Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Players Mentioned
Racers Host EKU For Homecoming 2019
10/17/2019 1:08:00 PM | Football
Date (Time): Oct. 19 (2 p.m.)
Opponent: Eastern Kentucky
Site (Venue): Murray, Ky. (Roy Stewart Stadium)
Audio: Froggy 103.7 FM (PxP: Neal Bradley; Color: Josh McKeel)
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersFootball
MUR Record (Streak): 4-3 [2-1 OVC] (Won 2)
EKU Record (Streak): 3-3 [1-1 OVC] (Lost 1)
All-Time Series vs. EKU (Streak): Colonels lead 46-24-1 (Won 1)
All-Time Series in Murray (Streak): Colonels lead 15-22-2 (Lost 2)
First Meeting: W 46-0 (Oct 19, 1929; Murray, Ky.)
Last Meeting: W 34-6 (Oct. 20, 2018, Murray, Ky.)
Last Five vs. EKU: 2-3 (WLWLL)
MUR Next Game: Oct. 26 at #16 Jacksonville St.
MUR Next Home Game: Nov. 2 vs. Tennessee St.
The Game
The Murray State football will look to make it three-in-a-row Saturday, when it hosts Eastern Kentucky for Homecoming 2019 at 2 p.m. at Roy Stewart Stadium
Saturday's Weather
Saturday should be a text-book fall day in the South with warm temperatures during the day and cooler temps at night with a high of 72 F and low of 50 F. While the skies will see a few clouds, any chance of precipitation is around 10-percent. The winds will be fairly steady coming out of the south at 6 mph with gusts of just 8 mph.
Last Time Out
After a sluggish first half, the Murray State football team put the hammer down in the second half of Saturday's game against Eastern Illinois at Roy Stewart Stadium in Murray, Kentucky. The Racers rushed for 95 yards and threw for an additional 123 in the second stanza to grind out 15 points and the eventual 24-17 win.
In a game filled with big moments, none was perhaps bigger than Cortez Roberts stop of DeWayne Cooks, Jr. inside the Racer one-yard line as time expired to seal the win for the Racers. Another game-saving play for Murray State came in the second when Dytarious Johnson returned a fumble 49 yards to the Racer four yard-line where Jacob Bell stripped the ball away, allowing Jared McCray to recover the ball in the end zone to save a defensive touchdown.
Preston Rice completed 19 of 29 passes Saturday for 274 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, while DaQuon Greeen led all receivers with four catches for 71 yards. The running back tandem of D'Andre McMillian and Jared McCray combined for 91 yards with McMillian racking up 51 yards on six carries and McCray rushing the ball 10 times for 40 yards.
Defensively, Anthony Koclanakis had another monster game for the Racers with 14 tackles including 1.0 for a loss of two yards. Kendrick Catis followed Koclanakis with a big outing of his own with 12 tackles including a game-high eight solo stops, 1.0 tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup.
The Eastern Kentucky Series
Saturday will be the 75th consecutive meeting between Murray State and Eastern Kentucky and the 79th overall. It will also mark 90 years to the day that the two teams met for the first time in 1929 in Murray. Despite the Racers winning two of the last three meetings in the series, the Colonels still hold a healthy lead in the rivalry at 46-28-4. The series has not been much kinder to the Racers at home where EKU also leads 24-13-2. The last win at home for the Racers came in 2013 when Murray State stopped the Colonels on the goaline on fourth down in overtime in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Scouting The Colonels
The Colonels fell to 3-3 on the year and 1-1 in the OVC last week when they fell on Homecoming in Richmond to UT Martin, 38-28. Eastern Kentucky will come in to Saturday's contest as the number-one rushing offense in the OVC with 218.8 yards per game, in addition to also sporting the best scoring defense and pass defense in the league. Leading the rushing attack for the Colonels is Daryl McCleskey who currently has 650 rushing yards on the season for a per-game average of 108.3. Defensively, Aaron Patrick and Steven Crowder are helping lead the way for EKU as each has a league-high 8.0 tackles-for-loss, while Patrick also leads the league in sacks at 5.0.
Keep It Under 20
With last week's 31-17 win at Tennessee State, the Racers improved to 4-0 on the season when they hold opponents to 20 points or less.
Road Repair
The win at TSU last week put an end to a five game road-game skid by the Racers dating back to last season. The last road win for MSU before Saturday was a 34-6 win over EKU in Richmond last year.
Quality Over Quantity
Punter Steve Dawson had one heck of a game Saturday, pinning the Tigers inside their own 20-yard line on four of five of his kicks with all four of those punts also coming in short-yardage situations. Dawson placed kicks at the three, six, seven and 12-yard lines in the game, while kicking from the 42, 41, 47 and 33-yard lines.
Three In A Row
The trio of Eastern Illinois, Tennessee State and Eastern Kentucky have appeared in consecutive weeks in three of Mitch Stewart's previous four seasons at the helm of the Racer. A win Saturday would give Stewart the sweep over the trio for the third time in four tries. Stewart went 1-2 against the three teams in 2015, before completing the sweep in 2016. The Racers did play TSU in 2017, but picked up where they left off in 2018 by going 3-0 against those teams once again.
Family Tradition
Prior to Saturday's game, Krista Hooper of Mayfield will perform the national anthem. While singing the national anthem at a sporting event is always special, Saturday will have extra special significance for Hooper and her family. Stewart Stadium is not just any place to perform the national anthem for Hooper, it is part of her family's legacy as it bears the name of her great-grandfather, Racer legend Roy Stewart.
Homecoming Advantage
Saturday will mark the 86th homecoming football game in recorded history for Murray State with the Racers going 50-34-1 in those games. Saturday will be the 10th time MSU has hosted Eastern Kentucky for homecoming with MSU trailing that series, however, 3-5-1 all-time. The lone tie came in 1942 and is the only tie to ever be recorded for a homecoming.
OK, What's Next?
The Racers travel to Alabama to take on perennial league power #16 Jacksonville State at Burgess-Snow Field at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.
