NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State and Eastern Illinois announced today that the 100th meeting in the long time in-state rivalry will be carried live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The game will take place on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 6:30 p.m. at EIU's O'Brien Field and serve as the kick off to the 2011 football season for both teams. Dan Roan and John Jurkovic will provide the play-by-play and color for the game.
Illinois State is coached by Brock Spack, who is entering his third season as the Redbirds' head coach following a long stint as the defensive coordinator at Purdue. Spack was a member of Eastern Illinois head coach Bob Spoo's first staff at EIU in 1987.
Eastern Illinois is led by Spoo, who announced that the 2011 season will be his 25th and final season as the Panthers head coach. The season will also mark the end of a 50-year coaching career which started in the prep ranks at Chicago's Fenwick High School in 1961.
Illinois State currently leads the all-time series 51-39-9. The first meeting took place in 1901 and the two schools have met every season since 1912 with the exception of World War I and World War II, when the schools did not field a football team. The series was also halted in 2001 when the scheduled meeting between EIU and ISU was cancelled following the 9/11 attack. The two teams met twice in the 2006 season, once in the regular season and once in the opening round of the FCS playoffs.
"It's great to be able to kickoff Coach Spack's third season with such a historic game," Illinois State Director of Athletics Gary Friedman said. "We are also thankful for the leadership at Comcast SportsNet Chicago and their continued support of Illinois State Athletics and the Missouri Valley Football Conference. I also appreciate all the time and effort that has already gone into the planning of this memorable event by both athletic departments at Illinois State and Eastern Illinois."
"I think this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the 100th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Illinois State," said Eastern Illinois athletic director Barbara Burke. "To be able to put this game on Comcast SportsNet in the Chicago area will only add to the excitement of this historic game. I would like to thank my staff for helping to put this game together and thank Illinois State, the Ohio Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference for partnering with us on this game."
"We're very pleased to provide our viewers with live coverage of this special 100th meeting between these two collegiate state rivals," said Greg Bowman, Vice President of Programming for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
Comcast Sports Group, part of the NBC Sports Group, consists of 14 local networks that deliver 2,400 sporting events annually and breaking news and analysis to more than 50 million cable and satellite homes. Comcast Sports Group's networks are: Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, Comcast SportsNet California, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Northwest, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, SNY, The Mtn. - Mountain West Sports Network, CSS and Comcast Sports Southwest. Comcast Sports Group also manages NECN (New England Cable News), the nation's largest regional news network, and The Comcast Network, based in Philadelphia and Washington, which delivers community-oriented programming. For more information, visit CSNChicago.com or ComcastSportsNet.com.
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