2001 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team

2001 Eastern Illinois Panthers football
2001 Eastern Illinois Panthers football
OVC champion
NCAA Division I-AA First Round, L 43–49 at Northern Iowa
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 9
Record	9–2 (6–0 OVC)
Head coach	Bob Spoo (15th season);
Offensive coordinator	Roy Wittke (12th season)
Home stadium	O'Brien Stadium
	Seasons ← 2000 2002 →

The 2001 Eastern Illinois Panthers represented Eastern Illinois University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) during the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by 15th-year head coach Bob Spoo, the Panthers compiled an overall record of 9–2, winning the OVC title with a conference mark of 6–1. Eastern Illinois was invited to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they lost in the first round to Northern Iowa. The Bobcats were ranked ninth in the final Sports Network poll.

2001 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 9 Eastern Illinois $^	6	–	0	9	–	1
No. 18 Eastern Kentucky	5	–	1	8	–	2
No. 23 Tennessee Tech	4	–	2	7	–	3
No. 25 Tennessee State	3	–	3	8	–	3
Murray State	2	–	4	4	–	6
Southeast Missouri State	1	–	5	4	–	7
Tennessee–Martin	0	–	6	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule edit

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 8		Indiana State*	No. 12	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	W 44–14		^[1]
September 15		at Illinois State*	No. 11	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (rivalry)	Canceled		^[2]
September 22		at Eastern Kentucky	No. 11	Roy Kidd Stadium Richmond, KY	W 21–14		^[3]
September 29		Tennessee Tech	No. 8	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	W 44–33		^[4]
October 6	10:00 p.m.	at San Diego State*	No. 6	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA	L 7–40	20,064
October 13		Southeast Missouri State	No. 10	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	W 12–0
October 20	1:30 p.m.	at Southern Illinois*	No. 9	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	W 49–21	5,150	^[5]
October 27		No. 13 Tennessee State	No. 9	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	W 52–49		^[6]
November 1		at Tennessee–Martin	No. 6	Graham Stadium Martin, TN	W 56–16
November 10	3:00 p.m.	at Florida Atlantic*	No. 4	Pro Player Stadium Miami Gardens, FL	W 38–10	10,286
November 17	2:38 p.m.	Murray State	No. 3	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	W 37–6	5,243
December 1		at No. 6 Northern Iowa*	No. 3	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA (NCAA Division I-AA First Round)	L 43–49
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^ "College football:". The Tennessean. September 10, 2001 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Reinhardt, Randy (September 15, 2001). "Redbirds return to 11 games". The Pantagraph. p. B1. Retrieved December 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Brown, C. L. (September 23, 2001). "EKU improves but falls again to Eastern Illinois". The Courier-Journal – via Newspapers.com.
^ Nielson, Brian (October 1, 2001). "Panthers play sloppy, beat Tennessee Tech". Journal Gazette – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Taylor runs wild in EIU win". Herald and Review. October 21, 2001. p. C10. Retrieved January 13, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "EIU takes control of OVC race". Herald and Review. October 28, 2001. Retrieved March 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "EIU Football Online Guide, 2019" (PDF). Eastern Illinois athletics. Retrieved February 12, 2020.