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>>Rich Moser: Welcome to another addition of Panther Sports Talk. FCS edition, and I'm
joined by EIU football coach Dino Babers. After the selection
show here on Sunday at the Rec Center, appreciate them
opening it up and helping us out. A nice crowd here that got to see the Panthers and their
playoff fate unveiled.
>>Dino Babers: you know it was amazing to see that many people. I know I had to miss
church on Sunday, and to see that many people out here
to support the football team was just fabulous.
>>Rich Moser: Now, you kind of, probably had a feeling after yesterday's win that you're
in one of the top for seed, maybe you know one through four
where you were at so, you knew you were getting a bye
after you won yesterday. At least I hope you know you were getting a bye after yesterday.
So maybe slept a little bit easier. I know you had
a team meeting before you came over, do you kinda express that
to the team that you took care of the regular season business, and this is gonna be their
reward, but now that in the back cuz it's whole new season?
>>Dino Babers: You know it's interesting, because this football team is even though
they're amateurs, they have professional flare about them. And
uh, ywe really didn't talk about that kinda stuff. We kinda
talked about where we're going from here, what's the schedule, things that we need to
do. They understand that this is one stop shopping
now. If you lose you're out. And they understand what they
did. I mean they were an undefeated OVC football team. It's not happened that often. They're
eleven and one, they hav eleven wins, I believe.
Am I right?
>>Rich Moser: Yep.
>>Dino Babers: Cuz I have a tendency to remember only the losses. And so they tied the school
record for wins, and they have the opportunity to
go out and be the first OVC football team in the last twelve
years to win a playoff game, so they've been very mature about their business, and I really
appreciate that.
>>Rich Moser: Now, you talk about the OVC, and I think that people have underrated the
conference all year. I think today was some validation for
how good this conference is been. You get on the conference
calls week in and week out with other OVC coaches, and everybody talks about how this
is a good league. Eastern on paper and on the field
so far this year has been a step above of the other teams, but
three playoff teams from the OVC get in, so that's gotta be a stamp of validation that
not only that you guys have got a pretty good football team
this year. I know you hate the word "pretty good." A good
football team this year, but the league is good as well, in the fact that Tennessee State
and Jacksonville State both got bids.
>>Dino Babers: I'm so excited that the OVC got three football teams in. For them to have
Jacksonville State, Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois in,
and I believe the Missouri Valley Conference, not to, only to
recieve two. It just shows you that when you take the political part out of it, and you
just look at people's body of work, you just put a light
on it, and say, "Hey, who's good, who's bad. Eliminate all the
politics." I really believe that the selection committee got it right. I really believe that
we deserved three football teams this year.
>>Rich Moser: Now, the highest of those three football teams, of course Eastern Illinois,
they're gonna be the number two seed in the field. North
Dakota State, the number one seed, rightfully so. The
national champions two times in a row. Haven't lost a game. East Washington, the number three
seed. Maybe, I guess thoughts that they could be
the two and Eastern Illinois the three, but it played out the
way the rankings have. Southeastern Louisiana is the four. You guys the way the bracket
fell will get a chance at possibly one of the OVC teams. Tennessee
State plays Butler on your half of the brackets. I
think the guys were excited to play Tennessee State. Is that more from the fact that they
know that team and there's some familiarity there and
a little bit of rivalry?
>>Dino Babers: Oh, yeah, I definitely think so. I think for them that Tennessee State
that they've played Tennessee State. They've beaten Tennessee
State, so they feel good about getting a team that they
know. Now they gotta understand that the hardest thing to do is beat a team twice because of
the revenge factor, and Tennessee State knows
a lot about us. So they're not gonna be surprised by the
things that we do. Now, we know a lot about them. So, as a football team, they get excited
about that, but I mean, Butler it is. Butler's a fine
opponent. There's no guarantee that they're gonna win that game.
