Saturday gameday news

There are four league matchups set for today, plus a home game at Austin Peay State. Chief among them has got to be the 1 p.m. showdown between #14 Eastern Illinois and #12 UT-Martin. Here's the day's full schedule:

Jacksonville State at Tennessee Tech, 1 p.m.
Southeast Missouri State at Murray State, 1 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at UT-Martin, 1 p.m.
Samford at Tennessee State, 6 p.m., live on CSS
(D-II) Charleston (W. Va.) at Austin Peay State, 6 p.m.

And now, the news:

Matt Westrick, according to the (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier, is one EIU Panther who doesn't know anything about the old UT-Martin, the one that went six seasons without winning a conference game. As far as the linebacker, a JC transfer, knows, The 6-1 Skyhawks are the class of the OVC as his team takes the field in Martin today.

The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun, unfortunately, rates the EIU-UTM game slightly behind an NAIA matchup, in this gameday roundup from today's paper. Labels aside, it's a shame the Sun doesn't know a good story when it sees one (a team that's been a doormat in every league it's played in carries a #12 ranking into a home game against the defending conference champs, ranked #14, with the league title and a first-ever trip to the playoffs potentially on the line ... yawn).

Samford is clinging to hops of a winning season as the Bulldogs visit Tennessee State, according to the Birmingham (Ala.) News. The Tigers may help sink those hopes though, as they're surprising everyone by contending for the league title.

The (Nashville) Tennseean says TSU coach James Webster is among the surprised. He expected his team to improve, but the 3-0 mark in OVC play isn't what he was expecting.

Murray State and Southeast Missouri State, meanwhile, both are clinging to hopes they'll finish above last place in the conference, according to the Murray (Ky.) Ledger & Times. The 3-4 Redhawks visit 1-7 Murray State with an advantage in the race for the cellar stairs: they've already got conference win, over Samford.

At least one Alabaman is hoping for a Jacksonville State loss in the Volunteer State today, according to the (Cookeville, Tenn.) Herald-Citizen. Anthony Ash, a senior running back for Tennessee Tech, hails from Gadsden, just a stone's throw from JSU. "I'm not that far from Jacksonville when I'm at home," Ash tells the paper. "When I go back I have to hear that chatter. It would be good to let them know that we beat them in my last game." Here's a link to the HC sports section.