EIU Game Notes  |  SIU Game Notes  |  Listen Live  |  Watch Live  |  Live Stats  |  Tickets  |

Eastern Illinois (2-9, 1-7 OVC) at Southern Illinois (4-7, 2-6 MVFC)
O'Brien Field (10,000)   •   Charleston, Ill.
August 30, 2012   •  6:30 pm   •   TV: WEIU
Radio: Panther Football Radio Network
Hit Mix 88.9 FM WEIU  (Charleston)
WRJM 1270 AM/107.1 FM (Charleston)
WHOW 1520 AM (Clinton)
WMKR 94.3 FM (Taylorville)

THE GAME
Eastern Illinois opens the 2012 season with a new head coach as former Panthers assistant Dino Babers was hired on Dec. 9, 2011 to lead a New ERA of EIU football.  Babers was an assistant coach on Bob Spoo's first staff at EIU back in 1987 and most recently coached at Baylor University.  This will be his first game as a collegiate head coach.

The Panthers season opening opponent will look familiar to EIU fans as the Panthers closed the 2011 season facing Southern Illinois.  The Salukis won last year's season finale 45-28 in Carbondale.

This marks the second straight season that EIU has opened at home on a Thursday night against an opponent it finished the previous season against.  Last year EIU faced Illinois State in the season opener after closing 2010 at ISU.

THE SERIES
This will be the 62nd meeting between Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois.  The two schools first met in 1913 with EIU winning 54-12.  The two schools played routinely until SIU moved up to Division I in the early 1960's.  SIU leads the all-time series 38-22-1 including four straight wins in the series, three of those coming in the NCAA FCS playoffs.  The last win by EIU was in 2001, a 49-21 EIU win in Carbondale.  SIU won last year 45-28 as the schools are playing a four-year series, the 2012 game is the second of the four games.

EIU QUICK HITTERS
WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN THE GAME

• Eastern Illinois was picked to finish 8th in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll.  Southern Illinois was picked to finish 7th in the Missouri Valley Football Conference poll.

• EIU will open up the season on a Thursday night for the fifth time in the last six seasons.  The Panthers have won three of those previous four Thursday night openers including a 33-26 win over Illinois State last year.

• EIU will be playing on a Thursday night to open the season for the 14th time.  The Panthers are 9-4 in previous Thursday night openers including a 4-1 record at O'Brien Field.  EIU is 10-6 all-time in Thursday night contests.

• The Panthers are 3-2 in the last five season opening games including 3-0 at O'Brien Field.  EIU has won four straight season openers over FCS level opponents.  The last loss to an FCS opponent was in 2004, a 33-30 overtime loss to Indiana State.

• Senior Artavious Dowdell was named a preseason All-OVC selection at defensive end.  Dowdell led the Panthers in sacks (5) and tackles for loss (7.5).  He needs two tackles for loss to join the EIU career top ten.

• Senior Von Wise was named a preseason All-OVC selection at tight end.  Wise had 32 receptions for 348 yards and two touchdowns last year.  Wise has moved to the outside receiver position for the 2012 season.

• Senior Chris Wright has caught at least one touchdown pass in five straight games entering the 2012 season.  Wright had 11 touchdown receptions last year and has 21 for his career to rank 6th on the EIU career charts.

• Head coach Dino Babers will be looking to become only the fourth coach to win their first EIU game since the early 1900's.  Al Molde (1983 - Illinois State) and Darrell Mudra (1978 - Central State) both won their openers.  Prior to that Winfield Angus back in 1935 was the last EIU coach to win their first game.  Angus beat Oakland City College before finishing the year 1-7.

• EIU has only one FBS transfer on this year's roster as linebacker LeQuince McCall transferred this summer.  McCall played the last two seasons at Baylor for head coach Art Briles.  He appeared in 25 games as Baylor made back-to-back bowl appearances.

• Junior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo needs 210 yards and two touchdowns to move up in both career categories at EIU.  With 210 yards he would tie Anthony Buich for 6th on the career passing list.  With two touchdowns he would tie Steve Turk for 5th on the career touchdown list with 36.

