Eastern Illinois (5-4, 5-1 OVC) at UT Martin (6-3, 5-1 OVC)
Graham Stadium (7,500) • Martin, Tenn.
November 14, 2015 • 1 p.m. • TV: ESPN3EIU Game Notes |
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THE GAME• Eastern Illinois was handed its first Ohio Valley Conference loss of the season on Saturday falling to No. 1 ranked Jacksonville State, 24-3, at home. EIU and JSU were tied 3-3 until the final 15 seconds of the 3rd quarter when JSU scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass to the back of the end zone. JSU added two fourth quarter touchdowns.
• Eastern Illinois and UT Martin enter the weekend tied for second place in the Ohio Valley Conference with 5-1 records. The winner of the game will have sole possession of second place in the OVC and could lock up a possible at-large FCS playoff spot with two wins to end the season.
• Eastern Illinois has been a good road Ohio Valley Conference team over the past four seasons as the Panthers are 3-0 on the road in the OVC this season and 11-3 in conference road games over the past four years. Two road losses came last season at Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State. The previous road loss before those was in 2012 at UT Martin.
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Seth McDonald registered 17 tackles in the loss to Jacksonville State. It was the second time this season the junior linebacker has finished a game with 17 tackles. He previously had 17 tackles in the opener at Western Illinois. McDonald now has 91 tackles this season which ranks second in the OVC and 24th in the nation. He needs nine tackles to become the 38th player in school history with 100 or more tackles in a season.
THE SERIES• This will be the 21st meeting between Eastern Illinois and UT Martin. Eastern Illinois holds a 13-7 all-time series lead but in recent years the series has swung in UTM's favor. The Skyhawks have won four of the last five games including a 37-16 win in the final game of 2014 at O'Brien Field in Charleston. EIU's last visit to UT Martin was a 70-22 victory by the Panthers in 2013. The series is tied 5-5 in games played at UT Martin.
