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MURRAY, Ky. –  After a solid opening first quarter by Murray State quarterback KD Humphries, Eastern Illinois defense clamped down giving the Panthers a 34-20 win to improve to 5-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Humphries opened the first quarter 10-of-11 for 138 yards as Murray State led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter.  Humphries finished the game 28-of-51 with 346 yards. A late fourth quarter completion of 61 yards to Paul Rice added to the final total.   The late completion to Rice set up a touchdown by Jesse Blackburn with 2:48 to play cutting EIU's lead to 27-20.
EIU recovered the onside kick attempt and on third-and-three
Shepard Little broke through the line for a 40-yard touchdown, his second of the day. Little finished with 109 yards on the ground as the Panthers extended the lead to two scores.
EIU's defense did a good job applying pressure with four first half sacks.Â
Dino Fanti and
Kamu Grugier-Hill each had two. Fanti finished the day with six tackles including four tackles for loss. Grugier-Hill, last week's OVC Defensive Player of the Week, finished with five tackles.
The win sets up a first place game against No. 1 Jacksonville State next Saturday in Charleston. The game will be a 1 p.m. start at O'Brien Field and televised on ESPN3.  EIU improved to 5-3 overall, 5-0 in the OVC. Murray State fell to 2-6, 1-4 in the OVC.
Scoring to open the game was a little unusual as the Racers led 6-0 then trailed 7-6 before their offense ever took the field.  EIU eventually took a 17-13 halftime lead.
EIU opened the game on offense but the Racers scored first as Marquez Sanford picked off a pass on the opening play and scored from 26-yards out. Murray State missed the extra point to lead 6-0 with 14:54 to play.
Thirteen seconds later EIU took the lead as
Tray Mitchell returned the kickoff 94-yards to give the Panthers a 7-6 lead at 14:41. Mitchell became the first Panther to return a kickoff for a touchdown since Tavares Crawford in 2011 against Southeast Missouri. It was the sixth longest kick return in school history.
Following a 40-yard field goal by
Nick Bruno to put EIU up 10-6, MSU regained the lead with 4:38 to play in the first quarter as Blackburn hauled in a 27-yard pass from Humphries.
Little's 1-yard run to open the second quarter put EIU up 17-13. The Panthers had 411 yards on offense with
Jalen Whitlow throwing for 236 yards while adding 39 yards rushing.
The Panthers had a big play late in the third quarter to give themselves a little breathing room. Whitlow connected with
Ben Odugbesan for an 80-yard touchdown at 2:33. Â
Bruno added his second field goal from 31-yards out with 6:49 to play.
MSU was led on defense by Zach Dean and Jonathan Jackson with seven tackles each. Â
