Eastern Illinois and Murray State will become quite familiar with each other during the 2021 calendar year as the schools will meet this Saturday for a non-conference contest.  

EIU is 1-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference standings after a win at Tennessee Tech last weekend.  The Panthers are 1-4 overall.  Murray State is 1-2 on the year and will open OVC play on Oct. 9.   

The two schools will meet in the final game of the 2021 regular season on Nov. 20 marking three meetings between the programs in 237 calendar days.

Jordan Miles was named the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week following his performance at Tennessee Tech.  He finished with four tackles but three of those were sacks.  On his final two sacks he forced fumbles that were recovered by EIU's defense to end TTU drives.  Miles leads the OVC in both tackles for loss (7.5) and sacks (3) while ranking 32nd in the FCS in forced fumbles.  The last EIU player with three or more sacks in a game was Kory Lothe with four against Tennessee Tech in 2003.

DeAirious Smith hauled in six passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday at Tennessee Tech.  Smith is the second EIU wide receiver to pass the 100 yard mark in a game this season joining Tyler Ringwood who had five catches for 116 yards in the Week Zero game at Indiana State.  For Smith it was the second straight game he has found the end zone after he scooped up a blocked punt and returned it for touchdown last week against Illinois State.  He leads the team in scoring and now has seven catches for 133 yards this year. 

Jason Johnson posted a big tackle game against Tennessee Tech for the second straight season.  In Saturday's game Johnson finished with 16 tackles as he now leads the OVC with 45 tackles this season. 

Game time Saturday is 4 pm. Hear the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW starting at 3:30 pm.