Football Hosts TSU For Homecoming

Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. at O'Brien Field

10/20/2014 2:35:00 PM

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Eastern Illinois (2-5, 2-1 OVC) vs. Tennessee State (4-4, 1-3 OVC)
Saturday, October 25 at 1:30 p.m.
O'Brien Field (10,000) – Charleston, Ill.
TV: ESPN3
Radio: Panther Radio Network – WEIU 88.9 FM (Charleston), WHOW 1520 AM / 92.3 FM (Clinton), WSVZ 98.3 FM (Shelbyville/Effingham) and WMKR 94.3 FM (Taylorville)

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State were both selected as two of the teams to challenge for the Ohio Valley Conference title in the preseason polls. EIU remained in the OVC Championship race with a 52-13 win at Southeast Missouri last week to improve to 2-1 in the OVC. Jacksonville State is the only team currently undefeated in the OVC standings after Eastern Kentucky suffered its first loss at Tennessee Tech.

Tennessee State comes into the game having lost three straight games, all three in the OVC, as the Tigers are now 4-4 overall, 1-3 in the OVC.

Eastern Illinois out gained its opponent for the seventh time this season as the Panthers posted 548 yards of total offense at Southeast Missouri. EIU has featured a balanced offensive attack this year with the Panthers ranking 12th in the nation in total offense with 480.3 yards per game. EIU is 18th nationally in rushing offense and 25th nationally in passing offense. The Panthers have climbed to 33rd in the nation in scoring offense as they have averaged 49.3 points per game in OVC action.

Tennessee State continues to rank as one of the top defensive units in the nation. The Tigers are third in the nation in total defense allowing 251.3 yards per game. TSU is first nationally in passing defense, 20th in rushing defense and eighth in scoring defense allowing just 16.3 points per game. TSU is allowing 20.7 points per game in OVC action.

THE SERIES
This will be 18th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State with the Panthers holding a 10-7 all-time series lead. EIU won twice over TSU last season with a 34-16 regular season victory in Nashville and a 51-10 win in the second round of the FCS playoffs in Charleston. The Panthers have won three of the last four meetings but TSU has two of the last three times it has visited O'Brien Field.

UP NEXT
Eastern Illinois will travel to Tennessee Tech for a 1:30 p.m. game in Cookeville on Saturday, Nov. 1.

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