Eastern Washington faces little margin for error as it gets into bulk of Big Sky schedule
Refreshed after its bye week, Eastern Washington’s football team hits the road this week for a Big Sky matchup against Sacramento State on Saturday in California.
It’s early in conference play, with every team playing at most just two of its eight games. Eastern is 0-1 in such contests (and 1-4 overall), following a 52-49 loss at home to Montana on Sept. 28.
Sacramento State, ranked 18th in this week’s FCS Stats Perform Top 25, is one of three other Big Sky teams winless in conference play. Like the Eagles, the Hornets are coming off a bye and are 0-1 in Big Sky play (2-3 overall).
Aside from them, the Big Sky’s other winless squads are 0-2 Portland State (0-5 overall) and 0-2 Northern Colorado (0-6).
The loss to Montana almost certainly filled the last margin in Eastern’s room for error. Another loss all but dooms the Eagles’ playoff hopes.
“We’ve got 12 games, and as each loss goes on, you tell yourself you still have the rest of the season,” EWU redshirt freshman safety Derek Ganter Jr. said. “As you get into these conference games, it becomes more critical. That’s just something you’ve got to realize. As you lose more games, the more critical the games become.
“But the truth is, we still have the season in front of us. We still have not played our best football.”
Teams can certainly go on runs, and given that three of the Eagles’ four losses have come by a total of 11 points, they are still confident in what they are doing on offense and defense – regardless of their opponent.
“We don’t really care who the schedule says. We’ll take us against anybody,” EWU redshirt junior quarterback Jared Taylor said during media availability on Tuesday.
“Whether it’s a top-ranked team or not a ranked team, it doesn’t really matter to us. We’re going to go out and we’re going to try to play our best brand of football.”
Seven Big Sky teams are ranked in the Top 25. Including this weekend’s game, the Eagles are scheduled to play four of them in a row.
If Eastern is going to turn around its season, it’s going to need to do so by beating what look like the conference’s best teams. Here’s a look at the rest of the Eagles’ schedule, in order of predicted difficulty based on how the season has gone .
(Note: The three Big Sky teams Eastern Washington does not play this season are Weber State, Portland State and Cal Poly.)
Most winnable: at Northern Colorado (Nov. 9)
The Bears’ start to conference play has been far from promising, with a home loss to Cal Poly (28-7) followed by a 55-17 defeat in Bozeman to the third-ranked Montana State Bobcats.
Two years ago, the Eagles won just two Big Sky games, but a 45-21 victory over the Bears was one of them in Kekoa Visperas’ first start at Eastern. Many EWU players who participated in that win are still on the roster.
That includes Visperas, who this year leads the Big Sky in completion percentage (73.2) and hasn’t thrown an interception.
Also notable: The Bears have scored just 77 points in their six games this year, fewest in the Big Sky.
Vs. Idaho State (Nov. 16)
That the Bengals (3-3, 1-1) are next on this list is a testament to just how difficult the Eagles’ remaining schedule is. Idaho State is coming off a 41-38 victory over Cal Poly, and ISU’s scoring average (31.5 points per game) ranks fourth in the Big Sky. This has the makings of another high-scoring affair when the Bengals come to Cheney in six weeks.
But of Eastern’s three remaining home games, this one looks the most winnable, considering how good Montana State and UC Davis have looked.
At Sacramento State (Saturday)
A playoff team last year, the Hornets (2-3, 0-1) are perhaps the most difficult Big Sky team to get an accurate read on, given their schedule has included road losses to two Mountain West Conference schools and a 34-16 loss in Flagstaff two weekends ago.
This is a crucial contest for both the Eagles and Hornets, whose offense, on a yards-per-play basis (5.2) has been better than only Northern Colorado among the Big Sky’s 12 schools. An offense that is far from automatic is a good matchup for the Eagles coming off a bye.
Vs. UC Davis (Oct. 19)
Eastern’s next home game comes against a UC Davis program that, in 11 tries, has never beaten the Eagles in football. This year’s Aggies, though, are ranked sixth in the FCS with a 5-1 overall record that includes a 2-0 Big Sky start.
Last year, the Eagles escaped Davis with a 27-24 road victory after running back Lan Larison left with an injury. This year, the Aggies lead the Big Sky in passing yards per game (295.8), and quarterback Miles Hastings leads the conference with 1,728 passing yards.
At Idaho (Oct. 26)
The seventh-ranked Vandals’ only losses this year came at Oregon and at UC Davis, and both were within Idaho’s reach late. Idaho (4-2, 1-1) has just five home games this regular season, and the crowd will undoubtedly be amped up for this one.
At Northern Arizona (Nov. 23)
Aside perhaps from the Weber State Wildcats (3-3, 2-0), the Lumberjacks (3-3, 1-1) are the surprise of the Big Sky , with an 18-point win over Sacramento State and a six-point loss at Idaho to open conference play. An end-of-season date in Flagstaff is a long way off, but at this point it seems more likely to be the Lumberjacks – rather than the Eagles – jockeying for an FCS playoff spot.
Most difficult: vs. Montana State (Nov. 2)
The Bobcats trounced the Eagles 57-14 in Bozeman last season in what was easily Eastern’s most lopsided loss of the season. This year, the third-ranked Bobcats (6-0, 2-0) are the Big Sky’s last unbeaten team and look the part of a national title contender. That’s a tough draw for the Eagles, even on the red turf at Roos Field.