October 3, 2015 • Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay • Page 1 • www.eiupanthers.com • #EIUBleedBlue EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHER FOOTBALL Contact: Rich Moser • [email protected] • (217) 581-7480 • Fax (217) 581-7001 • www.EIUpanthers.com GAME 4 Panthers Open Ohio Valley Conference Play Eastern Illinois Travels To Austin Peay Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay Governors Stadium (7,000) • Clarksville, Tenn. October 3, 2015 • 4 p.m. • TV: None THE GAME COACHES: Kim Dameron (Arkansas, 1983) Eastern Illinois is looking for its first win of the season as the Panthers open Ohio EIU Record .....................5-10 (2nd year) Valley Conference play at Austin Peay. Head coach Kim Dameron won his first collegiate OVC Record .....................5-3 (2nd year) game against APSU last season with a 63-7 victory in the OVC opener at O’Brien Field. vs. Austin Peay .................................. 1-0 EIU also opened the season 0-3 last year before beating Austin Peay in game four. Eastern Illinois put together its best offensive game of the season against Illinois State Kirby Cannon (Missouri State, 1981) on Sept. 19 as the Panthers lost to the fifth-ranked Redbirds, 34-31, in overtime. It was APSU Record ................. 1-27 (3rd year) the 104th playing of the Mid-America Classic. EIU had a chance to pull off the upset but OVC Record ................... 1-16 (3rd year) missed a field goal with 11 seconds remaining in regulation. It marked the second time Overall Record ..........36-113 (14th year) in the last four years the series had gone to overtime. vs. Eastern Illinois ............................. 0-2 Eastern Illinois will be coming off its bye week as the Panthers open Ohio Valley SERIES Conference play at Austin Peay. EIU is 3-1 coming off a bye week since the 2009 season. 16th meeting, EIU leads 12-3 EIU did not have a bye week in 2010 or 2011. The three seasons EIU won coming off its Last: @EIU 63, APSU 7 on Sept. 20, 2014 bye week resulted in EIU winning a regular season OVC championship. Eastern Illinois has won its last three Ohio Vally Conference openers scoring more RANKINGS than 40 points in each of those contests. EIU’s last three OVC openers have been a 50-49 Eastern Illinois .............................. -- / -- win over Murray State in 2012, a 42-7 win over Eastern Kentucky 2013 and a 63-7 win Austin Peay .................................... -- / -- over Austin Peay last season. ................................. STATS Media/FCS Coaches THE SERIES RADIO This will be the 16th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay. The Panthers Panther Radio Network hold a 12-3 all-time series lead with six straight wins in the series. The last two seasons Hit Mix 88.9 FM, WSVZ 98.3 FM, WHOW 1520 AM & WMKR 94.3 FM EIU has posted 63-7 victories over APSU and has scored 60 or more points in each of the www.network1sports.com/station/wsvz last three seasons against the Governors defense. The last APSU win was 15-13 in 2008 in www.weiu.net/hitmix/ Charleston. The two other APSU wins date back to the late 1950’s. Play-by-Play ........................ Mike Bradd Analyst ............................. Jack Ashmore Eastern Illinois (0-3, 0-0 OVC) Austin Peay (0-4, 0-1 OVC) TELEVISION Date Opponent Score/Time Date Opponent Score/Time None Sept. 3 at Western Illinois L 5-33 Sept. 5 MERCER L 7-28 Sept. 12 at Northwestern L 0-41 Sept. 12 at Southern Miss L 6-52 FOLLOW-US Sept. 19 ILLINOIS STATE L 31-34 (ot) Sept. 19 at Vanderbilt L 7-47 Live Stats ........................letsgopeay.com Oct. 3 • at Austin Peay 4 pm Sept. 25 • at Eastern Kentucky L 13-51 Live Video ..... OVCDigitalNetwork.com Oct. 10 • SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1 pm Oct. 3 • EASTERN ILLINOIS 4 pm Facebook ........................... /EIUPanthers Oct. 17 • at Tennessee State 6 pm Oct. 10 • at Murray State 3 pm Twitter ...........................@EIU_Panthers Oct. 24 • TENNESSEE TECH 1 pm Oct. 17 • UT MARTIN 4 pm Instagram ......................eiupanthernation Oct. 31 • at Murray State 1 pm Oct. 24 • JACKSONVILLE STATE 4 pm Nov. 7 • JACKSONVILLE STATE 1 pm Oct. 31 • at Tennessee State 2 pm Nov. 14 • at UT Martin 2 pm Nov. 7 • SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4 pm Nov. 21 • EASTERN KENTUCKY 1 pm Nov. 14 • at Tennessee Tech 1:30 pm Nov. 28 FCS Playoffs • Ohio Valley Conference Game • Ohio Valley Conference Game All Times Central #EIUBleedBlue All Times Central EASTERN ILLINOIS FOOTBALL • 15 NCAA FCS Playoff Appearances • OVC Champs 2013, 2012, 2009, 2006, 2005, 2002, 2001 October 3, 2015 • Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay • Page 2 • www.eiupanthers.com • #EIUBleedBlue FCS TOP 25 • Seth McDonald continues to make big plays for the Panthers as he was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season following the Panthers Sept. 2015 STATS FCS MEDIA 19 game against Illinois State. McDonald had 12 tackles with an interception return for (WEEK 4) touchdown. It marked the second straight season EIU has scored a defensive touchdown Rk. Team 2015 Record on an interception - Anthony Goodman had one last year against Tennessee State. 