Eastern Illinois vs. No. 5 Tennessee Tech
O'Brien Field (10,000)  •   Charleston, Ill
November 8, 2025  •   12 pm   •   TV: ESPN+ 

GAME LINKS
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NOTES TO KNOW
• Eastern Illinois hosts nationally ranked Tennessee Tech on Saturday for the Panthers senior day at 12 pm at O'Brien Field.  EIU is coming off an overtime loss to UT Martin on Family Weekend which dropped the Panthers to 3-6 overall, 2-4 in the OVC.  It marked the fourth straight loss for EIU and second week in a row the Panthers have had the game decided on the final play.   Tennessee Tech enters with the nation's longest winning streak at 14 straight games dating back to last year.  The No. 5 national ranking is the highest in school history as they enter the week 9-0 overall, 6-0 in the OVC.

• Eastern Illinois will honor the 14 members of its 2025 football senior class prior to the start of Saturday's game with Tennessee Tech.  The list includes offensive lineman Johnathan Arellano, linebacker Tylan Foster, long snapper Brett Galletti, defensive lineman Alton Jefferson, running back Zeke Lewis, safety Jihad McCall, tight end Joe McNab, punter Mason Miller, wide receiver DeAirious Smith, offensive lineman Joseph Solomon, offensive lineman Dante Thompson, defensive lineman Drake Van Hyfte, nickel back Tienne Fridge and wide receiver Cooper Willman.  From that group Galletti, Jefferson, Lewis, McNab, Smith, Van Hyfte and Willman have played their entire careers at Eastern Illinois with nine of those fourteen players having already earning their undergraduate degrees.

• Tylan Foster finished Saturday's game against UT Martin making 14 tackles for his second straight double figure tackle game.  He finished with game-high honors with fellow EIU linebacker Ja'Wuan Nickson as both recorded 14 tackles.  Of Foster's 14 tackles, 11 were solo stop as he has 19 solo tackles over the last two games moving his season total to 47 which ranks him 12th in the FCS and first in the OVC-Big South.  The last EIU player with ten or more solo tackles in a game was Colin Bohanek in 2022 against Tennessee Tech.  Foster has 77 total tackles this season ranking him third in the OVC-Big South and 34th in the FCS.  

• Ja'Wuan Nickson moved his season tackles total to 78 on the weekend as he made 14 stops in the overtime loss to UT Martin.  It was the fourth double figure tackles game this season for the junior college transfer.  Nickson is currently tied for the team lead with 6.5 tackles for loss while his 37 solo tackles this season are third on the team.  Nickson is now 33rd in the FCS in total tackles and second in the OVC-Big South this season.