Fast starts – and a stingy defense -- suitco the Eagles just fine.
 
The Eastern Washington University football team opened up a 20-0 halftime lead and went on to beat Northern Colorado 48-13 Saturday (Nov. 3) at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colo., in the start of three November Big Sky Conference games that will determine EWU's postseason playoff fate.
 
A week after leading 31-0 at halftime versus Idaho, Eastern pitched another shutout in the first half against the Bears and led 20-0. With the offense piling up 562 yards, the defense had three interceptions and six sacks to hold UNC to 259 yards on the day. Senior D'londo Tucker had two of the interceptions for the Eagles, who have now held all six of its Big Sky opponents to 17 points or less with shutouts in 12 of 24 quarters this season.
 
 "I feel good, really good," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "Much like last week, I thought we dominated in the first half on both sides of the ball and on special teams. They were very similar games. We took a step forward in this game – even after a few lulls in the third quarter we got out of it and put some more points on the board and stretched the lead even further."
 
On a blustery day with sustained winds of 25 miles per hour and gusts of up to 40, Eastern took advantage for a fast start in the first quarter to take a 13-0 lead. The Eagles dominated early with a 169-28 advantage in total offense in the first quarter, and scored after punts of just 27 and 11 yards by the Bears.
 
Sophomore quarterback Eric Barriere accounted for 309 yards of total offense for EWU – 245 passing and 64 rushing. He had one TD pass and a pair rushing.
 
Eastern has now won all 10 Big Sky Conference meetings between the two schools, including all five in Greeley. But the last two times they played Eastern had to rally in the fourth quarter to pull out wins – 35-28 during EWU's National Championship season in 2010 and 43-41 in 2015.
 
Eastern remained ranked fifth in this week's STATS NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 poll and fourth by the coaches. Right behind the Eagles are Weber State (4/5) and UC Davis (6/9). The loss to Weber State knocked Eastern down a bit in the nationally rankings, after EWU equaled its highest rankings in the past four seasons with rankings of fourth and third, respectively.
 
 
Records & Rankings . . .
 
* Now 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big Sky in 2018, Eastern closed the 2017 season with a 7-4 record overall and was 6-2 in the Big Sky Conference in the first season under head coach Aaron Best. This is the 12th-straight season the Eagles will have finished 5-3 or better in the Big Sky, with a 12th-straight winning season and 21st in the last 23 years guaranteed. But winning a 10th Big Sky title and making a 13th appearance in the FCS Playoffs is the quest for the 2018 Eagles, who are hungry to make that happen.
 
* The Bears are 2-8 overall and 2-5 in the league, and had won its second-straight game on Oct. 27 with a 42-39 victory at Southern Utah. Northern Colorado also had won 42-14 over Northern Arizona in its last game at Nottingham Field on Oct. 20. Eastern also played NAU, but won only by a 31-26 score.
 
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* The Eagles are now 5-1 in the Big Sky and are one of four teams with one loss or less in the standings entering play on Saturday. The lone undefeated team in the league is UC Davis (5-0, 7-1 heading into today's home game versus Northern Arizona). Other one-loss teams in the league are Idaho State (4-1 and 5-3 overall heading into tonight's game at Portland State) and Weber State (5-1 and 7-2 overall after today's 26-14 win versus Sacramento State). The Eagles host UC Davis at Roos Field on Nov. 10, which will play a big part in determining the league champion and automatic berth in to the FCS Playoffs which begin on Nov. 24. On Nov. 17, Weber State plays at Idaho State in another key game. The Eagles close the regular season on Nov. 16 at Portland State (4-4/3-2).
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* A Big Sky Conference showdown that has been building for the last two weeks takes place next Saturday (Nov. 10) at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., when the Eagles take on UC Davis. Both teams can garner the coveted automatic berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. If Eastern beats UC Davis and Portland State and finishes the league season 7-1, and ISU also wins out, Eastern Washington is the auto bid. If UC Davis wins out, they received the automatic bid based on potential tiebreakers with Weber State or Idaho State. If UC Davis loses to EWU and finishes 7-1, and EWU and WSU win out, Weber State is the auto bid. If UC Davis and Weber State are the only 7-1 teams it would go to common opponents since they did not play each other and with those games still left to play it's too early to tell. Idaho State cannot get the auto bid with one conference loss even if they win out.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Eastern got off to a quick start, taking advantage of the wind, field position and great defense to go on drives of 89 and 60 yards, ending with field goals of 22 and 23 yards by Roldan Alcobendas. Those were sandwiched around a 24-yard touchdown run by Sam McPherson, which came on the first play after a 27-yard punt by UNC and a 21-yard return by Calin Criner. In the first three possessions for each team, Eastern had 171 yards and an average of 8.6 per play, compared to just 23 yards and 1.9 average for Northern Colorado.
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* The Bears scored the first time they had the ball in the second half, but the Eagles countered with two touchdowns within 1:32 of each other. An eight-play, 66-yard drive was capped by a 15-yard touchdown run by Eric Barriere. Junior Dehonta Hayes then intercepted a UNC pass, setting up a 4-yard TD pass from Barriere to redshirt freshman tight end Dylan Ingram – his first score as an Eagle.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* In the fifth start of his career, junior Eric Barriere completed 24-of-36 passes for 245 yards, and rushed for another 64 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 5.8 yards per rush and was sacked just twice.
* Senior Nsimba Webster led the Eagles with seven catches for 80 yards, and junior Jayson Williams added a career-high five grabs for 51 yards.
* Junior running back Antoine Custer Jr. had the fifth 100-yard rushing performance of his career and second of the season, finishing with 122 on 16 carries (7.6 per carry).
* Senior running back Sam McPherson added 61 rushing yards on 11 carries, including 24 on a first-quarter touchdown run.
* Senior D'londo Tucker had a pair of interceptions in the first half, giving him three on the year and six in his career. He also had two passes broken up and a tackle.
* Sophomore linebacker Chris Ojoh made the second start of his career and finished with a team-high seven tackles, including a sack.
* Junior safety Dehonta Hayes had five tackles, an interception and a pass broken up.
* Jay-Tee Tiuli, Josh Lewis, Andrew Katzenberger, Chris Ojoh, Brandon Montgomery and Keith Moore all recorded sacks for EWU.
* Sixth-year senior kicker Roldan Alcobendas had field goals of 22 and 23 yards in the first half to remain perfect on the season at 12-for-12. He also converted all six of his extra points and punted twice for a 43.0 average.
 
