Tweet #LOYALandTRUE

The 2022 football season is just under ten weeks away as Eastern Illinois will open the year with a Thursday night contest at Mid-American Conference member Northern Illinois with a Sept. 1 kickoff in DeKalb.  
 
On Friday, EIU announced its future FBS dates through the 2026 season which includes two games against Big Ten Conference members and a trip to perennial power house program Alabama in 2025.
 
EIU will play at Bowling Green for the 2023 season in what will be the first meeting between the two programs on the gridiron.  EIU and Bowling Green will meet on Sept. 9.  EIU has five FBS wins against teams from the Mid-American Conference with the last coming in 2016 at Miami (Ohio).
 
EIU will travel just up the road for its 2024 FBS game as the Panthers will play at Illinois on Sept. 21.  This will be the third meeting between the schools separated by just under an hour.  The last EIU visit to Memorial Stadium was in 2008.
 
The Panthers will play at multiple-time national champion Alabama on November 22, 2025.  It will be the first meeting between the two schools and third time that EIU has played a member of the Southeastern Conference.  The Panthers opened last season at South Carolina and also played at Arkansas in 2018.
 
EIU's final announced future FBS game will be a return trip to Minnesota for the 2026 season opener on Sept. 3.  This will be the second trip for EIU to play at Minnesota after opening the 2014 at Minnesota.
 
Season ticket renewals and sales are currently taking place online at www.eiupanthers.com/FBTickets with single game tickets available for purchase on August 1.  EIU opens the 2022 season at Northern Illinois on Sept. 1 under first-year head coach Chris Wilkerson.  EIU's home schedule kicks off on Sept. 10 against Chattanooga with a 6 p.m. kickoff.  Additional home games this season are against Northwestern State (Oct. 8), Lindenwood (Oct. 15), Tennessee Tech (Oct. 29) and Southeast Missouri (Nov. 12).