Game Day: Football At Tennessee State

Panthers and Tigers square off in OVC first place battle Saturday

10/22/2013 9:47:00 AM

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Nationally Ranked EIU & TSU Meet At LP Field
FCS Top Offense Faces FCS No. 2 Defense Saturday

No. 2 Eastern Illinois at No. 21 Tennessee State
LP Field (69,143) • Nashville, Tenn.
Oct. 26, 2013 • 4 p.m. • TV: OVC Digital Network

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois moved up to No. 2 in the FCS rankings following a 55-33 win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday at the Panthers homecoming game. It is the highest ranking by EIU or an OVC team since the Panthers were ranked No. 2 on Nov. 18, 2002.

This will be EIU's 35th game as a ranked team facing another ranked opponent with the Panthers holding a 9-25 all-time mark in those contests. EIU is 5-5 in games where they are the higher ranked team.

This will be the third time that Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State have met with both teams being nationally ranked. EIU beat TSU, 52-49, in 2001 when the Panthers were ranked 8th and TSU was ranked 14th. The other meeting was in the 1982 NCAA I-AA playoffs, a 20-19, victory by TSU that was later forfeited due to use of an ineligible player. TSU was ranked No. 4, EIU was ranked No. 5.

The game matches the nation's number one offensive unit with Eastern Illinois leading the FCS ranks in total offense at 595.6 yards per game and scoring offense at 48 points per game. Tennessee State is the nation's number two defensive unit in scoring defense (13.5 points per game) and total defense (264.0 yards per game). EIU's lowest scoring total this year is 39 points at Northern Illinois. TSU's highest opponent scoring total is 21 by Tennessee Tech.

THE SERIES
This will be the 16th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State. EIU holds a slight 8-7 all-time series advantage. The two teams did not meet last season as part of the OVC's adjusted schedule. In the last meeting on Nov. 5, 2011, Tennessee State rallied for a late 18-17 win over Eastern Illinois in the final home game for long time head coach Bob Spoo. The two teams will play at LP Field where EIU is 5-3 against TSU.

• Senior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo became the Eastern Illinois career leader in passing yards during the first half against Southeast Missouri. Garoppolo passed New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton for the career record. Garoppolo now has 10,841 career passing yards which ranks 19th all-time in the FCS career list.

• Jimmy Garoppolo became the Ohio Valley Conference all-time leader in total offense in the first half against Southeast Missouri. He broke the record set by Murray State's Casey Brockman last season. Garoppolo now has 10,741 career yards of total offense. He needs 201 yards of total offense to crack the FCS career Top 25.

• Jimmy Garoppolo added three more touchdown passes to his career total against Southeast Missouri en route to winning his fifth Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor this year. Garoppolo has 31 touchdown passes this season and 96 for his career. His 96 career touchdown passes rank him 14th on the FCS career list.

• Jimmy Garoppolo had 310 yards passing in the first half against Southeast Missouri as he finished with 367 yards passing. He opened the game connecting on his first ten passes for 254 yards. Garoppolo has now passed for more than 300 yards in all seven games this year. He has passed for 200 or more yards in the first half of all seven EIU games with three games consisting of 200 or more yards in the first quarter.

• Jimmy Garoppolo's 82-yard touchdown strike to Adam Drake in the first quarter against Southeast Missouri was the third longest touchdown pass in EIU school history and the second longest thrown by Garoppolo. The senior quarterback now has five career touchdown passes of 70-yards or longer in his career.

• Wide receivers Adam Drake and Erik Lora both finished with more than 100 yards receiving on Saturday against Southeast Missouri. The pair combined for 269 yards. It marked the fourth time this season that both Drake and Lora have finished with more than 100 yards receiving in the same game. Their highest combined total was 362 yards against Illinois State.

