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Eastern Illinois (6-3, 5-1 OVC) vs. Southeast Missouri (3-6, 2-4 OVC)
O'Brien Field (10,000)   •   Charleston, Ill.
November 10, 2012   •  11 a.m.   •   TV: FOX College Sports

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois remained in a first place tie for the Ohio Valley Conference lead following a 31-24 win at Tennessee Tech on Saturday.  The Panthers are 5-1 in the league and can clinch at least a share of the OVC regular season title with a win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday.  EIU could clinch the outright OVC title and automatic FCS playoff berth with a win over SEMO and a loss by UT Martin in either of its final two OVC contests.  EIU is 6-3 overall.

EIU has won three straight games and is 4-0 at home this season.  The Panthers are looking for their first four game win streak since the latter part of the 2009 season.  EIU won the OVC title in 2009 advancing to the program's 13th FCS playoff.

Southeast Missouri enters the contest with a 3-6 record, 2-4 in the OVC.  The Redhawks will end the season with road games at EIU and Murray State.  SEMO beat Austin Peay on Oct. 27 before losing to nationally ranked Eastern Kentucky, 31-7, last Saturday in SEMO's final home game.

THE SERIES
Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri will be meeting for the 20th time on Saturday with the Panthers holding a 13-6 all-time series lead.  SEMO has won the last two meetings including a 37-30 win in Cape Girardeau last year.  SEMO's win at O'Brien Field in 2010 was en route to the program's first OVC title.  EIU is 7-1 against SEMO at O'Brien Field and holds a 12-4 series lead since both members joined the Ohio Valley Conference.

• Eastern Illinois picked up its second straight road win on Saturday at Tennessee Tech assuring the Panthers of a winning season, the first for the program since the 2009 season when EIU won the OVC title.

• With a win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday, EIU would clinch at least a share of the OVC regular season championship.  A win would give EIU its sixth OVC title since joining the league.  Other league titles are 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 & 2009.

• EIU won its third straight game on Saturday with the road win at Tennessee Tech.  The Panthers will be looking for their first four game win streak since the 2009 season when EIU put together a pair of four-game win streaks finishing the season at 8-4 overall.

• EIU is 4-0 at home this season as the Panthers look to finish the regular season with a perfect record at O'Brien Field.  EIU has posted six previous undefeated seasons at home with the last coming in 2000 when the Panthers finished at 5-0.

• Jake Walker moved into 15th place on the Panthers career rushing list on Saturday at Tennessee Tech.  Walker passed Ken Werner on the list as Walker now has 1,570 career rushing yards.  Werner was the EIU career leading rusher following his career in 1971.

• Jimmy Garoppolo had two long touchdown passes on Saturday at Tennessee Tech as he hit Chavar Watkins for 61 yards and Chris Wright for 73.  Garoppolo has now thrown eight touchdowns over 40 yards this season with four of them to Chris Wright.

• Chris Wright caught four passes for 102 yards on Saturday to move into fourth place on the EIU career receiving list with 2,261 yards.  Wright is currently seventh at EIU in career receptions with 130. 

• Chris Wright caught his eighth touchdown of the season on Saturday at Tennessee Tech and the 29th of his EIU career.  Wright is currently second all-time on the EIU career touchdown receptions list behind Roy Banks (38).  Wright is third on the OVC All-Time career touchdown list trailing CJ Johnson of Tennessee State (32) and Harold Roberts of Austin Peay (31).

• Erik Lora caught seven passes for 75 yards at Tennessee Tech as the junior hit two milestones during the game.  Lora became only the 17th player in FCS history to get to 100 catches in a season.  He also passed Roy Banks record for single season receiving yards with 1,301.

• Erik Lora's seven catches against Tennessee Tech moved him closer to the EIU career receptions record with 173.  Roy Banks holds the EIU career mark of 184 set between 1983-86.  Lora is currently eighth on the OVC career receptions list.

