Getty Head coach Jason Simpson of the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks.
The Eastern Illinois Panthers (0-1, 0-1) will visit the UT Martin Skyhawks (0-1, 0-1) at Hardy Graham Stadium on Sunday.
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The game (2 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV, but anyone in the US can watch Eastern Illinois vs UT Martin football live on ESPN+ right here:
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Eastern Illinois vs UT Martin Preview
The EIU-UTM game was originally slated to take place on Sunday, February 21, but was postponed due to complications from winter storms. Now, two weeks later, both teams will finally square off.
The Panthers are coming off a dreadful performance last weekend, getting routed by Southeast Missouri, 47-7. EIU quarterback Harry Woodbery didn’t play well in the loss, completing 10 of 26 passes for 101 yards and two interceptions.
Eastern Illinois converted just 2-15 of its third-down attempts while going 0-5 on fourth down, which made a huge difference in the game. One positive? Running back Kendi Young showed encouraging signs of development for the Panthers, gaining 88 yards on 11 carries and scoring his team’s lone touchdown. The score came on a 72-yard burst, and it was easily the most exciting play of the game.
“We didn’t expect this. We expected much better,” EIU head coach Adam Cushing said after the loss. “That’s a really, really good football team that we lined up across from. They’re a ranked team that played like a really good football team. I’m going to give them all the credit in the world. I’m not going to shortchange them a bit. But, that doesn’t mean that we played well. We didn’t play well at all. We didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to make plays.”
On the other side, UT Martin is fresh from a 14-10 loss to Murray State last weekend. Quarterback John Bachus III didn’t have a good showing under center for the Skyhawks in what turned out to be a rainy, sloppy game on most counts. Running back Peyton Logan led the way for the Skyhawks on the ground with 91 yards rushing, while Bachus went 13-26 for 84 yards and two interceptions, and he couldn’t get anything going on offense all game. UT Martin head coach Jason Simpson praised his defense for its effort in the loss, as the unit was the lone bright spot for the Skyhawks.
“I’m proud of our defense for holding a team to 14 points, that should be good enough to win,” Simpson said. “Give their team a lot of credit, they played well. Their defense played better than our offense and they coached better than we did. We just didn’t get it done on offense tonight. Too many shoulda, coulda, wouldas and that is disappointing. We just couldn’t get those first game mistakes out of the way and it cost us tonight.”
This will be the 26th meeting between these two teams, with Eastern Illinois leading the all-time series, 15-10. The Skyhawks have won seven of the last 10 games against EIU, however.