AT 
GET UP…..IT’S GAME….er…...week.
Most of you have been around these parts for a while, but for those of you who haven’t, I like to do a preview each week of the football team we’re playing that week. It’s got stats, key players, odds, projected weather, other random miscellaneous info. People seem to enjoy it (or at least, publicly they say so...maybe they just humor me because I hold the “keys” to the website), so I’m going to roll with it again this year.
So, now that we are fully into “game week” and the Coach Fisher era officially begins this coming Thursday...let’s dig into it.
Date/Time: Thursday, September 1 at 6:00 PM (Central)
Location: EIU's O'Brien Field, opened in 1970, currently seats 10,000 fans, has Hellas Matrix Turf surface (I think that's the same turf that we have at Hanson Field) that was installed in 2012.
Weather Forecast (as of 8/31): 73 degrees (high of 76 that day) w/ 60% humidity and mostly clear with winds ~10 MPH and nearly 0% chance of rain. (btw, I'll periodically update this throughout the week as the forecast changes over time).
TV: available for streaming via the OVC Digital Network (should be free, I think) at http://www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com/watch/?Live=3645
If you happen to have a Roku streaming device, the OVC has a live streaming channel here: https://channelstore.roku.com/details/7 ... al-network that is free. I’ve only tried it once before, but if I remember correctly it worked pretty well. It’s possible they have apps for some of the other streaming devices, but I’m really only familiar with the Roku.
Tickets: available online here: http://eiupanthertickets.universitytick ... 410&cid=46
Although I talked to an EIU fan and it sounds like they won’t be selling out any games, so there shouldn’t be any issue with walking right up and buying tickets at the gate. I hope that’s the case, since that’s what I’m planning on doing.
EIU’s Record
Normally at this point I’d talk about the team’s record so far through the season, but...first game and all....no “record” yet. Here’s their schedule for this season though, if you’re curious: http://www.espn.com/college-football/te ... /_/id/2197
They play in the Ohio Valley Conference, home of last year’s FCS Championship Runner-Up Jacksonville State, and their conference season starts September 24 against Austin Peay (they’ve got some fun cheers….”Let’s Go Peay”). Before that happens, though, there’s Part Dos of the home-and-home series between us and Eastern, then an FBS/Money game against Miami (OH), and their annual rivalry game with Illinois State (that’s the only series that ISU has played more than the series with us) which they officially named at the 100th meeting (in 2012) the Mid-America Classic.
Last year EIU went 7-4 in the regular season (including a season-opening 33-5 loss at Hanson Field) before being sent to the UNIDome in the first round of the playoffs which resulted in an absolute dismantling of the Panthers (EIU) at the hands of the Panthers (UNI), and one of the scariest plays I’ve seen where nobody got hurt…
Seriously...the dude was "helicoptering" through the air...I thought he was going break something when he hit the turf.
The History
This is our second-most played rivalry (66 games) behind Illinois State (98 meetings), dating back to 1930, mostly because for a large part of our history, we were in the same conference, and would play each other nearly every year. We have a 41-21-4 overall record against Eastern including wins in the last 4 straight matchups. The 2002 meeting was particularly fun, being a playoff game involving future QB (and regular injured reserve member) Tony Romo, and resulting in a 48-9 dismantling of the Romo-led Panthers.
Stat Analysis
Again...no games yet, so no “current” stats to compare, but here’s the full stat comparison for last year. They did better than we did on a few areas (like special teams, for example), but for the most part, we were ranked higher than them in a lot of categories (also though, you have to remember that they spent most of the season playing teams in the OVC...we spent it playing MVFC teams...many of which were in the playoffs). As mentioned in the earlier “Full Season Preview” post/thread, EIU has lost a few of their big playmakers from last year including their primary QB, their #2 and #3 rushers (#2 was their QB), and a large chunk of their defense. I found a spreadsheet that went through each team’s players for each game and calculated the total % of production for each position that has departed this year (due to graduation/completed eligibility/etc). Defensively, they lost 73% of their D-Line production, 47% of LBs, 55% for DBs (compared to our 58%, 2%, and 24% for those same categories, respectively).
Key Opposition Players
RB Devin Church - 743 yards, 9 TD last year, preseason All-OVC in 2016
OL Evan Katz - preseason All-OVC in 2016
LB Seth McDonald - 109 tackles and twice named OVC defensive player of the week last year, preseason All-OVC in 2016
DB Bradley Dewberry - 73 tackles and 4 INTs last year, preseason All-OVC in 2016
The Game
We don’t have much to go on at this point, but I like our chances in this one. Most predictions seem to be giving us about a 7-10 point win, which is probably about right by my estimation. We should have a phenomenal offense, and they should have a somewhat depleted defense (lost a lot of starting experience last year), so that shows indications of quite a few points on our side. We also lost some experience on the defense...mostly D-Line...although nothing close to what they lost. With them breaking in a new QB and our defense having a bit more experience for the most part, I see us allowing a few points, but I’m confident that our offense will be able to put up quite a few more than them. If we can get rid of the whole “blocked punts/kicks” issue from last year, we should come away with a fairly solid victory. I say….Leathernecks win, 34-17.
Misc Stuff
I’ll be heading down to the game myself (with my mom, who’s gone to a ton of WIU games over the last 20 years also including last year’s cold but memorable late-season SDSU game and the Illinois State playoff game). My personal “stadiums visited” list will then include one from every DI school in Illinois, although not always the current stadiums (I visited SIU’s McAndrews Stadium in the ‘90s, but haven’t been to their “new” Saluki Stadium yet).
Anyone else making the trip to Eastern for the game? Just going to watch it online or listen on the radio? Thoughts...predictions...fruitcake recipes?
The first Jimmy John's shop was opened in Charleston, IL across the street from Eastern (got their start selling sandwiches to drunk college kids late at night). They've since torn the place down and built a new one in the same place, but it's still considered Store #1 for the company. For those that may not realize, in addition to Western and Eastern being fairly similar in size (as compared to the other state universities) and Macomb and Charleston also being pretty close in size, there is another connection...Macomb had JJ's Store #2. Not sure if our current one is still considered #2 or not though, since it actually closed and then opened again years later, but it is in the same location that the original #2 store was.
Anyway...I’m a Cubs fan, so this has been a great summer for me, but my real passion is football, so this is pretty much going to be me for the next 4 days…
Scott Lawson - Board Admin