Hopefully, they do, because that will be great for the OVC. Then we'll hopefully be able
to handle our business when they come here.
>>Rich Moser: Now Butler the champion out of the Pioneer Football League. The first
year that that league has gotten a playoff bid. They're actually
at home. Tennessee State for some maybe for some
facility reasons. They usually play a lot of their home games at Opie Field. It might
have not been available. Is not at home that weekend; they
have to go on the road. So an opportunity. They may have
to go on the road two games in a row, and that's not a good thing to try to do if you're
trying to put some momentum together in the playoffs.
>>Dino Babers: Well, they're in, and that's the cards they've been dealt, and if they
want to win the championship, that's how they're gonna have
to play it. So I know they're happy. I know they're excited,
and they have an opportunity to come up to the state of Indiana, win a game against Butler.
Then if they do that have an opportunity to come to the
state of Illinois and try to win a game against Eastern Illinois.
I'm sure they're just tickled to death.
>>Rich Moser: Now the game will be, it's already been announced, it will be Saturday December
7th at one o'clock over at O'Brien Field. Tickets
will be on sale. There will be all sorts of information out about
that. You guys have two weeks now to prepare. I guess there's a little bit of an advantage
from coaching staff. I don't want to say less work, but
easier work, for the fact that you've already broken down most
of Tennessee State's season. You played them so late in the year that you really only have
to go back and add a game or two, and then I'm assuming
will you take Butler's whole body of work, or will you just
take a couple games to kinda get a feel for them? And then next week really hit it with
the winner of that game?
>>Dino Babers: Well, first of all, the staff is going into a forty-eight hour breakdown,
so we'll go into a forty-eight hour breakdown on Butler. And
then that'll be Sunday and Monday, and we'll still be
practicing Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we were gonna do a twenty-four hour breakdown
on our second opponent, have Thanksgiving, and do
a Thursday twenty-four hour breakdown. With one of the
opponents being Tennessee State, you basically save the staff a day and a half with their
families, so we'll do a forty-eight hour breakdown on Butler.
We'll let 'em off for Thanksgiving. Let them have
Thanksgiving. And then we'll just sit and wait and see who wins that football game.
So it basically gave the staff an extra day and a half to spend
time with their families, so you know, it's a blessing.
>>Rich Moser: Now this an FCS playoff selection, but we need to kinda rewind a little bit and
talk about you got here. The game this past weekend,
yesterday, since we're taping this on Sunday. I guess, I don't
even know, an obliteration of Tennessee Martin. You guys just came out and decided that, I
don't want to say revenge factor, I know that's not the
incentive. Maybe the guys had a little bit of that going on.
But you were gonna leave, no doubt, that you guys were gonna win that game yesterday with
the way you come out and really put the throttle down.
>>Dino Babers: Rich, I'm rubbing off on you. You know what words not to say to me for responses.
I thought it was or best opponent, I mean our
best performance as a football team, I mean, minus some
of the field goal errors and all that kind of stuff. From the offense and defense special
teams point with Taylor Duncan, Erik Lora, Keiondre not playing
in the football game on offense, and to have that type of
performance at an away game, in a hostel situation with a team that beat us. That's the only
football team that's beaten us in the last two years
in conference. And Jason's a good football coach. And UT
Martin is a good football team. To have that kind of performance, I felt like a dad watching
my kids at the assembly when they're all getting honor
rolls, honor rolls, and they're stepping up for everything. I
mean it was unbelievable, and it made a very tense situation, a very proud and proud celebration.
And I mean I couldn't be more prouder of the guys
and the coaching staff for the way our football team
performed. And I hope that Charleston, Mattoon, Coles County, Effingham, Eastern Illinois
University President Perry, Barbara Burke, I hope that
everybody else is re really proud of this football team,
because it was an outstanding performance.
