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Eastern Illinois (1-5, 0-4 OVC) at Murray State (3-3, 1-2 OVC)
Stewart Stadium (16,800)   •   Murray, Ky.
October 15, 2011   •   3 pm   •   TV: None

THE GAME
Today's game features two teams that like to air it out to produce offense for their team.  Murray State runs a very quick no huddle offense that averages just under 80 plays per game.  Nearly 60 percent of those plays have come through the air as the Racers rank 4th in the FCS in passing offense averaging 337 yards per game through the air.  MSU is scoring 35 points per game.

Eastern Illinois has struggled to stop the run the last three games but have had some success stopping the pass.  EIU ranks 11th in the FCS in pass defense allowing only 164 yards per contest.  The Panthers pass offense is ranked 30th in the FCS with 246 yards per game while producing 23 points per game.

Special teams could play a factor in Saturday's game as EIU features one of the league's top kick off return men in Tavares Crawford while Murray State has one of the best punt returners in the league in Dontrell Johnson.

THE SERIES
This will be the 27th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Murray State with the Panthers holding a slim 14-12 series lead.  Murray State won last year at Eastern Illinois, 38-28, spoiling the Panthers homecoming.  EIU had won seven straight in the series prior to that and nine of the last ten meetings.  Since 2000, Murray State's only other victory in the series was in 2002 when they won on a late field goal to beat a Tony Romo led Panthers squad.

• Eastern Illinois trailed 10-3 at the end of the first quarter and closed the gap to 24-10 with seven seconds remaining the half.  A penalty on a short kick off followed by another penalty set up a 49-yard field goal for Eastern Kentucky as the Colonels pulled away for a 48-16 win. 

• Kenny Whittaker hauled in eight passes for 57 yards as the junior wide receiver passed the century mark in receptions for his career.  Whittaker now has 104 catches for his career for 1,087 yards.  Whittaker needs 11 more catches to crack the EIU career top ten matching Mike Rummell who had 115 catches between 1989-92.  Whittaker enters the game with Murray State ranked 34th in the FCS in receptions per game and 3rd in the OVC.

• Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo hit Jeremy Rykard for a 16-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter as Garoppolo has now passed for 26 career touchdowns.  The sophomore needs one more TD pass to match Anthony Buich (1998-99) for 8th place on the Panthers career list.  Garoppolo has now thrown at least one touchdown pass in ten straight games.  Two weeks ago he moved into 10th place on the career passing attempts list.  Garoppolo is 250-of-414 (60 percent) for his career with 3,116 passing yards.

• With his touchdown reception in the third quarter Jeremy Rykard became the seventh different EIU receiver this season to haul in a touchdown pass.  The catch was the ninth of the season for Rykard, a Marine Corps veteran.  He has 63 yards receiving averaging 7 yards per grab.

• EIU's offense was limited to 16 points on Saturday marking the first time in ten games that the Panthers offense was unable to score 20 or more points.  The streak had been the longest for EIU's offense since a ten game streak covering the end of the 1995 season and beginning of the 1996 season.  EIU is averaging 23.5 points per game which ranks 69th in the FCS and 6th in the OVC.

• Redshirt freshman John Wurm has entered the Panthers rotation in the defensive backfield in the last two games and has been making an impact.  At Jacksonville State he played on special teams before seeing time at safety at Southeast Missouri making two solo tackles.  Against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday he finished with five tackles including one of EIU's three tackles for loss. 

• Chris Wright became the fourth different EIU player to field a kick off this season as he was called into action against Eastern Kentucky.  Wright had to fill in for Tavares Crawford who was banged up on a scoring play by the Colonels.  Wright brought his one kick return back 23 yards as EIU averages 25.3 yards per return as a team to rank 10th in the FCS and 1st in the OVC.

• Eastern Illinois enters the weekend in some rare company as they are currently one of only three FCS schools that have three active receivers with more than 1,000 yards receiving.  EIU's three receivers all moved into that elite group in recent weeks as Lorence Ricks passed the 1,000 yard mark against Tennessee Tech while Chris Wright and Kenny Whittaker both eclipsed the mark at Jacksonville State.  The two other schools currently on that list are Liberty from the Big South Conference and Southeastern Louisiana from the Southland Conference.

Lorence Ricks...  69 receptions for 1,042 yards
Chris Wright...  61 receptions for 1,116 yards
Kenny Whittaker...  104 receptions for 1,087 yards

• Senior Cory Leman continues to move closer to the career top ten for tackles at EIU following a 14 tackle effort against Eastern Kentucky.  Leman now has 65 tackles on the season to rank 13th in the FCS and 2nd in the OVC.  He has 284 tackles for his career as he chases Donald Thomas (2004-07) and James Dorsey (1992-95) for 10th on the career list with 300 tackles.  Leman enters the game with Murray State ranked 9th among active FCS players in tackles per game.

• Cory Leman finished with 14 tackles on Saturday marking the third time this season that a Panther defender has recorded 14 tackles in a game.  Leman also accomplished the feat against Tennessee Tech on Sept. 17.  Sophomore Antonio Taylor is the other Panther to record 14 tackles in a game with his big effort coming at Northwestern.  On the season Leman and Taylor rank first and second in tackles per game for EIU.  Leman is averaging 10.8 per game while Taylor is averaging 8.3 per game.  Leman is second in the OVC, Taylor is fourth in the OVC.

• Sophomore Cameron Berra knocked home a 23-yard field goal on Saturday to give him his third made field goal of the season.  Berra has now made 11 field goals for his career and needs three more to move into the Panthers top ten.  During his two seasons as the Panthers field goal kicker Berra is now 11-of-15.  His career long field goal was 43 yards last season at Tennessee Tech.  Berra's long this season is 33 during the season opener with Illinois State.  Berra is 5-of-7 between 20-39 yards, 4-of-5 between 30-39 yards and 2-of-3 between 40-49 yards.

• Eastern Illinois defense allowed a rare occurrence on Saturday against Eastern Kentucky on Saturday as running back Matt Denham finished with 216 yards rushing.  Denham became only the third player to rush for more than 200 yards in a game against Eastern Illinois since 2000.  In that span of 136 games only Larry Ned of San Diego State and Brandyn Young of UT Martin have passed the 200 yard mark in a game.  Ned had 285 yards for the Aztecs in 2001 as he went on to be named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award.  Young had 213 yards for the Skyhawks in 2008 at Graham Stadium.

• EIU went its second straight game without forcing a turnover marking the second time this season that the Panthers have had that type of drought.  The Panthers defense has consistently been among the FCS national leaders in creating turnovers including ranking first in the nation in turnovers gained in 2006.  In the last nine years EIU has ranked in the top 25 nationally in turnovers gained five times.  Prior to this season EIU's last back-to-back games without a turnover forced happened in early October 2004, a streak of 78 games.

• The Ohio Valley Conference has had some success in the red zone this season and Eastern Illinois is right in the middle of that success.  Five OVC teams currently rank in the top ten in red zone production with the Panthers listed eighth in the nation.  EIU has been in the red zone 16 times this season coming away with points on 15 chances.  The lone miss was a field goal attempt at Jacksonville State.  In the those 15 scores, 12 have resulted in touchdowns.

Red Zone Scoring (National Rankings)
1. UT Martin...   96 percent... 26-of-27 (21 TD's)
2. Jacksonville State... 95 percent... 18-of-19 (14 TD's)
8. Eastern Illinois... 94 percent... 15-of-16 (12 TD's)
10. Tennessee State... 92 percent... 22-of-24 (14 TD's)
10. Southeast Missouri... 92 percent... 11-of-12 (7 TD's)

• Third down conversions and third down stops could prove to be a factor in Saturday's game between Eastern Illinois and Murray State.  The Panthers are currently allowing opponents to convert at 53 percent on third down which ranks 117th in the FCS.  Murray State is fourth best in the FCS in converting on third down at 50 percent.  On defense the Racers are ranked 24th in the nation limiting opponents to only 32 percent.  EIU's offense is 62nd nationally converting at 36 percent.

