Eastern’s football team is good – maybe too good for its own good. In their first three games of the season, the Panthers have showed they have the talent to play with any I-AA team in the country. But they’ve also shown they can play with the stupidity to give away any game to any I-AA team in the country.

After watching Eastern’s 44-33 win over Tennessee Tech, it was obvious that the Panthers could rely on their talent at any time to get them out of a jam. But in most cases, it was their own careless play and costly penalties that got the Panthers into those jams.

Eastern committed eight penalties for 73 yards Saturday. And it wasn’t just the penalties. Careless dropped passes and fumbles didn’t help Eastern’s cause on offense. J.R. Taylor continued to show that while he has exceptional running ability, he’s still prone to the occasional case of the butterfingers as he fumbled his second ball in as many games.

The junior caught a wide-open screen pass, turned to run up field, but forgot the ball. He might as well have handed it off to Tech’s James Robinson for the score. To Taylor’s credit, he did put the mistake out of his mind, rushing for 123 yards on 21 carries.

But such a lack of concentration could cost the Panthers the game against a better opponent, like this weekend’s Division I-A foe San Diego State. And Taylor was far from being the only guilty party.

Tight end Scott Gilkey was the only man within a 10-yard radius when quarterback Tony Romo’s play action pass hit him right in the numbers. But like Taylor, the senior was concerned with everything but catching the ball as he dropped the ball for an incomplete pass.

Gilkey, as hard as he is to bring down, would have rumbled for at least 15 yards on the play. Against a better team, his case of dropped ball syndrome may have proved costly as well.

And some of Eastern’s defensive backs and linebackers had the same problem. There were at least three deflected or poorly thrown passes the Panthers had a chance to pick off but couldn’t hold on.

Eastern also continued to show its cunning ability to drill guys once they are already out of bounds. After racking up two personal foul penalties for that offense last weekend, the Panther `D’ racked up another one as linebacker Fred Miller tatooed a Golden Eagle player in the endzone after a score. Again, it didn’t cost Eastern in this case, but if such problems aren’t curtailed, they will in the future.

Problems like Andre Raymond 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct when he strutted into the endzone after a touchdown run. From what I understand, the call was questionable, but if a player hands the ball to the official like they are supposed to, there’s no question at hand.

All of these aren’t problems physical mistakes that require more reps in practice, they’re mental. They’re mental, foolish mistakes the Panthers can’t and shouldn’t expect to get away with forever.

It’s one third of the way through the season, Eastern is 3-0 and will be ranked at least No. 8 in the nation entering this weekend’s face off with San Diego State. They’re in the driver’s seat for an Ohio Valley Conference Championship and shouldn’t drop a league game the rest of the way.

Ranked as high as they are, the Panthers certainly have to be considered a national championship contender.

But national champions, even conference champions, can’t get along with talent alone. Smart, clean, hard-nosed football wins championships. If the Panthers don’t learn that soon, they’re going to be a win or two short of a championship.