Eastern Illinois at Robert Morris
Joe Walton Stadium (3,000) • Moon Township, Pa.
November 18, 2023 • 11 a.m. • TV: ESPN+
GAME INFO
EIU Game Notes |
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NOTES TO KNOW
• Eastern Illinois remained in the FCS playoff hunt as the Panthers improved to 7-3 with last Saturday's senior day win over Tennessee State. It was the third win in a row for EIU and improved the Panthers to 3-2 in the Big South-OVC Football Association. There are currently 28 FCS teams that have seven or more wins this season with a chance to get to eight or more on the year with wins in the final week of the regular season. Robert Morris has won two straight conference games to stand at 4-6 overall, 2-3 in the Big South-OVC. RMU has not won three straight games since the 2019 season when they played their final season in the Northeast Conference finishing 7-5 overall, 6-1 in the NEC.
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MJ Flowers broke loose for the second time this season finishing with 201 yards in the Panthers win over Tennessee State. It was Flowers second 200-plus yard game this season as he was named the Big South-OVC Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week. His season best was a 272 yard game against McNeese in late September. Flowers is the sixth different running back this season to post two 200-yard rushing games. He is just the third running back in school history with two or more 200-yard games in a same season joining J.R. Taylor and Willie High. Flowers also found the end zone four times becoming the first back since Taylor in 2002 (vs Florida Atlantic) to score four rushing touchdowns in a game. He is the ninth player in school history to score four or more touchdowns in a game and fourth different running back.
• Punter
Jacob Horvath was named the Big South-OVC Special Teams Player of the Week as his punting helped set up the Panthers in good field position a majority of the game in Saturday's win over Tennessee State. Horvath averaged 42.4 yards per punt with a long of 54 yards and two punts pinned inside the 20-yard line. For the season the freshman from Australia has 16 of his 51 punts inside the 20-yard line (31 pct) with four punts over 50 yards and a season average of 38.3 yards per punt.
• Eastern Illinois defense and special teams came up big with turnovers once again on Saturday as the Panthers forced two turnovers with a blocked punt added in on special teams. The turnovers came on a
Tyris Harvey interception in the end zone and a
Payton Orth forced fumble on a TSU punt return. EIU continues to rank as the FCS leader in turnovers gained this season with 25 with the Panthers fourth nationally in both interceptions (14) and fumbles recovered (11).
• Corner
Russell Dandy became the Eastern Illinois single season record holder in pass break-ups as he added two to his season total on Saturday against Tennessee State. Dandy now has 17 pass break-ups this year breaking the mark previously held by Ben Brown (16 in 2004). He has 20 career pass break-ups needing one more to crack the EIU career top ten. Including his one interception this year, Dandy ranks first in the FCS in passes defended while recording 31 tackles and two fumble recoveries.
