Second look gives EWU same reaction

Eastern Washington University coach Beau Baldwin admitted it was a quiet plane ride home following last Saturday’s 31-24 road loss to Colorado.

“It was tough,” Baldwin said of the loss, which was made even more painful by the fact that the Eagles frittered away a 21-7 halftime lead and lost the game on a late interception return for a touchdown by the Buffaloes’ Cha’pelle Brown. “It’s one of those things, too, where it hurts a lot right after, then about the time you feel like you’re getting over it, you watch the film and it hurts even worse.

“But the reality is, we can’t do anything but come back from it. And I’m still very confident there are good things down the road for this team. We just have to be really respectful of each opponent on our schedule and make sure we come to play every Saturday.”

Junior quarterback Matt Nichols, who threw the decisive interception, said he was fooled by Brown’s initial reaction to the ill-fated pass play.

“He messed with me a little,” Nichols said. “I saw him on the game film right when we snapped the ball and he hopped out like he was going to jump the out route – which is what I saw. And then right away, he jumped back inside and I threw it right to him.

“It was almost like he knew what was coming.”

Nichols said watching video of the loss was hard to stomach.

“Right after the game it probably hurt the worst, and it still hasn’t completely gone away,” he said. “I watched the game a couple of times on Monday and it was a hard thing to watch – but a necessary evil, I guess.

“All you can do is just try to learn from it, and hope not to do it again.”

Painful pick six

Colorado’s Brown wasn’t the only player in last Saturday’s Eastern-CU game to return an interception for a touchdown.

Eagles linebacker J.C. Sherritt picked off a Cody Hawkins pass midway through the second period and returned in 48 yards for the touchdown that put EWU ahead 21-7.

It ended up being a costly six points, however, when the CU player who pulled Sherritt down in the end zone also rolled onto his left ankle, causing a severe sprain that kept the sophomore linebacker sidelined the rest of the game.

“Considering the moment in the game and the fact we were playing Colorado, it was a great feeling to make a play like that,” Sherritt said earlier this week while awaiting treatment on his swollen ankle in the Eagles’ locker room. “I was pure excitement – until I tried to stand up.

“The guy hog-collared me and should have been flagged for it. And when he swung around to bring me down, he rolled over my ankle.”

Sherritt said he likes having a bye week this week so he and some of his other teammates nursing minor injuries can heal up in time for the Eagles’ Sept. 20 home opener against Western Washington.

Hanging tough

In three of the six games played against Football Bowl Subdivision schools last weekend – all six of which resulted in losses – Big Sky teams were leading at halftime.

Weber State led Hawaii 17-7 at intermission before losing 36-17; Sacramento State had Colorado State down 10-7 before falling 23-20 on a late field goal; and Eastern Washington was up 21-7 over Colorado before losing 31-24.

Still, moral victories were not what any of the six teams were after, and EWU coach Baldwin probably made that as clear as anyone when he told reporters during Wednesday’s BSC coaches’ conference call that he was “tired of getting congratulated for a loss.”

Quick kicks

Idaho State’s Eddie Thompson, a senior wide receiver hauled in a school-record 17 passes in last weekend’s 42-27 loss at Idaho, despite dislocating his finger in the second half. … The 752 yards Northern Arizona rolled up in its 68-10 rout of Division III New Mexico Highlands last Saturday shattered the previous single-game school record of 674 – set in a 1969 game against Montana – by 78 yards. … Weber State’s Bryant Eteuati returned the opening kickoff in Saturday’s game against Hawaii 44 yards, establishing himself as the Big Sky’s all-time leader in kickoff return yardage with 2,072 yards. The previous record of 2,041 was held by Weber State’s Wiley King (2002-05).