It is homecoming in the 615 and the crown jewel of the week’s festivities takes place on the gridiron where Tennessee State hosts Eastern Illinois. Last season the Panthers controlled the matchup and defeated the Tigers 30-17.
Tennessee State
Tennessee State ( 4-2, 2-1) comes into the matchup on a two-game winning streak. In each of the games, against Charleston Southern and Lindenwood, the Tigers had to come from behind late to claim victory. Charleston Southern controlled the clock for nearly 42 minutes, but the Tigers’ offense was able to take advantage of one of the few times they had the ball to mount a go-ahead drive late in the contest that put them back in front 13-9 when Jordan Gant scampered in from 19-yards out with just 0:46 left.
Against Lindenwood, the Tigers found themselves down 14-0 approximately 4 minutes into the game, and eventually 20-7 before battling back to take the lead with a Tevin Carter 1-yard plunge in the end zone to make the score 24-20 at the 7:21mark of the fourth quarter. It was a lead they would not relinquish.
Eastern Illinois
Losers of four consecutive games, the Panthers of Eastern Illinois are heading into the matchup 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the Big South-OVC. In their most recent outing, the Panthers were defeated 38-27 by No. 13 Southeast Missouri. Falling 24-0 proved to be too large of a hole for the Panthers to claw themselves out of. Quarterback Pierce Holley completed 27 of 42 passes for 386 yards and 2 touchdowns, but was sacked 5 times. Running back MJ Flowers ran for 48 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries and also was the team’s leading receiver, hauling in 11 passes for 72 yards.
Prediction
Eastern Illinois is the second worst in the Big South-OVC in both scoring offense, where they 15.5 points per game, and scoring defense, where they allow 32.2 points per game. The Panthers also are the second least proficient offense in the conference, with 302.2 yards per game, and also surrenders the second most yards in the Big South-OVC at 444.2 yards per contest.
These numbers are indicators that Eastern Illinois cannot score, nor can they stop the opposition from piling up the points. Tennessee State will have opportunities galore to both move the football and light up the scoreboard. Making use of their run-first offensive philosophy, the Panthers will get a steady dose of the Tigers’ running back room, with CJ Evans, Jordan Gant, and Jalen Rouse all hurting the Panther’s defense in various ways. With the running game rolling, things will open up for Draylen Ellis and the TSU passing game, as he will have plenty of opportunities to hit receivers running free.
The Tennessee State defense will be able to sufficiently slow down the Eastern Illinois offense and quarterback Pierce Holley will spend a large portion of the afternoon running from Tigers defenders or being helped up off the turf.
Final Score Tennessee State: 35 Eastern Illinois: 17
