It was never easy, but the Eastern Washington University offense and defense came through again and the third-ranked Eagles defeated 14th-ranked Cal Poly 42-21 in a key Big Sky Conference showdown Saturday (Nov. 5) at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
 
 Eastern's defense allowed the Mustangs to rush for 386 yards, on par with the 370.3 yards per game Cal Poly averaged entering the game to lead the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. But EWU also came up with two turnovers – both resulting in touchdowns -- to help EWU open a 35-14 lead in the third quarter. The defense also came up with a pair of big fourth down stops, including a key one at the EWU 7-yard line with 7:50 to play and EWU clinging to a 14-point lead.
 
Senior wide receiver Cooper Kupp passed for two touchdowns in the third quarter alone, and added a TD reception in the fourth quarter to clinch the win. Shaq Hill and Kendrick Bourne combined for five touchdowns receiving to lead the Eagle offense. Eastern finished with 513 yards of offense, including 397 by quarterback Gage Gubrud who passed for 357 and rushed for another 40. True freshman Antoine Custer Jr. added a career-high 145 all-purpose yards.
 
Eastern continued its third-quarter mastery as well, out-scoring Cal Poly 14-7. On the season, Eastern has scored 143 points in the third period while allowing only 41 points.
 
"It's tough to come down here and win, and our team found a way to grind out a victory," said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin. "It was even a closer game than it showed on the scoreboard – it was a battle for 60 minutes."
 
"It was a huge team win, and any time you can do that on the road against a great team like this, you feel excited," Baldwin added.
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  

* Eastern is 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big Sky Conference with its seventh-straight win, and haven't lost since falling to five-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State 50-44 in overtime on Sept. 10. Cal Poly is now 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the league. Both teams suffered losses in overtime (EWU 50-44 at North Dakota State and Cal Poly 30-27 at Nevada to open the year). Cal Poly's other loss was a 31-24 loss at Big Sky unbeaten North Dakota
 
 
What It Means . . .

* The Eagles kept pace with North Dakota at the top of the league standings, while Cal Poly slipped into a logjam in the middle of the pack. Thanks to its 23-13 victory at Northern Colorado, UND (7-0 Big Sky, 8-2 overall) remained unbeaten in the league and at the top of the league standings. The Eagles and Fighting Hawks do not play each other this season. Weber State joined Cal Poly as one of the league's two one-loss teams entering Saturday's action, but lost 33-20 at home against Northern Arizona. 
 
* The league champion receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, with pairings announced on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 8 a.m. Pacific time on ESPNU. The 2016 championship field consists of 10 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large qualifiers. The top eight teams will be seeded, receive first-round byes and host second-round games providing they satisfy the hosting criteria. The 16 other teams will bid to host first-round games.
 
 
What's Next . . .

* The Eagles return to Roos Field for Senior Day on Nov. 12 against Idaho State, which is 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the Big Sky after a 62-44 loss at Montana. Eastern closes the regular season Nov. 18 (Friday) at Portland State, which joined Montana as runner-up in the league last season and advanced to the playoffs.
 
* A total of 12 Eastern seniors will be playing their final regular season game at Roos Field against Idaho State, including 11 starters in the 2016 season. The only non-starter is quarterback Jordan West, who started 13 games during his sophomore and junior seasons. In all, the 12 seniors have started 276 games with nine of the 12 concluding their careers as four-year letterwinners.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .

* Eastern's defense came up big on Cal Poly's first two possession of the second half, forcing a three-and-out before J.J. Njoku recovered an errant lateral by the Mustangs. Eastern followed with a 28-yard scoring drive, capped by the second touchdown pass of the night by Cooper Kupp to Shaq Hill, this time for 10 yards to put EWU up 35-14.
 
 
Turning Point . . .

* The first half for EWU's offense included an interception, a dropped touchdown pass, a field goal attempt that clanked off the upright and big losses on a bad snap and a bad pitch. But Eastern still led at halftime 21-14 thanks to touchdown drives of 93, 59 and 52 yards. Eastern then scored on an eight-play, 79-yard drive to open the second half. The final play of the drive was a 28-yard touchdown pass from Cooper Kupp to Shaq Hill to give the Eagles a 28-14 lead.
 
 
Top Performers . . .

* Senior Cooper Kupp had 11 catches for 154 yards and a touchdown. It was the 29th time in his 47-game career he has had more than 100 yards receiving, and the 14th time with at least 10 catches. He also completed both of his passes for 38 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He has now accounted for 74 touchdowns in his career (68 receiving, four passing and two on punt returns), and has scored at least once in 39 of 47 games he has played.
* Sophomore Gage Gubrud completed 27-of-37 passes for 357 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 40 yards, giving him 397 yards of total offense.
* Senior Kendrick Bourne caught four passes for 78 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
* Senior Shaq Hill had three touchdown receptions, and finished with seven catches for 93 yards.
* True freshman running back Antoine Custer Jr., one of eight players from California who played in the game for the Eagles, had a season-high 145 all-purpose yards. He rushed nine times for 64 yards, caught three passes for 39 yards and had an additional 42 yards on two kickoff returns.
* Sophomore safety Mitch Fettig had a team-high 10 tackles and a pass broken up, and senior safety Zach Bruce added eight tackles.
* Senior linebacker Miquiyah Zamora had seven tackles, giving him 329 in his career to move into eighth in school history. He passed Zach Johnson (324 from 2008-2012), and next to catch is Joey Cwik (331 from 2002-05).
* Senior J.J. Njoku had seven tackles plus a key fumble recovery.
* Senior defensive end Samson Ebukam and junior defensive lineman Jay-Tee Tiuli each had six stops
 
 
Key Stats . . .

* Although Cal Poly converted four of its first five tries on fourth down, the sixth attempt was a huge stop by the defense with 7:50 to play at the EWU 7-yard line. Cal Poly quarterback Dano Graves was pressured by Dylan Donohue, then tackled by Miquiyah Zamora, Jonah Jordan and J.J. Njoku a full four yards short of a first down.

* The Eagles entered the game leading the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in passing offense (437.5 yards per game) and were second total offense (555.3) and third in scoring (45.1). But the Mustangs countered with the top rushing offense, averaging 370.3 yards per game, and are also fourth in total offense (509.8) and 12th in scoring (38.0).
 
 
Team Highlights . . .

* Eastern has 13 players from California, and eight played against the Mustangs. Five of them are starters (Nzuzi Webster, Jabari Wilson, Shaq Hill, Tristen Taylor and punter Jordan Dascalo), plus true freshman running backs Antoine Custer Jr. and Tamarick Pierce. The eighth is special teams standout John Kreifels.
 
 
Milestones & Records . . .

* Already the owner of FCS career records with 68 receiving touchdowns and 5,924 yards, Eastern senior Cooper Kupp enters Senior Day next week with 389 receptions and is now just six catches behind the record of 395 set by Elon's Terrell Hudgins from 2006-09. Against Cal Poly he passed FBS record of 387 held by Justin Hardy of East Carolina from 2011-14. Kupp broke a 12th FCS all-time mark on Oct. 29 versus Montana when he caught a pass in his 46th-straight game, which was extended to 47 against Cal Poly. He has already broken 12 FCS records, eight Big Sky Conference all-time marks
 

Notables . . .

* The NCAA Division I Football Championship Committee rated the Eagles third in FCS last week in the first of three rankings they will reveal prior to selecting the 24 teams for the FCS Playoffs which begin on Nov. 26. Also ranked among the top five are Jacksonville State (#1), Sam Houston State (#2), North Dakota State (#4) and James Madison (#5). Rounding out the top 10 are The Citadel (#6), Richmond (#7), Chattanooga (#8), Charleston Southern (#9) and Central Arkansas (#10). The rankings will be also be announced on Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. Pacific time as part of College Football Daily on ESPNU. The final release will take place Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. on the ESPNU Championship Drive: Power Hour.

* Both EWU and Cal Poly have been outstanding second half teams this season – Eastern entered the game with a 221-84 advantage in the second half and a 140-161 disadvantage in the first half, while Cal Poly has out-scored opponents 171-116 in the second half. In the third quarter alone, EWU has a 129-34 advantage and Cal Poly is at 70-42.

* Last year's meeting with Cal Poly was a thriller, won in overtime by the Eagles 42-41 on a windy day (more than usual) in Cheney. The seventh-ranked Eagles rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to score 22 unanswered points in the final 5:11 of regulation, then Eastern's Nzuzi Webster recovered a Cal Poly fumble on a two-point conversion attempt in OT. The Mustangs had 503 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground on 89 carries, and Eastern had 145 of its 370 total yards on its final three possessions of the game, including drives of 85 and 55 yards to force overtime.

* The Eagles have now played 117 games against ranked teams in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision since becoming a member of that classification in 1983 (then known as I-AA). Eastern is 52-65 (.442) in those games, including a 17-41 mark (.293) versus top 10 foes. Since 2010, though, the Eagles are 23-11 overall (.670) and 8-6 (.571) versus top 10 teams. Thus far this year, EWU is 4-1, having lost to top-ranked North Dakota State by a 50-44 score in overtime.  Eastern defeated Northern Iowa, ranked 10th at the time, by a 34-30 score on Sept. 17, beat No. 25 Northern Arizona 50-35 on Sept. 24 and then defeated No. 16 Montana 35-16 on Oct. 29.

* The Eagles have won 38 of their last 44 Big Sky games since a 0-2 start in 2011. Eastern has won 28 of its last 32 league games, with the lone losses coming against Montana and Portland State in 2015 and Northern Arizona in both 2015 and 2014. An Oct. 25, 2014, loss at Northern Arizona snapped EWU's 14-game conference winning streak and a home loss against the Lumberjacks on Nov. 7, 2015, ended a streak of eight Big Sky wins in a row. Including non-conference victories (two versus MSU and one against Cal Poly) and a playoff win (Montana), the Eagles have won 32 of their last 36 versus conference foes, and are 41-6 since the 0-2 start in 2011.

* In eight-plus seasons (­2008-present) under head coach Beau Baldwin, the Eagles are 45-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 20-5 when they've been tied and 16-25 when they've lost (total of 81-31). The last time EWU lost when it won the turnover battle came in the 2009 FCS Playoffs at Stephen F. Austin when EWU had two miscues and forced four in the 44-33 loss. Thus, EWU is 36-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 17-4 when they've been tied and 14-18 when they've lost.
 
 
Head Coach Beau Baldwin Comments . . .
 
On Cooper Kupp TD Passes: "Adding a couple of touchdown throws in there was pretty slick. Coach (Troy) Taylor did a good job of dialing those up at the right time. Both of them were open, but they weren't the typical wide-open throws you see on those kind of plays. He had to make some throws and he put them in some tight spots."
 
On Team Victory: "It does feel good. We knew it was going to be a tough ballgame, and it definitely took all three facets in offense, defense and special teams. Kendrick Bourne made some huge plays as well, Shaq Hill made huge plays, and we saw Antoine Custer Jr. making some big plays – a lot of guys did. The defense had a lot of big plays at times, and we were able to force some turnovers. That was a big key to this ballgame, and it would have probably been a lot closer if we hadn't won the turnover margin."