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Eastern Illinois (1-6, 0-5 OVC) at UT Martin (3-3, 2-2 OVC)
O'Brien Field (10,000)   •   Charleston, Ill.
October 22, 2011   •   1:30 pm   •   TV: WEIU

THE GAME
Today's game features two teams that have split their last eight meetings with four of those games being decided by ten points or less.  Eastern Illinois is looking to extend its home winning streak against UT Martin to nine games as the Panthers have never lost to the Skyhawks at O'Brien Field.

EIU is looking to bounce back from a tough loss at Murray State on Saturday as they led by ten points heading into the fourth quarter.  EIU did a better job of stopping the run against the Racers but were held without a sack for the second straight game and fourth time this season as they lost 36-27.

UT Martin is the best in the nation at protecting the passer allowing only two sacks all season.  The Skyhawks are second nationally in scoring offense with two 60-plus point games this season.  UTM lost a non-conference game at South Alabama on Saturday scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter to fall 33-30.

THE SERIES
This will be the 17th meeting between Eastern Illinois and UT Martin.  The Panthers hold a commanding 12-4 series lead but the two schools have split the last eight meetings with each team winning on its home field.  UT Martin won 20-10 in Martin, Tenn., last season.  EIU has previously hosted UTM twice for its homecoming winning 29-12 in 2003 and 29-23 in 2007.  The Panthers are 8-0 all-time against the Skyhawks at O'Brien Field.

• Eastern Illinois held a 27-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter but could not hold on falling 36-27 at Murray State.  EIU was up 27-24 when Casey Brockman drove Murray State 75 yards to for the go ahead score with 1:44 remaining.  EIU had the ball on its own 28 but had the only turnover of the game with 1:21 left as MSU recovered a fumble.  The Racers would add a score with one second left as Mike Harris broke loose and found the end zone rushing for a first down.

• Jimmy Garoppolo moved up the career touchdown passing list with two more scoring strikes on Saturday at Murray State.  Garoppolo hit Chris Wright for touchdown passes of 36 and 59 yards.  Garoppolo now has 28 career touchdown passes with 14 in each of his two seasons as the Panthers quarterback.  Garoppolo passed Anthony Buich (1998-99) on the list as he moved into 8th place.  The sophomore is now chasing Ron Gustafson (1969-71) who had 30 touchdown passes in his EIU career.  Garoppolo also moved past Pete Mauch (1992-95) in career passing attempts as he ranks 9th with 445 passes.

• Chris Wright was on the receiving end of both of Jimmy Garoppolo's touchdown passes on Saturday as the junior moved into 9th on the EIU career touchdown reception list.  Wright now has seven touchdown receptions for the season and 17 for his career as he passed Frank Cutolo (1998-2001).  Wright will now be chasing Ryan Voss for 8th on the career list, Voss had 18 touchdown receptions between 2003-06.  Wright ranks 14th on the NCAA active leaders list and is second among active players in the OVC trailing only Tennessee Tech's Tim Benford.  The game was Wright's fourth career game with multiple touchdown receptions.  Wright and Garoppolo have now teamed up for 13 touchdowns and 913 yards.

• Chris Wright hauled in five passes for 130 yards on Saturday at Murray State to become the second player this season to finish with more than 100 yards receiving in a game.  Lorence Ricks had 114 yards in the season opening win against Illinois State making seven catches in the game.

• Jimmy Garoppolo hit Chris Wright for a 59-yard touchdown pass during Saturday's game at Murray State.  It was the 8th touchdown pass of more than 40 yards in Garoppolo's career  His long this year is a 72-yard connection with Kenny Whittaker at Northwestern.  His career long was last season at Tennessee State where he found Wright for an 81-yard pass.

• Pete Houlihan returned one punt on Saturday for eight yards which was a career high for the sophomore.  On the season EIU has fielded only five punts as a team with Houlihan handling four of them.  EIU is ranked 111th in the FCS in punt return average.

