The Eastern football team is preparing for not only its final Ohio Valley Conference game of the season, but for head coach Bob Spoo’s final game at O’Brien Field.

Despite all the attention surrounding the game, Spoo said he hopes his final game is not a distraction, yet knows there will be attention on him.

“I don’t know how you can avoid it,” he said. “I hope it’s not a distraction.”

Spoo said that hopefully once the actual game begins, the distraction will be less of an issue.

“It won’t be from the starting kickoff to the end of the game, hopefully,” he said.

While the attention may be on Spoo, his attention will be on the opponent, Tennessee State. Spoo called the Tigers a very athletic team.

“I don’t want that to interfere with what we need to get done on the field,” Spoo said. “I have great respect for Tennessee State, their athleticism, the things they can do to hurt you.”

The Panthers are coming off of a win over conference opponent Austin Peay, but Spoo said the team must focus on the current game.

“You can’t think about the last game you played whether you won it or lost it,” he said. “You better be ready every week.”

The Panthers, currently with a record of 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the OVC, will be taking on a Tennessee State team that has had two weeks to prepare for this game. The Tigers have a record of 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the OVC.

Leading the Tigers is red-shirt freshman quarterback Michael German. Since taking over the starting role from Jeremy Perry in week four, German has completed 88 of 157 passes and thrown for 1,264 yards.

Spoo said Tennessee State’s decision to start German was a good one.

“They made the right move, no question about that,” he said. “(German) is a big time player for being such a young player.”

Spoo said he expects a tough match-up between the Panthers and Tigers.

“We’re in for a tough football game, but I hope we can rise to the occasion, so to speak,” he said.

For the Panther offense, red-shirt junior running back Jake Walker had a breakout game last week against Austin Peay, becoming the first player this season to surpass 100 yards rushing the ball.

“(Walker) doesn’t have all the jukeability like a lot of the fine running backs in our league have, but he’s a very tough minded guy,” Spoo said.

Spoo called Walker a very assignment disciplined, mistake free, hard runner. He said Walker was a great team player and leader.

“We were happy to see him break out finally,” he said. “We needed to have our ground game going a little bit and I hope we can keep it up.”

Spoo’s final game at O’Brien Field will kickoff at 1:30 p.m. Following the game, there will a reception for Spoo in Lantz Fieldhouse. The event will be open to the public, no reservation required.

Complimentary cake and beverages will be available.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.