Eastern Washington University Athletics

After an 0-2 start, Eastern won eight of its last nine regular season games to capture a share of the Big Sky Conference title and advance to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) Playoffs for the fourth time. In the first round of the playoffs, Eastern defeated No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Southern Illinois 35-31. After bowing out in the quarterfinal round with a 35-34 setback to Sam Houston State in the first-ever home playoff game at Woodward Field (eventually to become Roos Field), the Eagles finished the year ranked eighth in the final FCS poll -- its highest finish since 1997.
 
Quarterback Erik Meyer was the Big Sky Conference MVP, and was one of five Eagles to earn All-America honors. He earned third team and honorable mention All-America accolades a season prior to winning the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in FCS. Offensive tackle Michael Roos was a unanimous All-America selection, earning first team honors from four organizations and second team accolades from one other, and being named the Offensive Lineman of the Year by I-AA.org. Wide receiver Eric Kimble earned a pair first team All-America honors, and also earned a pair of second team nods. In addition, running back Darius Washington and offensive guard Rocky Hanni were third team All-Americans. On All-West Region teams, Meyer Roos, Kimble and Meyer were first team selections, Hanni was on the second team and linebacker Joey Cwik was selected to the third team.
 
A total of 24 Eagles were honored by the Big Sky, including head coach Paul Wulff as the league’s Coach of the Year and Hanni as Newcomer of the Year. In addition to his MVP honor, Meyer was a first team All-Big Sky selection and was joined by Roos, Kimble (as both a wide receiver and returner), Washington, Hanni, Cwik, defensive lineman Tom Finnerty, safety Brandon Keeler and a pair of cornerbacks -- Isaiah Trufant and Ryan Phillips. Earning second team honors were offensive guard Matt Alfred, center Kraig Sigler, fullback Lars Slind, defensive tackle Brandon Myers and special teams standout Gregor Smith. Receiving honorable mention from the league were tight end Chris Cwik, wide receiver Craig McIntyre, offensive tackle Paul Terrell, running back Reggie Witherspoon, cornerback Jessie Hendrix, defensive tackle Garrett Quinn, safety Javid Shoemaker and linebacker Doug Vincent.
 
There were also 19 Eastern players honored on the Big Sky All-Academic team, including Alfred, Joey Cwik, Hendrix, Slind, Smith, Terrell and Trufant. Others were Skyler Allen, Chris Carlsen, Nick Denbeigh, Ryan Donckers, David Eneberg, Toke Kefu, Kyle Long, Tom McAndrews, Nate McFarlane, Randy Meade, Chris Peerboom and Zach Wasielewski.
 
Eastern’s triumphs in 2004 included a comeback 51-44 victory at Montana State on Nov. 13 that clinched the regular season league title and a playoff berth. Eastern’s other five league victories came by a combined 31.0 points per game with wins of 44, 35, 31, 25 and 20. Eastern came three points from an unbeaten league season, falling at home 31-28 to Big Sky co-champion Montana, which would go on to finish the season as the FCS runner-up.
 
EWU's three Big Sky Conference championships in fall 2004 (football, volleyball and soccer) was and still is the first time a school has ever won all three titles since the league added women's soccer in 1998. Eastern is the only conference school to ever win volleyball and football championships in the same year -- in both 1997 and 2004 -- since the Mountain West Conference was formed for women in 1982 (it became the Big Sky in 1988).