Arrow-right Camera

Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Eastern Washington University Football

Things to watch: Run defense crucial for Eastern Washington in matchup with No. 2 Montana State

Idaho wide receiver Mark Hamper (15) dives for extra yards as he’s brought down by Eastern Washington linebacker Myles Mayovsky in the first half on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho  (Geoff Crimmins/The Spokesman-Review)
By Dan Thompson The Spokesman-Review

It would be easy to name a number of Montana State players whose impact Eastern Washington would like to limit during Saturday’s football game at Roos Field.

But EWU head coach Aaron Best made it clear Tuesday that there is one Bobcats player whom he would very much like to see on the field as often as possible.

“I’d like to see Brendan Hall more often than one time,” Best said.

Hall, a 6-foot-9 senior, was a preseason All-Big Sky selection who has done well this year to live up to the hype – by punting the ball well for the second-ranked team in the nation.

And if seeing Hall a lot means one thing, it would be that the Eagles’ defense has done a good job slowing down Montana State’s high-powered offense.

“I don’t want to see our punter,” Best said. “I want to see their punter.”

Eastern hasn’t seen opposing punters all that often this season – just 20 times in eight games – and no team has fewer punt return yards than Eastern (22 on five returns). EWU redshirt junior Landon Ogles has punted 27 times, nine more times than Hall has.

The Eagles are heavy underdogs even on their home red turf, and they’ll need to play much better than they did in last year’s 57-14 loss in Bozeman.

Here are three aspects to follow as Eastern (2-6, 1-3 Big Sky) tries to pull off the upset against Montana State (8-0, 4-0). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

1. How much does Montana State run the football? The Bobcats’ rushing attack is the second best in the nation and easily the best in the Big Sky, averaging 310.1 yards per game. The next-best average in the conference is Montana’s at 243.9 per game.

MSU has done all that without the services of senior Julius Davis, who is poised to play Saturday for the first time this season as he finishes recovering from an injury. Last year, he carried 104 times for 718 yards and six touchdowns.

Davis joins a backfield that features Scottre Humphrey, the Big Sky’s leading rusher with 952 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. Humphrey’s yards-per-carry average of 7.6 is a yard lower than that of senior quarterback Tommy Mellott (421 yards on 49 carries).

“They don’t have enough footballs to give their running backs,” Best said.

The best an opposing defense has done against Montana State’s offense is hold it to 4.8 yards per carry, but that didn’t do Northern Colorado that much good. The Bears still allowed 229 rushing yards and lost 55-17.

2. Who plays quarterback for EWU? Redshirt junior Kekoa Visperas dealt with an injury to his right leg in Eastern’s 38-28 loss at Idaho last week, completing 11 of a season-low 14 passing attempts for 156 yards. He also ran nine times for 26 yards and a score.

Jared Taylor, also a redshirt junior, played throughout the game and also took over for one full drive in the second half. The Eagles ran the ball on 10 of the drive’s 12 plays, reaching the end zone on a 3-yard pass from Taylor to tight end JP Murphy.

Eastern has settled into a rhythm with Taylor and Visperas (and sometimes senior Michael Wortham) taking snaps, even alternating them one play at a time. Having both available makes other teams account for both.

On Tuesday, Best called Visperas “a warrior” and said, “If he’s cleared, he’ll go.”

But if Visperas isn’t cleared to play, that will put pressure on Eastern to run the ball even as Montana State knows with near certainty that is what the Eagles are going to do. Taylor has been effective at running (5.6 yards per carry) but has only attempted 15 passes all season.

Regardless of who plays quarterback, he’ll be going against a Bobcats defense that allows the fewest points (16.3) and yards (280.8) per game in the Big Sky.

3. Can Eastern force turnovers? It’s been a pattern all season: Eastern’s offense takes care of the football, but its defense can’t seem to pry enough takeaways to compensate for all the yards it allows.

With a fumble last week, Visperas committed just the third turnover of the season. McKel Broussard’s interception earlier in the game balanced it out, but through eight games the Eagles have failed to recover a fumble on defense or get multiple takeaways in the same game (they have just five all season).

Montana State has been almost as frugal, giving away the ball just six times and taking it away nine.

But the Eagles can say one thing: They’ve been trending in the right direction, with one takeaway in each of the past three games. To beat Montana State, it will almost certainly require that the Eagles steal a couple of extra possessions. As much as Best would like to see Montana State punt the ball, he’d much rather the Eagles shorten the field with some interceptions and fumble recoveries.