A major upset occurred in the world of I-AA football this past weekend (and no they didn’t beat a I-A team so stop asking).

While Eastern was taking it on the chin in Provo, another rival was being embarrassed on its own home turf.

Indiana State, otherwise known as the team that dropped its opener to the Panthers, got taken behind the woodshed by NAIA St. Francis (Ind.).

Granted, the Sycamore athletic department has already tried to put the public relations spin on their embarrassing 42-10 loss by saying the opponent was the NAIA runner-up. So, while we hand the Cougars the world’s tallest midget award, the obvious question should arise by the Panthers coaching staff – How good are we really?

Not because Eastern won by only 11 and in the opener, teams never play to their best capacity. However, the only game that Eastern can use for a measuring stick may be a cloud of confusion.

St. Francis rolled up 280 yards rushing as the Cougars got its first ever victory against a I-AA school. It wasn’t like they stole a game with weird turnovers and a Hail Mary play, they acted like they were lining up against a middle school team. Cue the Ringling Brothers theme music because the Sycamores turned a football game into a glorified freak show.

“St. Francis had a bunch of guys coming at us and our guys were not in shape enough to sustain the pounding,” ISU head coach Lou West said.

You would think after selling this new era of Sycamore football in the preseason as the “West Wing”, the opening pair of home games couldn’t have been worse for ISU’s new coach.

In the second half, St. Francis returned a punt for a touchdown and then actually ran up the score on the perceived more talented Indiana State.

“We just knew that up front we were better than them,” St. Francis quarterback Chris Bramell said. Eastern tailback Vincent Webb only ran for 73 yards on 14 carries against a soft team up front.

The deal for Eastern is this, the Panthers are essentially 0-0 on the season simply because they’ve played two games that fans can learn nothing from.

The home opener versus Illinois State this weekend will prove to all the critics whether or not this is an OVC contending team or a squad that will flounder around .500.

Matt Stevens is a junior journalism major. If you think his columns may be overrated you can let him know at [email protected].