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Eastern Illinois (1-1) vs. Tennessee Tech (1-1)
O'Brien Field (10,000) • Charleston, Ill.
September 17, 2011 • 6:30 pm • TV: WEIU

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois opens the Ohio Valley Conference season against Tennessee Tech on Saturday night playing the second home night game of the year. This will mark the first time EIU has opened the conference season at home since 2008. EIU was picked to finish seventh in the preseason OVC poll while Tennessee Tech was selected to finish fifth. EIU and TTU last opened the OVC season against each other in 2007 with the Panthers winning 45-25 at O'Brien Field.

Eastern Illinois is coming off a 42-21 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. The Panthers won their home opener on Sept. 1 against Illinois State, 33-26, to stand at 1-1 on the season.

Tennessee Tech will be playing their first FCS opponent of the year as the Golden Eagles lost their season opener at Iowa and beat NCAA Division III member Maryville last Thursday. TTU only has ten games scheduled this year.

THE SERIES
This will be the 18th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech. The Panthers hold a 12-5 series lead. Tennessee Tech won 38-28 over EIU last season in Cookeville to snap a five game EIU win streak in the series. This will be the 9th time the two schools have played at O'Brien Field with EIU holding a 6-2 advantage in those contests.

• Northwestern took advantage of two early Eastern Illinois turnovers as the Wildcats doubled up the Panthers 42-21. EIU cut the margin to 14-7 in the second quarter on a touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo to Kenny Whittaker but NU led 28-7 at the half. Jimmy Lera ripped off a 76-yard run late in the game.

• Eastern Illinois ended a streak of 13 straight games in which the Panthers had forced at least one turnover with Saturday's loss at Northwestern. The Panthers are still 27th in the FCS in turnovers gained and remain on the positive side of the ledger in turnover margin (4 turnovers gained / 3 turnovers committed).

• Eastern Illinois scored three touchdowns on Saturday at Northwestern marking the Panthers highest total against an FBS school since 21 points against Illinois in 2008. The Panthers highest point total against an FBS school is 36 at Hawaii in 2002.

• The Panthers touchdown at Northwestern on Saturday extended their consecutive games with a touchdown streak to 19. That total ranks second in the OVC behind Jacksonville State with 52. Murray State is third on that list with 18 straight games.

• This will be the 15th OVC opener for head coach Bob Spoo. He is 11-3 in his previous OVC openers including a 3-0 record against Tennessee Tech in conference opening games. The last OVC opener between the two schools was in 2007 when EIU beat TTU, 45-25, in a game telecast by CSTV.

• EIU is one of 35 FCS teams that have been perfect in the red zone this season as the Panthers have scored on all six red zone opportunities (5 TD, 1 FG). In terms of total red zone chances, EIU is ranked ninth with six scoring chances. Southeastern Louisiana has been the most effective this season scoring on all 14 red zone opportunities.

• Eastern Illinois will be playing its second home night game of the year on Saturday against Tennessee Tech. It is also the first of three straight night games as the Panthers will play under the lights at Jacksonville State (Sept. 24) and Southeast Missouri (Oct. 1). The two night home games are the most for EIU since the 2007 season when EIU played Tennessee Tech and Illinois State under the lights at O'Brien.

• Eastern Illinois played its second game of the season without officially returning a punt. So far this season the five punts by opponents have either been kicked out of bounds, sent for a touchback or caught as a fair catch. EIU is the only FCS school that has played this season that does not have an official punt return. Five schools including OVC member Eastern Kentucky are currently averaging negative yards on punt returns.

• Sophomore Antonio Taylor made the most of his homecoming game in the Chicago area as he finished Saturday's game with a team-high 14 tackles. Taylor played as Immaculate Conception high school in the Chicago suburbs and was one of 27 Chicago-area players back at home. As a redshirt freshman back-up linebacker last season Taylor made 14 tackles for the entire season.

• In addition to Taylor's team high 14 tackles, EIU also had linebackers Cory Leman and Gordy Kickels finish with double digit tackles. Leman had 12 stops giving him double digit tackles in five of his last six games. Kickels finished with 11 tackles including a tackle for loss. It was Kickels first double digit contest since a ten tackle effort against Austin Peay last season.

• Lorence Ricks had 142 all-purpose yards on Saturday at Northwestern as the senior dropped from first in the FCS to fourth in all-purpose yardage. He is currently averaging 198.5 yards per game. Ricks needs 608 more all-purpose yards this season to crack the Panthers career top ten in that category. If Ricks moves into the top ten he would become the first non-running back to crack that list. Ricks is currently ranked 8th among active FCS kick returners averaging 26.25 yards per return.

• Eastern Illinois defense picked up its first sack of the season at Northwestern as Artavious Dowdell had a ten yard sack on Kain Colter in the second quarter. Dowdell was the Panthers top sack man last year with 4.5 sacks as EIU had only 12 total as a team. Dowdell now has 8.5 sacks for his career. On that same play Dowdell forced a Colter fumble giving him 4 forced fumbles for his career which is 12th on the FCS active list. Teammate Cory Leman is 7th on that career list with 5 forced fumbles.

• Nick Martinez two interceptions from the opener with Illinois State continue to rank the senior second in the FCS entering week three of the season. Donald Porter of Stony Brook is the national leader with three interceptions. Fourteen players currently have two interceptions but Martinez is the only OVC player on that list.

• Kicker Cameron Berra had his consecutive games with a field goal streak come to an end at three games as he did not have a field goal attempt at Northwestern. Berra did knock home all three extra point attempts as his streak is now 25 straight PAT's without a miss. Berra currently leads the team in scoring with 10 points having made one field goal and seven extra points. Last season he led the Panthers in scoring as a freshman with 43 points.

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 143-123-1 at EIU including a 67-37 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

TENNESSEE TECH HEAD COACH WATSON BROWN
A veteran coach with more than 27 years of collegiate experience, Watson Brown is in his 5th season as the head coach of Tennessee Tech. A native of Cookeville, Brown played college football at Vanderbilt before later embarking on his coaching career. Brown is in his second stint in the Ohio Valley Conference having coached at Austin Peay in the late 1970's. He has a 19-26 all-time OVC mark while his head coaching mark stands at 112-178-1. He was the head coach and athletic director at UAB before taking over at TTU in 2007. He has a 19-28 record at TTU.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH
Tennessee Tech enters the weekend with a 1-1 record as the Golden Eagles will be playing their first FCS opponent of the year. TTU lost its opener at Big Ten member Iowa before beating Maryville College, an NCAA Division III school, last Thursday. TTU is first in the OVC in rushing offense and scoring offense as Dontey Gay is averaging 131.5 yards per game with two touchdowns. Tim Benford is one of the most dangerous receivers in the OVC with 13 catches and two touchdowns.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
September 17, 1983 - Kevin Staple set a then program record rushing for 283 yards and four touchdowns as the Panthers rolled over Grand Valley State, 35-21, at O'Brien Field. Staple scored on rushes of 1, 4, 41 and 77 yards as he still ranks second on the EIU single game rushing charts for his performance that day.