Eastern will take its football road-show to the I-A level once again next year.

The Panthers will open up its 2003 football season on the road at I-A Missouri Tigers Saturday Sept. 13.

“We are looking forward to this game against a competitive school,” Missouri Associate Athletic Director Ed Stewart said.

Director of Athletics Rich McDuffie confirmed he had been searching for a I-A opponent since last November, but suddenly started contacting Missouri about a month ago.

“I talked to a friend down there and the conversations were off-and-on until Tuesday,” McDuffie said.

The Big 12 conference opponent fell into a problem last month when the 2002 I-AA national champion Western Kentucky decided to drop Missouri from its schedule to fill its schedule with a different opponent.

“We originally had the spot filled, but we are now excited to find a new school to play,” Missouri Director of Football Operations Mark Allnut said.

“Western Kentucky has dropped both of its I-A games to play Auburn,” McDuffie said.

Eastern opened its 2002 season with I-A bowl qualifiers Hawaii and Kansas State and were outscored by a combined 124-49.

“The two main reasons that we take a game like this is obviously money and the ability to test ourselves with better people,” McDuffie said.

Eastern will be paid $180,000 in return for playing Missouri which is $70,000 less than the Panthers received from fellow Big 12 member Kansas State last season.

“Honestly, the price of these games are going down every year,” McDuffie said.

“We’ve picked up a newspaper and read about outrageous prices being given every season,” Stewart said.

Last season, the Tigers finished 5-7 but earned victories over Illinois, Texas A&M and Kansas. However, if Missouri found itself in a position where they would be one win shy of bowl eligibility, they could use a win against Eastern this season.

“We aren’t in a position to win 10 games a year so we need all the wins we can get,” Stewart said. “We considered the rule when we decided to look at I-AA.”

The last time Missouri competed against a I-AA school was in 1999 when they played Western Illinois, but the Tigers will treat Eastern no differently than the two previous I-A opponents they will play (Illinois and Ball State).

“We are going to play them like they are I-A and stress to our kids that this is not a pushover game,” Alnutt said.

McDuffie was very pleased by the location of the opponent and the reputation of the program.

“The Tigers are one of the most improved teams in the Big 12 and the proximity to Eastern should allow fans to attend that game,” McDuffie said.

This means Eastern’s non-conference football schedule is set for the next two seasons with Central Michigan being the I-A opponent for 2004 along with traditional I-AA foes Illinois State and Indiana State.