Eastern Illinois Panthers
OVCCharleston, ILO’Brien Stadium
2026: 2–5 (1–1 OVC). Last: lost to Lindenwood 20–13 at home. Next: Southeast Missouri State, Saturday, Oct 24, 3 p.m. ET.
- W 28–14at Murray State
- L 7–59at Minnesota
- L 35–42Indiana State
- L 13–49at Illinois State
- L 7–42at South Dakota State
- W 21–7at Gardner-Webb
- L 13–20Lindenwood
- Oct 24Southeast Missouri State
- Oct 31at UT Martin
- Nov 7Western Illinois
- Nov 14at Tennessee State
- Nov 21Charleston Southern
Eastern Illinois has played football since 1899 and is officially 537–586–44; 301 of its 1,167 games are in our file. They have won seven Ohio Valley Conference titles (the last in 2013), plus five Mid-Continent Conference titles, five Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles, one Gateway Football Conference title, one Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference title, counting shared titles. Since 1977, the NFL Draft has taken 10 players from here in its first seven rounds, 0 of them in the first round. The College Football Hall of Fame holds 1 player and 1 coach from Eastern Illinois. The most-played rival is Illinois State: 35 meetings, Illinois State leads 23–12. This season, they’re 2–5.
On this date in 2019Eastern Illinois lost to UT Martin 27–18 on the road.
Résumé
- All-time record
- 537–586–44 official; 118–183 on file; how we count
- Postseason
- 0–0 bowls, title games, playoff
- AP No. 1 finishes
- 0
- Weeks at No. 1
- 0 of 0 ranked
- Elo now
- 1203
- Computer rankings
- Massey No. 69 · Composite No. 65 in FCS, Oct 17; down 17 since Oct 11. From Massey Ratings
- Conference titles
- 19 last in 2013
- Bowl record
- 0–1 official, bowls only
- Seasons
- 47 since 1975, 301 games
Identity
- Fight song
- Eastern State March
2026 season 2–5
RosterFull 2026 season| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27 | at Murray State | W 28–14 | 48% |
| Sep 3 | at Minnesota | L 7–59 | 10% |
| Sep 12 | vs Indiana State | L 35–42 | 63% |
| Sep 19 | at Illinois State | L 13–49 | 11% |
| Sep 26 | at South Dakota State | L 7–42 | 16% |
| Oct 10 | at Gardner-Webb | W 21–7 | 25% |
| Oct 17 | vs Lindenwood | L 13–20 | 57% |
| Oct 24 | vs Southeast Missouri State | Preview | 43% |
| Oct 31 | at UT Martin | Preview | 27% |
| Nov 7 | vs Western Illinois | Preview | 52% |
| Nov 14 | at Tennessee State | Preview | 44% |
| Nov 21 | vs Charleston Southern | Preview | 47% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
This season, game by game
On the 2026 team
- Charles Kellom496 rushing yards, 6 TD (leads Eastern Illinois in rushing yards)
- Cole Lacrue868 passing yards, 7 TD (leads Eastern Illinois in passing yards)
- Ja’Wuan Nickson49 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 INT (leads Eastern Illinois in tackles)
- Lonnie Burt46 tackles
- Brandon Worsley25 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 INT (leads Eastern Illinois in interceptions)
- Aidan Archibald23 tackles, 3.5 sacks (leads Eastern Illinois in sacks)
Program greats See all
Heisman finalists, College Football Hall of Famers, consensus All-Americans, national award winners and first-round picks, for what they did at Eastern Illinois.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
Program strength since 1975
Best seasons everMost-played series
All rivalries- Illinois State
12–23 in 35
- 2016 W 24–21
- 2017 L 13–44
- 2018 L 10–48
- 2019 L 3–21
- 2021 L 24–31
- 2022 L 7–35
- 2023 W 14–13
- 2024 L 7–31
- 2025 L 30–42
- 2026 L 13–49
Lost the last three.
- Southeast Missouri State
10–12 in 22
- 2016 L 14–21
- 2017 W 19–16
- 2018 L 32–38
- 2019 L 12–26
- 2020 L 7–47
- 2021 L 15–38
- 2022 L 7–31
- 2023 L 28–35
- 2024 L 27–38
- 2025 L 13–42
Lost the last eight.
