Eastern Kentucky claimed its 20th Ohio Valley Conference football championship with a 33-31 victory over UT Martin on Saturday afternoon. With the win the Colonels receive the league's automatic bid into the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.
The Colonels (8-3, 7-1 OVC) claimed the title for the second year in a row and will be making their FCS record 19th playoff appearance. The FCS playoff field will be announced on Sunday night at 6 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
Eastern Kentucky improved to 19-0 all-time against UT Martin with the exciting win. The game came down to a 45-yard field goal attempt by the Skyhawks, which the Colonels blocked. The meeting marked the second game in a row in the series that came down to the final play of the game; EKU kicked a field goal with one second remaining to win in 2006 (in what was UTM's only loss of the season on its way to the OVC title that year).
Eastern Kentucky has also won OVC titles in 1954, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1997 and 2007. The 20 conference crowns is the second most nationally among any FCS program (Massachusetts, 21). However, EKU has won 16 outright OVC championships, which is the most outright Conference championships for one team in FCS history. EKU won FCS National Championships in each 1979 and 1982.
Eastern Kentucky has made the playoffs in each 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2007 and 2008. Only Montana (19), has equaled the number of playoff appearances that the Colonels have earned.
Eastern Kentucky has now had 31 consecutive winning seasons, the second longest streak among all Division I teams (trailing only Florida State). The Colonels have also had 36 consecutive non-losing seasons, which is the longest streak among all Division I teams (now that Michigan had a losing season this year).