Eastern Washington football opener is apparently in the clear as smoke levels fall

Slowly-clearing skies have made it a near-certainty that Eastern Washington’s football home opener will be played as scheduled on Saturday afternoon.

“Of course we continue to monitor, but the AQI continues to be at its best this week/unless we announce otherwise,” EWU athletic director Bill Chaves Tweeted on Friday afternoon.

The seventh-ranked Eagles are scheduled to host No. 2 North Dakota State at 1 p.m. in a Football Championship Subdivision game at Roos Field.

As the Air Quality Index hovered at unsafe levels for much of the week, Eastern and other schools made undisclosed contingency plans to play at another time or place. Apparently those are now moot.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, the AQI in Spokane had dropped to 175 – still considered unhealthy. However, the AQI was continuing to fall throughout the day as smoke levels dropped.

Meanwhile, the team practiced Tuesday inside the EWU fieldhouse, then traveled to Moses Lake on Wednesday for what turned out to be its only outdoor practice of the week. The Eagles returned to the fieldhouse for Thursday’s practice.