EIU Vs. Tennessee State Will Be On ESPN3

On Thursday afternoon the Ohio Valley Conference released the second game of its eight game package that will air on ESPN3 this fall as part of the OVC Game of the Week.  It was announced that Eastern Illinois will play at Tennessee State on Saturday, Sept. 30 as the second of the eight games in the series.   Two additional preset match-ups will be released on Friday with the final four games to be determined as Wild Card contests.  
 
EIU will be facing TSU as part of this season’s John Merritt Classic with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.  EIU won last year’s game in Charleston, 35-34, as Nick Horne knocked down a pass at midfield to end the game after Devin Church had given EIU the lead early in the fourth quarter on a four-year touchdown pass from Mitch Kimble.  TSU missed a long field goal with three minutes remaining before EIU made its defensive stand on the final play of the game.  The Panthers have won five straight games in the series and lead the all-time series 13-7.  EIU also won on the last play of the game in 2015, its last trip to Nissan Stadium, as Jourdan Wickliffe picked off a pass in overtime after Nick Bruno gave the Panthers a 25-22 lead.
 
This marks the fifth-straight season the league has produced the Game of the Week package in conjunction with Tupelo Raycom (formerly WebStream Sports). Tupelo Raycom, a Raycom Media company, brings together Tupelo-Honey (founded 1996) and WebStream Sports (2006). With offices in New York, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Nashville and Los Angeles the company develops new programming and delivers live events, music specials and branded features for broadcast, digital and in-venue entertainment.

Kevin Ingram, host of "The Wake Up Zone" on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, will handle play-by-play duties while Bob Belvin, on-air talent and contributor at 100.7 FM/AM 540 (ESPN Clarksville), will provide analysis. The duo has worked together each of the past five years in the league's TV package.

The OVC Football Game of the Week package is part of an overall multiyear agreement with ESPN which was announced in October 2013.

ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices through the ESPN App. The network is currently available nationwide at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. It is also available at no cost to U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.

All other Conference football games and non-conference home contests (approximately 36 games) will be available on the OVC Digital Network, the League's web streaming platform that produces high-definition webcasts that are available at no cost on any computer, tablet or smart phone as well as the Roku media player.