Eastern faced its third loss of the 2024 season to Illinois State with a final score of 31-7 at Hancock Stadium Saturday evening.

This game marks the 112th time the two teams faced off in the Mid-America Classic.

Eastern’s head coach Chris Wilkerson has stressed to the team that the turnover margin is something they want to beat their opponent in.

This wasn’t the case against their Mid-America Classic rival. The turnover margin was zero as both teams recorded three turnovers.

“You’re not going to win many games with three turnovers and not finishing drives and some penalties,” Wilkerson said.

Eastern came into the game with a shaky start recording two turnovers (one fumble and one interception) during their first two drives of the game.

The lone fumble by the Panthers was done by graduate quarterback Pierce Holley at the one yard line. When redshirt junior center Drew Wilder snapped the ball for Holley to make a play, Holley couldn’t get a good handle on the ball, and the Redbirds picked up on the Panther’s inability to score on that play.

“We took the ball right down the field, and we turned it over on the goal line,” Wilkerson said.

The Redbirds scored 21 points before the Panthers put anything on the scoreboard.

Redshirt sophomore running back MJ Flowers scored Eastern’s only points in the game with a four yard catch from Holley.

Flowers felt momentum after the touchdown, and he thought that would boost the team’s chances of keeping the Mid-America Classic trophy.

“[We] came in trying to get the win and wanted the trophy to come back to Charleston, but we lost it,” Flowers said.

This rivalry is the eighth longest played non-Ivy League Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) series between both schools.

On the other side of the ball, Eastern’s defense stopped what they could.

Redshirt junior safety Kaelin Drakeford felt as the defense communicated a little better this game compared to their last game, an a 31-7 loss against Northwestern, but physically, the Panther defense couldn’t execute their assignments.

With 42 seconds left in the first half, Illinois State’s junior quarterback Jake Rubley passed up the middle, intending the pass to hit his target, senior wide receiver Jalen Carr.

But Drakeford had a different idea, as he jumped up to grab the ball, causing an interception from the Redbirds.

“Initially I thought it [was] a penalty,” Drakeford said. “I thought we jumped offsides. It was just catch the ball, get down, [and] get to the next play.”

With some disconnect out on the field, Drakeford hopes to find out what it is to improve for next week.

After the loss, Wilkerson didn’t have much to say about the team’s performance after the game.

“[I am] disappointed to say the least,” Wilkerson said. “We obviously weren’t ready to play and that’s my responsibility. We’re going to go back to the drawing board. It’s a tough pill to swallow tonight. Tip of the hat to the Redbirds; they outplayed us.”

Flowers noticed many challenges within the offensive groups.

“We have a lot of things to improve,” Flowers said. “The biggest thing is we have to stop self destructing ourselves on offense. We will look at the improvements and try to come back stronger next week.”

Flowers rushed for a total of 117 yards, with his longest play being 31 yards.

“Our running back did a good job. MJ Flowers, he found some holes tonight. It was nice to see him get going a little bit, Wilkerson said. “Again we couldn’t finish, we struggled up front, on the defensive front to slow down their running attack.”

Like the rest of the team, Wilkerson saw many challenges from both the offensive and defensive sides, and with the Panthers having a chunk of players injured before the game, Wilkerson is constantly figuring out who will be the next guy up if a starter goes down.

“We are a little banged up, but that’s no excuse,” Wilkerson said. “The next guy has to step up and we have to do a better job.”

Eastern is now 1-3 on the season as Illinois State was their last non-conference game.

Next week, the Panthers open their Big South-Ohio Valley Conference play facing off Lindenwood at O’Brien Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Payton Liggins can be reached at 581-2812 or at paliggins@eiu.edu.