• Eastern Illinois and Murray State have both had a tendency for putting up points as they rank second and third in the OVC in consecutive games without being shut out.  EIU has a streak of 95 straight games without being shut out.  Murray State's current streak is at 59 games.  In addition to scoring both teams have been able to put up touchdowns.  EIU is second in the OVC in consecutive games with a touchdown scored in 23 straight games.  Murray State is third on that list with 22 straight games with a touchdown scored. 

• Eastern Illinois will be playing at Murray State for the Racers homecoming.  This will be the fourth time that EIU has been Murray State's homecoming opponent.  EIU is 2-1 in previous homecoming contests with wins in 2007 and 2005 over the Racers.  Murray State's homecoming win over the Panthers came back in 1999 under head coach Denver Johnson. 

• Sophomore Tavares Crawford continued to serve as the Panthers kick off returner as he averaged 23.4 yards per kick return against Eastern Kentucky.  Crawford enters the game at Murray State ranked 14th in the FCS and third in the OVC in kick off return average at 28.6 yards per return.  Crawford had an 83-yard kick return for touchdown at Southeast Missouri as he is one of 20 players who have returned a kick off for a touchdown this year.

• Saturday's 32 point loss to EKU was the biggest margin of defeat for the Panthers since a 41 point loss to Southern Illinois in the 2009 FCS playoffs.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH BOB SPOO
The dean of Ohio Valley Conference Coaches, Eastern Illinois head coach Bob Spoo returns to the sidelines for his 24th season on the sidelines and 25th season overall.  Spoo missed the 2006 season with a medical illness.  His career record is 143-126-1 at EIU including a 67-40 mark in OVC action.  In November of 2010 Spoo announced that the 2011 season would be his final year of coaching ending a 25-year run as the Panthers head coach and a 50-year span of coaching at both the high school and collegiate level.  Since taking over the program in 1987, Spoo has become one of the most respected coaches in the game with numerous assistants moving on to succeed at all levels of the coaching business.  He was the 1995 Football Gazette I-AA Coach of the Year and runner-up for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award in 2000.  In 2009 he was named OVC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career and one of five finalists for the Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year.  A 1960 graduate of Purdue University, Spoo has coached the Panthers to 9 NCAA FCS playoff berths and eleven Top 25 national rankings.  Spoo is currently tied for fourth among longest tenured active coaches at the NCAA Division I level and is fifth all-time in FCS playoff appearances.

• 2011 marks 25th season as EIU head coach
• 2011 marks 50th season in coaching profession
  (started at Fenwick HS in Chicago in 1961)
• Ranks 5th in NCAA FCS playoff appearances with 9
• Ranks 5th among active FCS coaches with FCS (only) wins
• Ranks 4th in OVC wins with 67
• OVC Coach of the Year - 2001, 2005, 2009
• Football Gazette I-AA Coach of the Year in 1995
• Runner-up for Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year in 2000

MURRAY STATE HEAD COACH CHRIS HATCHER
Chris Hatcher is in his second season as the head coach at Murray State having posted a 9-8 overall record including a 6-5 mark for the Racers in his first season.  Hatcher was the Harlon Hill Award winner as a quarterback at Valdosta State before later coaching the Blazers to the 2004 Division II National Championship during a six year stint as head coach at his alma mater.  Hatcher coached three seasons at Georgia Southern before taking over at MSU.  His career record is 103-35.

SCOUTING MURRAY STATE
Murray State runs a fast paced offense triggered by Walter Payton Award candidate Casey Brockman.  Brockman is fourth in the FCS in total offense with 332.8 yards per game which includes a 600 yard passing game against Tennessee State.  Brockman has been able to spread the ball around as four Racer receivers have 23 or more catches this season.  Murray State's defense is led by Sam Small with 59 tackles including 4.5 tackles for loss.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
October 15, 1983 - Gary Bridges blocked a pair of field goals while leading the Panthers defense to a 13-0 shutout effort over Northern Iowa led by coach Darrell Mudra.  It was the first meeting between EIU and UNI since Mudra departed the EIU program.  Henry Castellanos kicked a pair of field goals and Kevin Staple scored from five yards out to lead the Eastern Illinois Panthers.