Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Odoms Rushes For Over 100 yards, But Racers Fall 27-17 To EIU
10/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Junior tailback Ulysses Odoms rushed for 101 yards on 19 carries, but it was not enough as Eastern Illinois knocked off Murray State 27-17 on Homecoming at Roy Stewart Stadium in Murray, Ky.
The Marrero, La., native gained 5.3 yards per carry and scored one touchdown, but the Panthers took advantage of four MSU turnovers to earn the win and avenge last year's loss to the Racers.
MSU (2-6, 1-3 OVC) opened the scoring at as senior placekicker Jesse Ohliger knocked home a 26-yard field goal with 5:19 to go in the first quarter to cap a 38-yard, six-play drive for a 3-0 lead.
EIU (2-5, 1-2 OVC) gained its first lead of the day with 2:56 left in the second quarter as tailback Vincent Webb scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 7-3. The scoring drive covered 94 yards on 16 plays and used 7 minutes, 52 seconds of the game clock.
After trailing 7-3 at halftime, MSU regained the lead at 10-7 after junior tailback Ron Lane scampered 65 yards on a screen pass from sophomore quarterback Stephen Hatchell with 13:27 left in the third quarter.
The Panthers came back to regain the lead with 6:57 left in the third after linebacker Nick Ricks intercepted Hatchell and returned it 65 yards for the score to make it 14-10.
The Racers bounced back to regain the lead for the third time with 4:41 left in the third as Odoms scored on a 16-yard run to make it 17-14. The run capped a 95-yard, seven play drive for Murray State.
EIU tied things up at 17-17 with 14:52 left in the fourth quarter after Steve Kuehn knocked home a 22-yard field.
The Panthers regained the lead for good with 11:26 left in the game as Webb scored his second touchdown of the day, this one from 19 yards out, to give EIU a 24-17 lead. Eastern put the game away for good with 2:06 to go as Kuehn knocked home his second field goal of the day for the final margin.
Hatchell finished the day with 228 yards through the air on 17-of-29 passing and one touchdown. Senior wide out Deandre Green led the way for MSU with 104 yards receiving on four catches, while Lane added 74 yards on three receptions.
MSU outgained EIU 374-269 in total yardage and had a 19-16 advantage in first downs. The Panthers rushed for 228 yards, compared to the Racers' 146, but MSU led the way through the air with 228 yards passing while EIU had just 41 yards.
Defensively, junior linebacker Patrick Schultz led the way for MSU with nine tackles, while fellow junior linebacker Rohan Godson added eight tackles, including seven solo stops. Senior linebacker Bobby Sanders also added eight tackles, while junior defensive tackles Brandon Dixson and Marcus White each added solo sacks for the Racers.
The big blow for MSU was in the turnover column as the Racers lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions, while EIU turned the ball over just once.
Up next, the Racers head back to the road to take on Southeast Missouri State in another OVC matchup on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
POST GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Joe Pannunzio:
On The Loss:
"That was a tough loss for our football team. We beat ourselves with the turnovers and we're not good enough to overcome those kind of mistakes. We got a great effort again from our guys, but we just didn't execute when we needed to."
On the turning point in the game:
"Obviously those turnovers killed us in the second half. I made a mistake putting in a true freshman (Oscar Walker) and he fumbled, which let them tie the game. And, we let them return that punt (44 yards) in the fourth quarter when we needed to try and get some field position. It just seemed like we broke down at key times."
On The Offense:
"I thought we actually ran the ball better today than we have all season, but those fumbles killed us. We haven't really had a problem with turnovers all season, but we did today. I really don't think it was because of anything they did as far as knocking the ball out as much as it was us just not taking care of the ball."
On QB Stephen Hatchell:
"The only thing Hatch is lacking right now is confidence. He's got the skills to be a good quarterback, he just needs to have some success. He threw some good balls, but like any young quarterback he's going to make some mistakes and that's what happened on the interception they returned for a touchdown."
On the Racer defense:
"I thought they played pretty well again today. We didn't give up many yards and we stopped them a few times inside the red zone, which probably kept us in the game until the end. I think they're getting a little frustrated because they are playing pretty well and we're not winning games. But that's football."
On the status of the team:
"It's going to be a real challenge for us right now because we're out of the (OVC) race. We're not playing for a championship or the playoffs, we're just playing for ourselves. But we still want to get better as a football team, so we're going to go back to work tomorrow and work as hard has we have all year."
