The Eastern Washington University at Portland State football game has been moved up a day and will be played in Hillsboro, Ore., the Vikings announced on Friday (June 1).
 
The game will now take place at Hillsboro Stadium on Friday, Nov. 16, with a tentative kickoff time set for 7 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Providence Park in downtown Portland on Nov. 17, but the change was made due to potential conflicts with Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers playoff soccer matches and/or Providence Park Stadium construction.
 
In addition, Hillsboro Stadium is already scheduled for high school playoff games on Nov. 17 and was unavailable that day. As a result of the game being played in Hillsboro, ROOT Sports will not broadcast the game, but would have if the game was played at Providence Park.
 
The Eagle-Viking match-up on Friday is not unprecedented, as EWU played at PSU on Friday nights in their last two season-ending trips to the Rose City. Games in 2014 and 2016 were also played on Friday, but took place at Providence Park.
 
Four of PSU's five home games will be played in Hillsboro. The only home date that is secure at Providence Park is an Oct. 13 matchup with Northern Colorado.
 
Portland State has used Hillsboro Stadium as a home venue in the past. The 2000 and 2010 seasons were played entirely at Hillsboro due to construction and remodeling on the downtown stadium both times. PSU also had single dates at Hillsboro Stadium in 2014, 2015 and 2017 due to scheduling conflicts with the Portland Timbers.
 
Portland State has used Providence Park (and all of its previous incarnations) as its full-time home since 1967, and has played games there dating back as far as 1949.
 
Eastern's complete 11-game schedule is available at http://goeags.com/fbschedule, with more game times announced this summer.
 
Eastern fans have been renewing season tickets for the past two months, with remaining season tickets going on sale to the general public soon. Costs of season tickets range from $99 to $160, with single-game tickets available in late summer. More information is available at: http://goeags.com/tickets.
 
 
 

More on EWU's 2018 Schedule . . .

 
There will be plenty of interest on the Palouse this fall when the Eastern Washington University football team embarks on its 2018 schedule. The schedule is highlighted by a Sept. 15 non-conference game at Washington State and an Oct. 27 Big Sky Conference home match-up with Idaho, with most game times announced this summer.
 
The game versus the Cougars is a rematch of a 45-42 Eagle upset to open the 2016 season on Sept. 3, 2016. In the first start of his Eagle career, Gage Gubrud had what was then a school-record 551 yards of total offense, passing for 474 yards and five touchdowns, and rushing for another 77 and a game-clinching score.
 
The University of Idaho will join the Big Sky in football in 2018, and EWU will play the Vandals on Oct. 27, 2018, in the first meeting between the two schools since 2012 when Eastern won in Moscow 20-3. The last time the former league rivals met in a Big Sky game was in 1995 when the Vandals prevailed 37-10 and the last time they met in Cheney was 1994.
 
After finishing 5-3 in league play a year ago en route to an overall 7-4 finish, Eastern's eight Big Sky Conference foes this coming season combined for a 45-59 record overall and, including Idaho in the Sun Belt, were 34-48 in league play in 2017. Eastern will play back-to-back games in October versus the 2017 Big Sky co-champions, Southern Utah and Weber State, who were a collective 20-6 overall and 14-2 in the Big Sky.
 
The Eagles will actually play a ninth Big Sky Conference foe when EWU starts a home-and-home series with Northern Arizona. The first meeting will be in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Sept. 8, 2018, and the return game will come two years later in Cheney, Wash., on Sept. 19, 2020. The two teams didn't play in 2017, and NAU finished 7-5 overall and 6-3 in the league.
 
The Eagles open the 2018 season on Sept. 1 versus regional rival Central Washington in the 69th all-time meeting between the two schools, with kickoff scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Pacific time at Roos Field. Eastern is 34-30-4 against Central, which is an NCAA Division II school located in Ellensburg, Wash. Once fierce NAIA rivals in the Evergreen Conference, the Eagles and Wildcats have not played each other since 2010, and have met just seven times since EWU moved to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) in 1984.
 