>>Rich Moser: Now, 70 points in the game, the third highest total in school history,
and you talked a little bit about the kicking game. Now that
you scored 70 points in one, I know it's not a joking matter,
but we kinda joked about it afterwards. You lost 12 points on special teams, on field
goals, and extra points or else you would have tied the record
against, they said against Mary Merom. We think that's a
bunch of eighth graders that the college played back in 1920 to get the 82 points, but I know
with kinda the way the game was in hand. The kicking
game hasn't been where you have want it to be last year.
Part of it is I'm thinking is sending Cam Berra just trying to get the guy some confidence,
knowing that you're gonna need him in the post-season.
>>Dino Babers: Well, there's no doubt. I mean Cam's our guy. I mean as he go, we go. Cam's
gonna be our kickers, there's no doubt about it, but
there's a certain standard that you need to live up to, and
there's a certain way that you need to perform. And we don't expect you to do it right all
the time, but we expect you to do it right most of the time.
Sorry, Cam. So, we love Cam, and there was couple of
situations where we just put him out there just to practice. I mean I don't have to put
it any other way, but we wanted him to practice his craft. And
he did come back from that mishap, that we put Taylor
Kerr in for a while. And he did come back and he had a P-A-T, and the wind was blowing
incredibly, I'm trying to get my mind right, from right to
left, and I believe that he missed two or three kicks from right
to left. And it was really pushing the ball, and he just needed to change his mark, like
a golfer. You know, it was really blowing. He needed to aim a
little bit more toward the right. But there's no doubt before
this is all said and done, Cameron Berra is gonna win us a football game in playoffs,
and who knows, it may be the very last game in Frisco if it's
right.
>>Rich Moser: Now, some of the guys that really stepped up and helped wint he game were the
defense. And you can start rattling names. And it wasn't, it once again wasn't an individual,
it was a team, group effort, and it's kinda been that
way all season long. When you look at a stat sheet at the
end of the game, a lot of times the leading tackle is at six, seven tackles, where sometime
the opponents you're playing, "Hey, that guy had a great
game, he made 16 tackles." Well, if he's the defensive back,
that's not a great game.
>>Dino Babers: Well, you know it's almost like the defense, Dino Fante says he put the
red flags out and the sharks are in the water, and our, the
red flags were out, because our defense was in a feeding
frenzy. And nobody had great statistics from one individual, because that's so many guys
on defense were giving so much great effort, and it was
just fantastic to watch those guys play. It was awesome for
me to take off the headset somewhere in the third quarter and to just focus on what our
defense was doing, and it was exciting. It was a proud
moment. I mean those guys were playing their tails off. And I
love offense, but there's nothing greater than seeing fantastic defense being played,
and guys just getting frustrated on the other side, because
they can't move the ball.
>>Rich Moser: Now, on the offensive side of the pay, you touched on it briefly. Jimmy
Garoppolo 470 years in passing, 6 touchdowns, and found
some different guys, Adam Drake, Jeff LePak, had both had
career days for them. And maybe a blessing in disguise going into the post-season, I
know you never want to lose guys, but those guys have really
honed in the craft and gotten better the past couple
weeks, because they've had to with the absence of Keiondre Gober for a couple weeks and Erik
Lora this past weekend.
>>Dino Babers: Yeah, I really think this football team has been touched. I really do. And I'm
sorry if someone says, "Well, what is he talking about?"
Well, if you don't, I apologize for that. I really think that
with Erik Lora out and Keiondre out and Taylor Duncan out, and that for Adam Drake to have
the day that he had. And for Jeff LePak to step into
Erik Lora's role and the things that he did. A-T., Shep Little,
uh, Jimmy Garoppolo. I mean what people don't realize is they're thinking, "Wow, you know
you've got all these guys." Jimmy Garoppolo is making
a lot of those guys look doggone good, and don't
underestimate the value of Dom and Collin and Nick and Alex and Jimmy. I mean people
aren't touching our quarterbacks, and that's a big deal when
you can go out into a violent atmosphere, and it's violent
everywhere except for where you're standing. Hodge gets credit for that. Schuman gets credit
for that. Those guys are protecting out quarterback,
and the guys I really appreciate that.