Next: Oct 24
- Indiana State
10–12 in 22
- 2008 W 38–3
- 2009 W 31–0
- 2017 W 22–20
- 2018 L 41–55
- 2019 L 6–16
- 2021 L 21–26
- 2023 W 27–0
- 2024 W 27–20
- 2025 L 14–38
- 2026 L 35–42
Lost the last two.
| Opponent | Games | EIU record |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois State | 35 | 12–23 |
| Southeast Missouri State | 22 | 10–12 |
| Indiana State | 22 | 10–12 |
| UT Martin | 22 | 6–16 |
| Tennessee State | 21 | 12–9 |
| Tennessee Tech | 20 | 13–7 |
| Murray State | 19 | 11–8 |
| Eastern Kentucky | 16 | 6–10 |
Rivals the program names: Illinois State.
Every opponent (56)
Every program Eastern Illinois has played, A to Z, with Eastern Illinois’s record against it. Each links to the series, game by game.
- Akron 1–1
- Alabama 0–1
- Arkansas 0–1
- Austin Peay 8–4
- Bowling Green 0–1
- Bryant 1–0
- BYU 0–1
- California (PA) 1–0
- Central Arkansas 0–2
- Central Michigan 0–2
- Charleston Southern 1–1
- Chattanooga 0–2
- Dayton 1–1
- Eastern Kentucky 6–10
- Eastern Michigan 1–0
- Gardner-Webb 1–2
- Hawai’i 0–3
- Illinois 0–3
- Illinois State 12–23
- Indiana 0–1
- Indiana State 10–12
- Iowa 0–1
- Iowa State 0–1
- Jacksonville State 4–12
- Kansas 0–1
- Kansas State 0–1
- Lindenwood 1–4
- McNeese 1–1
- Miami (OH) 1–0
- Minnesota 0–2
- Missouri 0–1
- Murray State 11–8
- Navy 0–1
- Northern Illinois 1–5
- Northern Iowa 0–1
- Northwestern 0–3
- Northwestern State 2–0
- Ohio 0–1
- Penn State 0–1
- Purdue 0–1
- Robert Morris 1–0
- Samford 4–1
- San Diego State 1–1
- San José State 0–1
- South Carolina 0–1
- South Dakota State 0–2
- Southeast Missouri State 10–12
- Southern Illinois 4–9
- Tennessee State 12–9
- Tennessee Tech 13–7
- Toledo 0–2
- UCF 0–2
- UT Martin 6–16
- UTEP 0–1
- Western Illinois 2–2
- Western Michigan 1–1
Conference titles
19, counting shared titles- Gateway Football Conference 1
- 1995
- Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference 1
- 1986
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 5
- 1912, 1913, 1914, 1928, 1948
As the program counts them in its Wikipedia article, shared titles included, and listed under each conference’s current name (a Western Conference title of the 1900s counts as a Big Ten title); season pages use the name the conference had that year. A title the article files under a conference the team wasn’t in that season is listed under the one it was. Division titles include years the team tied for its division.
Conferences
- Independent 1899–1911
- Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 1912–1917, 1919–1942 and 1944–1949
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 1950–1969
- Independent 1970–1977
- Mid-Continent Conference 1981–1984
- Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference 1985–1991
- Gateway Football Conference 1992–1995
- OVC 1996–2022
- Big South-OVC 2023–2024
- OVC-Big South 2025
- OVC since 2026
- 1985Joined the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference from the Mid-Continent Conference in football. Source
- 2026Joined the OVC from the OVC-Big South in football, announced June 18, 2026. Source
Eastern Illinois’s football conferences by season, from CollegeFootballData.com’s memberships (renamed conferences keep the name of the time). The moves and their announcement dates from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the year is the first season in the new conference. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the Hall of Fame
Every inductee- Players
- 1
- Coaches
- 1
| 2021 | Tony Romo QB |
| 2000 | Darrell Mudra coach, career 1959–1987 |
In the NFL Draft
By college- Drafted, rounds 1–7
- 10 since 1977
- First-round picks
- 0
The school
Eastern Illinois University- Enrollment
- 8,505 6,785 undergraduates, fall 2024
- Where
- Charleston, Illinois
- Public or private
- Public
- Founded
- 1895
- Graduates’ median earnings
- $51,989 10 years after starting
Enrollment, place and Carnegie research tier from the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS, public domain). Earnings from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard (CC BY 4.0): the median for students who received federal aid and were working, not in school. Founding year from Wikidata. Every school’s in the data.