• Erik Lora is currently on pace to finish among the elite FCS receivers on the NCAA single season record book list.  His current yards per game average of 144.6 yards per game ranks seventh.  His current catches per game of 11.1 ranks fourth. 

• As on offensive team Eastern Illinois has already cracked the top five for team season records with two games remaining on the regular season schedule.  EIU's 3,513 passing yards are third with the Panthers needing 558 yards to break the school record of 4,071 set in 1984.  EIU needs six touchdown passes to break the school record of 34 set in 2002.  The Panthers need 16 pass completions to break the record of 288 set in 1984.

• Cameron Berra knocked home his 8th field goal of the season and the junior kicker has not missed since the Murray State game last season.  He moved up to fifth on the EIU career charts with 23 made field goals.  Berra is the most accurate kicker in EIU history having made 23-of-28 field goals.  He leads the team with in scoring with 65 points this year.

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.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI HEAD COACH TONY SAMUEL
Tony Samuel turned around the Southeast Missouri program in 2010 as the Redhawks went 9-3, 7-1 in the OVC.  Samuel was named the Eddie Robinson FCS National Coach of the Year as SEMO lost to eventual national champion Eastern Washington in the NCAA FCS playoffs.  Samuel has compiled a 28-49 record during his seven years leading the SEMO program including a 17-36 record in OVC play.  A former head coach at New Mexico State, Samuel's career record is 62-106.  Samuel played college football at Nebraska.

SCOUTING SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Following the style of football he learned as a player at Nebraska, Southeast Missouri is run oriented team with tailback Levi Terrell over 1,000 yards for the season and quarterback Scott Lathrop at 600 yards rushing.  The Redhawks have only completed 83 passes all season with D.J. Foster the top target with 32 catches.  The defense is led by All-OVC linebacker Blake Peiffer with 99 tackles this season including eight tackles for loss.  SEMO has 11 interceptions this year  with three returned for touchdowns.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
November 10, 1984 - Quarterback Sean Payton recorded his third straight 400-yard plus passing game including a career high five touchdown passes as Eastern Illinois blasted Western Kentucky 50-19 to end the season.  Payton was 22-of-36 for 461 yards.  The previous two weeks Payton had passed for 486 against Southwest Missouri State and 412 against Northern Iowa. 

LORA CHASING NCAA RECEIVING RECORDS
Junior wide receiver Erik Lora passed Jerry Wright (76 in 1984) for the single season receptions record with his 11 catches against Jacksonville State.  The Walter Payton Award candidate passed Samford's Efrem Hill (92 in 2003) for the OVC record with ten catches at Eastern Kentucky.  Lora did have his streak of seven straight games with 100-yards receiving snapped with 97 yards receiving at EKU. The seven games was the longest streak in the NCAA since 2000.  Earlier this season Lora broke the EIU and OVC record for single game receptions with 21 against Murray State.  He is currently ranked 17th in the FCS single season list with 100 catches.  Only 17 FCS players have ever hauled in 100 or more passes in a season.  Lora could move up the list quickly with each additional catch with the chance to pass Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice in 12th (102) and 9th (103).

GAROPPOLO MOVES UP RECORD BOOK
Jimmy Garoppolo moved over the 7,000 yards of total offense mark for his career at Tennessee Tech.  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 moved into the EIU single season top ten for passing yards against JSU and already has cracked the single season top ten for pass completions and touchdowns.  Garoppolo is poised to break the EIU single season pass completion record against Southeast Missouri.

CAREER LISTS
Pass Completions... moved into 2nd ahead of Tony Romo with 603
Pass Attempts... moved into 2nd ahead of Jeff Throne with 991
SINGLE SEASON LISTS
Pass Completions... needs 8 to break Sean Payton's record of 270 (1984)
Pass Yards... needs 29 for 4th, needs 48 for 3rd, needs 339 for 2nd

• Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 376 yards at Tennessee Tech on Saturday marking the 10th time in his career he has thrown for 300 yards or more.  It was the sixth time this season that Garoppolo has been over 300 yards.