>>Rich Moser: Alright, coach, that's gonna wrap up this week's segment on the show. We'll
be back this week with EIU Athletics. When we come back
next week, coach, we'll talk a little bit more about the
actual opponent's gonna be, because by that time, you will know who that's gonna be. Reminder
once again, the Panthers will play the winner of
Bulter, Tennessee State. It will be one o'clock, Saturday
December 7th. Coach, I appreciate it. Congratulations on the championship once again, and we'll
be right back with this week in EIU athletics.
>>Dino Babers: Thank you, brother.
>>Rameen Karbassioon: Panther fans, here's what's going on in Panther Athletics. Panther
football wraps up their regular season with eleven
and one overall and eight and oh in the OVC play, winning 70
to 20 at UT Martin. They're the number two seed in the upcoming FCS playoffs. Volleyball
wraps up their season with a first round loss in the OVC
volleyball tournament losing three to two to Eastern Kentucky.
They finish the seasons eighteen and twelve overall. Men's basketball went one and one
this past week, losing 83 to 55 at Purdue, followed up with
an 89, 67 at Lantz Arena over Roosevelt University. They're
now three and two on the season. Women's basketball picked up two wins at Lantz Arena. 81 to 80
over Loyola Chicago and 68 to 64 over Western Illinois
over their annual Kid's Day game. They're now two
and three on the season. Swimming competed at the House of Champions Meet in Indianapolis.
The men's squad finished sixth, and the women's
squad finished fifth. Now, here's what o watch for this
week. Tonight, Wednesday, November 27th, men's basketball at Lantz Arena as they take on
Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne at seven o'clock. You could
listen to that game on Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU. On Friday,
women's basketball begins a two day run at the University Missouri Kansas Tourney. They'll
tak eon Alabama Birmingham at three thirty, You can
listen to that game on Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU. On Saturday,
women's basketball is at University of Missouri Kansas City in the U-M-K-C Tourney. That game
is at three thirty, and you can listen to it on
Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU. Men's basketball at Eastern Kentucky at eight
o'clock, you can also listen to that game on Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU. Next Wednesday, December
4th, women's basketball is in Peoria to take on
Bradley at five o'clock. You can watch that game online at
bradleybraves.com. For Panther Sports Talk, I'm Rameen Karbassioon.
>>Rich Moser: Welcome back to Panther Sports Talk, a live edition here a little bit later
this week. But coach, the kid's game, your first experience
here at Eastern, I guess kinda your thoughts. I know you
played at other ones at other ones, coached at other ones, but they had a pretty good
deal here for you today.
>>Debbie Black: This was absolutely fantastic. It's just awesome to see the kids support
us, the community support us, and they were just cheering
the whole time. They were excited to be here. I
think it really gave our team a lift.
>>Rich Moser: Now, you guys came out of their fifth straight game you had this year that
you've had three players and double figures, and kinda
have spread it out a little bit through the course of the year,
and today spread it out through the course of the game. Jordyne Crunk kinda carried you
earlier in the game, and then Katlyn Payne, and then Abby
brought it home for you.
>>Debbie Black: Yeah, you've been talking still front he beginning of the year, we need
to share the ball. We had 16 assists in the last game we won.
This game we had 15. When we share the basketball, we get
good results. We have a lot of people who can score in a variety of ways, and you're
seeing it rght now.
>>Rich Moser: Now, once again, it came down to free-throws to kind ice the game. They
won the game the other day against Loyola Chicago with
Jordyne making a pair. Morgan Palombizio who hasn't thrown
a lot of free-throws in here career, kinda stepped up and made two big ones to make it
a two possession game there in the end.
