PanthersBlue
November 13th, 2013, 11:22 AM
No. 2 Eastern Illinois vs. No. 22 Jacksonville State
O'Brien Field (10,000) • Charleston, Ill.
Nov. 16, 2013 • 12 p.m. • TV: ESPN3, WEIU
The Panthers are looking to win the OVC crown outright and send their seniors off right on Senior Day.
This will be the 11th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State with the series tied at 5-5. EIU beat JSU last season 31-28 in Charleston as time expired with the Gamecocks driving towards a game tying field goal attempt. Since JSU entered the league in 2003 the two schools have combined to win eight OVC Championships (EIU 5, JSU 3). This will be the second meeting in the series in which both teams are nationally ranked. EIU won the previous match-up when both schools were ranked with a 28-20 victory in Jacksonville in 2009 when JSU was ranked 12th and EIU ranked 24th. EIU will look to extend its current Ohio Valley Conference consecutive win streak to 11 games on Saturday against Jacksonville State. The win streak is the second longest active streak in the nation behind North Dakota State (12) after Bethune-Cookman and Coastal Carolina were both knocked off in conference action last weekend. EIU's longest OVC win streak is 13 games on two previous occasions (2000-02 and 2004-06).
Jacksonville State has opened the season with an 8-2 record under first year head coach Bill Clark. The Gamecocks went 4-0 in the non-conference portion of their schedule with a pair of overtime wins. JSU is 4-2 in the OVC including one overtime loss. DaMarcus James has led the JSU ground game this year with 894 yards. James has scored 19 rushing touchdowns which ranks third in the country. JSU has played three quarterbacks this year with Eli Jenkins getting most of the action in the recent win over Eastern Kentucky. The defense is led by Brandon Bender with 72 tackles.
This is huge game in terms of the national picture and seeding for the playoffs.
How does everyone think this one will shake out?
O'Brien Field (10,000) • Charleston, Ill.
Nov. 16, 2013 • 12 p.m. • TV: ESPN3, WEIU
The Panthers are looking to win the OVC crown outright and send their seniors off right on Senior Day.
This will be the 11th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State with the series tied at 5-5. EIU beat JSU last season 31-28 in Charleston as time expired with the Gamecocks driving towards a game tying field goal attempt. Since JSU entered the league in 2003 the two schools have combined to win eight OVC Championships (EIU 5, JSU 3). This will be the second meeting in the series in which both teams are nationally ranked. EIU won the previous match-up when both schools were ranked with a 28-20 victory in Jacksonville in 2009 when JSU was ranked 12th and EIU ranked 24th. EIU will look to extend its current Ohio Valley Conference consecutive win streak to 11 games on Saturday against Jacksonville State. The win streak is the second longest active streak in the nation behind North Dakota State (12) after Bethune-Cookman and Coastal Carolina were both knocked off in conference action last weekend. EIU's longest OVC win streak is 13 games on two previous occasions (2000-02 and 2004-06).
Jacksonville State has opened the season with an 8-2 record under first year head coach Bill Clark. The Gamecocks went 4-0 in the non-conference portion of their schedule with a pair of overtime wins. JSU is 4-2 in the OVC including one overtime loss. DaMarcus James has led the JSU ground game this year with 894 yards. James has scored 19 rushing touchdowns which ranks third in the country. JSU has played three quarterbacks this year with Eli Jenkins getting most of the action in the recent win over Eastern Kentucky. The defense is led by Brandon Bender with 72 tackles.
This is huge game in terms of the national picture and seeding for the playoffs.
How does everyone think this one will shake out?