MID-AMERICA CLASSIC HIGHLIGHTS

LONG-RUNNING SERIES BETWEEN ILLINOIS STATE, EASTERN ILLINOIS

114th Meeting Saturday in Normal

By Tom Emery

Illinois State and Eastern Illinois have been playing each other in football since Theodore Roosevelt was in office. The game is so special that it even has a name.

It’s the Mid-America Classic, the title given in 2012 to one of the longest-running rivalries in college football in the state.

The two schools will meet for the 114th time on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 2 p.m. at Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State campus. Illinois State holds a 61-43-9 advantage in the series, which dates to 1901.

Illinois State (3-0) is coming off a 28-24 road win at FBS opponent Northern Illinois on Saturday. The Redbirds were ranked in the top five in both FCS polls as of the weekend. Eastern (1-2) lost 42-35 at home to Indiana State Saturday.

ISU won the last matchup with EIU, a 42-30 shootout on Sept. 13, 2025 in Charleston. The Redbirds have captured seven of the last eight meetings, and have won 20 of the last 27 matchups since 1998.

The title of “Mid-America Classic” was introduced for the 100th game of the series in 2012. A travelling trophy was also inaugurated that season, which adds to the mystique of the century-old rivalry.

This fall, Illinois State is coming off a Cinderella run to the national title game in the Football Championship Series (FCS) division of the NCAA.

The Redbirds, who also advanced to the championship game in 2014, play in the powerful Missouri Valley Conference, which has placed a team in the national title game for fifteen straight years, winning twelve times.

ISU was picked second in the MVC preseason poll. Five MVC teams were in the top twelve of the FCS polls as of last weekend.

 

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Eastern has been mired in a prolonged down spell, as the Panthers have finished under .500 in seven of the last eight seasons.

Both schools have supplied a remarkable amount of NFL talent. Eastern Illinois produced quarterbacks Tony Romo, who holds many Dallas franchise passing records during his career with the franchise from 2003-16, and Jimmy Garoppolo, one of the NFL’s most popular players over the last decade.        EIU also boasts several current or former NFL head coaches in Sean Payton, Mike Shanahan, and Brad Childress.

Illinois State alums include former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer and Joe Woods, the defensive backs coach for the Broncos in their Super Bowl title season of 2015. Brendan Daly, the linebackers coach for the Chiefs and an ISU staff member in 2004, has been a part of six Super Bowl title teams in New England in Kansas City.

 Brock Spack, who is in his eighteenth year as ISU head coach, spent the 1987-90 seasons as an assistant at Eastern Illinois, where he earned a master’s in physical education.

Not surprisingly, the Mid-America Classic has produced a legacy of outstanding games and long-lasting memories. Eastern won the first meeting 28-0, on Nov. 25, 1901.

The Panthers won each of seven meetings between 1924-30, never allowing a point in any of those games. Illinois State did much the same from 1934-39, allowing no points to Eastern in six consecutive meetings. Two of those six games, however, ended in scoreless ties.

 

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On Nov. 14, 1959, the game was played in snow and ice in Normal, and finished in a 6-6 tie. Two years later, the game was back in Normal, and one of the highlights in an 18-0 ISU win was an 18-inch touchdown pass.

In 1962, the fireworks belonged to the Redbirds as Paul Whitmore broke for a 91-yard punt return – which remains the longest in ISU history – for the only points in a 6-0 win in Charleston.  In 1981, reserve defensive back Andy Fladung entered the game, picked off a school-record four passes, and led ISU to a 25-3 victory in Normal.

The teams played twice in 2006, and the regular-season meeting on September 16 was the first time that both teams were nationally ranked entering the game. The host Redbirds trailed 10-0 after one quarter, but lit up the scoreboard with 23 points in the second quarter on the way to a 44-30 win.

The teams then met in the first round of the FCS playoffs on November 25 in Normal, and ISU returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns in a 24-13 victory.

The 2012 meeting initiated the name “Mid-America Classic,” and it was a classic indeed. Redbird quarterback Matt Brown threw for five touchdowns and ran for two more, but a 25-yard scoring pass in the second overtime was the difference in a 54-51 ISU win.

It was the highest-scoring game in the history of the Classic, breaking the old record of 85, set in a 44-41 double-overtime win by ISU in Normal in September 2000.

 Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.