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Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern's defense surrendered just 28 yards in the first quarter, 56 in the second, 124 in the third and 41 in the fourth for a total of just 259 in the game for the Bears and an average of only 3.9 per play. Northern Colorado had only 42 rushing (1.4 per play) and 217 passing. Eastern ended with a 562 yards of total offense, including 292 on the ground and 270 through the air. Eastern averaged 6.3 on the ground and 6.7 overall after having entered the game ranked fourth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense at 526.8 yards per game. The Eagles entered 15th in rushing offense (244.6), compared to 17th in passing (282.1). Eastern was one of only three teams in FCS to rank in the top 20 in all three categories (Idaho State, Jacksonville State).
 
 
Other Team Highlights . . .
 
* Despite its dominance on both sides of the ball in the first three possessions of the game for each team, Eastern still only led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter. Late in the second quarter Northern Colorado attempted a fake punt, but it was snuffed out short of a first down by EWU's Kedrick Johnson. Eastern then followed with a seven play, 44-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 9-yard run by Eric Barriere.
 
* Eastern's defense continued its dominance in league play, with EWU now allowing only 92 points for a league-leading average of 15.3 per game) – with seven of those points coming on a punt return touchdown. The school record for fewest average points in a Big Sky season came in 1992 when the Eagles surrendered just 16.4 per game (115 total) in seven league games (6-1 record). In 24 quarters versus Big Sky foes this season, Eastern had had shutouts in 12 of them.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Since 2004, EWU has lost just seven regular season games in November (Weber State in 2017; NAU, Portland State and Montana in 2015; Sac State and Weber State in 2006; and Cal Poly in 2005), with an overall record of 33-7.
 
* The Eagles will play the rest of the season without All-America quarterback Gage Gubrud (lower leg injury), and EWU thus far is 3-1 with sophomore Eric Barriere as the starter – a 55-17 win over Southern Utah, 14-6 loss versus Weber State and a 38-14 romp over Idaho. Barriere has played in eight games this season, and in the first seven he completed 63-of-109 passes (57.8 percent) for 757 yards and five touchdowns, with 36 rushes for 230 yards (6.4 per carry) and three scores. In his 12-game career, he has completed 78-of-135 passes for 895 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions, and has rushed 54 times for 278 yards and four more TDs.
 
* The Eagles have been impressive – if not dominant – in the league in the last 11+ years, winning 80 percent of their games (75-19) and five titles. In that span, Eastern has had no league finish below 5-3 and five of them have included 7-1 or 8-0 records. Eastern got the 2018 league season off to a great start on Sept. 22 with a 70-17 victory over Cal Poly, followed by wins over Montana State (34-17), Southern Utah (50-17) and Idaho (38-14). A crowd of 10,023 was on hand for the Idaho game – the 29th-straight sellout at Roos Field (crowd of 8,600 or more).
 
* Eastern had a 3-2 edge in turnovers forced versus the Bears. In the last 10+ seasons (2008-18), the Eagles are now 55-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 22-6 when they've been tied and 21-31 when they've lost (total of 97-38). 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 46-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 20-5 when they've been tied and 19-24 when they've lost.
 
* Since Northern Colorado became a member of the Big Sky Conference in 2006, Eastern has won all 10 meetings by a collective 340-181 score (an average score of 34-18). However, Eastern barely won 43-41 in 2015 in Greeley and 26-18 at home in 2014, and had to rally for a 35-28 victory in 2010 in Greeley during EWU's run to the NCAA Division I title. The teams did not play in the 2012, 2013 and 2017 seasons because of league expansion, but EWU won at home 48-27 in 2011 and 49-37 in 2016.
 
 
Head Coach Aaron Best Comments . . .
 
On Win: "Special teams played incredible today. Our running game was intact and we stopped the run for the most part. We got in the quarterback's face and harassed him all day. From the sideline view, there wasn't a lot of bad play out there – we were pretty clean overall."
 
On Defense: "We feel good, but I'm not sure about really good yet – we still have a few games to go to put on the resume. We have a good defense and a good team – there are no bones about it. These players continue to do it every week. They are motivated and the more motivation the better. We have a ton of seniors and juniors on defense, and whether it's a home game or road game, you have to bring a defense and a running game. We packed both of those this game."
 
On Barriere: "He's not a veteran yet, but he's growing up in front of our eyes. I commend him 100 percent. He's a great man, his preparation was awesome and he's a great team player."