Eastern Illinois plays the first of two schools on its schedule from the state of Louisiana this Saturday as the Panthers host McNeese at 2 p.m. at O'Brien Field.
Eastern Illinois drove 93 yards on eight plays in 62 seconds on Saturday scoring the game winning touchdown with 30 seconds remaining on a Pierce Holley to Justin Thomas 25-yard touchdown strike as the Panthers snapped a five game win streak by beating Illinois State in the Mid-America Classic, 14-13.
Runningback MJ Flowers was named the Big South-OVC Football Association Freshman of the Week after the Panthers win over Illinois State. On a day when offensive yards were hard to come by, Flowers had 55 all-purpose yards. He rushed for 25 yards on three carries and caught four passes for 30 yards. Two of his receptions were on the Panthers final game winning drive.
EIU is off to a 2-1 start to the season and receiving votes in this week's STATS Perform FCS Top 25 poll. The 2-1 start is the best to a season for the Panthers since 2016 when they opened 3-1 which included wins over nationally ranked Illinois State and FBS member Miami (Ohio).
Eastern Illinois defense picked off three passes against Illinois State on Saturday as the Panthers are the national leader with seven picks this season including two returned for touchdowns in the opener at Indiana State Tyris Harvey and NiJhay Burt.
Game time is 2 pm Saturday afternoon. Hear all the action starting with pregame at 1:30 pm on WHOW.
