Today is the start of Homecoming week, and it might seem that some good old inebriated school spirit could help lift the four Eastern teams in Charleston this weekend.

But last week is perhaps an indication of the opposite.

All of the Panther fall sports were on the road last weekend, and Eastern had a good showing on the programwide road trip.

The football team steamrolled Southeast Missouri 48-24 as they stay tied with Eastern Kentucky for the conference lead.

The women’s soccer team took sole possession of the lead in the Ohio Valley Conference with shutouts of Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.

Volleyball remains atop the conference with a win against Tennessee Tech, although it did take them five games to put the second-to-last place Golden Eagles away.

Women’s rugby bounced back from its first loss of the season with a win in Knoxville, Tenn., against the Volunteers.

The only team that didn’t win on the road this weekend was men’s soccer, who was rolled by No. 25 Creighton (5-0). All the fall sports, except rugby and cross-country, will be home for Homecoming.

I guess you could call this somewhat of a “road-field advantage.”

With a school the size of Eastern and the size of the athletic department, the home-field advantage isn’t the same as it would be at a mid-major or major school. Attendance just isn’t going to be as high as at larger programs, and crowd noise is the largest part of home-field advantage. Just ask the football team.

When they traveled to BYU a crowd 52,000 strong helped rattle the Panthers early.

Then again, the road excellence that Eastern showed last weekend could just be a sign of flourishing times in the Panther athletic department.

If students can find their way from the keg and into the stands this Homecoming weekend and make some belligerent noise, maybe it can help volleyball, women’s soccer and football remain atop their conference races.

Dan Renick is a senior journalism major. Tell him he should find his way away from the computer and to a life at [email protected].