STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Although Eastern may have received a fat paycheck ($450,000) for its 52-3 loss Saturday against then No. 14 Penn State, the football team got a lot more out of non-conference match-up then the financial gain.

Eastern was outmatched against the highly rated Big Ten opponent, but that does not mean the Nittany Lions were not impressed with what they saw out of the Panthers.

“Eastern Illinois has got a good football team. I told (Eastern head coach Bob Spoo) before the game that they play the kind of game a coach likes to see,” legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. “They made more mistakes today that I think they’ve made all year.”

Paterno said in the 1980s, Penn State played his alma mater Brown, a Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) school at the time. Brown almost backed out of the game, but decided to play anyway.

“They came down and we played them and we beat them obviously,” Paterno said. “They had a great time and then received more letters from parents of an opposing team than I ever had saying what a great experience it was to see their kids play at a big stadium like this. They didn’t lose another game the rest of the year. They won six games in a row after because they realized there’s not much difference between a so-called big shot team and their league. There really isn’t. There’s depth, maybe a little size and strength in some areas.”

Eastern played the Nittany Lions tough during most of the first half, trailing only 10-0 after the first quarter.

It was the second quarter that was the downfall for the Panthers as the Nittany Lions scored 28 points in the final 7 minures, 27 seconds, of the first half, including a 91-yard fumble return with five seconds left in the first half by red-shirt junior linebacker Navorro Bowman.

Red-shirt sophomore linebacker Nathan Stupar said they knew they could not sleep on Eastern because the Panthers were a good team.

“We knew they had a transfer running back from Michigan and a couple of players from Florida,” Stupar said. “You cannot take anyone lightly so we knew we had to come out to play.”

Red shirt sophomore receiver Derek Moye said he knew Eastern was a good team from watching the film.

“I think they were a good football team for the level they are on,” Moye said. “It is always tough to come up and play, but in their conference and their level they are a good team. I think we just went out there and outsized them.”

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said although money was a factor to the game and it will not affect Eastern in the conference schedule, the Panthers can still take some things out of this game.

“Any time you can work against good competition, hopefully that helps us a little bit down the line,” Spoo said.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or dscusack@eiu.edu.

Eastern junior running back Mon Williams tries to get past sophomore safety Nick Sukay Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. Williams had 14 rushes for 69 yards.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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