• Eastern Illinois enters the weekend in some rare company as they are currently one of only three FCS schools that have three active receivers with more than 1,000 yards receiving.  EIU's three receivers all moved into that elite group in recent weeks as Lorence Ricks passed the 1,000 yard mark against Tennessee Tech while Chris Wright and Kenny Whittaker both eclipsed the mark at Jacksonville State.  The two other schools currently on that list are Liberty from the Big South Conference and Southeastern Louisiana from the Southland Conference.

...Lorence Ricks...  69 receptions for 1,042 yards
...Chris Wright...  66 receptions for 1,246 yards
...Kenny Whittaker...  106 receptions for 1,092 yards

• Senior Cory Leman continues to move closer to the career top ten for tackles at EIU as he now needs just 12 tackles to move into a tie for 10th on the Panthers career list.  Leman enters the game with UT Martin with 288 career tackles (132 solo).  Leman is looking to catch Donald Thomas (2004-07) and James Dorsey (1992-95) in 10th with 300 tackles.  Leman currently leads the Panthers with 69 tackles on the season which ranks second in the OVC and 37th in the FCS.  Entering the top ten on Saturday is not out of the realm of possibility for Leman who has six career games with 12 or more tackles.

• Sophomore Antonio Taylor is currently chasing Cory Leman for the team lead in tackles as the linebacker has 63 tackles entering Saturday's game with UT Martin.  Taylor made a team-high 13 stops on Saturday at Murray State including 1.5 tackles for loss.  Taylor is tied for the team lead for tackles for loss with Artavious Dowdell with both players registering 3.5 TFL on the season.  In his first season as a starter Taylor has three games this year with double figure tackles including a career high 14 tackles at Northwestern.  He is fourth in the OVC and 57th in the FCS in tackles per game.

• Eastern Illinois used a new kick off man for the third time this season as redshirt freshman AJ Woodson handled the kick return duties at Murray State.  Woodson had six returns for 128 yards including a long return of 33 yards.  As a team the Panthers did not see a drop off from their previous two returners as EIU ranks first in the OVC and 10th in the FCS in kick off returns averaging 24.3 yards per return.  Tavares Crawford is ranked 11th individually in kick return average at 28.6 yards per return including an 83-yard kick off return for touchdown at Southeast Missouri.  Prior to his injury against Tennessee Tech senior Lorence Ricks had been ranked 33rd in the FCS in kick return average at 25.6 yards per return.

• Eastern Illinois held the half time lead for the third time this season at Murray State only to see the Racers rally for a fourth quarter victory.  EIU has held the half time lead against Illinois State (12-9), Southeast Missouri (17-14) and Murray State (20-17) so far this season.  EIU was tied at the half with Jacksonville State (14-14) and trailed at the half in their other three games.  EIU's worst halftime deficit this season was 21 points at Northwestern (28-7).

• Cameron Berra had a point after attempt blocked at Murray State marking the second time this season that Berra has had a PAT blocked.  His blocked PAT at Southeast Missouri ended a string of 32 straight successful PAT's.

• Jake Walker led the Panthers in rushing on Saturday finishing with 88 yards, matching his career high set earlier this year at Jacksonville State.  As a team EIU finished with 145 yards on the ground, the best team rushing effort by EIU this season and most for the Panthers since rushing for 165 against Jacksonville State in 2010.  EIU's last individual rushing effort over 100 yards was against the Gamecocks in 2010 with Jimmy Potempa rushing for 101 yards.

• Punter Scott Weatherford rushed eight yards on a fourth-and-four at Murray State for a successful fake punt attempt.  It was the first successful fake punt for EIU since the 2010 season opener at Iowa when Cody Bruns rushed 36 yards on a successful fake punt for the Panthers.

• Head coach Bob Spoo will be coaching his 24th homecoming game at Eastern Illinois.  Spoo has a homecoming record of 16-6-1 including a 10-5 record since the Panthers joined the Ohio Valley Conference.  EIU lost last year's homecoming game 38-28 to Murray State snapping a 10-year homecoming win streak by the Panthers.  EIU's one tie at homecoming was in 1993 with a 17-17 tie with Illinois State.  That tie was the last one in EIU's football history and the only one in head coach Bob Spoo's 25-year coaching career.

