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Eastern Illinois (1-4, 0-3 OVC) vs. Eastern Kentucky (1-3, 0-1 OVC)
O'Brien Field (10,000)   •   Charleston, Ill.
October 8, 2011   •   1:30 pm   •   TV: WEIU

THE GAME
Today's game features two programs that have dominated the Ohio Valley Conference for the last three decades.  Eastern Kentucky was the league's top program in the 1980's and 1990's winning 12 league titles and a pair of NCAA FCS National Championships.  Eastern Illinois was the league's top program in the 2000's winning five league titles in a nine year span.

Eastern Illinois won its last regular season title in 2009 but struggled through a 2-9 OVC campaign last year.  After winning the 100th playing of the Mid-America Classic over Illinois State in the season opener, EIU has dropped four straight games including three straight to open the OVC season.

Eastern Kentucky won its last regular season title in 2008 after previously winning its last crown in 1997.  Despite not winning league titles EKU had still put together a string of 31 straight winning seasons which was snapped in 2009.  This season EKU is 1-3 including an 0-1 start to the OVC race.

THE SERIES
This will be the 19th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky.  EKU leads the all-time series 11-7 including winning four straight in the series dating back to 2007.  EKU leads 8-7 in the meetings since the two schools joined the OVC.  The Colonels won last year's game in Richmond 35-7 and were victorious in EIU's Family Weekend game in 2009 in Charleston, 36-31.

• Eastern Illinois allowed 411 yards rushing as the Panthers lost a one score game for the second straight week falling 37-30 at Southeast Missouri.  The Panthers did have big plays on special teams highlighted by the play of Tavares Crawford who finished with 190 yards in kick returns.  Chris Wright and Jimmy Garoppolo both moved up the career touchdown list at EIU in the game.

• Filling in for the injured Lorence Ricks for the second straight week, sophomore Tavares Crawford has shown Panther fans what to expect on special teams the next couple of seasons.  Crawford had five kick returns for 190 yards at Southeast Missouri on Saturday.  In the waning seconds of the second quarter he returned a kick off for a touchdown covering 83 yards.  It was the first return for a touchdown by a Panther since Ricks accomplished the feat against Jacksonville State on Oct. 24, 2009.  Crawford currently ranks 7th in the FCS and 1st in the OVC in kick return average at 31.2 yards per return.

• D.J. Bland showed what he will contribute both on special teams and defense over the next couple of seasons.  The redshirt freshman earned his first career start on Saturday at SEMO finishing with three tackles and one blocked kick on special teams.  Bland blocked a 45-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter becoming the first Panther since Pierre Walters to block a field goal.  Walters field goal block came against Austin Peay on Nov. 15, 2008.  Bland has 18 tackles on the year.

• Chris Wright caught a touchdown pass for the third straight game at Southeast Missouri as the junior has now hauled in 15 touchdowns for his career at EIU including five this season.  Wright now stands in 10th place on the EIU career list in touchdown receptions needing one more to match Frank Cutolo (1998-2001) for 9th on the career list with 16.  The EIU career leader is Roy Banks with 38 touchdown grabs between 1983-86.  In addition to ranking on the EIU career list this season, Wright is currently 18th among active FCS players in touchdown receptions and second in the OVC. 

• Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo continues to climb a career list of his own as the sophomore added two touchdown passes to his career total on Saturday at SEMO giving him 25 for his career.  Garoppolo had entered the weekend tied for 10th on the career list with Bodie Reeder (2007-09) and Roger Haberer (1962-65).  With his first touchdown pass to Chris Wright in the third quarter, Garoppolo moved into a tie for 9th with Pete Mauch (1992-95) with 24 touchdown passes.  By the end of the night he stood in 9th place by himself after connecting with Adam Drake in the fourth quarter.  Garoppolo needs two more touchdown passes to tie Anthony Buich (1998-99) for 8th on the career list.  Garoppolo also moved into 10th on the career passing attempts list with 380.

• 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  57 receptions for 1,032 yards
...Kenny Whittaker  96 receptions for 1,030 yards

• In addition to moving into the 1,000 yards receiving club, junior Kenny Whittaker is also on the verge of joining another club at Eastern Illinois.  Whittaker needs four more receptions to reach 100 catches for his career.  He is currently chasing Mike Rummell for 10th place on the career receptions list.  Rummell hauled in 115 passes between 1989-92.  Whittaker is currently 4th in the OVC in receptions per game at 5 catches per contest. 

• Cameron Berra had his streak of consecutive extra points snapped on Saturday at Southeast Missouri ending at 32 as his third quarter attempt was blocked by the Redhawks.  It marked the first extra point miss for the sophomore kicker since Sept. 25, 2010 against Jacksonville State.  It was only the second missed extra point attempt in Berra's career making him 34-of-36.  Berra did tack on a 23-yard field goal giving him 10 made field goals for his career.  He needs four more to crack to EIU career top ten.

