Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Early Turnovers Hamper Racers in Loss at Eastern Illinois
11/1/2008 5:00:00 AM | Football
Eastern Illinois took advantage of a pair of Murray State first quarter turnovers to open up a double digit lead that the Racers could never cut into as the Panthers handed MSU a 34-6 loss Saturday afternoon at O'Brien Field.
"You can have two turnovers early in a game and expect to win," said head coach Matt Griffin. "I wish I knew what it was at the beginning of the game, but I just don't right now. We had a great week of practice leading into this game. It is going to be a real gut check for our guys the rest of the season."
The Panthers (4-5, 2-3 OVC) took advantage of an early Racer turnover to score the first points of the game. After recovering the ball on the MSU31, EIU needed seven plays to punch it in as Desmond Ward took it in from one-yard one out.
After the second Racer turnover in as many drives, EIU pushed its advantage to two touchdowns when the Panthers went 50 yards, with Ward scoring his second TD of the game from three yards out.
The EIU defense continued to limit the Racer offense and forced an MSU punt that went out of bounds near midfield. The Panthers capitalized on the short field and Ward scored his third rushing TD of the game from one yard out.
The Racer (3-6, 2-3 OVC) offense finally put together a drive late in the second quarter as Jeff Ehrhardt found Derrick Townsel on a jail-break screen out to midfield. Completions to Marcus Harris and DeAngelo Nelson put the Racers inside the five yard line. The EIU defense stiffened and kept the Racers out of the endzone and they had to settle for a 19-yard Kienan Cullen field goal.
The MSU defense got into the act as Austen Lane pressured the quarterback into throwing an interception that was returned 45 yards by Zach Kutch to the EIU nine yard line. Three runs later put the ball at the one yard line before a fumbled exchange on fourth down turned the ball over on downs.
The Racers got three more pints on their opening drive of the second half as MSU used 14 plays to get to the EIU17 before Cullen capped the drive with a 34-yard field goal.
The Panthers responded with an eight-play drive of their own that resulted in a Tyler Wilke 39-yard field goal.
EIU got a 65-yard punt return from Shawn Williams that set the Panthers up in the red zone and they needed only one play for Chevon Walker to run it in from there.
The Racer offense was limited to 261 yards of offense, including only 88 yards on the ground.
Nathan Williams continued his strong 2008 campaign as he recorded 21 tackles, eight solo, and a sack. He now has 141 tackles on the season and is 19 tackles shy of tieing the school single-season record currently held by Donald White.
The Racers return to the field on Nov. 8 as they play host to Southeast Missouri State, Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Stewart Stadium.
