The 1951 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team represented Eastern Illinois State College (now known as

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

) as a member of the

Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that clai ...

(IIAC) during the

1951 college football season The 1951 college football season finished with seven unbeaten major college teams, of which five were unbeaten and untied. Ultimately, the Tennessee Volunteers were voted the best team by the Associated Press, followed by the Michigan State Sparta ...

. The team was led by

Rex Darling Rex V. Darling (October 2, 1914 – October 14, 1996) was an American football, basketball, and tennis coach. He was the 12th head football coach at Eastern Illinois State College—now known as Eastern Illinois University—in Charleston, Illino ...

in his first and only season as head coach and played their home games at Lincoln Field in

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are p ...

. The Panthers finished the season with a 4–2–2 record overall and a 2–2–2 record in conference play, placing fourth in the IIAC.

Schedule

References

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

Eastern Illinois Panthers football seasons

Eastern Illinois Panthers football The Eastern Illinois Panthers football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Eastern Illinois University located in the U.S. state of Illinois. The team competes in the Division I FCS, NCAA Division I Football Championship Sub ...

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