The Eastern football team can take a sigh of relief when looking at the OVC football standings and results to this point in the season, as the Panthers are not the only team in the conference off to a rough start in the first two weeks of the season.

Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin and Murray State (along with Eastern) all dropped to 0-2 on the season this past weekend in games the teams will not want to remember anytime soon. 

Week one saw the OVC’s four winless teams lose their games by an average margin of 33.75 points, and week two did not bode much better as the group fell by a margin of 28.5 points this past weekend. 

Tennessee Tech can stake claim to the biggest loss of the weekend after they were trampled on at home against Kennesaw State in a 49-10 beat down. 

The Tennessee Tech defense was blasted once again, after giving up 455 total yards on offense to Chattanooga last week, the Golden Eagles were torched by Kennesaw State for 552 yards. An alarming 507 of those yards came on the ground for Kennesaw State. 

It is never a good sign for a team when a defensive back leads the squad in tackles, but that is precisely what Tennessee Tech’s defense has to show for itself as defensive back Shannon Fayne led the team with 14 tackles. 

A Thursday night game with Utah State this Thursday means things will probably not get much better for the Golden Eagles in the near future. 

Tennessee-Martin found itself in the middle of an offensive showdown Saturday night in a game with Middle Tennessee State that the Skyhawks ended up losing 61-37. 

The offensive explosion by Middle Tennessee State, which saw them gain 501 yards on total offense, 407 through the air, left Tennessee-Martin ranking last in almost every defensive category in the conference following the loss. 

On a positive note for the Skyhawks, quarterback Dresser Winn had 365 yards passing of his own with four touchdowns, which puts him behind only Jacksonville State’s Zerrick Cooper for the conference lead in passing yards. Winn’s five touchdown passes this season leads the OVC.

Also falling to 0-2 over the weekend was Murray State which lost to Central Arkansas 26-13, the smallest OVC loss of the week. The 13-point loss for the Racers came after a 49-10 loss to Southern Illinois in week one, so maybe the loss to Central Arkansas will not sit so heavy after all. 

The Racers offense struggled once again, quarterback Drew Anderson completed just 19 of 36 passes for 233 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Their leading rusher was Quarderman Sloan who had just 36 yards on five carries. 

Murray State is ahead of just Tennessee Tech with 23 total points scored this season and is tied for last with two touchdowns.

The conference’s top two teams in the preseason poll, Jacksonville State and Austin Peay, both laid beat downs on their week two opponents to move to 1-1 on the season. 

Jacksonville State beat Mississippi Valley State 71-0 at home in a game that was over pretty much right after it started. The Gamecocks had a 36-0 lead at halftime. 

Jacksonville State held MVSU to negative eight yards rushing and put up 366 of its own. 

Austin Peay beat Presbyterian 24-0 at home in a game where the Governors outgained their opponent 486 yards to 179. 

Austin Peay’s big win was spearheaded by a two-headed rushing attack of quarterback Craig JaVaughn Craig, who ran for 108 yards and one touchdown, and running back Ahmaad Tanner who added 98 yards.

Eastern Kentucky suffered its first loss of the season in a 32-16 loss to Marshall on the road. Eastern Kentucky’s passing game was weak, as a team they passed for just 48 yards, with quarterback Dakota Allen finishing just 5 of 10 with 38 yards passing. 

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or jpbullock@eiu.edu