CHAMPAIGN | Even though their campuses are less than 50 miles apart, Illinois and Eastern Illinois have never met on the football field. That will change Saturday when the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Panthers take on the Illini — last season’s Big Ten doormat —at Memorial Stadium.

“It’s a way for our players to assess themselves and compete against the upper echelon of college football,” EIU’s acting head coach Mark Hutson said Tuesday. Hutson will be on the sidelines in place of Bob Spoo, who will miss his 20th season opener and likely several more weeks because of surgery for an undisclosed medical problem.

Eastern won the Division I-AA Ohio Valley Conference with an 8-0 record on their way to a 9-3 season last year, and they return 16 of 22 starters.