• Running back Jake Walker found his stride at the end of last season with a pair of 100-yard performances and five rushing touchdowns.  Walker scored three rushing touchdowns at Southern Illinois as he had ten rushing touchdowns for the season.

• EIU will wear a new helmet design for the 2012 opener as they unveil black helmets.  EIU has not had a helmet change since the 2000 season when they beat Indiana State 42-24 to open the season with a silver helmet and current Panther logo.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH DINO BABERS
A New ERA of Eastern Illinois football began on December 9, 2011 as Dino Babers was hired as the Panthers head football coach replacing 25-year veteran Bob Spoo.  Babers had been an assistant coach at EIU in 1987 as a member of Spoo's first Panthers coaching staff.  After one season as an assistant at EIU Babers moved on to coach at nine other programs, most recently as the receivers and special teams coach at Baylor.  Last season he was on an offensive staff that helped coach Robert Griffin III to the Heisman Trophy while ranking as one of the nation's most explosive offenses.  Baylor beat Washington in the Alamo Bowl as Babers coached in his 12th bowl game as a coach.  In addition to his time at Baylor, Babers has coached at UCLA, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, Arizona, San Diego State, Purdue, Northern Arizona, UNLV, Eastern Illinois, Arizona State and Hawai'i.  He was the assistant head coach at UCLA while serving as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Arizona.  Babers has coached 23 players who have played in the NFL.  A native of San Diego, Calif., Babers attended Hawai'i where he was a four-year starter (1979-80, 82-83) earning his degree in 1984.  He earned a master's from Arizona State in 1988.  The opener against Southern Illinois will be Babers first game as a head coach.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH DALE LENNON
Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon is in his fifth season leading the Salukis program.  Lennon took over in 2008 and led the Salukis to a 20-5 record his first two seasons with back-to-back NCAA FCS playoff berths.  His record at SIU now stands at 29-18 while his career record is 131-50 which includes previous coaching stints at Mary and North Dakota.  His 2001 North Dakota squad won the NCAA Division II National Championship.  Lennon played running back at North Dakota graduating in 1983.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
Southern Illinois ended the 2011 season with wins over Eastern Illinois and Indiana State.  The Salukis return the core of their defense led by Kayon Swanson and Kenneth Boatright.  Swanson had a team high 52 tackles with 9.5 for loss.  Boatright led SIU with 13.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.  The offense will fall into the hands of quarterback Kory Faulkner who was solid against EIU last season going 16-of-22 for 234 yards and a touchdown.

ON THIS DATE IN EIU HISTORY
August 30, 2007 - Cole Stinson threw for 308 yards while Micah Rucker caught nine passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns as Eastern Illinois opened the season with a nationally televised 45-24 win over Tennessee Tech.  The game was the OVC opener for both squads as EIU would finish 7-1 in the OVC advancing to the NCAA FCS playoffs for the third straight season.

• NEW ERA, NEW COACHING STAFF
A New ERA of Eastern Illinois football not only kicks off with a new head coach but also several new assistant coaches on Dino Babers first Panthers coaching staff.  Brian Callahan (offensive line) and Mike Lynch (running backs) return from Bob Spoo's staff but the other members are all new.

Defensive Coordinator: Kim McCloud (1st year)
Offensive Coordinator: Sterlin Gilbert (1st year)
Offensive Line: Brian Callahan (3rd year)
Running Backs: Mike Lynch (8th year)
Inside Receivers: Sean Lewis (1st year)
Outside Receivers: Andrew Sowder (1st year)
Defensive Ends: George Ricumstrict (1st year)
Defensive Tackles: Dino Kaklis (1st year)
Linebackers: Tom Kaufman (1st year)
Secondary: Nick Caley (1st year)
Trainer: Brett Penning (1st year)
Strength Coach: Sean Edinger (1st year)


• DEFENSIVE FRONT RETURNS FOR THIS SEASON
Eastern Illinois returns a veteran group up front as the Panthers return all four starters from last year's team.  That group will be led by senior All-OVC selection Artavious Dowdell.  Dowdell had five sacks and 45 tackles last season.  On the other defensive end, senior Pat Wertz has beat out Judes Amilcar for the starting spot.  Wertz had four tackles for loss and 21 tackles last year.  Amilcar had 28 tackles last year as the starter.  Inside Roosevelt Holliday will start for the third straight season with 41 tackles and four tackles for loss.  Senior Greg Mahan has beat out Jon Voytilla for the other inside tackle spot.  Mahan had seven tackles last season.  Voytilla made 13 stops with three tackles as the starter.

