Football team will take a Thanksgiving road trip this year

The Division I-AA football season officially kicked off this weekend as all but three of the nation’s Top 25 teams played their first game of the year. Eastern was one of the three that weren’t in action Saturday. The Panthers open up their season at home on this weekend against Indiana State.

Eastern remains ranked No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, but dropped from 11th to 12th in the Sports Network poll, which receives votes from both the media and university sports information directors.

The Panthers finished last season ranked No. 17 after being defeated by No. 1 ranked Montana in the first round of the playoffs. The early season question this year is where will Eastern finish in the polls and will it be good enough to host a first-round playoff game? This of course, is assuming the Panthers will win the Ohio Valley Conference as they should.

I realize these are high expectations considering the season hasn’t started yet. But when the defending Ohio Valley Conference champ, Western Kentucky, leaves the conference, the OVC’s talent pool drops considerably.

The top 16 teams get into the four-round bracket for the national championship. The top eight teams host first-round games. So what will it take for the Panthers to bring a playoff game to O’Brien Stadium for the first time since 1986? Only one loss, maybe two if they’re lucky.

Looking at the strength of Eastern’s schedule11-game schedule the only way to ensure a finish in the Top 8 would be to only lose one game. With Division I opponent San Diego State on the schedule, that may mean going a perfect 10-0 against I-AA teams.

If Eastern does lose to the Aztecs, another loss to a I-AA opponent shouldn’t be enough to push the Panthers out of the Top 8, but that’s not a given. What is a given is that Eastern’s schedule isn’t all that strong compared to several other I-AA teams who will face off against multiple ranked opponents.

The Panthers only ranked foe is Illinois State, who dropped from No. 16 to No. 21 after a 48-7 loss to Western Michigan last weekend. A weaker OVC this season won’t help the Panthers much either. The six other conference school combined for 15-27 record in the OVC a year ago.

Eastern’s only other two non-conference opponents aren’t very formidable either. Indiana State is arguably one of the worst teams in the nation, finishing 1-10 last year and Florida Atlantic never even had a team until this season.

So, will Eastern students will be bundled up for playoff football in November at O’Brien Stadium? They should, but one let-down, one bad day at the office against a mediocre opponent will cost them that chance.

This team appears to be pretty good, but my gut tells me a weak conference schedule and a Saturday slip up will probably leave Eastern with another long, Thanksgiving road trip.