There was a familiar feeling in the air Saturday at Roy Kidd Stadium.

The Panther defense forced two turnovers and Eastern Illinois scored 28 points – in the first quarter – to take a 28-0 lead against Eastern Kentucky.

It was almost identical to what happened last season at O’Brien Stadium.

Instead of trying to use the passing game almost exclusively to come back like in 2005, however, the Colonels kept the ball on the ground and controlled the clock to come back to within a touchdown.

“I was glad to see that our football team had the character and the poise and the substance about them to come back and challenge the 15th ranked team in the nation,” said EKU head coach Danny Hope.

Last season almost to the day on Oct. 15, the Panthers scored twice defensively and rushed out to a 28-7 lead in the first quarter against the Colonels.

EKU let the Panthers run away with that game and they were buried in a 53-22 loss.

In that game, EKU quarterback Josh Greco threw the ball 71 times for 398 yards while the Colonels’ running back, Mark Dunn, had only eight rushes for 10 yards.

This season, Dunn and Bobby Washington combined to run the ball 32 times.

“(Dunn) is one of the best football players on our team,” Hope said.

The change in strategy helped the Colonels hold a 12-minute advantage in time of possession.

EIU came into the game ranked 13th nationally in time of possession.

“I think some guys maybe got a little complacent,” said Panthers defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni. “Maybe some guys thought ‘yeah, here we go again. We’re gonna get up big on these guys and run them out of here.'”

Instead, EKU held the Panthers to just 142 yards the rest of the way while gaining 349 yards and outscoring EIU 21-0.

They did that by sticking with what they wanted to do coming into the game, Hope said.

“We were able to stay with our normal game plan,” Hope said. “We talked about it at halftime about staying with it at least through the third quarter and seeing how it went.”

The game plan continued to work and the Colonels scored a touchdown in the third quarter and then again early in the fourth quarter.

The Colonels then gained control of the ball with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the game and drove to the Panthers’ 44-yard line. But Panther linebacker Lucius Seymour stepped in front of a pass by Greco and returned it 22 yards and clinched the win.

The fact that it was a crucial drive was in stark contrast to last season’s fourth quarter, when EIU was merely running out the clock.

Seymour’s interception allowed the Panthers to breathe easy.

“We had a receiver open and if we had got the ball to him, we’d be in overtime right now,” Hope said. “That’s just the way it goes.”

Jay Grabiec/Daily Eastern News Senior strong safety Tristan Burge lays out Eastern Kentucky running back Mark Dunn at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.

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