Eastern Illinois at Southeast Missouri
Houck Field (8,000)  •   Cape Girardeau, Mo.
October 18, 2025  •   2 pm   •   TV: ESPN+ 

GAME LINKS
EIU Complete Notes  |  SEMO Notes  |  Listen Live  |  Live Stats  |  Watch ESPN+


NOTES TO KNOW
• Eastern Illinois heads to Southeast Missouri on Saturday afternoon with the Panthers having their two-game OVC-Big South win streak snapped at home last weekend by Gardner-Webb.  The loss dropped EIU to 3-3 on the season 2-1 in the conference.  The Panthers will be looking to snap two long losing skids against Southeast Missouri as the Redhawks have won seven straight in the series and EIU's last win in Cape Girardeau was in October 2014.  SEMO picked up its first OVC-Big South win of the year on Saturday beating Tennessee State as the Redhawks are now 2-4 overall, 1-1 in the OVC-Big South.

• For the second week in a row Eastern Illinois defense forced multiple turnovers as Christopher Sharp and Tienne Fridge both forced Gardner-Webb fumbles that were recovered by the Panthers.   Last season EIU's defense went the final six games of the season without forcing a turnover after the defense ranked seventh in turnovers gained in the FCS in 2023.  The end of the 2023 season was also the last time EIU's defense forced multiple turnovers in back-to-back games (Tennessee State & Lindenwood).

• Christopher Sharp forced his third fumble of the season on Saturday against Gardner-Webb as the redshirt sophomore ranks tied for second in the nation in forced fumbles this season.  He is joined by five other players with three forced fumbles this year (Tre Moore / San Diego, Jacob Psyk / UC Davis, Joe Ollman / South Dakota State,  Josiah Graham / Monmouth, and Kyree Anderson / East Texas A&M).  The FCS leader is Charleston Southern's Justin Waters with seven forced fumbles this season.   Teammate Tienne Fridge forced his second fumble of the season on Saturday and ranks tied for 11th in the FCS.

• Cole LaCrue pushed his way in for his sixth rushing touchdown of the season on Saturday against Gardner-Webb as the transfer quarterback had 39 yards on the ground.  LaCrue is currently 20th in the FCS in rushing touchdowns and 40th in the FCS in scoring.  His six rushing touchdowns lead the OVC-Big South and are the most by an EIU quarterback since Johnathan Brantley had six rushing touchdowns in 2018.   The EIU single season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback is 12 set by Jalen Whitlow in 2014.

• Drew Schiller knocked home his fifth field goal of the season on Saturday against Gardner-Webb as the redshirt freshman is now 5-of-6 this season which ranks him 13th in the FCS in field goal percentage.  Schiller knocked home a 42-yard kick just before the half.  Dating back to last season when he kicked in the opening four games of the season Schiller is now 8-of-13 for his EIU career.  He remains perfect on extra point attempts making his one attempt on Saturday to stand at 24-of-24.