When Eastern’s football team takes on San Diego State Saturday night at Qualcomm Stadium, a rather obscure Division I-AA team will be facing off against a nationally-known Division I-A squad. But neither the Panthers or Aztecs are approaching the game with that in mind.

“Everyone talks about how San Diego State is a big-time Division I school, but they’re all underestimating us,” sophomore linebacker Fred Miller said. “I’d like to think no one in the country can beat us, even though we’re Division I-AA. They have weak links just like we do.”

While the No. 6 ranked Panthers (3-0, 2-0) refuse to be fazed by the difference in divisions, the Aztecs (1-3, 1-1) are doing everything but overlooking Eastern.

“I think they could win. We’re a 1-3 team and they’re ranked very high at their level. They’re undefeated and we’re struggling to win at our level,” San Diego State head coach Ted Tollner said. “I’d be very disappointed if we overlooked them at all. I think that would be very foolish on our part.”

Tollner said he was aware Eastern had some talent, but didn’t realize what he was up against until receiving game film on the Panthers.

“We’re very impressed with them offensively. We knew about (Eastern quarterback Tony) Romo, but they have a lot more versatility on offense than we realized,” Tollner said. “We didn’t realize that until we got the film and saw they have a very balanced and very diversified attack with two backs capable of rushing 200-plus yards.

“They have two guys who run the football well, and they play a talented quarterback,” he said. “That may cause some problems for us.”

Romo said the ability of tailbacks Andre Raymond and J.R. Taylor to run the ball against the Aztecs will be key in the game’s outcome.

“I really believe if we are able to run the ball, we’ll have a great shot,” Romo said. “We have two very tough running backs and that will open things up for us to throw the ball.”

Another factor on offense will be Romo’s ability to dodge a quick, aggressive Aztec defense.

“They’re definitely a little faster than some of the teams we’ve seen,