Eastern’s football team will travel south to Richmond, Ky., to take on No. 18 Eastern Kentucky in a game that could decide the Panthers fate as front-runners in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Panthers are coming off their lone bye week of the season, while the Colonels are coming off a come-from-behind 42-28 win over Tennessee Tech last week.

For Saturday’s game, the Panthers and the Colonels will be battling for a share of first place in the OVC. The Colonels currently sit at 4-1 in the conference and are in a tie for first place with Tennessee-Martin. For Eastern, it sits in a tie for second place with Tennessee State with an OVC record of 3-1.

“I look at this like a date,” head coach Dino Babers said. “You can’t talk about first place. We have never won on the road and we are playing the best team in the conference. We just want to go down there and compete, and if we can have a good game and people say we fought well, then hell, whatever happens, happens.”

The battle for first place will have the Panthers bringing the No. 2 ranked offense in the nation to the field as they are averaging 516 yards of total offense a game.

Eastern Kentucky counters the Panthers explosive offense, boasting one of the best defenses against the run in the nation, holding the opposition to just 93 rushing yards a game. The 93 rushing yards against average ranks sixth in the nation and is tops in the OVC.

The Colonels defensive unit is led by red-shirt sophomore defensive back Brandon Stanley and red-shirt junior linebacker Anthony Brown, as they will be looked upon to keep the Panthers offense in check.

Brown ranks third in the OVC in tackles-for-loss with 9.5 and also holds a share of the team lead in forced fumbles with two. Stanley leads the Eastern Kentucky defense in tackles with 55 and has contributed one sack, three pass break-ups, an interception and two forced fumbles.

Offensively, the Colonels are led by red-shirt senior running back Matt Denham, a Walter Payton Award watch list nominee. He has rushed for 978 yards and nine touchdowns, trailing just Tennessee State running back Trabis Ward for the conference lead in both categories.

“You have to stop the run anytime you play EKU,” Babers said. “They are big, they are physical and they have a big time tailback ranked tenth in the nation in rushing, a quarterback who is in the top five in passing efficiency and then they have two (playmaking) wide receivers. They are a complete football team.”

The Colonels also boast a game-changing presence at the quarterback position in red-shirt senior T.J. Pryor. This season, the Louisville, Ky., native has thrown for 1,472 yards, 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

His 174.4 pass efficiency rating leads the conference and ranks third in the nation.

Wide receivers Tyrone Goard and Cameron Bailey have also played a major role in the Colonels success this season as they have proven to be Pryor’s favorite targets in the passing game.

Goard leads all receivers with 587 yards and seven touchdowns on 25 receptions. Bailey ranks second on the team in yards and touchdowns, totaling 472 yards and four touchdowns on a team-leading 33 receptions.

“(Eastern Kentucky) is a very good conference-leading school,” Babers said. “They are the leader of the OVC, the flagship for a long time in this conference. They have a lot of pride and a lot of tradition. Nobody is giving us much of a chance, but we will try and go down there and do our best.”

Game time is set for an 11 a.m. kickoff at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, Ky. The game will also be broadcasted on Fox College Sports.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-2812 or jbpottorff@eiu.edu.