In baseball, there’s the saying that you can tell how a team’s season is going to go by what the first batter of the year does. If the same adage is true in football, then the Panthers are in for a great year.

On the first play of the season, tailback J.R. Taylor ran left on a sweep play, turned the corner and ran untouched 80 yards for a touchdown. It took just 16 seconds for the No. 12 ranked Panthers to get on the board in their 44-14 flogging of Indiana State. Indeed, it was a good night on offense for Eastern.

Taylor finished the game with 153 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Senior wide receiver Will Bumphus finished with three touchdown snags, finishing the game with 95 yards receving on four catches.

Senior wide out Frank Cutolo caught three passes for 67 yards.

Andre Raymond was a workhorse in the second half, racking up 97 yards on 16 carries.

And of course, Tony Romo had a perfect night from the pocket, completing all 16 of his passes for 240 yards. He now leads the nation in passing efficiency.

Taylor, Bumphus, Cutolo, Raymond and Romo are all the names that pop up in the box score and credited the most with offensive success.

But it was a question mark that was the most influential in Eastern’s success Saturday night. It was names like Scotty Gilkey, Frank Castagnoli, Jarad Kimbro, Kevin Hill, Andy Thompson, Scott Sholl, Chris Rosenlund, Mike Bujnak that were the men behind the scenes Saturday.

These linmen were the guys that gave Romo all the time in the world to throw and Taylor holes big enough to drive trucks through. And entering the game, it was this group that head coach Bob Spoo had his doubts about.

They o-line passed their first test with flying colors.

“They were a question mark coming in. We weren’t sure how they would perform,” Spoo said. “But if they do this next week, it won’t be a question mark any more.”

There’s definitely no question that Romo had all the protection he could have asked for.

“I didn’t get touched all night. I didn’t even feel any pressure,” he said. “I rolled out once and that was just to buy myself some more time on that last touchdown pass. The offensive line did a tremendous job.”

That o-line, which has little depth, will be the biggest keys to the season. If this group of unheralded heroes can continue to win the war in the trenches as they did Saturday night while managing to stay healthy, then Taylor, Bumphus, Cutolo, Raymond and Romo are likely to have a big year in the box scores.