A winning strategy

CARDONDALE, Ill. – Eastern Washington was in trouble. Southern Illinois quarterback Joel Sambursky was making like Erik Meyer converting clutch plays, and the Eagles had no answer for 260-pound running back Brandon Jacobs. It was obvious why the Salukis were the No. 1 team in I-AA football.

“They were running the ball and converting some seconds-and-long, thirds-and-long, moving the chains and chewing up the clock,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “They were snapping the ball with 5 seconds left on the play clock so the tempo was definitely theirs. We were moving the ball but we weren’t real sharp.”

Then the Eagles did what they do best – they got offensive and pulled out a 35-31 win Saturday in the opening round of the playoffs.

Eastern piled up 420 yards in the second half against a team that allows 280 a game and scored four touchdowns, despite misfiring in the red zone three times, against a team that gave up 11 points a game.

“The biggest thing I stressed at halftime to our coaches and kids was we need to change the tempo of this football game because it’s their style, not ours,” Wulff said. “We came out in the no-huddle offense to speed it up and maybe put a little pressure on them they haven’t seen this year. I think that made a big difference … and the second half was our tempo.”

Quarterback Erik Meyer hit 19 of 25 passes for 300 yards in the second half, finishing 31 of 44 for 437.

“We came out the second half with no-huddle and the attitude was attack them, attack them,” Meyer said. “Coach said if you see something … believe in what you see.”

The Eagles used the no-huddle to rally from 21 down to beat Montana State 51-44 in overtime two weeks ago to earn its playoff berth.

“We wanted to spread them out and run it and throw it,” Wulff said. “We do some things they haven’t seen from anyone else this year.”

Battle won

Meyer led the nation in passing efficiency at 175.49 but was just a click ahead of SIU’s Joel Sambursky, who was second at 175.28. But in the battle of the Walter Payton Award candidates there was no question which junior was best.

Sambursky, who was an efficient 5 of 9 for 70 yards in the first half as a complement to the Salukis’ dominant running game, finished 14 of 31 for 163 yards and a game-turning interception.

“It’s a tough environment to play in … not really quarterback-friendly weather,” Sambursky said of the windy and rainy day. “Of course, that had something to do with it but we should have won the game.”

Meyer’s take?

“Our first game (at Nicholls State in Louisiana) was in a monsoon, 10 times worse than this,” he said. “We’ve practiced the last two weeks in weather like this.”

No offense

Most people were impressed by Eastern’s offensive performance but not SIU coach Jerry Kill said.

“They’ve pretty much done that all year,” he said. “Their quarterback came out at the beginning of the playoffs and said nobody’s stopped them all year. Somebody asked me about the boy’s brash comment and I said, ‘Hey, he’s right. Nobody has stopped them.’ They’re a good football team.”

Numbers game

In his first full game since a mid-October injury, Darius Washington finished with 101 yards rushing on 16 carries.

He did that despite behing limited to 13 yards on seven carries in the first half in the first full game he’s played since mid-October.

“People don’t realize how good our running game can be,” Wulff said. “Darius Washington … was dominant the first half of the season … but he was hurt our last five games.”

He scored a key 23-yard touchdown one play after a Nick Denbeigh touchdown and was about to put the Eagles ahead when he fumbled on the 2 with 14 seconds in the third quarter.

“We got right on him and wouldn’t let him pout,” Wulff said. “Coach (Joe) Wade (running backs coach) did a great job, really got in his face and said, ‘Don’t fold your tents now.’ He came back stronger.”

Washington scored a go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter and piled up 34 yards in the fourth quarter against the No. 2 rush defense in the nation.

Quick kicks

With a clutch 82-yard reception on a play that started at his own 8, EWU’s Raul Vijil finished with 102 yards on four catches. … Joe Cwik led the EWU defense with 14 tackles, safety Brandon Keller had 11 and David Enberg 10.