NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After handing Southeast Missouri its first conference loss of the season, the Eastern Kentucky football team will take to the road to face a 4-1 Tennessee State squad on Saturday at Nissan Stadium, the home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans.
 
The game, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, will air live on ESPN3.  ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually.  It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
 
The live radio broadcast is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com.
 
Both teams are receiving votes in the national polls and could turn a victory on Saturday into a spot in the top-25.  Eastern is receiving votes in the STATS Poll (No. 42) and in the HERO Sports Top-25 Media Poll (No. 41).  Tennessee State is also receiving votes in both polls (STATS No. 30 and HERO No. 29).
 
The Colonels (2-3, 1-1 OVC) beat Southeast Missouri 31-16 last Saturday.  The Redhawks came into the game with a 2-0 Ohio Valley Conference mark and fresh off a victory over No. 13 Eastern Illinois.
 
Senior Bennie Coney threw for 337 yards and tossed four touchdown passes.  Three of those went to Devin Borders who caught seven passes for 119 yards and was named the OVC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.  Coney has totaled 300 or more yards passing and Borders has recorded 100 yards or more receiving in each of the last two games.  EKU rolled up 527 yards of total offense against SEMO.
 
Tennessee State (4-1, 1-1 OVC) opened conference play with a 34-30 home field victory over Tennessee-Martin before going on the road and losing by one at then 19th ranked Eastern Illinois, 35-34.  Ronald Butler has replaced the injured O'Shay Ackerman-Carter at quarterback for the Tigers.  He threw two touchdown passes and an interception while totaling 303 yards at EIU.
 
TSU is second in the conference in scoring offense (36.6 ppg) and scoring defense (23.0 ppg).  The Tennessee State defense has allowed just 295 yards per game this season, second-best in the OVC.
 
The Colonels will counter with a high powered offense that averages 432 yards of per game, second in the OVC and 26th in the nation.  EKU is second in the OVC and 18th in the nation with an average of 282.4 passing yards per game.  The only thing that has slowed the offense this season, is itself.  Eastern has turned the ball over 12 times.
 
The Eastern Kentucky defense has forced 12 turnovers, tied for first in the OVC, and 15th in the nation.  The Tigers however have turned the ball over just six times in 2016.
 
Eastern Kentucky leads the all-time series with Tennessee State, 23-5.  The Colonels are 8-3 against the Tigers in games played in Nashville.  Three of TSU's wins over Eastern have come in the last seven meetings between the two teams.  EKU has won three in a row over Tennessee State, beating the Tigers 44-0 in Richmond in 2013, 56-42 in 2014 in Nashville and 45-21 last season in Richmond.  Eastern has averaged 48 points per game during its three-game winning streak over Tennessee State.