Donald Chapman can’t explain it.

The Tennessee-Martin running back’s senior year isn’t going like he had planned.

Not after a 2006 season that saw the Skyhawks win their first ever Ohio Valley Conference title, earn their first-ever spot in the Football Championship Subdivision and a 9-3 overall record.

Chapman broke UTM’s career rushing record in the Skyhawks third game of the year. He has 4,454 career yards coming into Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game at Eastern, and needs 696 yards to become the conference’s all-time leading rusher.

But the team success Chapman experienced last year, to go along with his 1,412 rushing yards, hasn’t transpired this year.

“All the accolades I’ve achieved thus far, I would trade all that to be undefeated going into this weekend,” Chapman said. “All that stuff is great, but I want wins.”

The Skyhawks (1-6, 1-3 OVC) won their first game last Saturday with a 31-21 win against Samford.

This year’s game doesn’t have the playoff implications for both teams like it did last year when these two teams met in Martin, Tenn. The Skyhawks won 15-9 and ended the Panthers’ 13-game conference winning streak in the process.

“Obviously, we’d rather be playing to get in the playoffs,” UTM head coach Jason Simpson said. “Early in the year, we were replacing eight starters on defense. We were scoring points early. Then when the defense started to play well, we didn’t score enough points when our defense holds teams to under 20 points.”

Eastern (4-3, 3-1) still has a chance at the playoffs and a possible league title, but needs help from other league teams. That help could start this weekend, with the top two teams playing each other. Eastern Kentucky (5-2, 4-0), who beat the Panthers on Oct. 6, hosts Tennessee State (3-3, 2-0) on Saturday.

“Everyone on this team knows who (EKU) plays each week,” Panthers defensive tackle Tim Kelly said. “But it doesn’t matter what they do if we lose.”

Figuring out what UTM team will show up at O’Brien Stadium is unclear also.

In the team’s first three games, all non-conference, UTM scored 91 points. But the defense surrendered 134 points to leave the Skyhawks with an 0-3 record to start OVC play.

The team’s next three games, all conference games, UTM mustered only 48 points while the Skyhawks defense gave up 57.

“Within nine points, (UTM) could be undefeated in the league,” said Eastern head coach Bob Spoo. “Our guys aren’t dumb. They can see opponents’ strengths and weaknesses so they have a pretty good respect for them I would believe by game time.”

Simpson still uses a two-quarterback system like last year, but sophomore Dexter Anoka receives the majority of the snaps.

Last season, UTM used Greg Preston and Anoka in a platoon situation. Preston was more of a passing threat and Anoka was brought in to give the option to either run or throw.

This year, Preston is UTM’s third-string quarterback after South Carolina transfer Cade Thompson filled the backup role. Thompson has seen action in the last five games, but in a limited role.

Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said Anoka (94-of-167 for 1,249 yards passing and 48 carries for 180 yards rushing) is more of a passing threat than a running threat. But Anoka did run for two touchdowns of 1 and 11 yards in last week’s win against Samford.

“When he does scramble around, he looks to throw first and if nobody’s open, he’ll run it,” he said. “Dexter throws a really good deep ball to their big-play wide receiver so he can hurt you in a number of ways.”

That big-play wide receiver is senior Jessie Burton, who is averaging 28.6 yards per catch this year and has three touchdowns on the year. All of his touchdown receptions have been longer than 40 yards.

“I hope that I’m preparing myself for this game,” Anoka said. “You’ve really got to put a lot of film study (into) this game. We know (Eastern’s) got a chip on their shoulder since we beat them last year.”

The Skyhwaks are more balanced offensively this year.

Bellantoni said 53 percent of UTM’s plays this year are running plays, compared to 68 percent last year.

Eastern defensive lineman Jeff Sobol said the Panthers are preparing defensively like they did against Southeast Missouri. SEMO featured an elusive quarterback, Victor Anderson, who could also pass, and Eastern’s plan was to limit Anderson’s ability to escape the pocket and make plays with his arms and legs. The strategy worked at SEMO, as Anderson rushed for 47 yards and did not complete any of his seven pass attempts.

Senior linebackers Josh Yarborough (team-leading 60 tackles) and Dontrell Miller (59 tackles) lead UTM’s defense, which is sixth in the league in yards allowed (373.4), but last in turnover margin (-1.43).

“We haven’t had too many big plays this year,” Miller said. “We’re struggling with turnovers. We’re not forcing enough.”

Last year, the Skyhawks defense led the league in yards allowed (255.5) and finished fourth in turnover margin (0.08).

But for whatever reason, Chapman said, both the offense and defense haven’t played well in the same game except for last Saturday.

“It seemed like it all came together last year,” he said. “It seems like this year one side is doing good and the other side isn’t. It shows that you have to be clicking on both sides. Because if you don’t you’re going to end up frustrated in the end.”

Notes

-Junior backup kicker Zach Yates will miss this Saturday’s game because of an illness, Eastern’s special teams coach Justin Lustig said.

Lustig said Yates had been having flu-like symptoms for about a week and received tests this week at Sarah Bush Health Center in Mattoon.

Yates was the starting place kicker in last week’s win at Murray State, but was replaced after he missed an extra point after Eastern’s first touchdown.

Junior Tyler Wilke will handle all place-kicking duties against UTM, Lustig said.

Wilke is 4-of-9 this year on field goal attempts and has made all 24 extra point attempts.

-This is Eastern’s 91st Homecoming football game and the Panthers haven’t lost this game since 1999. Eastern lost 14-7 to Tennessee Tech that year.

-Senior running back Ademola Adeniji is expected to start for the third straight week as junior Travorus Bess is still recovering from a hamstring injury. The Springfield native has rushed for 393 yards and four touchdowns in his previous two starts.

Micha Rucker, a senior wide receiver, starts to stand up after making a catch during last Saturday’s game at Murray State. Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News

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