Ohio Valley Conference

EASTERN ILLINOIS - The Panthers clinched a share of their first-ever OVC title and assured themselves of their second consecutive trip to the NCAA I-AA playoffs by defeating UT Martin, 56-16, on Thursday... EIU ran their overall record to 7-1, with their only loss coming at I-A San Diego State. They are a perfect 6-0 in the conference... Tailback J.R. Taylor scored four touchdowns - all on the ground - in the win, giving him 12 TD's in his last four games. Taylor ran for 86 yards, putting him just 105 yards from the 1,000-yard plateau. He leads the OVC in scoring and ranks fourth nationally with 12 points per game... Andre Raymond, who shares the tailback duties with Taylor, had another exceptional game last week, running for 161 yards, including a 53-yard dash for a TD. Raymond now has 673 yards rushing on the year. He is second in the OVC with 1,429 all-purpose yards... Tony Romo threw only 13 passes in the win, but completed nine for 121 yards and a TD... EIU travels to Florida Atlantic this week.

EASTERN KENTUCKY - Eastern Kentucky stayed in the hunt for an at-large I-AA playoff bid with a 42-24 win over Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri on Saturday. The Colonels are now 6-2 overall this season with a 4-1 mark in league play. It was the team's fifth straight win... EKU racked up 398 yards of total offense on the night, including 273 on the ground. The Colonel offense totaled six touchdowns in the game, led by freshman sensation C.J. Hudson with two in the opening quarter... Hudson gained 223 yards on 28 carries, including a 94-yard run to open the scoring in the first quarter. Hudson went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season in the game, and he now has 1,191 for the year. He becomes the 24th runner in EKU history to reach 1,000 and the first since 1996... Quarterback Travis Turner completed 8-of-11 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns... Tom Mabey, Aaron McKee, Chuck Marks and J.D. Jewell each added a score apiece... Jewell returned an interception 86 yards for a score... Eastern hosts future OVC member Samford this week.

MURRAY STATE - Murray State fell to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference after suffering a 38-25 loss at Tennessee State on Saturday... The Racers gave up 640 yards to TSU in the loss... Receiver Michael Slater led all receivers in the game, grabbing seven passes for 144 yards... Marcus Christon had six receptions for 72 yards in the game... Mario Riley led the Racers in rushing, gaining 48 yards and a TD on eight carries... Quarterback Stewart Childress passed the 300-yard mark in a game for the first time this season. He also passed Mike Cherry and moved into 5th place on the school’s all-time career passing yardage list with 4,726 yards in two seasons... MSU returns home for the first time since Oct. 13 to host last-place UT Martin next Saturday in the final home game of 2001.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI - Southeast Missouri dropped its fourth game in a row in a 42-24 defeat to Eastern Kentucky last week. The Indians now slip to 3-7 overall and finish OVC competition at a disappointing 1-5... Southeast fell behind, 28-0, but rallied to close within seven in the second half... Running back Curtis Cooper ran for 75 yards, which put him over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. For the season Cooper now has 1,071 which stands as the second most ever at Southeast in a single season. He would need 301 yards in the season finale against Division II Quincy next week to break Kelvin Anderson single season record of 1,371 set in 1992. He had two TD runs in the game... Iven Brown had a 36-yard TD run in the loss... Southeast hosts Quincy on Saturday in Cape Girardeau.

TENNESSEE-MARTIN - Tennessee-Martin dropped its sixth straight game in a 56-16 loss to Eastern Illinois on Thursday... The Skyhawks are now 1-8 on the year and 0-4 in the OVC... UTM briefly held a 3-0 lead against EIU, but gave up TD's on four consecutive drives to quickly let the game get out of hand. The Skyhawks gave up 503 yards of total offense to EIU... Quarterbacks Shane Williams and Robert Hines completed only four of 14 passes for two INT's and 107 yards. Williams did throw a TD pass in the game - his first of the year - on a 21-yard toss to Preston Pease... UTM's running attack, which was second in the OVC going into the game, gained 176 yards on 46 carries, led by Hines's 53 yards... Defensively, linebacker Jon Leddy led UT Martin with nine tackles while Vincent Thomas had eight total stops. Defensive end Nick Stamper had six tackles, including a quarterback sack which forced a fumble that was recovered by the Skyhawks... UT Martin plays at Murray State on Saturday.