Eastern has won eight of the last nine meetings in a series which started in 1921. Central's current quarterback is former Eagle Reilly Hennessey, who directed CWU to an 11-1 record and perfect 8-0 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2017. He completed 67 percent of his passes for 2,551 yards and 28 touchdowns as CWU lost its lone game in the first round of the NCAA Division I Playoffs.
 
On Sept. 8, Eastern will take a 20-12 all-time series into its game against NAU, with Eastern winning 50-35 in Flagstaff on Sept. 24, 2016, in a meeting between the fourth-ranked Eagles and the 26th-ranked Lumberjacks. Eastern was also ranked fourth when the two teams met on Nov. 7, 2015, in Cheney, but EWU was defeated 52-30 to end its six-game winning streak. The last time EWU and NAU played in a non-conference game came in 1986 – the year before the Eagles joined the league.
 
When Eastern visits Washington State on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks, Eastern will play a WSU team coming off a 9-4 finish in 2017. The Cougars were 6-3 in the Pac-12 Conference and ended the season with a 42-17 loss to Michigan State in the Holiday Bowl. Eastern lost the previous three meetings versus WSU dating back to 1907, but between 1921 and 1946 had an 8-10 record versus Washington State freshman or junior varsity squads.
 
Eastern opens league play Sept. 22 at home versus Cal Poly (1-10/1-7 Big Sky) on Hall of Fame Day at EWU. The Eagles then go on the road to play at Montana State (5-6/5-3) in Bozeman in a game televised live regionally by ROOT Sports. Eastern has won the last five meetings versus Cal Poly with a 7-2 all-time record, and are 31-10 all-time versus the Bobcats with a six-game winning streak.
 
The schedule gets significantly tougher when EWU hosts Southern Utah (9-3/7-1) on Oct. 6 on ROOT Sports and then travels to Ogden, Utah, to play FCS Playoffs semifinalist Weber State (11-3/7-1) on Oct. 13. The Eagles are 6-3 all-time versus the Thunderbirds, but lost 46-28 a year ago in Cedar City, Utah. Weber State defeated EWU the week after that 28-20 in Cheney, to snap EWU's five-game winning streak in the series. Eastern is 19-15 all-time versus the Wildcats.
 
After an open date in the schedule on Oct. 20, Eastern will once again be on ROOT Sports on Sept. 27 in the renewal of a regional rivalry. Idaho (4-8/3-5 Sun Belt) visits Cheney where the Vandals are a perfect 3-0 against EWU. Eastern hosted Idaho at Albi Stadium in Spokane six times (1999, 1997, 1990, 1988, 1986, 1984) with a pair of wins, and have played in Cheney just three times (1994, 1992, 1942) with no wins. The Eagles trail in the all-time series 15-6, but have won three of the last five meetings.
 
The Eagles close the regular season with two of their last three on the road – Nov. 3 at Northern Colorado (3-7/2-6) and Nov. 16 against Portland State (0-11/0-8) at Hillsboro Stadium. Those games are sandwiched around Senior Day at home against UC Davis (5-6/3-5). The Eagles are 11-1 all-time versus the Bears with a 10-game winning streak, and are a perfect 6-0 versus UC Davis. Eastern is 19-20-1 against Portland State, but have won the last two, five of the last six and seven of the last nine versus the Vikings.
 
