RICHMOND, Ky. - With their backs against the wall, the Eastern Kentucky University football Colonels will be forced to win out and hope for an upset now if they still entertain any notions of being 1999 Ohio Valley Conference football champions.

Eastern meets the second of three other contenders for the OVC crown Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m. (CST) when the Colonels will do battle with the Murray State Racers in a regionally-televised game on the FOX Sports Net South television network.

EKU, 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference, was defeated 33-28 in Nashville's Adelphia Coliseum last Saturday afternoon by the second-ranked and undefeated Tennessee State Tigers, while Murray State (5-3, 4-1 OVC) was winning its fourth game in a row with a 22-11 defeat of Tennessee Tech in Cookeville.

"We know now we have to win out to have a chance at a share of the OVC championship," said EKU head coach Roy Kidd. "We played an awfully good football team last Saturday in Tennessee State with outstanding overall team speed. If we caught them out of position, they still had enough speed to get back and make the play, and that kept us from scoring a couple of times."

EKU fell behind early, 19-3, only to rally and take a 22-19 lead early in the third quarter. But the Tigers came right back with two touchdowns and the Colonels could get no closer than the final five-point margin.

"There was a lot of emotion and it was very intense out there on that field since it was such a big game. We didn't hold our composure very well a couple of times and it cost us dearly," said Kidd, noting his team's 11 penalty infractions for 97 yards lost in miscues.

EKU mustered only 245 yards of total offense as quarterback Waylon Chapman left the game early in the fourth quarter with a slightly separated throwing shoulder. Tailback Corey Crume led Eastern in rushing with 95 yards, while teammate Derick Logan added 91 yards on the ground. Logan also threw a one-yard TD pass to Chapman.

Murray State is led by an excellent passing attack, spearheaded by senior quarterback Justin Fuente and the receiver duo of Terrence Tillman and Joe Perez.

Fuente has hit 169-284 passes for 2,288 yards and 15 touchdowns. He ranks fourth in the league in passing efficiency with his 140.4 mark, just behind Chapman's 141.8 efficiency mark.

Tillman and Perez are the top two receivers in the conference with 47 and 43 catches, respectively. Tillman has racked up 765 yards receiving and nine TD's, while Perez has 610 yards on receptions and three TD's.

Eastern's receiver duo of of Alex Bannister and Tyrone Browning have 34 and 28 catches, respectively. Bannister has caught six TD passes, while Browning has hauled in four.