categories.  Garoppolo is poised to move up in several of those categories against UT Martin.

CAREER LISTS
Total Offense... needs 184 yards to move into 4th, needs 316 yards to move into 3rd
Passing Yards... needs 172 yards to move into 4th, needs 468 yards to move into 3rd
Pass Completions... needs 54 to move into 3rd

SINGLE SEASON LISTS
Touchdown Passes... needs 2 to move into Top 10
Pass Completions... needs 36 to move into Top 10
Passing Yards... needs 443 passing yards to move into Top 10
Total Offense... needs 469 yards to move into Top 10

• Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 453 yards against Austin Peay marking the fourth time this season he has thrown for 300 or more yards.  The 453 yards are the fourth best mark in school history.  The last quarterback to throw for more than 400 yards in a game was Tony Romo at Toledo in 2000.

• Back-up quarterback Ben Krol finished up the third quarter and played all of the fourth quarter against Austin Peay.  The redshirt freshman was 3-of-3 passing for 32 yards.  He scored a rushing touchdown to close out the third quarter.

• EIU has now scored 50 or more points in three straight games marking the first time in school history that has happened.  The Panthers had two previous instances where they had scored 50 or more points in back-to-back games.  The three straight games with 50 or more points is an OVC record.

• Running back Jake Walker continued his climb towards the Panthers career rushing Top 15 finishing with 79 yards against Austin Peay.  Walker has 1,105 career rushing yards and needs 431 to catch Ken Werner for 15th on the list.  Walker added two rushing touchdowns moving his career total to 15.

• Cameron Berra knocked home all eight extra point attempts on Saturday extending his streak to 39 straight made PAT's dating back to the 2011 Murray State game.  Berra is 75-of-78 on PAT's for his career.

• Cameron Berra connected on a 28 yard field goal on Saturday as he is now 4-of-4 on field goals this season.  The field goal was the 19th of Berra's career moving him into 7th place on the career list.  His career long is 44 made earlier this year.

• EIU scored nine touchdowns in the win over Austin Peay.  It was the third highest touchdown total in a game in school history.  The school record is 12 touchdowns against Merom (Ind.) Academy in 1920 followed by 10 touchdowns against Kentucky State in 1982.

• EIU was 4-of-4 in the red zone on Saturday giving the Panthers 20 scores in 21 red zone appearances.  EIU currently ranks 8th in the nation in red zone production and first in the OVC as 19 of those 20 scores have been touchdowns.

• EIU's defense helped shut down Austin Peay on Saturday as the Panthers limited APSU to negative eight yards rushing until late in the second quarter.  APSU finished with just 124 yards rushing as EIU is 34th in the nation in run defense.

• Senior Artavious Dowdell added a half sack to his career total as he now stands just a half sack shy of joining the Panthers career top ten.  Dowdell has 15 career sacks.  He is currently 9th on the EIU career list with 28 tackles for loss.

• DJ Bland added another pass break-up to his season total on Saturday as the sophomore corner ranks 37th in the nation in passes defended.  Bland has one interception and five pass break-ups this season.

• Pete Houlihan led the Panthers in tackles against Austin Peay finishing with ten stops.  It marked the fourth time this season that a different player has led EIU in tackles.  Robert Haynes is the only player to lead the team in tackles in multiple games.

• EIU's defensive unit made eight tackles for loss resulting in -25 yards against Austin Peay.  The Panthers are currently 18th in the nation and 1st in the OVC in tackles for loss.  Five players have 3 or more tackles for loss this season led by senior Pat Wertz with five tackles for loss and two sacks.

• Taylor Kerr and Cody Meyer both split kick off duties on Saturday.  Kerr had six kicks for an average of 56.2 yards per kick with two touchbacks.  Meyer had five kicks for an average of 63.6 yards and two touchbacks.  The kickers did combine to have three kicks out-of-bounds.

• EIU added to its turnovers gained total with one recovered fumble against Austin Peay.  EIU has now gained 13 turnovers on the season to rank 10th nationally and second in the OVC behind Southeast Missouri.

• EIU's offensive line has improved over the past two games allowing only one sack to Murray State while not surrendering any sacks to Austin Peay. 

• As a team EIU has passed for 21 touchdowns this season.  The Panthers need three more TD passes to crack the school single season top five.  The school record of 34 was set in 2002.

EIU TO PLAY TWO GAMES ON FOX COLLEGE SPORTS
EIU will play two games on national television this season as part of the OVC's six game package on FOX College Sports.  EIU will play on the road at Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 27 and host Southeast Missouri on Nov. 10.  Both games are 11 a.m. (central) kick offs.