Eastern Washington defense will look for opportunities against turnover-prone UC Davis

Eastern Washington’s football team has relied upon its versatile offense and its improved special teams this season to keep games close while hoping that its defense can do just enough to hang on for victories.

That’s given them two victories in six games (including a 1-1 record in Big Sky games), with three losses coming down to a single possession.

When No. 6 UC Davis (6-1, 3-0 Big Sky) comes to Roos Field in Cheney on Saturday, the Eagles’ defense will have perhaps its most difficult task yet as it tries to stymie a versatile, variable Aggies offense that features a bevy of talented skill players.

“Our defense has a lot of talent on it,” EWU senior defensive end Brock Harrison said Tuesday. “Individually, we have a lot of guys who can play good football. I wouldn’t say we’re outmatched talent-wise at all.”

Harrison was part of an Eastern Washington team that a year ago beat the Aggies 27-24 in California. Harrison had one of the Eagles’ two interceptions. The other, by Marlon Jones Jr., was returned for a touchdown.

Eastern allowed 435 yards that game, but the turnovers compensated for the Eagles’ relative struggles on offense, a unit that gained a season-low 319 yards.

“We’ve got to find more than the singular takeaway,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said Tuesday, referring to the Eagles’ interception against Sacramento State last week.

“If we can grab two or three, like a couple teams have, that gives you a better chance in those moments to flip the field, grab points and score more.”

Through seven games, the Aggies have committed 11 turnovers, including two apiece against Cal Poly and Portland State in Big Sky play.

Those turnovers certainly mattered two games ago against Portland State, a contest in which UC Davis put up 548 yards yet needed a last-second touchdown to win 27-26. But the two against the Mustangs didn’t amount to much, as the Aggies amassed 671 yards of offense in a 56-10 win last weekend over homecoming in Davis.

“Hopefully, we can build some momentum off that, just from a preparation standpoint, and build some confidence,” UC Davis first-year head coach Tim Plough said during his weekly news conference on Monday, “because we’re going to need it, going on the road to a really difficult environment against a team we have a great deal of respect for and a staff that we have a great deal of respect for.”

That offense is led by senior quarterback Miles Hastings, whose 2,186 passing yards are the second most this season in the FCS. He has plenty of options around him, most notably senior running back Lan Larison, who leads the Big Sky in rushing attempts with 142 (for 639 yards). He also ranks fifth in the conference in receptions with 34 (for 449 yards).

Just two Big Sky players are within 300 yards of his 1,088 all-purpose yards: Montana’s Eli Gillman has 820 and Montana State’s Scottre Humphrey has 792.

“We’ve just got to take away No. 3, and then we’re going to have a good game,” EWU senior linebacker Conner O’Farrell said Tuesday, referring to Larison by uniform number. “He’s a good player, but we have confidence in our defense.”

That confidence comes from what Eastern did during the second half of last week’s 35-28 win at Sacramento State, during which the Eagles held the Hornets to 139 yards and one touchdown.

The Eagles may also draw confidence in the fact that before the 56-point outburst against Cal Poly, the Aggies were averaging 26.7 points per game, a scoring output Eastern’s offense has topped four times this year.

Still, the Aggies have even more offensive options, such as senior C.J. Hutton (34 catches for 432 yards), senior Chaz Davis (20 for 309), junior Samuel Gbatu Jr. (20 for 285) and senior Trent Tompkins (24 for 229) who last year had 10 catches against the Eagles.

That list doesn’t include freshman receiver Stacy Dobbins, who had six catches for 91 yards last week against Cal Poly.

“(We saw him) make those tough catches, (saw) him catch a ball on a screen, make a guy miss,” Plough said. “Those are all the things we know Stacy can do. I view him and Sam (Gbatu) as guys who are really the future of our offense, especially on the perimeter.”

Those receivers will give Eastern plenty to contend with, even as the Aggies employ what Harrison called “a lot of eye candy” to get defenders looking one way while the ball goes in another one entirely. It means, Harrison said, that the Eagles need to be disciplined and to “be stout with our eyes.”

“We have to do our job,” Harrison said. “Our job only.”

In 11 tries, UC Davis has never beaten Eastern Washington, something that neither the Eagles’ Harrison nor the Aggies coach Plough put much stock into.

After all, this game carries plenty of its own significance.

“It’s your team,” Plough said he told the Aggies, “and your team can make its own story this season.”