Books
Books: Open Library (CC0), filed under the program’s Library of Congress subject heading; most-reissued first, each linked to its page there.
Season by season
National champions| Season | Record | Conf. | AP pre | AP final | Coach | Elo | SP+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1203 | ||||
| 2025 | 3–9 | 2–6 | 1158 | ||||
| 2024 | 3–9 | 2–6 | 1195 | ||||
| 2023 | 8–3 | 3–2 | 1303 | ||||
| 2022 | 2–9 | 1–5 | 1104 | ||||
| 2021 | 1–10 | 1–6 | 1090 | ||||
| 2020 | 1–5 | 1143 | |||||
| 2019 | 1–11 | 1–7 | 1128 | ||||
| 2018 | 3–8 | 3–5 | 1226 | ||||
| 2017 | 6–5 | 5–3 | 1272 | ||||
| 2016 | 6–5 | 4–4 | 1330 | ||||
| 2015 | 7–5 | 7–1 | 1365 | ||||
| 2014 | 5–7 | 5–3 | 1350 | ||||
| 2013 | 3–1 | 1400 | |||||
| 2012 | 7–5 | 6–1 | 1301 | ||||
| 2011 | 2–9 | 1–7 | 1150 | ||||
| 2010 | 2–9 | 2–6 | 1187 | ||||
| 2009 | 5–4 | 3–2 | 1320 | ||||
| 2008 | 5–7 | 3–5 | 1305 | ||||
| 2007 | 7–4 | 6–1 | 1392 | ||||
| 2006 | 8–5 | 7–1 | 1381 | ||||
| 2005 | 9–3 | 8–0 | 1384 | ||||
| 2004 | 5–6 | 4–4 | 1248 | ||||
| 2003 | 4–8 | 3–5 | 1212 | ||||
| 2002 | 0–2 | 1265 |
Every season back to 1975 (22 more)
| Season | Record | Conf. | AP pre | AP final | Coach | Elo | SP+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 0–1 | 1270 | |||||
| 2000 | 0–1 | 1282 | |||||
| 1999 | 0–3 | 1278 | |||||
| 1998 | 1–1 | 1324 | |||||
| 1996 | 1–0 | 1309 | |||||
| 1994 | 0–2 | 1247 | |||||
| 1993 | 0–1 | 1265 | |||||
| 1991 | 0–1 | 1281 | |||||
| 1990 | 0–1 | 1293 | |||||
| 1989 | 1–0 | 1300 | |||||
| 1987 | 0–2 | 1266 | |||||
| 1985 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1288 | ||||
| 1984 | 0–4 | 1247 | |||||
| 1983 | 1–3 | 1315 | |||||
| 1982 | 3–0 | 1322 | |||||
| 1981 | 0–2 | 1177 | |||||
| 1980 | 1–2 | 1232 | |||||
| 1979 | 2–0 | 1244 | |||||
| 1978 | 1–0 | 1160 | |||||
| 1977 | 0–1 | 1109 | |||||
| 1976 | 0–1 | 1106 | |||||
| 1975 | 0–1 | 1112 |
Officially 537–586–44 since 1899 (per Wikipedia, rechecked weekly); game by game here, 118–183 (301 of its 1,167 games are on file). Our file starts in 1975; the program began in 1899. Some games are missing from our source.
No season on file for 1986, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997: the program may not have played, or our source may be missing them.
Records are computed from every game on file at CollegeFootballData.com, whose coverage of the earliest seasons can be incomplete. Elo is this site’s own rating; see how it works on the records page.