Well, we’re about three months into the “New Era of Panther football” that we’ve been hearing so much about, and it’s pretty safe to say that this is indeed a new era.

New head coach Dino Babers has already topped last year’s win total, as well as help rewrite numerous pages in the Eastern record books. Players are already putting up career numbers, and the scary thing is that there’s still a good chunk of football still to be played.

Dec. 6 of last year was the first opportunity we got to meet this Dino Babers guy in a crowded room in Lantz Arena for his public interview to take the reigns as head coach. We had already sat through three other coaches, who all sounded alright, but everything they said sounded sort of the same.

In came Babers, who told us he was going to run an offense that was going to be the fastest thing we’ve ever seen. Babers didn’t lie.

In his interview, he talked about his experiences at Baylor, and what the Baylor offense was doing to perennial football powerhouses.

“TCU and Oklahoma cramped up in the fourth quarter,” Babers said. “Texas just stopped playing. Did you watch the game?”

I sat there thinking, is that what we’re going to see at Eastern next year?

Well, Southern Illinois and Murray State both seemed to get a little winded toward the fourth quarter. Austin Peay just stopped playing. Did you watch the game?

In his interview, Babers said ultimately, the transition will begin with the current players. Again, Babers didn’t lie. Look around and you still see the same faces. Jimmy Garoppolo, Erik Lora, Jake Walker, Sam Hendricks. It’s almost hard to believe these same guys took the field last year and only managed a couple of wins. Sure, Babers brought in a few of his own guys, Keiondre Gober, LeQuince McCall, just to name a couple. But the Panthers are largely the same faces.

After the interview was over, we sought out a few player reactions. One player we found was Erik Lora. Lora said he thought spreading the ball around to a couple of receivers would be “pretty nice.” Safe to say that Lora, who is having the best season of his life, is thinking this whole thing is a little more than just “pretty nice.”

I think Babers is changing the culture around this campus about football. Before the Murray State game, someone asked me a question that I’ve never been asked in my three years here: “Are you going to the game?”

The new era is here, and it looks like it might be here to stay. 

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.