• STARTING LINEBACKER CORPS ALL NEW
The Panthers will start three new linebackers when they line-up against Southern Illinois on August 30.  Slated to start in the opener are sophomores Adam Gristick, Robert Haynes and junior transfer LeQuince McCall.  Gristick made five tackles including two for loss last season in 11 games.  Haynes played in 13 games making ten tackles as he was a special teams starter.  McCall transferred to EIU from Baylor where he has played in 25 games over the past two seasons.  McCall beat out junior Antonio Taylor who as a starter last season ranked second on the team with 92 tackles.

• SECONDARY IS STABLE FOR THE PANTHERS
Eastern Illinois will have four players with starting experience in the defensive backfield as the season opens.  After splitting time at one starting corner position last year Pete Houlihan and DJ Bland will be the starters in the opener.  Houlihan started nine games with 29 tackles last year.  Bland had six starts ranking fifth on the team in tackles with 46 including three pass break-ups.  The two safety positions will be occupied by returning  junior starters Nick Beard and Alex McNulty.  Beard had six pass break-ups to go along with 69 tackles last year.  McNulty made 43 stops with four tackles for loss.

• SPECIAL TEAMS SPOTS STILL UP FOR GRABS
Returning place kicker Cameron Berra and kick off specialist Tyler Kerr have both split time as the field goal kicker during the Panthers fall camp.  Berra is currently listed as first on the depth chart as he made 7-of-9 field goal attempts last year and 28-of-30 PAT's.  Kerr will open the year as the kick off specialist averaging just under 57 yards per kickoff last year.   Kerr could serve as the Panthers long distance field goal kicker.

• PANTHERS RETURN VETERAN O-LINE
Eastern Illinois will open with a veteran group at offensive line as the Panthers have all five starters from last year returning.  The group is led by senior Kevin Kapellas at center.  He is flanked by junior Alex Pierce at one guard and senior Mike O'Neill at the other.  Junior Dominic Pagliara will start at one tackle and sophomore Collin Seibert at the other. 

• The top receiver on the Eastern Illinois roster in 2010, Erik Lora missed the 2011 season due to injury.  This year Lora is back after hauling in 50 passes for 478 yards as a sophomore. 

• Wide receiver Chris Wright enters the 2012 season with 1,555 career receving yards.  He needs 145 yards to become only the 11th player in EIU history with 1,700 yards receiving.  For his career Wright has three career games with more than 100 yards receiving including a 217-yard performance against Tennessee State in 2010.

• Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo passed for 200 or more yards in nine of the Panthers 11 games last season finishing the year with 2,644 yards.  Garoppolo had a pair of 300 yard games as he ranks fifth on the EIU career list for 300-yard games.  Sean Payton leads the list with 22.

• EIU installed new football turf for the 2012 season.  The Hellas Matrix Turf is used by the Dallas Cowboys, Baylor and several other schools around the country.

• Head coach Dino Babers and defensive coordinator Kim McCloud used their island connections as the two Hawai'i alums landed a pair of players from the nation's 50th state.  Pono Choy and Kamu Grugier-Hill were teammates at Kamehameha HS in Honolulu.

• The Panthers will start four wide receivers this season as EIU will use the Baylor style up-tempo offense.  EIU has eight receivers listed on the two-deep but could see as many as 12 getting action in a game.  The starting line-up for the Southern Illinois game includes Erik Lora, Sam Hendricks, Chavar Watkins and Chris Wright.

• Eastern Illinois was one of the top red zone offensive teams in the nation last season as the Panthers ranked 10th in the nation.  EIU scored on 29-of-33 possesions inside the redzone.  22 of those redzone scores resulted in touchdowns with 13 rushing and 9 passing.