# 2013 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team

The 2013 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team represented Eastern Illinois University as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) during the 2013 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by Dino Babers in his second and final season as head coach, the Panthers compiled an overall record of 12–2 overall with a mark of 8–0 in conference play, winning the OVC title for the second consecutive season. Eastern Illinois earned the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where the Panthers defeated Tennessee State in the second round before losing to Towson in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at O'Brien Field in Charleston, Illinois.
On December 18, Babers resigned to become the head football coach at Bowling Green State University.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 31 | 7:00 pm | at San Diego State* | No. 21 | Qualcomm StadiumSan Diego, CA | MWN | W 40–19 | 42,978 |
| September 7 | 6:00 pm | at Southern Illinois* | No. 14 | Saluki StadiumCarbondale, IL | | W 40–37 $^{2OT}$ | 10,038 |
| September 14 | 6:00 pm | No. 18 Illinois State* | No. 9 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL (Mid-America Classic) | WEIU | W 57–24 | 10,741 |
| September 21 | 7:00 pm | at Northern Illinois* | No. 8 | Huskie StadiumDeKalb, IL | ESPN3 | L 39–43 | 23,595 |
| September 28 | 1:30 pm | Eastern Kentucky | No. 8 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL | ESPN3 | W 42–7 | 11,469 |
| October 12 | 6:00 pm | at Austin Peay | No. 5 | Governors StadiumClarksville, TN | OVCDN | W 63–7 | 5,501 |
| October 19 | 1:30 pm | Southeast Missouri State | No. 3 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL | WEIU | W 55–33 | 11,569 |
| October 26 | 4:00 pm | at No. 21 Tennessee State | No. 2 | LP FieldNashville, TN | OVCDN | W 34–16 | 22,157 |
| November 2 | 12:00 pm | Tennessee Tech | No. 2 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL | WEIU | W 56–21 | 6,939 |
| November 9 | 12:00 pm | at Murray State | No. 2 | Roy Stewart StadiumMurray, KY | OVCDN | W 37–17 | 3,119 |
| November 16 | 12:00 pm | No. 22 Jacksonville State | No. 2 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL | ESPN3 | W 52–14 | 6,693 |
| November 23 | 1:00 pm | at UT Martin | No. 2 | Graham StadiumMartin, TN | ESPN3 | W 70–22 | 3,167 |
| December 7 | 1:00 pm | No. 19 Tennessee State* | No. 2 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 51–10 | 4,825 |
| December 13 | 7:00 pm | No. 5 Towson* | No. 2 | O'Brien FieldCharleston, IL (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN2 | L 39–49 | 3,850 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### San Diego State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • #21 (FCS) Panthers | 7 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 40 |
| Aztecs | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 19 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final |
| Sports Network | 21 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Coaches | 23 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |