The regular season success has been consistent.

The numerous Ohio Valley Conference accolades have been consistent.

And for a program yearning for a Football Championship Subdivision playoff win, the results have been – to the chagrin of Eastern football players and coaches – consistent.

The Panthers are once again in what has become a familiar position in late November: watching eight other teams have a shot at the same national title chance they had one week ago.

“I think we’ve laid the foundation for a pretty damn good team next year,” said Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni. “But if we’re sitting here a year from now saying the same things that we’ve got to advance in the playoffs, we haven’t made any hay.”

Head coach Bob Spoo is back in the office this week – albeit for half the day – after having an appendectomy last week and missing the Panthers playoff game at Southern Illinois. But the 70-year-old enjoyed another superb season, leading the Panthers to their seventh playoff trip in his 20 seasons.

Eastern can point to some players who didn’t have large roles last season as a reason why the Panthers finished second in the league.

Injuries to key contributors from the 2006 season played a factor for some of those players.

Senior running back Ademola Adeniji came into the season third on the depth-chart, behind Norris Smith and Travorus Bess.

But after the right knee injury Smith sustained in April never progressed, and Bess dealt with a lingering hamstring injury, the starting running back role was thrust onto Adeniji in early October.

The Springfield native not only filled the role, he held onto it.

The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Adeniji earned first-team All-OVC honors after rushing for 1,254 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Junior Adrian Arrington filled in admirably at the starting free safety position for injured Seymour Loftman.

Loftman red-shirted this season after undergoing shoulder surgery prior to the year. Arrington finished with 72 tackles, third on the team, and started all 12 games despite suffering a concussion in the second half against Eastern Kentucky.

Junior Ke’Andre Sams started at the strong safety position, earning second-team All-OVC accolades and finishing fourth on the team with 67 tackles.

“We’ll get Seymour back for spring practice,” Bellantoni said. “We’re going to have a problem at safety with three really good players.”

Junior Quinten Ponius, a defensive back his first two seasons, and senior Jason Fisher filled in roles at one of the inside slot receivers.

Junior Adam Kesler, the projected starter heading into the season, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the team’s second day of practice and missed the season.

Ponius and Fisher combined to make 37 catches for 398 yards and two touchdowns.

The decision to switch quarterbacks was not one based on an injury.

Sophomore Bodie Reeder replaced Cole Stinson in the third quarter of Eastern’s third game of the year against Illinois State. The 6-foot, 203-pound Reeder started the rest of the season and Eastern went 7-2 in games he started.

“I would hate to be the quarterback that comes in and can’t sustain success,” Reeder said in mid-August. “That’s the kind of pressure I kind of put on myself where I want to keep this tradition alive. Whether it be this year or next year or a couple years after that: I just want to be able to kind of carry the torch after it’s been passed along.”

Senior linebacker Donald Thomas didn’t garner the individual statistics he did his junior year. But the St. Louis native still earned first-team All-OVC honors, and is among one of the 16 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award given to the FCS top defensive player of the year.

Thomas led the Panthers in tackles with 91, despite missing the Homecoming game against Tennessee-Martin and being limited the next week at Tennessee State with a foot sprain.

Senior Micah Rucker still caused headaches for opponents with his 6-foot-6, 221-pound frame at wide receiver, despite being limited with rib and shoulder injuries in the last three games. He finished with 52 receptions for 765 yards and nine touchdowns en route to his second straight selection to the All-OVC first team.

Defensive end Pierre Walters lived up to his preseason recognition of a first-team All-OVC selection by earning it in the postseason. The 6-foot-5, 261-pound Forest Park native led the team with four sacks. He also had 47 tackles, the most among the Panthers defensive linemen.

But Bellantoni said the Panthers 2007 season could be summed up best with one word: inconsistent play.

“I just think we were really, really young because of all the injuries and stuff, and I think that led to some inconsistent play, probably on both sides of the ball,” he said. “There were times where we looked like we were lights out, and there were times where we looked very average.”

-Click here for 2007 Eastern football statistics