Without the services of one of its most talented players, the Panther football team will attempt to secure an outright Ohio Valley Conference Championship Satuday when Murray State comes to town.

With sophomore running back/wide receiver Andre Raymond out for the year with a broken ankle, the No. 3 ranked Panthers (8-1, 5-0) will look to adjust in their final regular season game against the Racers (4-5,2-3).

“He’s being operated on as we speak,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said of Raymond Wednesday. “I understand they have to put a plate in there to stabilize it and make sure it heals properly.”

Replacing Raymond in the backfield will be redshirt freshman Justin Morris, whose only significant action this season came in the blowout win over Tennessee-Martin when he ran for over 100 yards in just over a quarter of play.

“I’ve always been confident in Justin, and I think he’s a fine running back,” Spoo said. “He has very good speed. He’s quick, very elusive and a great kid. So I don’t think he’s going to hurt us. I don’t think that at all.”

Redshirt freshman receiver Brandon Robinson has also been taking some snaps out of the backfield in practice.

“He’s learning the plays and where the exchange points are,” Spoo said. “He did some of that in high school, and he’ll be our No. 3 guy there.”

Spoo said he didn’t envision Morris getting as many carries out of the backfield as Raymond had, and not nearly as many receptions. That means some of the burden will rest on the legs of tailback J.R. Taylor and the arm of quarterback Tony Romo.

“I don’t think he’ll get as many opportunities as Andre did,” Spoo said. “But he can catch the ball too, and with Tony throwing the ball, we’ll have confidence with him in there.”

Eastern must also recover from losing receiver Devon O’Neal to a broken wrist. O’Neals injury means senior converted quarterback Julius Davis will see more action at the wide receiver position and Taylor will likely be catching the ball more out of the backfield.

The Panthers will be facing a Murray State team that is just 2-3 in the conference, but those three losses were all close ones witha 15-12 loss to Tennessee Tech, a 21-13 loss against Eastern Kentucky and a 38-25 loss at Tennessee State. The Racers also have a pair of loss to Ole Miss and Minnesota.

A win over MSU would not only give the Panthers their first outright OVC Championship, but it would likely secure them a top four seed in the playoffs and the right to host the first round game. At least, that’s what Spoo’s hoping for.

“We’d like to think a win would give us the home playoff game,” he said. “I hate to say this, but a No. 4 or 5 team wins big and our game is relatively close, then the selction committee may look at that and place us behind them.

“The feeling is that winning big is important, but all I want to do is win whether it’s by one or 40.”