Eastern’s defense allowed 226 rushing yards and 556 total yards Saturday in a 49-13 loss to Illinois State in the Mid-America Classic rivalry game in Normal. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
NORMAL – For Ja’Wuan Nickson, Saturday’s loss at Illinois State offered a familiar feeling.
Giving up 556 total yards in a 49-13 defeat against the No. 4/5 Redbirds in the annual Mid-America Classic rivalry was eerily similar to last week’s 492 yards allowed in an Eastern Illinois loss to Indiana State.
“Two weeks in a row, it’s been a slow start,” said Nickson, whose team fell behind 35-7 to the Sycamores. “It was even worse this week trying to get ourselves out of the hole. If we keep putting ourselves behind the 8 ball, then it’s going to be almost impossible to try to win.”
On Saturday at Hancock Stadium, Nickson and the Panthers (1-3) endured four first-half ISU touchdown drives of 75, 69, 75 and 75 yards. All of the scoring drives – which put the Redbirds (4-0) ahead 28-6 at halftime – lasted less than 4 minutes.
Illinois State rushed for 226 yards and piled up 34 first downs.
“To be quite frank, I’m disappointed. I’m devastated,” EIU head coach Chris Wilkerson said. “It’s certainly not what anybody associated with EIU and Panther football expects. Obviously, we’re a ways away.”
Eastern allowed nine plays of 15 yards or longer in the first half alone, which were linked to miscues involving communication, assignment issues, tackling and execution.
“It’s all of the above,” said Nickson, who had six tackles and two quarterback hurries. “All of that stuff is tying in. We can see that when we do our jobs, when we communicate, when we execute, we don’t give teams an inch.
“When we shoot ourselves in the foot, the outcome is what it is today,” he said.
The Panthers managed two first-half field goals of 41 and 21 yards from Drew Schiller.
Eastern’s secondary allowed three ISU quarterbacks to complete 76% of their passes for 330 yards and gave up multiple big plays.
“We’ve had some injuries in that group, so we’ve got some guys playing multiple positions – playing safety in one package and cornerback in another,” Wilkerson said. “There’s an awful lot of miscommunication.”
Starting cornerback Christopher Sharp warmed up, but did not play because of a high ankle sprain, according to Wilkerson.
The coach also said the lack of a consistent pass rush and mistakes in underneath coverage negatively affected the secondary.
“There’s an awful lot of stuff we’ve got to look at and things we definitely need to clean up,” he said.
“We’ve got to talk better as a team,” said linebacker Isaac Engle, who had a fumble recovery. “We might be running one thing on one side, but maybe not on the other. It’s tough, but it happens. Everybody gets got sometimes.”
EIU quarterback Cole LaCrue rushed for a 1-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter with the team down 49-6.
“I feel like we got punched in the mouth early and just didn’t respond,” LaCrue said.
Game changers
12:38, 1st quarter: Tyler Lofton’s 12-yard touchdown run completed a 75-yard Illinois State scoring drive in only 2 minutes, 22 seconds.
2:45, 2nd quarter: Dylan Lord’s 4-yard TD catch gives ISU a 28-6 halftime lead on four scoring drives of 3:49 or shorter.
7:59, 4th quarter: LaCrue scored the lone EIU touchdown of the day on a 1-yard plunge.
What it means
Eastern fell to 1-8 in the last nine meetings with Illinois State as the Mid-America Classic trophy stays in Normal.
Prime Time Panthers
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Eastern Illinois players in the game:
Premiere Whitley, DL: The transfer defensive tackle forced a fumble and had half of a sack.
LaCrue, QB: Along with 150 yards passing, he rushed for 15 yards and the team’s only TD.
Schiller, K: The junior connected on his two field-goal attempts, including a 41-yarder.
What’s next?
EIU completes its non-conference schedule with a trip to South Dakota State on Sept. 26.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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