Eagles complete tough season
A disappointing season for the Eastern Washington football team comes to an end this afternoon with one last strange twist.
It’s Senior Day for a team that occasionally had up to seven freshmen on the field at one time last week.
“Seniors will start,” Eagles coach Paul Wulff said. “We also want to win this thing, there’s a fine line. There’s a sense or urgency. I know there is with me, and the coaches, and I believe there is with the kids. We’re trying. We really want to honor our seniors. We want to send them out with a win at home one last time.”
Eastern (2-8, 2-5 Big Sky Conference) has remained optimistic and Idaho State (2-7, 1-5) should be considered a winnable game.
The Bengals have lost four straight, the Eagles three and are winless in four home games heading into the 2:05 kickoff at Woodward Field.
“Like us, they are struggling to find ways to win games,” Wulff said. “At times they are like us, they show some flashes of really good things.”
Not including a couple of seniors who could start for ceremonial reasons, it’s likely the Eagles will reach 20 first-time starters for the season in this game. That much change really wasn’t expected and contributed to the inconsistency that has plagued EWU all season.
Prior to the two recent losses, ISU had the most potent offense in the conference. The Bengals are still near the top in rushing (131.3 yards a game), passing (216.8), total offense (348.1) and scoring (24.7).
Junior running back Josh Barnett leads the Big Sky in rushing at 106.2 yards a game, the only one at more than 100. He’ll go against the conference’s last-place rushing defense that allowed redshirt freshmen to top 200 yards the last two weeks.
Senior quarterback Matt Gutierrez, a transfer from Michigan who considered EWU, is second in passing at 208.8 yards a game with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Senior wide receiver Akilah Lacey, who has been dinged up recently, leads the conference at 22.7 yards a reception with 31 overall, including seven touchdowns.
Meanwhile, ISU, behind standout linebacker Pago Togafau, has one of the top rushing defenses. Togafau, who had 13 tackles in a win over the Eagles last year, is averaging 11 tackles a game, second in the Big Sky. What has hurt the Bengals is a pass defense that gives up 276 yards a game.
The Eagles have struggled running the ball all year, averaging just 96.6 yards a game. The passing attack is much better at 208.3 yards a game, although EWU quarterbacks have thrown a conference-high 18 interceptions with just 11 touchdowns.