As summer classes draw to a close and students begin to look forward to the fall semester, one thing is on many Eastern sports fan’s minds: the start of the football season.

As the season approaches, fans will anxiously anticipate the Panther’s home opener against arch-rival Illinois State on Sept. 3 in the season opener for both teams.

Given the history of the rivalry, as well as the proximity of the two schools, Eastern students will be excited about this match-up. The Eastern-ISU rivalry is the oldest in the state, with their first meeting in 1901; they have met 96 times since, with ISU leading the all-time series 50-38-9.

Fans can bet on this season’s installment of the rivalry to be another classic, thanks to the Redbird’s recent hiring of new head coach Brock Spack. Spack was a player at Purdue when Eastern head coach Bob Spoo was a member of the Boilermaker’s coaching staff; when Spoo took the Panther head coaching position in 1987, Spack was hired as an assistant on the Panther sideline.

Given the storylines leading up to the game, Eastern students should be very excited. There is little doubt that on game day, students will host afternoon parties and tailgates, and properly prepare themselves for the main event of the day- the actual game. However, once two quarters have been played and the band takes the field for the halftime show, many of those same students will decide that the game is no longer important, entertaining, or able to hold their interest. Swarms of fans will leave O’Brien Stadium, choosing to take a nap or continue partying before the rest of the night’s activities begin.

This is a terrible occurrence that happens at many smaller, FCS stadiums, including ISU’s Hancock Stadium. The students spend the whole afternoon looking forward to the game, and then decide at the half that they’ve seen enough.

Lets look once again at the 2006 Eastern-ISU playoff game. In the first half, the Panther defense picked off ISU quarterback Luke Drone twice and only trailed the ‘Birds by four at the break, 10-6. An Eastern interception return for a touchdown early in the fourth led to a 13-10 Panther lead with 10 minutes left in the game. ISU would then put up 14 unanswered points to win the game.

The point is that anything can happen late in the game, and if you spend the whole day looking forward to the game, you owe it to yourself to watch the entire game. The parties will still be going on after the game ends. On September 3, Eastern students should take pride in O’Brien Stadium being as full at the end of the game as it will be at the start.