2010 Football Schedule
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois will face a team that played in a BCS Bowl game last season for the third consecutive season and start a new two-game series as the Panthers unveiled their 2010 schedule.
EIU is coming off an 8-4 season in which the Panthers won their fourth Ohio Valley Conference championship while making their 13th trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs. Head coach Bob Spoo will be entering his 24th season as the Panthers head coach with the team returning several key components from last year's team that finished the season ranked 15th nationally.
The season will open on Sept. 4 as the Panthers play at Big Ten member Iowa. The Hawkeyes finished last season at 11-2 including a win over Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. This marks the fifth straight season that EIU has faced a member of the Big Ten and third straight year the Panthers have faced a BCS Bowl game participant (Penn State – 2009 (Rose Bowl) and Illinois – 2008 (Rose Bowl).
“Playing Iowa is a great opportunity for our program,” stated Spoo. “It will be a difficult challenge for our program to meet, but one I feel we will be prepared to try and tackle. I have met Coach (Kirk) Ferentz in the past and he is a wonderful man. I look forward to renewing that acquaintance.”
Following a trip to Iowa the Panthers return home for the first of five games at O'Brien Field as they start a two-game series with Southland Conference member Central Arkansas on Sept. 11. The return game in the series will be played in Conway, Ark., during the 2012 season.
EIU opens defense of its OVC title on the road with a Sept. 18 road game at UT Martin. EIU returns home for back-to-back games against Jacksonville State on Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 against Southeast Missouri. The SEMO game will serve as Family Weekend for the 2010 season.
Two road games follow on Oct. 9 at Eastern Kentucky and Oct. 16 at Tennessee Tech.
The Panthers then wrap up regular-season home action on Oct. 23 with their annual homecoming game with Murray State. Senior day will take place the following weekend against Austin Peay on Oct. 30.
The regular-season for EIU ends on the road as they play at Tennessee State on Nov. 6 before ending the year in the Prairie State Rivalry game with Illinois State on Nov. 13 in Normal. This will be the 99th meeting in the long standing series.
EIU will have an open weekend on Nov. 20 before the FCS playoffs start on Nov. 27. This season the FCS playoffs will expand to include 20 teams as the Big South Conference and Northeast Conference will now have automatic bids along with two additional at-large selections. The FCS Championship game has also been pushed back to be played on Friday, Jan. 4 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“Our two non-conference games against Central Arkansas and Illinois State will be a challenge in addition to a tough Ohio Valley Conference schedule,” Spoo added. “Central Arkansas has had good success since their transition from Division II to FCS. Illinois State under coach Brock Spack is going to be better every year. They finished 2009 strong with an upset of Northern Iowa.”
All home games this season are currently slated for 1:30 p.m. start times at O'Brien Field. Season ticket renewals will begin in late March for the 2010 season with individual game tickets going on sale in early August.
