Posted: Oct 13, 2016
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – After a rough outing last week at Jacksonville State, the Tennessee Tech football team comes home for two straight games as the Golden Eagles look to climb back up in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.
This week, it's the Eastern Illinois Panthers that come down to Cookeville and Tucker Stadium.
The Panthers, ranked No. 17 in the latest STATS Football Championship Subdivision poll, enter the contest with a 4-2 record, 2-1 In the OVC. They are coming off of a thrilling 35-34 victory last week over Tennessee State.
In that game, EIU's Devin Church had three touchdowns – catching two and rushing for a third – marking the second time in his career he's had three TDs. He was named the OVC's co-Offensive Player of the Week for the performance.
The Panthers have been averaging 400.8 yards of offense per game, 224.3 through the air and 176.5 on the ground.
But it's not just offense where EIU can excel. The Panthers held TSU to 76 rushing yards on 35 carries, an average of 2.2 yards per tote.
Church leads EIU on both rushing and receiving as he has 475 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, while also catching 23 passes for 147 yards and four TDs. Church also leads the Panthers in scoring, responsible for 42 points.
At quarterback, Mitch Kimble has taken most of the snaps in four games, throwing for 761 yards and nine touchdowns on 66-for-113 passing. Austin Green, in six games, has thrown for 537 yards and two touchdowns on 51-of-75 passing.
Defensively, Seth McDonald leads the Panthers by a large margin with 54 total tackles, including 2.5 for-loss. He also has a sack for five yards, two quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery.
The Panthers have sacked the opposing quarterback 10 times, recovered five fumbles and intercepted five passes.
For Tech (2-4, 2-2 OVC), Yeedee Thaenrat leads the Golden Eagles' rushers with 316 yards on 97 carries with two touchdowns. Dontez Byrd leads the receivers with 28 catches for 345 yards and three touchdowns. Michael Birdsong has thrown for 1,503 yards on 127-for-203 passing with 10 touchdowns.
Byrd has caught three touchdown passes from Birdsong in the last two games, while the quarterback has rushed for three touchdowns in the last two contests.
Defensively, Josh Poplar leads the Tech defense with 53 total tackles, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Elliott Normand is right behind with 52 tackles and a sack.
The Golden Eagles have sacked the quarterback nine times, recovered three fumbles and intercepted three passes.
However, Tech has allowed 24 sacks, including three last week against Jacksonville State.
In the series, Eastern Illinois is 16-6 against the Golden Eagles, including an 8-3 mark at Tucker Stadium. The Panthers have won the last four meetings in the series, the last Tech win coming in its OVC championship season in 2011 at Charleston, Ill.
Roger Ealey and Dylan Vazzano will provide broadcasting duties for the Golden Eagle Sports Network and KISS 98.5 FM, while WCTE will provide the television broadcast, with the stream carried on the OVC Digital Network.
Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for a 6:02 p.m. start.
Tickets are available from the Tennessee Tech ticket office at the Hooper Eblen Center, by calling (931) 372-3940 or by visiting www.ttusports.com.