 
 
2018 Schedule (as of June 1, 2018)
 
Date - Opponent - Site - Time - Series
Sept. 1 – Central Washington – Cheney, Wash. – 1:05 p.m. – EWU 34-30-4
Sept. 8 - at Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, Ariz. - TBA - EWU 20-12
Sept. 15 - at Washington State$ - Pullman, Wash. – 5 p.m. - WSU 3-1
Sept. 22 - Cal Poly*% - Cheney, Wash. - TBA - EWU 7-2
Sept. 29 - at Montana State* - Bozeman, Mont. - TBA - EWU 31-10
Oct. 6 - Southern Utah*# - Cheney, Wash. - TBA - EWU 6-3
Oct. 13 - at Weber State* - Ogden, Utah - TBA - EWU 19-15
Oct. 20 - Open
Oct. 27 - Idaho*# - Cheney, Wash. - TBA - UI 15-6
Nov. 3 - at Northern Colorado* - Greeley, Colo. - TBA - EWU 20-12
Nov. 10 - UC Davis*& - Cheney, Wash. - TBA - EWU 6-0
Nov. 16 - at Portland State* - Hillsboro, Ore. - TBA - PSU 20-19-1
Nov. 24 - FCS Playoffs Begin
 
*Big Sky Conference Game. %Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame Day. &Senior Day. #Televised live regionally by ROOT Sports. $Televised live nationally by the Pac-12 Networks.
Home Football Games in Cheney Take Place at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field) on the EWU campus.
All Times Pacific (to be announced in the summer) – most games start 5-7 minutes after the top or bottom of the hour.
 
 
 

More on EWU's Future Schedules . . .

 
Because of changes in league affiliations, just the 2018 and 2019 Big Sky schedules have been announced thus far. With the league consisting of 13 teams with one division, each team plays eight conference games and thus has four opponents each year they don't play. In 2016, North Dakota was an opponent EWU did not meet, and both teams finished 8-0 to share the league crown. Likewise, Eastern and NAU did not play each other in 2017 but are playing a non-conference game against one another in 2018.
 
North Dakota will be leaving the conference for the Missouri Valley Football Conference (Summit League in other sports) following the 2017-18 school year, but will still play its previously scheduled Big Sky games through 2019. Eastern is scheduled to play its last games against UND on Nov. 11, 2017, in Grand Forks, and Sept. 28, 2019, in Cheney. North Dakota will play an affiliate schedule in the league in 2018 and 2019 and not be eligible for the title, however, previously-scheduled Big Sky games against the Fighting Hawks will count in the conference standings.
 
As part of the scheduling of league games, each school has traditionally played two opponents every year as a rival. Eastern's current rivals are Montana and Portland State, however, that will change to Idaho and Portland State, with Montana becoming Idaho's second rival. That begins in the 2018 season, meaning EWU will not play a regular season game versus Montana in 2018 for the first time since 1982.
 
However, modifications had to be made because of games previously scheduled, so Eastern doesn't play the Vandals in 2019. League schedules for 2020 and beyond have yet to be announced, but starting that season EWU will play UI and PSU annually, and the other league schools on a rotating basis.
 
Eastern still needs to add at least one more game and as many as two in 2019 when teams are allowed to play up to 12 games in the regular season. Eastern already has agreements in place with three non-conference opponents in 2020 (Florida, NAU and Jacksonville State), giving EWU a six-game home schedule that season.
 
The Eagles will play in 2019 at Washington (8/31/19), a team EWU narrowly lost to 59-52 in 2014 and 30-27 in 2011. Eastern also has non-conference road games scheduled at Florida (9/5/20) and Oregon (9/3/22, subject to change), plus home-and-home arrangements with Western Illinois of the Missouri Valley Conference and Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference.
 
 
2019 SCHEDULE
8/31/19 - at Washington
9/7/19 - Open
9/14/19 - at Jacksonville St.
9/21/19 - Open
9/28/19 - North Dakota*
10/5/19 - at Sacramento St.*
10/12/19 - Northern Colorado*
10/19/19 - Open
10/26/19 - at Montana*
11/2/19 - Northern Arizona*
11/9/19 - at Idaho State*
11/16/19 - at Cal Poly*
11/23/19 - Portland State*
 
Also . . .
9/5/20 - at Florida
9/12/20 - Western Illinois
9/19/20 - Northern Arizona
9/11/21 - Jacksonville State
9/18/21 - at Western Illinois
9/3/22 - at Oregon (date subject to change)