RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University's football Colonels face a formidable foe Saturday as the powerful Appalachian State University Mountaineers, 8-1 on the season and ranked third in the nation this week, come calling at EKU's Roy Kidd Stadium in a 1:30 p.m. game.

EKU, 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the OVC, enters the contest off its second straight win, a 19-7 decision over conference foe Southeast Missouri. Appalachian State, who took out most of its starters at halftime after leading 37-0 at the break, blanked VMI, 51-0 in its last outing.

"They're for real," said EKU head coach Roy Kidd who gained the 285^th win of his career with the victory over Southeast Missouri. "They are very talented at the skill positions, have a big offensive line and are tough on defense, plus have a good kicking game. We need to keep playing with emotion and intensity to have a chance to stay with this team."

Appalachian State presents a balanced offense, led by runningback Terrence McCall's 744 yards rushing and quarterback David Reaves' 981 yards passing on 77-133 passes for four TD's. Sophomore split end Darryl Skinner leads ASU receivers with 33 catches for 546 yards and three TD's.

As a team, Appalachian State is averaging 202.4 yards rushing and 169.8 passing, while giving up 156.3 yards on the ground and 127.4 passing.

In last week's hard-fought win over SEMO, Colonel quarterback Jon Denton and wide receiver Rondel Menendez had record-breaking afternoons. Denton hit 13-23 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 18 TD passes on the season, breaking Mike Whitaker's 1986 Eastern mark for a single season of 16.

Menendez continued his record-breaking Colonel career by grabbing two TD passes, vaulting him into the No. 1 all-time slot at Eastern for career TD catches with 25, breaking Aaron Marsh's (1964-67) record of 24. On the day, he caught six passes for 161 yards and now has 140 career receptions, good for third place on the Colonels' all-time list behind Marsh with 147 and Bobby Washington's (1994-97) career-best 154 grabs.

The EKU defense stepped up to the challenge of losing both starting defensive tackles the week before the SEMO game to injury. After an opening-drive touchdown, Eastern held the Indians scoreless the rest of the game and yielded but 260 yards of total offense to the Indians all afternoon.

Linebackers Brad Folke and Charles Tinsley led the charge for Eastern with 11 and eight hits, respectively, and one sack each. EKU had five sacks against SEMO, a season high.

Tickets for the EKU-ASU game are available at the EKU Athletics Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum. The ticket windows open at the stadium Saturday at 11 a.m.