COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech returns home to Tucker Stadium Saturday hoping the home field magic continues when the Golden Eagles host defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Eastern Illinois in a 1:30 p.m. contest. The game is Faith, Family and Youth Day, with a special post-game concert in the stadium by Dave Barnes.

Organizations, such as area churches, are encouraged to attend and take advantage of Tech's group discount ticket offers. Tickets are $3 each for a group of 25 or more, just $2 each for groups of 50 or more, and only $1 per ticket for any group of 100 or more. For ticket information, please call the Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center (931-372-3940).

The early forecast is for pretty nice weather Saturday in the region, with partly cloudy skies. Temperatures will be on the cool side, with highs in the mid 50s. ENJOY!

Eastern Illinois Panthers (3-5, 3-1 OVC)
at Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (3-5, 2-3 OVC)
Saturday, Nov. 1 • 1:30 p.m. CT
Tucker Stadium (16,500) • Cookeville, Tenn.

The Golden Eagles are 3-0 at home this season, including wins over Kentucky Christian, Murray State and Eastern Kentucky. Coach Watson Brown's team is looking to remain perfect on its home field and also post its first win against a team from outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Tech is also hoping to rebound from a 49-3 loss at Jacksonville State last week in which a promising first quarter didn't extend through the final three periods.

Eastern Illinois, meanwhile, has rebounded nicely from a difficult early season in which the Panthers were 0-3 under first-year coach Kim Dameron following games against Minnesota, Southern Illinois and Illinois State. After beating Austin Peay, 63-7, the Panthers then dropped games to Ohio and Eastern Kentucky to fall to 1-5. Since then, EIU has beaten Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State and stand 3-1 within the league and just one game out of first place.

The Panthers won last year's meeting 56-21 in Charleston, Ill., behind OVC Offensive Player of the Year Jimmy Garoppolo, who now plays with the New England Patriots.

This year's EIU squad is led by transfer quarterback Jalen Whitlow, who leads the team in rushing with 81.1 yards per game with nine touchdowns, while passing for 166.1 yards per game and eight touchdowns. Sheperd LIttle is also a major offensive threat, rushing for 77 yards per game. Adam Drake leads the team and the league in receiving with 60 catches for 824 yards and six scores.

Tech will counter with an offense led by senior quarterback Darian Stone, triple-threat runningback Ladarius Vanlier, and receivers Brock McCoin and Cody Matthews. Stone has thrown for 597 yards and four touchdowns, and is the team's leading rusher with 306 yards. Vanlier is second in rushing with 269 yards. McCoin leads the team with 32 receptions for 365 yards and two touchdowns, while the veteran Matthews has 26 catches for 326 yards and three scores.

Defensively, Tech is led by safety Marty Jones, who has climbed into the Top 10 in Tech football history in both total tackles and interceptions. He ranks fifth in the league in tackles and second in interceptions. The Tech "D" also has linebacker Jay Rudwall, safety Austin Tallant and linebacker Trey Thompson among OVC leaders in tackles, while Midoho Okpokowuruk is in the OVC leader lists for both tackles-for-loss and quarterback sacks.

The 98.5 Kiss FM Tailgate Park opens Saturday at 10:30 a.m., with the Golden Eagle Walk scheduled for 11:15 a.m.

Tickets are available online (TTUsports.com), or through the Athletic Ticket Office in Eblen Center by visiting or calling (931) 372-3940.

GAME NOTES: Eastern Illinois, 1-4 on the road this year, will travel to Cookeville to face a Tennessee Tech team that is 3-0 at home this season. EIU has won seven of the last nine in the series, with Tech winning back-to-back games in 2010 and 2011. Last season EIU led 28-0 just 19 minutes into the game on its way to a 56-21 victory. Jimmy Garoppolo completed 33 passes for 399 yards and four touchdowns while Erik Lora grabbed 12 of those completions for 119 yards and three scores. Taylor Duncan and Shepard Little combined for 143 rushing yards and two scores for the Panthers. Jared Davis threw three touchdown passes for Tennessee Tech, two of which went to Eric Belew.
 
SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS: Eastern Illinois won its second-straight OVC contest and kept its hopes of an OVC Championship alive by topping Tennessee State 28-3. The game was a defensive struggle in the first half as the Panthers scored on a Jalen Whitlow to Adam Drake pass early in the second quarter for the only points of the half. The Tigers then added a 42-yard field goal early in the third quarter before a defensive play by EIU turned the tide. With just over two minutes to play in the third quarter, Anthony Goodman picked off a pass and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown, a play that earned him OVC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Goodman now has three career touchdowns, having returned a fumble, blocked punt and interception for a score. After that play the EIU offense scored two more times in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.  After not playing in the first half, junior running back Shepard Little carried the ball 12 times for 130 yards (10.8 yards/carry) and a 50-yard touchdown in the second half. His insertion into the lineup helped EIU run for 233 total yards of offense in the second half. Little was named OVC Offensive Player of the Week and in the process became the 15th player in program history to rush for 2,000 yards in a career. Whitlow finished the day with 91 rushing yards and a score to go along with his 76 passing yards and strike to Drake. Whitlow currently ranks 22nd nationally in rushing touchdowns (9) and 35th nationally in total offense (247.3 yards/game). Drake caught four passes for 54 yards for the Panthers and now ranks fourth nationally in receptions/game (7.5) and seventh in receiving yards/game (103.0).
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Coming off its biggest victory of the season, a 39-31 come-from-behind win over No. 12 Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech struggled against its fourth nationally-ranked opponent of the season in losing 49-3 at No. 6 Jacksonville State. The Golden Eagles scored the first points of the game on a 33-yard John Arnold field goal with 4:57 to play in the first quarter but would not score again as JSU scored 35 second quarter points in the blowout victory. Tech was limited to just 16 total yards on 16 plays in the second quarter and finished the day with 174 yards of total offense. Quarterback Darian Stone rushed for a team-best 79 yards and completed 7-of-16 passes for 67 yards. Defensively James Huguely and Jay Rudwall had 10 tackles apiece to lead the TTU attack while Marty Jones, last week's National Defensive Player of the Week, had nine tackles and a pass breakup. Jones currently ranks 31st nationally in tackles/game (9.4) and 12th in interceptions (0.5/game).
  
Click here to read more in the TTU vs. EIU game notes (PDF)