After last weekend’s loss to Illinois State, it doesn’t seem there would be much to be happy about for Eastern football.

The offense couldn’t move the ball. The defense looked good, but they were on the field too much. Overall, it just wasn’t a fun game to watch.

As they head into the conference season, the Panthers will be happy to know that they are not alone.

In fact their 1-2 record looks pretty good.

There is only one team in the Ohio Valley Conference with a winning record right now. Tennessee-Martin stands atop the OVC with a 2-1 record.

True, Martin is the only team to play a conference game (a win over a weak Tennessee State team) but it’s nice to know that there are others in the same boat with the Panthers.

Two-time defending champions and 2005 preseason OVC No. 1 Jacksonville State is 0-3, and last year’s runner-up Eastern Kentucky, also picked second this year, is winless in three tries.

Granted those teams do open with tough schedules (JSU had to play No. 10 Furman and Div. I-A Alabama-Birmingham), it doesn’t change the fact that the Panthers have one win under their belt and those other teams don’t.

The first win is usually the hardest, too. Sometimes a coach may say something like, “our team doesn’t know how to win.”

It sounds like a ridiculous statement, but in some cases, it’s true.

Teams can have good players who can control the tempo of a game but can’t seal the deal. With that said, do I think Jacksonville State is one of those teams? No.

But three straight losses for the Gamecocks (four if you count the playoff loss at the end of last season) may make it hard to remember how to win.

Eastern, while it may have had a rough day against Illinois State, knows how to win, and it’s just a matter of playing together to make that happen.

Dan Renick is a senior journalism major. If it’s obvious that he has talent but no idea how to write a column tell him so at [email protected].