‘There are no moral victories’: Eastern Washington has chance to improve record over final three games after daunting stretch of Big Sky play

Eastern Washington’s football players and coaches aren’t big on excuses, so all season they have refused to pin the team’s record on the Eagles’ schedule.

But looking at the program from the outside, it’s clear that Eastern’s schedule – especially in conference play – has been one of the Big Sky’s most difficult since the middle of September.

“Our record doesn’t indicate how well we’ve played,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said Saturday after Eastern’s 42-28 loss to the second-ranked, unbeaten Montana State Bobcats. “I think we’ve maxed out at times in games how well we can play. That’s a huge, awesome smile and a huge success.”

It is telling, and important to note, that the Eagles’ best hasn’t been enough to beat the Big Sky’s best teams. Following a 49-16 loss at Nevada (of the Mountain West Conference), Eastern lost at home 52-49 against Montana, then beat Sacramento State, a ranked team at the time, 35-28.

The Eagles followed with competitive losses to two top-10 teams, 48-38 to UC Davis and 38-28 to Idaho.

All of those games in succession, capped by the loss to Montana State, have soured Eastern’s record: 2-7 overall, 1-4 in Big Sky play. But its final three games look less daunting, starting Saturday at Northern Colorado (1-8, 1-4), followed by a home game Nov. 16 against Idaho State (4-5, 2-3) and a finale at Northern Arizona (5-4, 3-2) on Nov. 23.

If Eastern were to win out, it would still finish with a losing record for the third consecutive season. But it would be a one-victory improvement – albeit in one more game – over last year’s 4-7 mark, which was a game better than the Eagles’ 3-8 record in 2022.

“There are no moral victories,” EWU senior offensive lineman Luke Dahlgren said Monday. “We all want to win, and it is hard. It’s been the same thing for the last two years where we’ve had these close, one- or two-score games. It adds up …

“But, we’ve got three more, and guys’ minds are in a good spot to attack these three and get some wins to finish it off.”

Eastern’s playoff hopes were likely exhausted after the Oct. 19 loss to UC Davis, which at the time was their fifth defeat of the year. But early nonconference losses were just as significant to the deterioration of those postseason chances.

Following a 42-27 win in the opener over Monmouth – which is now 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the Coastal Athletic Conference – Eastern lost to Drake 35-32 in overtime at home. Drake (6-1, 5-0) leads the Pioneer League, a collection of nonscholarship Division I programs. Last year, Drake won the league and lost 66-3 in the first round of the playoffs to North Dakota State.

Eastern followed that loss with a 28-24 defeat at Southeastern Louisiana (which is now 5-5 overall, 4-1 in the Southland Conference), a game during which some players were vomiting on the sidelines as a stomach bug worked its way up and down the roster (and, almost literally, the aisles of their chartered flight to and from Hammond, Louisiana).

They played both those games without Jared Taylor, the redshirt junior quarterback who has spelled starter Kekoa Visperas throughout the season. (Visperas’ status for this weekend’s game is uncertain after he missed last week’s game.)

Taylor has 430 rushing yards, second most on the team, and he completed 20 of 27 passes in a spot-start for Visperas last week.

The team has also dealt with injuries to starting wide receivers Nolan Ulm and Miles Williams, who have each played just four games and have combined for 21 receptions.

Despite that, Eastern ranks fourth in the Big Sky in rushing offense (200.1 yards per game) and scoring offense (32.4 points per game).

“On offense especially, we’ve been able to weather the storm,” EWU offensive coordinator Jim Chapin said, referring to the injuries and setbacks. “Now it’s like, we’ve got a guy down, that’s fine. (Players) haven’t blinked. They love playing.”

That has come as the team has faced, in its past five games, the Big Sky’s four ranked teams that have a combined record of 30-6 overall and 17-3 in conference games.

What the Eagles have before them over the next three weekends is the opportunity to demonstrate that while they aren’t among the Big Sky’s top four teams, they are perhaps right behind that group.

And in that sense, following seasons in which they finished 10th and eighth in the 12-team Big Sky, this year could still demonstrate some progress for the Eagles.

“You have to play better in those games (against top teams),” Best said. “… I don’t think in any of those five (games it felt like we) weren’t invited to this. We didn’t look out of place. We know that. We’ve got to play in the here and now, and we’ll pick each other up, put one foot in front of the other, pour into each other, and let it fly on Saturday. We will. We will.”