TENNESSEE STATE - Tennessee State bounced back from last week's loss - their first of the season - to get a 38-25 victory over Murray State on Saturday, keeping the Tigers in the thick of the hunt for an at-large I-AA playoff bid... Nationally-ranked TSU moves to 7-1 on the year and 3-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference... The Tigers gained a season-high 640 yards in the win... TSU had thre players run for more than 60 yards in the game. Freshman Charles Anthony had 100, while senior tailback Marvin Jones gained a season-high 86 and fullback KaRon Key ran for 64... Quarterback Shannon Harris, who leads the OVC in total offense, threwfor 324 yards and TD, while also running for 55 yards and two scores in the win... The Tigers did not force a turnover for the first time this year... TSU plays at Tennessee Tech this week, as the Tigers try to stay in the hunt for a berth in the I-AA playoffs.

TENNESSEE TECH - Tennesee Tech won its first road game of the year with a 35-27 victory at future OVC member Jacksonville State last week... The win upped Tech's record to 5-3 overall. They are 2-2 in the conference... Senior quarterback Grant Swallows set a school single-game record by passing for 412 yards to lead Tech to the victory. Swallows was 24-for-37 for 412 yards, with touchdown passes to Craig Melton, Oscar Bonds and Ronnie Sidler... Sophomore Derek Lee topped all receivers with five catches for 116 yards, matching his career-best game... The Golden Eagles piled up 595 yards in total offense, the fourth-best game in school history... The win marked Tennessee Tech's first back-to-back victories this year... Tech hosts Tennessee State this week in a big intra-state conference battle.The Golden Eagles have not lost a home game all season.


OVC CONTINUES TO SHINE IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY: The OVC’s non-conference success from last season has carried over into the 2001 campaign. Nine weeks into the season, OVC teams sport a .615 record (16-10) versus non-conference opponents, including a 11-3 mark against I-AA foes. Six of those ten losses were to D-IA teams.

THE CHAMPS: EIU claimed a share of their first OVC football championship since joining the league in 1996 by defeating Tennessee-Martin, 56-16, on Thursday night. The win upped the Panthers' conference record to 6-0, which not only puts them a full game ahead of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee State, but clinched the league championship due to the fact that EIU had beaten both teams earlier in the season. The title gives the Panthers an automatic bid into the I-AA playoffs, which begin Dec. 1. It will be the second consecutive year that EIU has earned a spot in the playoffs.
CLIMBING THE POLLS: Eastern Illinois, ranked sixth in both the ESPN/USA Today poll and the Sports Network poll going into last week’s game, may move up after getting a big 56-16 win over Tennessee-Martin. Tennessee State, which was ranked 15th in the Sports Network rankings and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today pol, may also climb due to their victory. Eastern Kentucky was 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today list and 25th in last week's Sports Network rankings. Eastern defeated Southeast Missouri, 42-24, on Saturday. The OVC has had at least one team ranked in the top 25 for 273 straight weeks. During that stretch, the league has had two teams ranked 222 times, three teams ranked 64 times and four teams ranked six times. Last week was the first time this season that three conference teams showed up in both of the polls.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Eastern Kentucky freshman tailback C.J. Hudson is making a case for All-American honors in his first season with the Colonels. He has run for more than 100 yards in seven of his eight games this season. Hudson is averaging 149 yards a game, racking up 1,191 yards in his first eight contests. He ranks first in the OVC and fourth in the nation in rushing. With two games to go, Hudson is on pace to run for 1,491 yards this season, despite the fact that EKU will only play 10 regular season games this year. That would be the highest rushing total by an OVC player since Murray State's Derrick Cullors had 1,765 yards in 1995. Only 10 players have gained more than 1,395 yards on the ground in a season in conference history.

PLAYOFF CHASE: EIU is not the only OVC team with an eye on the I-AA playoffs. Although the Panthers have qualified for an automatic bid to the 16-team tournament which begins Dec. 1, there are two more OVC schools - Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee State - with a shot at playing in the postseason. EKU is 6-2, while TSU is 7-1. Both are nationally ranked, and they play each other in Richmond, Ky., on Nov. 17.

THREE FOR 1,000?: After having only one player run for more than 1,000 yards in the past three seasons, at least three players are poised to reach that mark this year. Southeast Missouri's Curtis Cooper and EKU's C.J. Hudson have both gone over 1,000 for the year. Hudson leads the OVC with 1,191 yards, while Cooper now has 1,069 yards in nine games this year. EIU's J.R. Taylor has 895 yards with two games still to go, and is also on pace. The last time that many OVC players have each rushed for 1,000 yards or more was in 1995 when four different backs (MSU's Derrick Cullors, TTU's Michael Penix, Morehead's Anthony Ravizee and SEMO's Dione Tyler) reached the mark.

AWARD CANDIDATES: The Sports Network has listed Eastern Illinois quarterback Tony Romo and Eastern Kentucky running back C.J. Hudson as candidates on its revised list of nominees for The Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top player in I-AA football. It also listed Eastern Kentucky safety Yeremiah Bell and Tennessee Tech defensive end D.J. Bleisath candidates for The Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top defensive player in I-AA.