COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech looks to snap a three-game losing streak and Eastern Illinois is hoping Homecoming in Charleston will aid the Panthers in extending a three-game winning streak when the two teams square off Saturday afternoon on O’Brien Field in an Ohio Valley Conference contest. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

Eastern Illinois hopes to keep pace in the OVC race. At 3-0, the Panthers are one of three remaining unbeaten teams in league play.

Following seven night games under the lights, the Golden Eagles play their first contest during daylight hours. All four of Tech’s remaining games in 2015 are afternoon contests. 

The forecast for the Charleston, Ill., area for Saturday calls for showers in the morning, then cloudy in the afternoon The chance of showers is 40 percent. The afternoon high temperature will be around 71 degrees, with winds from 10-20 mph.

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (2-5, 1-3 OVC)
at Eastern Illinois Panthers (3-3, 3-0 OVC)
Saturday, October 24 • 1:00 p.m. CT
O'Brien Field (10,000) • Charleston, Ill.

QUICK HITS: 
* With 58 receptions for 659 yards in the first seven games, Brock McCoin has a chance to break the school records for receptions and receiving yards in a season. His 58 catches is currently the fourth-most in the school recod book, trailing Da’Rick Rogers (61 in 2012), Tim Benford (65 in 2011) and (68 in 2008). The school mark for receiving yards in a season is 923 by Benford (2011), leaving McCoin needing 265 to break that standard.
* Tra’Darius Goff and Jay Rudwall  have combined to make 570 career tackles, 30 tackles-for-loss and nine quarterback sacks in 82 combined games. With 333 career tackles, Goff has climbed to 10th in Tech history. He needs four tackles to move to eighth place (passing Norman Drake and Maurice Smith). He needs 15 tackles to catch Bruce Hatfield in seventh place, and 16 to catch Joshua Symonette in sixth.
* After leading Tech with 70 rushing yards on 12 carries last week agaisnt No. 1 Jacksonville State, Dorian Carter is slated ot make his first career start Saturday at Eastern Illinois.
* Four of the five projected starters in Tech’s offensive line are first-year players for the Golden Eagles. Only junior William Chatmon is a returnee.
* The game is Eastern Illinois’ 100th Homecoming game, with the Panthers owning a 50-48-2 record on this game that celeebrates alumni. It’s the third time Tech has been the EIU Homecoming guest, with the teams splitting the previous two -- Tech won in 1999 and EIU won in 2009.

THE TTU SENIOR CLASS — The 2015 senior class includes 17 players who are playing in their final season for the Golden Eagles. The seniors, in alphabetical order, are: Radir Annoor, Stephen Bush, Willie Davis, Brett Dillard, Demario Donnell, Tra'Darius Goff, Justin Ivory, Jimmy Laughlin, Steven Lillard, Jibrin Linge, Blake Luevano, Jordan Patrick, Daniel Pierce, Jay Rudwall, Josh Smith, Ladarius Vanlier and Steve Wilson.

Fans who cannot attend in person can listen to the game on the Golden Eagle Sports Network with Roger Ealey and Buddy Pearson in the press box and Dylan Vazzano reporting from the sidelines. The broadcast begins at 12:30 p.m. CT on 98.5 KISS FM.

GAME NOTES: Saturday’s matchup features teams with streaks going in different directions as Eastern Illinois has won three in a row while Tennessee Tech has lost three in a row. The game marks the 100th Homecoming celebration on the Eastern Illinois campus. EIU has won eight of the last 10 in the series including the last three.  A season ago Eastern Illinois led 24-3 at halftime on its way to a 41-10 victory in Cookeville. In that game Panthers quarterback Jalen Whitlow passed for four touchdowns and ran for another as his team racked up 598 yards of total offense. The EIU defense was also stout, limiting Tennessee Tech to 239 yards, including just 89 through the air. Ladarius Vanlier had 147 all-purpose yards for the Golden Eagles including 61 rushing yards and a touchdown. Defensively EIU’s Kamu Grugier-Hill was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week after registering 19 tackles (4.0 for loss), picking off a pass, forcing a fumble and breaking up another pass.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH: Facing its second-straight Top 20 nationally-ranked opponent, Tennessee Tech lost at home 42-13 to No. 1 ranked Jacksonville State on Saturday. The Golden Eagles fell behind 26-6 at halftime and could get no closer in the second half in the loss. On the defensive side of the ball Tra’Darius Goff made 14 tackles and now ranks third nationally in that category (13.1/game). Goff has 333 career tackles which is 10th in Tennessee Tech history, just four stops out of eighth place. Senior Jay Rudwall made a game-high 15 tackles in the game while Jordan Patrick added 12 tackles. Starting his second-straight game, quarterback Colby Brown completed 20 passes for a career-best 199 yards. Seven of those completions went to Brock McCoin who increased his season total to 58 catches, the fourth-most in TTU single-season history and just 10 off the school record. As a team Tennessee Tech is second in fumbles recovered (11), fewest penalties/game (3.86) and fewest yards penalized/game (33.0) and seventh in fourth down conversion percentage (75.0%).

SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS: Eastern Illinois won its third-straight game (all of which have come in Conference play) and started receiving votes in both national FCS Top 25 polls after a 25-22 overtime victory at Tennessee State. It was the team’s second overtime game of the season; the Panthers have played at least one overtime game in each of the past four seasons. The victory over TSU was marked by solid defensive efforts as the teams combined for just 588 yards of total offense and the game saw a combined four interceptions, a fumble and a blocked kick. EIU scored first but found itself trailing 19-14 at the end of the third quarter. The Panthers would force a three-and-out for TSU to begin the fourth quarter and then drive 63 yards in six plays to take the lead on a 25-yard touchdown run by Devin Church. Church, who was named OVC Newcomer of the Week, finished the game with 125 rushing yards on 17 carries (7.4 ypc) and a pair of touchdowns. It marked the third-straight week that the junior had scored two touchdowns in a game. He now ranks 10th nationally in all-purpose yards (161.0 yards/game). Nick Bruno converted a 26-yard field goal to start overtime (his only attempt of the night) before Jourdan Wickliffe picked off TSU’s quarterback to end the game. Seth McDonald led the defense with eight tackles and a sack on the evening. Overall the defense had seven tackles-for-loss and now ranks sixth nationally in that category (8.5/game).