EIU football will travel to St. Charles, Missouri to take on Lindenwood for the final game of Ohio Valley Conference-Big South play.
Eastern (3-7,2-5) is coming off a 21-9 loss to No. 5 Tennessee Tech last Saturday.
Lindenwood (4-6,3-3) is coming off a 24-21 loss on the road against Western Illinois.
The Panthers want to be more consistent on the offensive side of the football against Lindenwood.
Eastern is ranked eighth in the conference in the total offense entering Saturday’s matchup averaging 18 points per game, and is only ahead of Tennessee State who is averaging 10 points per game.
The Panthers are ranked last in passing yards in the conference averaging 156 yards per game.
They are ranked fourth in the conference in rushing yards averaging 148 yards a game.
“We’ve got to find a way to maintain possession of the football and finish drives, we’ve got to find a way to score more points, whether that means being more efficient in the redzone, whether that means finishing with our special teams on field goal attempts,” head coach Chris Wilkerson said.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Cole LaCrue has been improving as a passer. He has thrown for more than 100 yards in three straight games. He passed for 174 yards against Tennessee Tech which is a season high for LaCrue.
“I think I’ve been better with my pre-snap recognition and just taking what the defense gives me instead of trying to make a play every time,” LaCrue said.
Redshirt junior tight end Alex Herrera has gotten involved more in the offense in recent weeks and had a career high of 88 receiving yards on seven receptions against Tennessee Tech.
“I think just like kind of getting the opportunity to get split out, doing more in the offense. It’s just exciting, getting that chance when you get the ball thrown to you,” Herrera said.
Lindenwood’s defense is ranked eighth and seventh in the OVC-Big South in scoring defense and total defense respectively.
“We have to finish. We have to be able to get in that end zone to help our whole defense and help the team,” graduate wide receiver DeAirious Smith said.
The Panthers’ defense did not allow Tennessee Tech to score an offensive touchdown and only allowed 36 rushing yards in the second half of Saturday’s game. Tennessee Tech has the best scoring offense in the Football Championship Subdivision.
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Kefa Pereira says that the defensive front needs to maintain its mentality.
“We just got to come out here with the intent of just being physical, you can’t just be out there thinking like, I don’t like this and stuff like that. You have to come out with the right mind, mindset, to be physical, be in the right head space, and just go out there and kill,” Pereira said.
Eastern’s defense ranks third in the conference in rushing defense allowing 137 rushing yards per game.
Redshirt freshman Josh Brown says the emphasis on defense this week for Panthers is to stop the run, contain the quarterback and be the more physical team.
“We can’t afford to give up the explosive plays. We got to make them work for every yard, but offensively, we got to score points. And our special teams need to be better at creating field position for both offense and defense,” Wilkerson said.
Lindenwood’s offense is ranked third in the conference in scoring offense. They are also ranked fifth in passing offense and rushing defense.
“The guys have really done a good job in the preparation. the one thing that you can say about this group is they’re going to show up every single week and they’re going to play hard. Wilkerson said. “They put the work in to continue to prepare and they know that we want to finish this thing the right way. It’s our last OVC game and so certainly we want to make sure we put our best foot forward this weekend,”
Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Hunter Stadium.
Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