• Taylor Duncan and Shepard Little each rushed for more than 100 yards against Southeast Missouri marking the 20th time in school history EIU has had two 100-yard backs in a game. Little had 129 and Duncan 109 to combine for 238 yards and four touchdowns. The last time it happened was 2008 when Travorus Bess and Chevon Walker each rushed for more than 100 yards in a win at Tennessee Tech.

• Shepard Little was named the Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week following his 129 yard rushing, three touchdown day against Southeast Missouri. It was the second time this season that Little has won an OVC Weekly Award. He was named the OVC Special Teams Player of the Week following the opening week win at San Diego State.

• Erik Lora had 131 yards receiving against Southeast Missouri giving the senior 15 career games with more than 100 yards receiving (first on the EIU career list). Lora did that on eight receptions as he moved into 11th place on the FCS career receptions list with 274. Lora increased his career receiving yards total to 3,390 as he needs 212 yards to break into the FCS career Top 25 and 513 yards to break the OVC career record.

• Junior Adam Drake became the latest EIU wide receiver to break the 1,000 yard mark for his career finishing Saturday's game with three catches for 138 yards. Drake now has 65 career catches for 1,011 yards and nine touchdowns.

• Senior kicker Cameron Berra needs one more point after attempt to become the Panthers career leader. Berra has made 132 point after attempts in his four year career.

• Eastern Illinois defense added two more sacks to its season total facing Southeast Missouri's running quarterback. Pat Wertz had one sack to increase his team leading total to 5.5 which ranks second in the OVC. Dino Fanti recorded the other sack giving him 2.5 sacks for the season.

• Eastern Illinois limited Southeast Missouri to just 117 yards passing and 298 yards of total offense on Saturday. EIU has moved up to 4th in the OVC in total defense and second in the league in scoring defense. The Panthers are currently ranked 11th nationally in pass efficiency defense at 107.60.

• Eastern Illinois defense has done a good job of getting off the field as the Panthers rank ninth in the FCS in third down defense limiting opponents to just a 29.9 percent conversion rate this year. By comparison, EIU's offense is ranked 14th in the nation in picking up third downs converting at 47.2 percent.

• Eastern Illinois defense continues to rank eighth in the nation in pass interceptions despite the Panthers not picking off a pass in the last two games. EIU has four players - Jourdan Wickliffe, Adam Gristick, Alex McNulty and DJ Bland - all tied for the team lead with two interceptions each. Gristick and McNulty both intercepted their passes in the same game, Gristick against Eastern Kentucky and McNulty against San Diego State.

• Eastern Illinois continued to score points at a lighting pace against Southeast Missouri with six scoring drives in less than two minutes, three of those in less than a minute. On the season EIU has had fourteen scoring drives that have taken less than one minute with another thirteen scoring drives that have taken between one and two minutes.

• Eastern Illinois offense continues to rank first in the nation in total offense at 595.6 yards per game. The Panthers finished Saturday's game against SEMO with 665 yards of total offense, the fifth best single game total in school history. This season EIU has three top eight marks in total offense including the school record of 739 yards against Illinois State.

• Taylor Duncan became the 25th player in Eastern Illinois history to go over the 1,000 yard rushing mark for his career with 107 yards against Southeast Missouri. Duncan now ranks 23rd on the career rushing list with 1,085 yards and 16 touchdowns.

• Sophomore Trey Pendergrass returned two kicks for 20 yards against Southeast Missouri as he moved into the EIU career top ten for kickoff return yards. Pendergrass ranks tenth with 805 career return yards. He needs three yards to pass Frank Cutolo for ninth place.

• Senior Nick Beard made one solo stop against Southeast Missouri after sitting out the Austin Peay game. Beard, an All-OVC selection at safety last year, needs six solo tackles this season to move into 10th on the Panthers career list. Beard has 150 career stops. Donald Thomas is 10th on the list with 156 tackles.

