The Panther football team will begin its quest for the first Ohio Valley Conference title in school history Saturday night at 6 p.m. win it hosts non-conference foe Indiana State.

Eastern, ranked No. 10 in the nation in the ESPN/USA Today national poll and No. 12 in the Sports Network poll, will take on an ISU team that’s coming off of a dismal 1-10 campaign a year ago. The Sycamores opened their season last week with an ugly 51-0 loss against Division IA opponent Tulsa.

“We need to remember that they have played against a IA opponent and we don’t want our team to look at the score of that game and make any mistakes about the strength of Indiana State’s team,” Panther head coach Bob Spoo said. “They always come prepared and our games with them, for the most part, have been very close games.”

Eastern will be led offensively by junior quarterback Tony Romo, last year’s conference player of the year and a preseason candidate for the Walter Payton award for the nation’s top IAA player. However, Romo, who was second in I-AA passing efficiency last season, will go without two of his top receivers Saturday.

“We know Kenny Alsop will not play and Devin O’Neil is injured and probably won’t play for an extended amount of time,” Spoo said. “We still have Frank Cutolo and Will Bumphus, but we’ll have to use younger, more inexperienced guys to replace the other two.”

Adding to the lack of depth on the offensive line will be the absence of offensive guard Ramiro Avina, who is out with a hamstring injury. O’Neil is sidelined with a broken collarbone along with backup quarterback Todd Bridge who is nursing a bad back.

On the other side of the ball, defensive back Obinno Coley is fighting an ankle injury while defensive tackle Damien McCottrell is trying to overcome a rib injury. Both are probable for Saturday night’s game.

Spoo’s major concern entering the game is whether the thin, inexperienced lines will hold up in the team’s season opener.

“With Ramiro Avina not being able to play, four of our five offensive linemen have never played,” Spoo said. “Our defensive line isn’t very deep either. We’ll see how well some of these guys will fill others shoes, but we think we have the right combination of people.”

Spoo plans to pick apart the Sycamore defense with the right combination of the passing and running games.

“I’d like to think we’ll have a balanced attack,” Spoo said. “We were first in the conference last season in rushing and second or third in passing, scoring a lot.

“We’re prepared to do whatever it takes to win,” he said. “We’d like to be effective running the ball and that will help our passing game.”

Junior tailback J.R. Taylor will get the majority of carries for the Panthers Saturday with fullback Andre Jones joining him in the backfield. Running back Andre Raymond will likely see his share of action as well.

The Sycamores enter the game with a new offensive coordinator which forced the Panthers to change their preparation for the annual rival this season.

“They did go out and get a new offensive coordinator and I think he’s trying to do some new things with the offense, spreading out more and throwing the football,” Spoo said. “Before they were primarily an option-type football team, but we spent some time preparing for that. We’ll be ready for whatever they throw at us.”

This game is the only look Spoo will get at his team in a game situation before taking on No. 21 ranked Illinois State next week in Bloomington.

“I know myself and the rest of the coaches are real anxious to see if these guys can perform like we think they can,” Spoo said. “We hope we’ve put the right people in the right places, but if we get in this game and things aren’t right, we’ll be able to adjust that before next week.”