If Panther head coach Bob Spoo starts sounding like your mom the next few weeks, forgive him.

Spoo stopped short of saying, “Thank goodness nobody got hurt,” after the Panthers’ 55-43 one-sided-for-one-half win.

Instead he said everything else that would indicate there are many reasons why second-string players don’t start.

To translate, Eastern must stay healthy or it’s national title hopes will die.

Could a Kyle Kissack-led Panther offense blast past Montana’s defense? Could a defense without Nick Ricks and Fred Miller contain No. 3 Villanova?

No way.

But while the scoreboard would indicate otherwise, Spoo did the right thing to take out his starters when he did.

The move gave Eastern players a little bit longer to heal for their next game.

Look for Spoo to take a similar strategy into the Panthers’ game next Saturday against 1-8 Florida Atlantic.

The Owls entered their game against Morris Brown College last in Division I-AA for total offense. They also own the nation’s worst running offense.

Even the Panther second-string defense could stop that sort of attack.

So first stringers sit back, have a Coke – if you can find one on this Pepsi-dominated campus – and smile.

Eastern has bigger foes to fry – Murray State for one. Spoo will downplay Eastern’s ability to be low key about the Florida Atlantic game.

There are no small teams, only small second-string players.

What is scarier than overlooking a team, playing inept second-string defenders because you can? Or being forced to play them because your roster is riddled with injuries? It’s a question Spoo doesn’t want to have to answer.

So cheer on your second-string Panthers to a victory next weekend and hope you don’t have to see them again until next year.

But at the same time, it wouldn’t be wise for the Panthers or their fans to overlook the Owls.

If that happens, the NCAA tournament selection commmittee will overlook Eastern when it comes time to pick the seedings.

If that happens, the Panther faithful should overlook football and focus on basketball and the other winter sports.

But that’s just too many what ifs for a team of first-stringers this good.