Eastern’s football team will only have to travel 105 miles to Normal on Saturday – its second shortest road trip of the season.

But those 105 miles will leave plenty of time for the Panthers to think about what a win in Normal will mean.

A second straight win. Momentum headed into Ohio Valley Conference play. Redemption.

The Panthers have lost their last six games against Illinois State including two losses in 2006.

But the losses haven’t all been blowouts.

The 2003 season brought a seven-point defeat, and the Redbirds won by four in 2004.

A 29-point loss in 2005 was the worst.

Illinois State won by 14 and 11 points during the 2006 season and by just three points last year.

The Eastern-Illinois State game is the Panthers’ most storied rivalry.

Saturday’s game will be the 97th meeting between the two schools with the Redbirds holding a 50-37-9 series lead.

Illinois State has been the proverbial thorn in Eastern’s side. The Panthers just can’t seem to find a way to beat the Redbirds, although last year’s three-point loss was perhaps a sign of a shift in the series’ momentum.

“You don’t have to do anything around here to get us up for Illinois State,” Eastern red-shirt senior defensive tackle Jeff Sobol said. “It’s definitely a big game for us. We want to go out, and we want to beat them.”

The Panthers got a little momentum with their 38-3 win against Indiana State on Saturday night at O’Brien Stadium.

The Sycamores really aren’t a good football team, but Eastern had solid effort in all three phases of the game.

It was a result they needed headed into the game against Illinois State.

“We get to enjoy it for about 24 hours, and we’ve got to get working on Illinois State,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “That’s a team that’s gotten to us for (six) straight games. We’ve got to come back tomorrow and do our work and be business like all week and get the job done.”

With the Sycamores’ lack of success during the last three seasons, it would have been easy for Eastern to look past a team that hasn’t won a game since Oct. 21, 2006, and to the team that has been a hurdle the Panthers have stumbled over. But Eastern red-shirt sophomore wide receiver Charles Graves said that didn’t happen.

“We didn’t look past Indiana State at all,” Graves said. “They had some athletes over there. They kept (Eastern’s offense) off the field for the first quarter, so they were holding their own for a while.”

But there might be one player who’s not looking forward to the trip to Normal.

If history repeats itself, red-shirt junior quarterback Bodie Reeder might find himself out of a job Saturday.

To borrow a phrase from Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver Mushin Muhammad, the Illinois State game is where Eastern quarterbacks “go to die.”

Mike Donato lost his starting job to Cole Stinson at halftime of the 2006 game, and Stinson handed the offensive reigns to Reeder at halftime of last year’s game.

But Reeder might have caught a break with his performance against Indiana State and the fact he had an extra game before playing Illinois State.

A decent passing percentage and two touchdowns against the Sycamores might be enough to secure his spot next week.

Maybe.

Scott Richey can be reached at 581-7944 or at srrichey@eiu.edu.