The Panther football team will try to uphold its No. 8 national ranking and preseason pick to win the Ohio Valley Conference at 2:30 p.m. at O’Brien Stadium against Tennessee Tech, the league’s No. 2 preseason favorite.

“All of our games against them have been nailbiters, and I don’t expect this one to be any different,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “It’s going to be a big time game, I’m sure of that.”

While Spoo said his team is in the driver’s seat for a conference championship after last week’s 21-17 road win after Eastern Kentucky, a win Saturday would place the Panthers (2-0, 1-0) atop the conference standings with wins over the preseason Nos. 2 and 3 preseason picks under their belt. With three of their four remaining conference games at home after this weekend, Saturday’s game has the makings of an early season OVC championship game.

“We have to play them one at a time and a lot of the teams throughout the conference have improved greatly,” Spoo said. “Having four of your six conference games at home is a great advantage, but you still have to go out there, play and execute.” For Tech (2-1, 0-0), Saturday’s games marks their conference-opener as the Golden Eagles’ only loss came in a 42-0 rout at Air Force. Tech’s two wins have been blowouts over Division II opponents Fayetteville State and West Virginia Tech.

“It’s a very untypical Tech team,” Spoo said. “Last year they really started becoming very diversified offensively. They’ve got every imaginable formation and play.

“It seems like every big play you seen on television – they’ve got it.”

Complementing that new offensive look are three talented running backs in senior Travis Rogers, senior Nick Solomon and sophomore Oscar Bonds. Combined, the three backs are averaging 168 rushing yards per game with Bonds leading the way, averaging 69.3 yards.

“They have three very fine running backs,” Spoo said. “They are very, very good hard runners who finish every play.”

Quarterback Grant Swallows will take the snaps for Tech. The senior is second in the conference in passing efficiency behind Eastern quarterback Tony Romo.

“He’s got a good arm and he’s a winner,” Spoo said of Swallows. “As a starter, he’s 12-6.”

The Golden Eagles also tout last year’s first team All-OVC kicker David Collett.

“They have a good kicker to top off that offense,” Spoo said. “He’s got as good of a leg as I’ve seen.”

Romo watch

Romo, Eastern’s contender for the Payton award, given to the nation’s best Division I-AA player, will lead the Panther offense.

He’s coming off a personal sub-par performance last week at EKU. Romo was 13-23 passing with two interceptions while being sacked four times.

After a season-opening 16-for-16 performance, Romo is the IAA’s No. 3 passing efficiency leader, completing 74 percent of his passes for 374 yards and five touchdowns in two games.

Bumphus out

Wide receiver Will Bumphus is out for the year after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in last week’s win at EKU. Offensive tackle Ramiro Avina is expected to retake the field after nursing a hamstring injury the first two games of the season.

In the backfield

J.R. Taylor, who leads the team with 105.5 rushing yards per game is expected to start after suffering a minor rib injury last weekend. Andre Raymond will also share the rushing duties as he leads the team with 116.5 all-purpose yards per game.

Safety precautions

Saturday’s game marks the first for Eastern since the Sept. 11 terrorist tragedy. As a result, athletic director Rich McDuffie announced the following precautions that will be taken at Saturday’s game.

Any persons or vehicles entering the tailgate area are subject to search

Vehicles will not be allowed to leae the tailgate area until the end of the third quarter.

No kegs or bottles will be allowed in the tailgate area

The tailgate area will be closed down 20 minutes prior to the 2:30 game time

Individuals with large bags and coolers will be permitted from entering the stadium.

A special pre-game ceremony paying tribute to America will take place before the game. The band will play and a group of Greeks will sing the national anthem.

At halftime the marching band will lead the crowd in the singing of “God Bless America”

There will be an increased presence of campus police at the game.

“Hopefully everyone understands these are steps that need to be taken,” McDuffie said. “It’s better to be safe then to wish we had done something.”

On television again

This weekend’s game will once again be broadcast regionally on Fox Sports South and on WEIU-TV locally. Dave Kidwell, Eastern’s assistant athletic director for Sports Information and Marketing, said he didn’t think the game being on television would affect the turnout at the game.

“It’s a chance for other people in our region to see us play,” he said. “I always think of that guy sitting in Tuscola saying, `Gee, Tony Romo throws the ball just as well as Kurt Kittner does at Illinois.’ And then two weeks later, he comes down for the game.”