The attitude for Eastern heading into its premier non-conference contest with Brigham Young is that anything can happen.

“We know that we don’t need to be better than BYU 365 days out of the year,” Eastern offensive coordinator Mark Hutson said. “For one day, and, for that matter 60 minutes of that day, we have to be better.”

The Panthers (1-0) will travel more than 1,500 miles to take on BYU Saturday, its only Division I-AA opponent, and its high-powered spread systems on both offense and defense.

When the Cougars (0-1) have the ball, they will put it in the hands of quarterback and Davey O’Brien candidate John Beck. The junior went 41 of 60 for 333 yards in BYU’s 20-3 opening week loss to No. 22 Boston College at home.

New BYU offensive coordinator Robert Agnae brought in a system that is similar to what Eastern saw last week at Indiana State. In the coaching staff initiative to bring back the tradition of the program, Agnae’s offensive philosophy reminds Cougar fans of when Hall of Fame quarterbacks Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Ty Detmer were successful.

“I’m sure they will want to run 100 plays on us and most them through the air,” Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said.

Some of the things that Bellantoni’s defense will be looking for include a constant hurry-up style all game long.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran no huddle the entire game,” Bellantoni said. “They didn’t against Boston College because they probably wanted to slow the tempo down.”

To prepare for this style along with the 64,045-seat stadium atmosphere, Eastern’s coaches have cranked up the speakers and played music during specific sections of practice this week.

“This is a situation where leaders like (senior safety) Chad Cleveland is going to have to know personnel groups and plays simply by our hand signals,” Bellantoni said.

One of the main decisions Eastern’s defense will need to make will be who is going to shadow preseason-, All-American- and Biletnikoff-Award candidate Todd Watkins. The job may fall to All-Ohio Valley Conference cornerback Ben Brown who gives up 3 inches and nearly 20 pounds in that matchup.

Bellantoni believes the key to Cougars passing attack is the amount of time Beck will have to throw the ball. Eastern did not record a sack in its opening victory 24-13 victory over Indiana State.

“He can’t have time to sit back and throw,” Bellantoni said. “He will throw it quickly but we could have Deion Sanders covering and it wouldn’t matter.”

Eastern will not have to worry about the signal caller, as the offensive staff is now confident in the abilities in Mike Donato. The junior was 12 of 20 for 158 yards passing along with 67 yards rushing.

“Donato had an outstanding game,” Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said. “Considering that he was a question mark going in, I’d say he’s not a question mark anymore.”

Donato and company will see a unique 3-3-5 defense that will blitz at least 6 or 7 people on many occasions.

“They have a big physical defensive front,” Hutson said. “The will bring pressure from all different angles.”

Hutson stated a problem this Saturday is the running game as the Panthers offensive line is 24 pounds lighter than BYU’s defensive front.

“It is a concern with them being so large up front,” Hutson said. “We’ll have to compensate that with scheme and effort.”

Saturday’s contest will be the only chance Eastern will have to deal with a lack of oxygen in a high-altitude environment. LaVell Edwards Stadium sits 4,553 feet above sea level.

“Honestly, we haven’t even brought it up to our players because we don’t want to them to even worry about it,” Bellantoni said.

Since 1982, Eastern’s record against I-A schools is 6-19 including wins over Akron, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. However, a victory over a Mountain West team on the road would be arguably the school’s biggest upset.

“If we can keep it close, it becomes 30 minutes that we have to be better and eventually 15 and so on,” Hutson said. “It’s a selling point with our players all week.”