The Lindenwood Lions will play Eastern Illinois, Saturday at Hunter Stadium. (Photo: Terrance Williams)
Lindenwood Football – Gameday Info
Game No. 9 – Eastern Illinois (5-3, 1-2) at Lindenwood (3-5, 1-3)
Date/Time – November 4, 2023 – 2 pm
Location – Hunter Stadium — St. Charles, MO
Broadcast – ESPN+
Live Stats – Sidearm Stats
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
ST. CHARLES, MO — It’s Homecoming Weekend at Lindenwood University and the battered and bruised Lions football team will look to get back onto the winning track when it hosts Eastern Illinois, Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium.
Lindenwood is coming off its second extensive road trip of the season, after having not played at home since October 7. And its been a rough time away for the Lions, who lost both of its most recent road games and are in ta stretch where they’ve lost four of their last five.
Things have also been tough for Lindenwood lately because the injuries keep mounting. The Lions had already lost starting QB Cole Dugger and starting RB Robert Giaimo. And just last week, they also lost backup QB Carter Davis to a season-ending wrist injury.
The Lindenwood defense has also had injury issues as well.
But nobody’s gonna cry for you in the football world. The only way to get through any issues a team has is to work through them. And that’s what the Lions will have to do in its final two games of the season.
This week, Lindenwood will take on an Eastern Illinois team that is coming off a bye and looking to clinch its first winning season since 2017. The Panthers are 5-3 on the year and were among the teams receiving votes in this week’s AFCA FCS Coaches Top 25 national poll.
Players to Watch: On the Lindenwood side, all eyes will be on the quarterback spot, where true freshman Tyler Kubat will make his first collegiate start. The 6-foot-5, 221-pounder from Fort Collins, Colo., saw his first action last week and faired pretty well, even though the team was behind big against Tennessee State.
Kubat completed seven-of-13 passes for 114 yards and threw two touchdown passes. He came in in the fourth quarter, after Davis got hurt and third-stringer Cooper Justice, who might also see some action on Saturday, completed just one of the eight passes he threw.
Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Caldwell, Jr., is second in the Big South-OVC with 584 receiving yards, but leads the league with eight touchdown catches and also has a 20.1 yards per catch average. Teammate Spencer Redd has three touchdown catches this season.
With Giaimo out, senior Justin Williams and sophomore Jared Rhodes will likely see most of the carries out of the backfield.
Eastern Illinois’ offense is led by junior quarterback Pierce Holley, who was named Big South-OVC Offensive Player of the Week following the Panthers’ last game, a 25-24 overtime victory over Bryant on October 21. In that game, Holley rushed for three touchdowns and scored the game-winning two-point conversion for the Panthers.
As a passer, Holley leads the conference with 2,149 yards, has 13 touchdown passes, and a 133.6 quarterback efficiency rating. EIU’s top receivers are Eli Mirza (45-493), Justin Thomas (27-339 4 TDs), and Justin Bowick (29-431), who leads the team with five touchdown catches.
Up Next: Lindenwood will close out the 2023 season at home next Saturday, when it hosts Bryant University. That contest at Hunter Stadium, is slated for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Probable Starters
Lindenwood Offense Lindenwood Defense
QB – 9 Tyler Kubat – Fr. DE – 4 Kobe McClendon – So.
RB – 33 Jared Rhodes – Fr. DT – 8 Moses Ale – Sr.
WR – 10 Spencer Redd – Sr. DT – 99 Makai Finau – Fr.
WR – 19 Jeff Caldwell – Sr. DE – 30 Donnie Wingate – Fr.
WR – 81 Ronnie Thomas – Jr. LB – 20 Ethan Stuhlsatz – So.
LT – 78 Gareth Warren – Jr. LB – 52 Brenden Dye – So.
LG – 68 Joe Becker – So. LB – 40 Tyrone Griffin – Jr.
C – 60 George Miki-Han – So. CB – 14 Tre Bell – Fr.
RG – 71 Jacob Swihart – Jr. FS – 1 Taylen Blaylock – So.
RT – 74 Ethan Johnson – So. SS – 11 Mann McGruder – Sr.
TE – 18 Chase Lanckreit – Jr. CB – 24 Wesley Hines – Sr.
PK – 43 Logan Siebert – So. P – 95 Patrick Turner – Fr.
Eastern Illinois Offense Eastern Illinois Defense
QB – 3 Pierce Holley – Jr. DE – 91 Nicholas Oliveira-Chace – Jr.
RB – 20 MJ Flowers – Fr. NT – 92 Colby Smith – Jr.
WR – 1 Justin Bowick – So. DT – 56 Tre’jon Lewis – Jr.
WR – 4 Justin Thomas – Sr. DL – 6 Joel Barrows – Jr.
WR – 7 Eli Mirza – Jr. LB – 5 Anthony Shockey – Jr.
LT – 67 Chad Strickland – Sr. LB – 1 Elijawah Tolbert – Jr.
LG – 72 Elkhana Tanelus – Sr. CB – 7 Tyris Harvey – Jr.
C – 55 Drew Wilder – So. S – 12 Nick Coates – Jr.
RG – 71 Sebastian Pares – Jr. S – 4 Blake Ruffin – So.
RT – 54 Nic DiSanto – Fr. S – 2 Mark Aitken – Jr.
TE – 11 Eli Manaves – Jr. CB – 3 Russell Dandy – Sr.
PK – 53 Stone Galloway – Sr. P – 93 Jacob Horvath – Fr.
| 2023 Lindenwood Lions Football Schedule |
| Sat., November 4 — vs. Eastern Illinois* — 2 pm |
| Sat., November 11 — vs. Bryant* — 1 pm |
| * – denotes Big South-Ohio Valley Conference game |
| All Lindenwood home games will be played at Harlen C. Hunter Stadium |