• Jimmy Garoppolo had three touchdown passes on Saturday at Tennessee Tech.  It was the 24th straight game of his career he has thrown at least one touchdown.  It was the 10th time of his career he has thrown for 3 or more touchdowns.

• Chavar Watkins had a career receiving day at Tennessee Tech hauling in seven catches for 140 yards.  Watkins caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Garoppolo which helped get the Panthers on the board in Cookeville.

• Chavar Watkins and Chris Wright combined to both finish over 100 yards marking the 12th time in school history two receivers have been over 100 yards.  Earlier this season EIU had three receivers over 100 yards against Austin Peay, the first time that has happened in program history.

• Senior Pat Wertz was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA last week.  Wertz has started all nine games on the defensive line this year making 39 tackles including 5.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks.

• Senior Roosevelt Holliday turned in one of the best days of his career at Tennessee Tech finishing with ten tackles.  Holliday added two tackles for loss and forced a fumble that resulted in a Panther touchdown.  It was Holliday's first career forced fumble.

• EIU's rushing defense currently ranks second in the OVC allowing only 144.7 yards per game.  That total ranks 48th in the NCAA.  EIU has allowed only two individual rushers to gain 100 or more yards this season.

• EIU's defense forced two more turnovers at Tennessee Tech as the Panthers are now tied with Southeast Missouri for second in the OVC with 21 turnovers gained.  EIU has 9 interceptions and 12 fumble recoveries.

• EIU will be playing on FOX Sports for the ninth time in program history and second time this season.  EIU is 8-1 all-time when playing on a FOX Sports station.

• EIU will honor 16 seniors prior to the start of the game with Southeast Missouri.  The list and quick notes on each are listed on page 12 of this note packet.

• Sophomore Jourdan Wickliffe led the Panthers with 13 tackles in the win at Tennessee Tech.  A converted wide receiver Wickliffe started playing defense in the Murray State game.  Since then he has made 44 of his 48 tackles with two interceptions.

• Robert Haynes finished with double figure tackles for the fourth straight game making 12 tackles at Tennessee Tech.  Haynes has 88 tackles this season to rank 31st in the country and 3rd in the OVC.  He has seven total double figure tackle games this year.

• Artavious Dowdell added a tackle for loss to his career total as he ranks seventh on the EIU career list with 32 tackles for loss.  Dowdell is eighth all time at EIU with 17 sacks.  This season he leads the OVC with 4.5 sacks.

• EIU's defense currently leads the OVC in tackles for loss averaging just over 7 per game.  Artavious Dowdell is the team leader with eight followed by Greg Mahan with 7.5.  The Panthers defensive line has made 37 tackles for loss this year.

• EIU fell to number two in the nation in plays run per game as the Panthers have run 801 plays from scrimmage for a total of 89 plays per contest.  Stephen F. Austin is the national leader with 831 plays this season.  This year EIU has set a school record for plays in a game (106) and also combined with Murray State to set the FCS record for total plays by two teams (210).

• Eastern Illinois is 1-3 in its last four senior day home games at O'Brien Field.  The Panthers last win on senior day was Oct. 30 of 2010 against Austin Peay.  EIU has never faced Southeast Missouri for its senior day game.

• Taylor Duncan's 10-yard rushing touchdown marked the eighth straight game this season that the Panthers have scored a rushing touchdown.  The last time EIU didn't score a rushing touchdown was in the season opener against Southern Illinois.

• Erik Lora has compiled 1,301 yards receiving this season to go along with 100 catches.  Lora has more yards receiving than 16 FCS teams have combined including Southeast Missouri which has 931 yards receiving.  Lora's 100 catches are more than 11 teams combined. 

EIU TO PLAY TWO GAMES ON FOX COLLEGE SPORTS
EIU played the first of two games on FOX College Sports when the Panthers beat No. 18 Eastern Kentucky, 24-7 in Richmond, Ky.  EIU hosts Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Nov. 10 on FOX College Sports with an 11 a.m. (Central) kick at O'Brien Field.