EIU Road Trip Next Up For Racers

Date (Time): Nov. 8 (12 p.m.)
Opponent: Eastern Illinois
Site (Venue): Charleston, Ill. (O'Brien Field)
Audio: Froggy 103.7 FM (PxP: Neal Bradley; Commentary: Dave Winder)
Web Stream: OVCDigitalNetwork.com
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
MSU Record (Streak): 3-6, 1-4 OVC (L1)
EIU Record (Streak): 4-5, 4-1 OVC (W3)
All-Time Series vs. EIU (Streak): MSU trails 13-16 (L2)
Last Meeting: EIU 37, MSU 17 (Nov. 9, 2013 – Murray, Ky.)
MSU Last Game: L 38-62 vs. UT Martin (Nov. 1)
EIU Last Game: W 41-10 at Tennessee Tech (Nov. 1)
MSU Next Game: Nov. 15 at Eastern Ky.
MSU Next Home: Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee St.

The Game
Murray State begins the final three games of the season this week at Eastern Illinois. Kick-off from O'Brien Field in Charleston is set for Noon and can be seen on OVCDigitalNetwork.com and hear locally on Froggy 103.7 with Neal Bradley and Dave Winder.

Saturday Weather
Temperatures during the day will reach a high of 46° F with just a 30% chance of rain. The wind will be strong out of the west southwest at 15 miles per hour.

vs. UT Martin
The Racers are 13-16 all-time against the Panthers and are 4-10 in Charleston. Murray State has lost each of the last two meetings against EIU and nine of the last 11.

MSU's Last Time Out
UT Martin racked up over 300 yards on the ground en route to a 62-38 win. The Skyhawk offense totaled 595 of total offense in the game with 193 passing yards and 425 yards on the grounds. Abou Toure led the ground-and-pound for UTM with 235 yards on 29 carries for 3 touchdowns.

Despite the two interceptions for touchdowns, Humphries had a good day under center completing 37 of 60 passes for a career-high 425 yards and five touchdowns to four different receivers.

Janawski Davis led the Murray State receiving corps with seven catches for 133 yards and a touchdown, marking his second 100-plus receiving yards game of the game. Nevar Griffin also racked up 100-plus yards for the second time this season with 115 yards on seven receptions and two touchdowns.

DeQuinten Spraggins finished the afternoon with a game-high 16 tackles including eight solo and MSU's only interception of the game.

Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Panthers are on a roll as of late having won each of its last three games. EIU's latest win came last week at Tennessee Tech with a resounding 41-10 victory. Eastern Illinois is now 4-5 on the year and 4-1 in OVC play.

Kim Dameron took over as lead for the Panthers this season, his first stint as a head coach. Dameron took over as the 24th head coach in EIU history, after spending the 2013 season as defensive coordinator in Louisiana Tech.

The Panthers are currently averaging 32.4 points on 481.1 yards per game, while allowing opponents to score 24.1 points on 327.0 yards. The EIU offense is almost perfectly balanced with 240.1 yards rushing per game and 241.0 passing yards per game, with just 0.9 yards difference between the two.

Former UK quarterback Jalen Whitlow has made an immediate impact for EIU in the absence of graduated Payton Award winner Jimmy Garoppolo. The junior is averaging 180.7 yards per game with 12 touchdowns in the air and 77.1 yards and 10 scores on the ground.

Leading the EIU receivers this season has been Adam Drake with 977 total yards on 66 catches for 14.8 yards a reception. He has nine touchdowns on the year is second in the nation in receiving yards and third in yards per game at 108.6.
While Whitlow is the leading rusher for EIU, Sheppard Little follows with 554 yards for 5.9 per carry and a team-high 79.1 yards per game.

Defensively, Tony Bell leads the way with 55 tackles, 23 of which were solo. He currently has team highs of 15.5 tackles-for-loss for 44 yards and 5.5 sacks for 29 yards. He also has one interception, five breakups, nine hurries, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

Kamu Grugier-Hill is the leading tackler for EIU with 68 total and 30 solo. Robert Haynes leads the Panthers in tackles-for-loss with 12.0 for 34 yards and Fedney Delphonse leads in sacks with 2.5 for a loss of 17 yards.

New Member of the Club
KD Humphries joined an elite club last Saturday when he tossed for 425 yards. He is now just the eighth Racer to pass for 300-plus yards in multiple games. He is also just the third MSU QB with at least two 400-yard games.

Hatcher vs. Dameron
Chris Hatcher has never faced Kim Dameron, but has had mixed results against the Panthers. Hatcher won the first two meetings against EIU, but has lost the last two.

Humphries Rising
Just seven starts into his collegiate career, KD Humphries is quickly establishing himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the FCS. He is currently in the Top 15 in six different national categories. Humphries is fifth in completions per game (23.78), ninth in passing touchdowns (19), ninth in passing yards (2,314), 10th in completion percentage (.663), 12th in passing yards per game (257.1) and 15th in total offense (277.1).

Special Teams Specialty
The Murray State punt return defense is currently the third best in the country and has allowed just 12 yards in eight punt return opportunities for just 1.5 yards per chance. Northwestern State currently leads the country with just three yards on eight chances for 0.38 per opportunity.

Styles Clash
A battle between two styles of quarterbacks will also be focal point on Saturday with the league's top passing QB in MSU's KD Humphries and the leading rushing QB in the OVC in EIU's Jalen Whitlow. Humphries currently has 180 rushing yards and 2,314 passing yards on the year for 2,494 yards of total offense (277.1 pg), tops in the league, while Whitlow has rushed for 694 yards and passed for 1,626 for the third best OVC total at 2,320 (257.8 pg).
Up Next
Murray State will play its last road game of the season on Saturday when it travels to Richmond, Kentucky. Kick-off against the Colonels of EKU at Roy Kidd Stadium is set for 1 p.m. EST.
-30-

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Janawski Davis

Nevar Griffin

KD Humphries

DeQuinten Spraggins

Murray State University