• Eastern Illinois has now scored 20 or more points in a game for ten straight contests dating back to the 2010 season.  It marks the longest streak of that nature for the Panthers since the 1995 and 1996 season when they scored 20 or more points in ten straight games.  The current streak started with the Tennessee Tech game in 2010.  The previous streak started with a 35-9 win over Western Kentucky in 1995 and ran through a 38-0 win at UT Martin in 1996.  EIU is currently 62nd in the FCS in scoring offense and 6th in the OVC.

• Eastern Illinois race to lead the team in sacks evened up on Saturday at Southeast Missouri as sophomore Clinton Simpkins made his second sack of the season.  Simpkins is now tied with Artavious Dowdell for the team lead with both players ranked 8th in the OVC in sacks.  As a team EIU has only gotten to the quarterback six times which ranks 104th in the FCS.  Simpkins has made 10 total tackles on the season while Dowdell is fifth on the team with 25 tackles including a team high 3.5 tackles for loss.

• Senior linebacker Cory Leman was named a semifinalist for the William Campbell Trophy last week which recognizes the top academic football player among all levels of college football.  A total of 127 nominees were named to the semifinalist list covering FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA football.  Leman who has already graduated with a 3.75 GPA in kinesiology and sports studies was one of three players from the Ohio Valley Conference on the list.  Others from the OVC honored included Nick Newsome from Austin Peay and Emory Attig from EKU.

• Senior Cory Leman continues to chase the Panthers career top ten tackles record book as he added six tackles at Southeast Missouri.  Leman now has 270 tackles for his career needing 30 more tackles to catch Donald Thomas (2004-07) and Jason Dorsey (1992-95) for 10th place.  Leman is the EIU team leader with 51 tackles which ranks 24th in the FCS and 3rd in the OVC.  Leman is currently 12th among active FCS players in tackles.

• Eastern Illinois defense was put to the test on Saturday at Southeast Missouri as they allowed 411 yards rushing to the Redhawks.  It was the first time in 17 years that the Panthers had allowed a team to rush for more than 400 yards against them.  The last time it happened was on Sept. 24, 1994 when Northern Illinois rushed for 418 yards during a 49-17 win over EIU.

• Eastern Illinois will be hosting Eastern Kentucky for its annual Family Weekend contest this Saturday at O'Brien Field.  The Panthers have lost four straight Family Weekend games.  The last win for EIU on Family Weekend was 2006 when EIU shut out Southeast Missouri 21-0.  In 2009, EIU hosted EKU on Family Weekend with the Panthers falling 36-31 to the Colonels.  11,271 people watched that contest making it the 9th largest home crowd in EIU history.

• Eastern Illinois enters the weekend ranked first in the OVC in kick off returns but eighth in the conference in punt returns.  The Panthers have had two dynamic kick off return men this season with Tavares Crawford ranking 7th nationally at 31.2 yards per return.  Lorence Ricks had been ranked in the top twenty nationally before being injured in the game against Tennessee Tech as he is averaging 25.6 yards per return.  In punt returns Pete Houlihan has three of EIU's four returns with a 4.0 average.

• Tavares Crawford and Von Wise were both recognized by the College Performance Awards as top OVC performers of the Week.  Crawford was named a national kick returner of the week while Wise was named a top tight end.  Crawford had five kick returns for 190 yards including an 83-yard kick off return for touchdown.  Wise hauled in a team high four passes for 65 yards.  On the season Wise now has 14 catches for 183 yards. 

• Sophomore Alex McNulty made his first career start on Saturday at Southeast Missouri finishing with a career high nine tackles.  McNulty is currently sixth on the team with 23 tackles.

• Redshirt freshman Adam Drake made his first touchdown reception of his career on Saturday at Southeast Missouri.  It was Drake's fourth catch of the season as he became the sixth different player to catch a touchdown this season. 

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

EASTERN KENTUCKY HEAD COACH DEAN HOOD
Dean Hood enters his fourth season as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky.  A former defensive coach under legendary head coach Roy Kidd, Hood later moved on to the FBS level helping coach Wake Forest to an appearance in the Orange Bowl.  Hood has compiled a 20-18 record at EKU including a 17-7 record in the OVC.  He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University.  In his first year in Richmond he led EKU to the 2008 OVC regular season championship.

SCOUTING EASTERN KENTUCKY
Eastern Kentucky's defense is led by preseason Buck Buchanan Award candidate Jeremy Caldwell who has made 14 tackles on defense while also intercepting one pass.  Caldwell also serves as the Colonels top kick and punt returner with 22.7 yard kick return average.  On offense T.J. Pryor triggers the offense passing for 541 yards this season while rushing for 102 on the ground.  Jeremiah Williams is the Colonels top ground gainer with 238 yards and two touchdowns.  Ichiro Vance is EKU's tackles leader entering the week with 39 stops including 7 tackles for loss.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
October 8, 1988 - Ralph Stewart became the second player in EIU history to account for more than 200 yards receiving as he hauled in eight passes for 201 yards in a 34-3 win over Southern Illinois.  Two of Stewart's grabs resulted in touchdowns including a 70-yard connection with quarterback Eric Arnold.