• So far this season Eastern Illinois has started 27 different position players between the offensive and defensive unit.  Out of that group of 27 players the Panthers only have five seniors with two starting on offense and three starting on defense.  EIU has had eight starters from its junior class with six on the offense and two on the defense.  EIU's biggest contributors this year have been the sophomores with ten starting between the two units.  Seven sophomores have started on the defense with three sophomores on the offense.  To date four red shirt freshman have earned starts this season with three on offense and one on defense.

• Tight end Von Wise has become a big part of the Panthers passing attack over the past four weeks catching 16 of his 22 passes in those contests.  Those 16 grabs have resulted in 214 yards for an average of 13.3 yards per catch.  In those four games Wise has also been vital to the Panthers keeping drives alive as 10 of his 16 catches have resulted in first downs.

• Kenny Whittaker hauled in two more passes at Murray State to move his career total to 106 receptions.  Whittaker needs nine more receptions to catch Mike Rummell (1989-92) for 10th on the Panthers career list.

• Eastern Illinois went its third straight game without a turnover gained as the Panthers defense has two interceptions and four fumble recoveries on the season.  Nick Martinez is the team leader in turnovers gained with two interceptions in the season opener against Illinois State.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH BOB SPOO
The dean of Ohio Valley Conference Coaches, Eastern Illinois head coach Bob Spoo returns to the sidelines for his 24th season on the sidelines and 25th season overall.  Spoo missed the 2006 season with a medical illness.  His career record is 143-128-1 at EIU including a 67-42 mark in OVC action.  In November of 2010 Spoo announced that the 2011 season would be his final year of coaching ending a 25-year run as the Panthers head coach and a 50-year span of coaching at both the high school and collegiate level.  Since taking over the program in 1987, Spoo has become one of the most respected coaches in the game with numerous assistants moving on to succeed at all levels of the coaching business.  He was the 1995 Football Gazette I-AA Coach of the Year and runner-up for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award in 2000.  In 2009 he was named OVC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career and one of five finalists for the Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year.  A 1960 graduate of Purdue University, Spoo has coached the Panthers to 9 NCAA FCS playoff berths and eleven Top 25 national rankings.  Spoo is currently tied for fourth among longest tenured active coaches at the NCAA Division I level and is fifth all-time in FCS playoff appearances.

• 2011 marks 25th season as EIU head coach
• 2011 marks 50th season in coaching profession
  (started at Fenwick HS in Chicago in 1961)
• Ranks 5th in NCAA FCS playoff appearances with 9
• Ranks 5th among active FCS coaches with FCS (only) wins
• Ranks 4th in OVC wins with 67
• OVC Coach of the Year - 2001, 2005, 2009
• Football Gazette I-AA Coach of the Year in 1995
• Runner-up for Eddie Robinson FCS Coach of the Year in 2000

UT MARTIN HEAD COACH JASON SIMPSON
Jason Simpson is in his sixth season as the head coach at UT Martin where he has put together a 35-28 record.  Simpson led the Skyhawks to their first OVC championship during his opening season at UTM earning OVC Coach of the Year honors in 2006.  He has posted a 27-16 record in OVC games.  Simpson is a graduate of Southern Mississippi where he was a letter winner in baseball.

SCOUTING UT MARTIN
UT Martin features one of the most balanced offensive units in the nation as they rank in the top 25 in both rushing and passing while ranking fourth overall in total offense (480.5 yards per game) and second overall in scoring (42.6 points per game).  Much of that success is due to the fact that the offensive line ranks first nationally in fewest sacks allowed, surrendering only two so far this season.  Derek Carr is an experienced quarterback leading the attack.   Ben Johnson leads a defensive unit that ranks first in the OVC in total defense.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
October 22, 2005 - Eastern Illinois defense forced six turnovers and scored three touchdowns as the Panthers hung on for a 35-28 win at Murray State.  Tristan Burge scored on two fumble recoveries of 68 yards and one in the end zone while Lucius Seymour returned an interception 43 yards for a score.  Terrance Sanders picked off a pass at the 22-yard line with 1:29 left to seal the victory for EIU.