Travorus Bess darted through the gaping hole that Eastern’s offensive line had just made.

The 5-foot-8, 176-pound junior running back had a wide-open field in front of him during Eastern’s first offensive possession in the Sept. 8 game at Purdue.

He juked one defender to free more room to run and only a diving tackle by Purdue defensive back Royce Adams at Purdue’s 13-yard line prevented Bess from scoring.

In the two previous plays, Eastern ran the ball for positive yards.

Junior fullback Chip Keys ran up the middle for eight yards on a 3rd-and-1 play, and Bess had a five-yard run up the middle.

These were nearly the only highlights for the Panthers’ running game last week in what has been a disappointing start so far for a staple of past Eastern offenses.

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo made it clear after the Panthers’ first two games that the rushing effort needs to improve.

“That’s been a disappointment in two games and that’s something that we really want to rely on, and we haven’t been able to get that going,” Spoo said. “So that’s the most obvious deficiency right now.”

Eastern’s rush offense has averaged 96 yards in its first two games, good for last in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference; however, it’s still not a clear indication that this might be a season-long problem.

In its opener against Tennessee Tech, the Golden Eagles made it clear they wanted Eastern to not run the ball. Tech stuffed the line of scrimmage with seven or eight defenders on a majority of plays.

This left single coverage on most of the receivers, which Eastern exploited.

This past weekend at Purdue, the intent of the Boilermakers’ defense was to not let Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson have time to complete his passes.

That strategy proved effective, with Stinson completing 15-of-32 passes for 143 yards.

The performance did not match Stinson’s output against Tech (19-of-26 for 308 yards) and the rushing game did not match or exceed the passing total.

Purdue blitzed more often than Tech, but played more zone coverage with its defensive secondary.

This left more running lanes for the Panthers, with linebackers dropping back to help the secondary.

Yet when the Panthers needed to throw, they chose to run.

One four-play sequence after a fourth-down conversion comes to mind.

Eastern had just converted a 4th-and-3 with an 11-yard pass to Jason Fisher. The reception put Eastern on Purdue’s 21 with 57 seconds before halftime, with two timeouts left and Purdue leading 31-3.

The Panthers had a decent chance to score at least three points and have some momentum heading into halftime.

The passing game had been off on the drive, with Stinson throwing three incompletions.

Eastern threw the ball on first, second and third down – all for incompletions.

On fourth down, still stuck at Purdue’s 21, Stinson handed off to Bess. Bess ran for four yards before Purdue’s defense stopped him six yards short of the first down, ending Eastern’s scoring chances in the first half.

On that drive, the running game had established itself. Bess had two carries for 17 yards prior to his carry on fourth-down.

Bess has the talent to replace injured starting running back Norris Smith. He just needs the ball more.

He’s had identical games of 11 carries for 67 yards in Eastern’s first two games. He should be getting double the amount of carries every game, as he’s an effective, quick runner who can still get yards after contact.

Case in point: After Bess’ 35-yard run, Eastern’s offense stalled. A false start penalty pushed the Panthers back five yards.

Eastern managed to get six yards back on its next play.

But a four-yard loss on a run by wide receiver John Gadson, who took the handoff while in motion from his wide receiver spot, pushed Eastern into 3rd-and-long, which it didn’t convert.

Eastern offensive coordinator Jorge Munoz has said that for this season, how the offense plays will depend on the different looks opposing defenses give.

That being said, a priority needs to be placed on establishing the running game right away – and not abandoning it after it has been working.

-For a list of the top rushers in the Football Championship Subdivision click here.

-For a list of the top rushing teams in the FCS click here.