>>Debbie Black: Yeah, you know it's kinda funny, cuz the girls, they kinda get all over
me as a coach, cuz I make them throw a lot of free-throws at
practice under pressure. They've been running a lot, because
they've been missing a lot, but hopefully that this helps them. I try to put them in
situations at practice that help them in a game, and they stepped
up. Like I said, I gotta give it to the girls, this is a gut check
game, and they came out and finished it.
>>Rich Moser: Now, in the first half you looked like maybe you were trying to send a message
a little bit to the fact that you almost emptied the bench
at different times to trying to get players out there to
look for different combinations. I know you had some foul trouble, but I thought you got
some productive minutes from Erica brown got a
couple rebounds for you. Kaycee Kallenberger got a couple
blocks, so maybe you're seeing some little sparks for them. They might be able to help
you down the road.
>>Debbie Black: Yeah, absolutely. I tell my bench to patient. We're not sure if we're
gonna use you. We're not sure if we're gonna need you. I
thought Kaycee did a great job. She didn't just have a couple
blocks. She altered some things. She's 6'4. I thought Erica worked he butt off. A lot
of it was that we had some foul trouble, but they were ready to
play, and I told the bench at halftime, "Great job." We we're
only down by three. We could have been down by ten.
>>Rich Moser: Now, you guys are gonna become road warriors really for about the next month.
It's gonna start with a tournament over at U-N-K-C.
We talked about on the radio post-game the fact that
you're not gonna go play these back to back games, that's really kind of something new
for this team. Also, something you have to do to set yourself
up for how post-season's gonna work.
>>Debbie Black: Yeah, you know, I don't know, if I'm a player, I'd rather go back to back
than a game and practice. I think it's early now. Let's see
who we are. We're building for the end of the season. We're
building for the OVC, and for who we are and who can help. I think this will really help
us, and see what kind of team we are if we can come out and
win back to back.
>>Rich Moser: Alright, coach, that's gonna wrap it up. We have back to back wins. Congratulations
to both of those. Both of them here at home,
which, I know feel even better when you can win in front of
your hom crowd. That's gonna wrap up this edition of Panther Sports Talk. We're gonna
have some highlights for the women's basketball kid's
day game. Also, front he football win down at UT Martin.
Thanks for watching, everybody!
Basketball sounds, music
[screaming and cheering fans]
[bells ringing]
[cheering fans]
>>Mike Bradd: Third and eleven. Garoppolo back to the pass, throwing it deep. Adam Drake
out there, got it! Touchdown, Eastern Illinois! Adam
Drake with the catch up to the goal line, and the Panthers
have jumped in front on Drake's fifth touchdown of the season. First and ten UT Martin at
their 25. Trent Garland's in the game with Naggi Ray,
the running back. A pass to the flat. Incomplete. And then
maybe a fumble. It's rolling free. Eastern picks it up at the fifteen, but they say,
is it Eastern's ball? No signal yet. It's Eastern's ball! They were
saying it was a lateral. [cheering fans] Garoppolo back to pass,
throwing to the goal line, caught by LePak! Touchdown, Eastern Illinois! A leaping catch
by six foot six, Jeff leaping LePak, as the Panthers have a
13 to nothing lead. First down, ten to go. They motion Butler
through the backfield. Fake it to him. Farve keeps it, and he goes nowhere. He loses the
ball. Eastern is on it, at the 13 yard line. I think they've
still got it. Now the Panthers had it one time, and then it slipped
away at the ten. Now there's a big pile up, and I'm not sure. Eastern has thought back
scooping and to score. They got away from them, and then it
slipped away a couple of more times in the pile. Now we'll
wait for an official signal at the ten. Eastern's players running also. Panther ball! Needing
the one for a first down. Garoppolo back, two step drop,
doing the fake, going for Drake, and he's got it! Touchdown,
Eastern Illinois! Perfect throw by Garoppolo! Threw it high, and Drake ran under it in the
back corner of the end zone for his second touchdown today.
>>Rich Moser: I guess you don't need field goals to even score touchdowns.