1. Jacksonville State (89) 3-1 2. Coastal Carolina (40) 4-0 • Seth McDonald enters the month of October leading the Ohio Valley Conference in tackles 3. North Dakota State (16) 2-1 with 39. He ranks fifth in the nation in tackles per game with 13 per contest. McDonald 4. Illinois State (2) 2-1 5. South Dakota State (6) 3-0 has three straight games with double figure tackles. The last player to accomplish that feat 6. James Madison (4) 4-0 was Robert Haynes who had four straight double figure tackle games between Oct. 6 and 7. Northern Iowa (1) 2-1 Nov. 3 of 2012. 8. Chattanooga 3-1 9. Eastern Washington 2-2 10. Youngstown State 2-1 • Devin Church became the first EIU running back over 100 yards in a game this season 11. Montana State 2-1 with 109 against Illinois State. Church leads the Panthers with 201 yards this season which 12. Sam Houston State 1-2 ranks 100th in the NCAA and fifth in the OVC. Church is averaging 5.4 yards per carry 13. Montana 2-2 with his first rushing touchdown in the opening quarter against Illinois State. 14. Villanova 2-2 15. Fordham 3-1 16. Portland State 3-0 • Devin Church has been a key component of the Panthers total offense serving as a 17. Eastern Kentucky 2-1 kick returner, running back and pass receiver. Entering the Austin Peay game Church is 18. Liberty 2-2 averaging 193.3 all-purpose yards per game which ranks fourth in the NCAA. Church has 19. Richmond 2-1 20. New Hampshire 2-2 201 yards rushing, 77 yards receiving and 302 yards in kick returns. 21. Indiana State 2-1 22. Southeastern Louisiana 2-1 • Quarterback Jalen Whitlow found the end zone for the first time this season on the ground 23. McNeese State 3-0 against Illinois State as he rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries. Last season Whitlow rushed 24. Harvard 2-0 25. William & Mary 2-1 for just under 800 yards with 12 touchdowns. Entering the Austin Peay game Whitlow has 881 career rushing yards. Last season against APSU he set the EIU single game rushing Receiving Votes (OVC & 2015 EIU opponents): record by a quarterback with 137 yards against the Governors. If Whitlow passes the 1,000 Western Illinois, Tennessee State, UT Martin yard mark he would become the 27th player in school history to eclipse that milestone. • Transfer wide receiver Isaiah Nelson has emerged as one of Jalen Whitlow’s favorite targets this season leading the team with 11 receptions for a team high 167 yards. Nelson 2015 FCS COACHES had five catches for 62 yards against Illinois State which included an acrobatic flip inside (WEEK 4) the 5-yard line which came up just short of the goal line. Nelson has the longest pass Rk. Team 2015 Record reception this season at 33 yards. 1. Coastal Carolina (17) 4-0 2. North Dakota State (4) 2-1 • Shepard Little had eight carries for 44 yards against Illinois State as the senior continues 3. Jacksonville State (3) 3-1 4. Illinois State 2-1 to recover from a hard hit in the season opener at Western Illinois. Little is 12th on the 5. James Madison (1) 4-0 Panthers career rushing list and needs 117 yards to catch Nate Anderson for 11th place on 6. Northern Iowa 2-1 the Panthers all-time list. Little already ranks 8th on the EIU career punt returns list with 7. South Dakota State (1) 3-0 265 yards including two touchdowns. 8. Chattanooga 3-1 9. Eastern Washington 2-2 10. Youngstown State 2-1 • Kicker Nick Bruno moved up to ninth on the EIU career field goals made list on Sept. 19 11. Montana State 2-1 against Illinois State. Bruno was 1-of-2 as he missed for the first time in his career from 12. Montana 2-2 inside of 40-yards. The sophomore has made 16 career field goals and needs two more to 13. Fordham 3-1 14. Sam Houston State 1-2 move into 8th with former kicker Steve Kuehn. Bruno needs eight more extra points this 15. McNeese State 3-0 season to move into a tie for 10th on the EIU career list. 16. Portland State 3-0 17. Villanova 2-2 • Anthony Standifer had two pass break-ups in the Panthers Sept. 19 game against Illinois 18. Liberty 2-2 19.