Thursday news (finally)

Sorry, loyal readers. I was ready to go this morning but Blogger wasn't for some reason. I hate to be delivering the papers late two days in a row. Anyway, here goes:

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier says Eastern Illinois isn't taking Eastern Kentucky lightly, though the Panthers are the league-leading defending champs and the Colonels are still just fighting to hang on after a disappointing 2-4 start. The game's in Richmond, after all, and it's homecoming. Oh, and EIU offensive coordinator Mark Hutson adds, "Did I forget to say they’re good? They are.”

The Anniston (Ala.) Star (sorry, subscribers only) says a number of Jacksonville State players are looking forward to their chance to play on an SEC stage Saturday at Mississippi State. Some of them belive they could have been playing on a stage like that every week, and they want to prove it.

The Southeast Missourian continues the league-wide jaw-dropping at UT-Martin's 5-1 start and #17 ranking. Don't count first-year Martin coach Jason Simpson among the surprised, though. "Combined with we are a hungry football team," he tells the paper "There were some challenges, but no, I'm not going to say we're surprised where we are."