• Eastern Illinois won its seventh straight Ohio Valley Conference game on Saturday over Southeast Missouri as EIU is now tied for the fourth longest active conference win streak in the nation. Bethune-Cookman extended its winning streak in the MEAC to 16 straight games to rank first nationally. North Dakota State with ten straight Missouri Valley Conference wins is second. Coastal Carolina has won nine straight Big South games following an overtime victory. EIU is tied with Montana State (Big Sky) and Youngstown State (Missouri Valley) in fourth.

• When EIU returns home on Nov. 2 to host Tennessee Tech the Panthers will have the nation's fourth longest active home winning streak at eight games.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH DINO BABERS
Dino Babers made an immediate impact on the Eastern Illinois program taking the Panthers from last in the OVC in 2011 to first in the conference in 2012 during his first season as head coach. Babers was a former assistant on EIU head coach Bob Spoo's first staff in 1987 and returned to EIU as the head coach in December of 2011. He was named the OVC Coach of the Year in 2012 and finished third in voting for the Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year Award. Babers record at EIU is 13-6, including a 9-1 record in the OVC. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Hawai'i.

PANTHERS RANKED IN TOP FIVE IN FCS
Eastern Illinois moved up to number two in both FCS polls this week. This is the fifth season that EIU has been ranked in the top five in the nation since the Panthers joined the FCS ranks in 1981. This matches EIU's highest national ranking set in November of 2002. EIU is 8-2 in regular season games as a top five ranked team, one of the losses coming to open the 2002 season at Hawai'i with EIU ranked No. 4. The ranking is the highest for an OVC school since EIU was ranked No. 2 the final week of the 2002 regular season.

Year..... Date First Ranked In FCS Top 5 & Record....................High Rank
1982.... Nov. 13 (1-0 Regular Season / 1-1 FCS Playoffs) .........5
1986.... Nov. 8 (2-0 Regular Season / 1-1 FCS Playoffs) ...........3
2001.... Nov. 10 (2-0 Regular Season / 0-1 FCS Playoffs) .........3
2002.... Aug. 31 (0-2 Regular Season / 0-1 FCS Playoffs) .........2
2013.... Sept. 30 (2-0 Regular Season)..........................................2

TENNESSEE STATE HEAD COACH RON REED
Ron Reed took over as head coach of his alma mater in 2010 and has the program once again competing in the top half of the Ohio Valley Conference. He has posted a 23-18 mark in three years emphasizing a hard hitting defensive approach. Reed played at TSU in the 1980's earning his degree in 1989. As a player he set the school record for tackles and was part of TSU's 1986 NCAA I-AA playoff team. He was the defensive coordinator and associate head coach in 2009 for the program before taking over as head coach following that season.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE STATE
Tennessee State features one of the best defensive units in the nation as the Tigers enter the weekend ranked second nationally in total defense and scoring defense. TSU has allowed 20 or more points in only one game this year, a 41-21 win over Tennessee Tech. Stephen Godbolt was a preseason Buchanan Award candidate and has 15 tackles and 5 pass break-ups this year. Nick Thrasher has led the team with 58 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss. Anthony Bass has a team high six sacks with 9.5 tackles for loss. On offense Tim Broughton is 13th in the nation in rushing with 825 yards. Michael German has returned as quarterback throwing for 725 yards and 11 touchdowns.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
October 26, 1912 – In one of the early teams coached by Charles Lantz, Eastern Illinois avenged an early season 45-3 loss at Rose Poly with a home 36-14 victory over the Engineers. The Panthers would finish the season with a 6-1 record including a 5-1 record against collegiate competition. The team was captained by Ciney Rich who also served as the senior class president.

BERRA NAMED CAMPBELL TROPHY SEMIFINALIST
Eastern Illinois senior kicker Cameron Berra was named a semifinalist for the 2013 National Football Foundation Walter Campbell Trophy which is awarded to the nation's top scholar-athlete. Berra holds a 3.72 GPA in kinesiology. He was a first team All-OVC selection last season and currently ranks first on the Panthers career field goal percentage list.

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