RICHMOND, Ky. - Saturday night in Birmingham, AL, it will be a battle of two 2-1 football teams as coach Roy Kidd will send his Eastern Kentucky University squad against the Samford University Bulldogs of coach Pete Hurt.

Samford is coming off back-to-back wins over Austin Peay (51-0) and UT Martin (32-7), after suffering a close opening-game loss to UT Chattanooga, 29-27.

Tailbacks Jerome Russell and Rashad Brewer lead the way for SU with 288 and 258 yards rushing, respectively. Both players have scored three TD's on the season.

Samford's freshman quarterback Josh Killett has hit 17-37 passes for 216 yards and one TD and has rushed for 188 yards and a score. His main target is freshman wideout Aryvia Holmes who has caught seven passes for 110 yards and a TD.

This will be the second straight game where Eastern must face an option attack on offense, although Samford also runs from an I-formation on occasion.

"They do a lot of things similar to what Indiana State showed us, but will run from the I some, too. Our kids made some good adjustments against the option at halftime Saturday and played hard. We needed that win and I believe we beat a pretty good football team in Indiana State," said Kidd.

Spurred by a second-half defense that shutout Indiana State, as the Colonels only allowed 60 total yards, Eastern was able to defeat the Sycamores, 31-24, last Saturday night at Roy Kidd Stadium.

Spearheading the EKU defense was the effort given by senior strong safety Scooter Asel who was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week. Asel collected nine solo tackles, one assist, two caused fumbles and a pass deflection as EKU gave up but 273 yards total offense on the night.

Junior quarterback Waylon Chapman had his best effort as a Colonel, hitting 16-22 passes for 153 yards and a school-record tieing four touchdowns (32, 20, 8, 7), including the game-winner of seven yards to junior wide receiver Tyrone Browning with 4:52 to go.

EKU's tailback tandem of junior Corey Crume and senior Derek Logan both rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time this season. Crume led the way with a career-best 134 yards in 23 carries, while Logan added 104 yards in 20 carries. On the season, Crume leads the way for EKU with 275 yards on the ground, while Logan, who sat out the opener with Kentucky State, has picked up 167 yards.

Six Colonels caught passes against ISU, paced by junior wideout Alex Bannister with six catches for 34 yards. Browning added four receptions for 35 yards, while Crume was able to catch three passes for 51 yards.

Defensively, senior tackle Terry Thomas and Asel are the leading tacklers on the season for the Colonels with 27 and 24 hits, respectively. Linebackers Brad Folke and Adam Rader are next with 19 tackles each.