Racers Take Momentum To EKU

Date (Time): Nov. 5 (1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT)
Opponent: Eastern Kentucky
Site (Venue): Richmond, Ky. (Roy Kidd Stadium)
Audio: Froggy 103.7 FM (PxP: Neal Bradley; Color: Dave Winder)
Web Stream: OVCDigitialNetwork.com
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersFootball, @PGriffithMSU
MSU Record (Streak): 3-5, 3-2 OVC (Won 2)
EKU Record (Streak): 2-6, 1-4 OVC (Lost 3)
All-Time Series vs. EKU (Streak): Eastern Kentucky leads 45-26-4 (Lost 2)
First Meeting: Won 46-0 (Oct. 19, 1929 in Murray, Ky.)
Last Meeting: Lost 34-41 OT (Nov. 14, 2015 in Murray, Ky.)
MSU Last Game: Won 38-31 vs. #25 Tennessee State
EKU Last Game: Lost 3-33 at UT Martin
MSU Next Game: Nov. 12 vs. #2 Jacksonville State
MSU Next Home Game: Nov. 12 vs. #2 Jacksonville State

The Game
The Murray State football team will look to win its third consecutive game and fourth in five tries Saturday when it travels across the Commonwealth to face Eastern Kentucky. Kickoff at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.

Saturday's Weather
Cooler temps may finally be moving in to stay as the high for Saturday's game will be just 65 F. Winds will be low for game, at just 6 mph, and chances for rain will be extremely small at only three percent.

Last Time Out
For the second time in as many weeks, the Murray State football team beat a Top 25 opponent, defeating 25th-ranked Tennessee State, 38-31. Down three at the half, the Racers scored twice in the third quarter to take a commanding 31-20 lead into the final stanza. In the fourth, Jordon Gandy answered a TSU field goal by going 75 yards on a pass from KD Humphries on the first play of the ensuing drive to give Murray State a 38-23 lead with just under nine minutes to play.

However, Tennessee State was not done as Ronald Butler capped a five play, 62-yard drive with a 13-yard pass to Patrick Smith for a touchdown. The two hooked up again on the two-point conversion that followed, to cut the lead to just seven, at 38-31 with 7:23 to play. After Murray State could not get anything going on their next offensive drive, TSU drove 53 yards and ate 3:34 of clock time only to miss a 42-yard field goal attempt and give MSU the ball back with 1:47 to go in the contest.

With 1:30 left, the Racers faced having to punt the ball and give TSU a final shot at the win on a third-and five at their own 30-yard line. Despite the pressure, KD Humphries completed a pass to Jensen Feggins, who scrambled for the first down to seal back-to-back wins over ranked opponents for Murray State.

The Eastern Kentucky Series
One of the longest series in program, history the Racers and Colonels will meet for the 76th time Saturday. The Colonels hold a commanding lead in the series at 45-26-4 and also led the all-time series in Richmond at 24-11-2. However, if recent history is any indicator, Saturday should be a close game, as the margin of victory in each of the last three games has been just seven points with two of those meetings going into overtime.

Scouting The Colonels
The Colonels will enter Saturday having lost three consecutive games after falling to UT Martin last week on the road, 33-3. EKU struggled to find any offensive footing in the contest rushing for just 58 yards and passing for only 171. On the year, first year head coach Mark Elder has employed a somewhat balanced attack offensively with only four more rushing attempts than passing. The fruits of those labors have not been as equal, as the Colonels are averaging 138.2 yards per game on the ground and 265.9 yards in the air. Defensively, Eastern Kentucky is allowing 30.1 points on 410.6 yards per game.

The Colonel's rushing game has been led by Henry Enyenihi this season, as he has rushed for a team-high 306 yards. After starting the season with a bit of a quarterback controversy, it seems Bennie Coney has pulled away from the race with the starting job. He is currently averaging 200.7 yards per game with a 58.9 percent completion percentage, eight touchdowns and a league-high 11 interceptions.

Defensively, Jeffrey Canady leads the way for Eastern Kentucky with 82 total tackles or 10.2 per game, which is currently the third highest average in the OVC. Kiante Northington follows close behind Canaday at 76 total tackles, while Aaron Patrick leads the team in sacks at 5.0 for a loss of 35 yards.

Chasing History
Senior QB KD Humphries has a chance to take over as all-time leader in all four major passing categories (attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns) this season, all four of which are currently owned by current MSU WR coach, Casey Brockman. Below is a chart showing where Humphries currently is and what he needs for the record.

   Career   Cur.       Needed
Cat.   #   Rank.   Record   Per Gm.
Yds   9,604   2   9,990   128.7
Att.   1,315   2   1,405   30.0
Comp.   855   2   938   27.7
TD   67   2   71   1.3

Turnover Turnaround
Just two games ago, the Racers were next to last in the OVC in turnover margin at -6. Murray State forced six turnovers against EIU and two against TSU, without committing a single turnover of its own. Now the Racers rank third in the OVC in the category with a margin of +2.

Mitchell Remains On Top
With one made field goal Saturday, senior kicker Connor Mitchell maintained his lead in the field goals made category nationally. Mitchell currently leads the FCS with 1.88 field goals per game.

Steady As He Goes
Often considered the workhorse of the MSU offense, grinding out yardage at a steady pace, Jesse Blackburn has quietly made his way up the career charts for Murray State this season. The senior is currently seventh all-time in receiving yards with 1,989 and with his eight receptions Saturday he is now fifth all-time in receptions with 154.

OK, What's Next?
The Racers return home for the final time this season to play host to second-ranked Jacksonville State. The final kickoff of the year at Roy Stewart Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jesse Blackburn

Jensen Feggins

Jordon Gandy

KD Humphries

Connor Mitchell

Murray State University Athletics