>>Mike Bradd: You sure don't. As long as you got Jimmy Garoppolo, there's a lot of things
you don't need. Second touchdown of the day. First down
Garoppolo back, pressure throws middle, leaping LePak
and Drake for the broke away. Twenty, fifteen, ten, five, touchdown! Adam Drake broke the
tackle of the twenty and sprinted for the four. His
third touchdown of the first quarter. It's something different
every week, Rich.
>>Rich Moser: It is.
>>Mike Bradd: It's a new star every week, isn't it?
>>Rich Moser: Yeah, good job there of Adam Drake catching the ball, and he broke contact.
>>Mike Bradd: Once he broke the tackle, he had an easy run to the end zone. Fourth and
one, out of the shotgun, they're gonna get McNeil heading
right. Hit behind the line and stopped!
>>Rich Moser: Mccall it looks like.
>>Mike Bradd: It is LeQuince McCall came up and stopped him, and the Panthers will take
over. McNeil stopped or a loss at fourth and one. Another
great short yardage by Eastern. He's Neil waiting to snap.
There it is. Panthers blitz him. He's back. Pressure by Gristick, and they got him. They
sacked him. Adam Gristick, third sack this year. First sack
this year for Adam Gristick. Third and goal at the one. They
motion Helms in the backfield. Garoppolo gives it to Little. Straight ahead fot the touchdown
for Shepard Little. 16th touchdown this season
for sophomore Shepard Little. And that makes the score 34
to 7, in favor of Eastern Illinois. Fourth and four for UT Martin at the Eastern 46.
Looking for the pass on the right, and it's knocked away. Incomplete.
Nick Beard broke it up on the pass intended for Butler. And
the Panthers will take over. Second time today they stopped UT Martin on fourth down.
>>Rich Moser: Nick Beard once again, there's a reason he's in the top ten at Eastern in
career pass breakups.
>>Mike Bradd: Third and one, they give it to Little. Hold at the five, pushes forward
to the goal line. Touchdown, Eastern Illinois! Garoppolo's gonna
throw for it over the middle, caught at the 40! LePak,
35, 30, to take it all the way.
>>Rich Moser: Jeff LePak for the touchdown for Eastern Illinois. Short pass over the
middle. LePak made the catch over the defender. There was nobody
in the middle to stop him. he takes it all the way for the
touchdown.
>>Mike Bradd: Second and long back at the 45. Throwing the bob at the left sideline.
LePak's got it at the 25, breaks loose. 25. 20, 10, 5, touchdown,
LePak! The result of the play for Jeff LePak despite the
penalties against UT Martin. LePak, third touchdown throw of the day. Garoppolo sixth
touchdown pass of the day, and it's now 60 to 15 in favor
of Eastern Illinois. And the Panthers wrap up an 11 to one
regular season. The first EIU team ever to win 11 regular seasons games. They were under
the table eight and oh in the OVC, and have won 12 consecutive
OVC games, going back to last year.
[players cheering]
[yelling]
>>Announcer: Number two overall seed, Eastern Illinois, Jay. The champions of the Ohio Valley
Conference, they've got star power: quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, wide receiver Erik Lora,
two Payton Award nominees. That's the Heisman trophy
of the FCS football.
[clapping]
[cheering players]
>>Announcer: We're talking about two of the scariest quarterbacks you'll see. Eastern
Washington's Vernon Adams and Eastern Illinois's Jimmy
Garoppolo. Those guys are scary. If you have a quarterback
that can play and control the field, you've got a chance at beating North Dakota State.
[clapping]
[cheering fans]
>>Rameen Karbassioon: Production for Panther Sports Talk is brought to you in part by:
Johnson's Automotive Service is a proud supporter of
Panther sports on WEIU. Johnson's is a complete car facility
for all your automotive repair and maintenance needs. Johnson's Automotive Service, keeping
your life running.
[music]