On a historic day at home, the Eagles had a memorable first half.
 
Taking a 40-0 lead after the first 30 minutes, the Eastern Washington University football team romped past Northern Colorado 54-21 for a record-setting victory in EWU's 93rd Homecoming Game at Roos Field on Saturday (Oct. 12).
 
Eastern scored 17 points within a 4 1/2 minute stretch in the second quarter, six scored on a 34-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Joe Lang after a force by Tre Weed. That helped EWU score 30 points in the quarter and take a 40-0 lead at halftime as EWU finished the game with its 17th-most yards in school history and had its 63rd game with at least 50 points (record of 60-3).
 
"Any points we'll take at this point, whether it is from offense, defense or special teams – luck or no luck, they all count the same," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best, whose team has a bye before playing at Montana on Oct. 26. "Defense flat-out owned the day in the first half. We got a little bend-ish and not break-ish in the second half, but the defense was put in some situations of having to go back out there after some three-and-outs by our offense after halftime. Kudos to the Coach Eti Ena and his staff – they did a great job of game-planning and the players did a great job of executing."
 
On its way to a dominating 637-352 advantage in offense – 409-112 in the first half alone -- Eastern established a new school record for consecutive home victories at the current site of Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field), plus extended a long winning streak over UNC. Both streaks are at 12, as EWU hasn't lost a home on the red turf since Nov. 4, 2017. The Eagles fell at Northern Colorado in 1981, but haven't lost since in the 13-game history of the series. Eastern's 12-game winning streak includes the last 11 with the Bears as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
 
Junior Eric Barriere completed 28-of-43 passes for 445 yards and five touchdown passes for EWU. It was the sixth 300-yard passing performance of his career, and coupled with his 41 yards rushing, his 486 yards were the second-most of his career and 10th with at least 300. He now has 45 career TD passes to rank eighth in school history.
 
Junior Talolo Limu-Jones had a hat-trick with three touchdown receptions, to go along with career highs of four catches for 96 yards. He now has seven catches and five scores this season, and 25 catches and nine TDs in his career. Senior Antoine Custer Jr. added 68 yards rushing, and senior Jayson Williams had a career-high eight receptions for 115 yards while sophomore Andrew Boston added seven for 96.
 
The Eagles had a 215-yard first quarter, and scored 10 early points on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Barriere to Talolo Limu-Jones and a 32-yard field goal by redshirt freshman Seth Harrison – one of four he would kick on the day.
 
Eastern scored early in the second quarter on a 19-yard pass from Barriere to senior tight end Jayce Gilder, then EWU got the ball back on a forced fumble by Lang on the ensuing kickoff which was recovered by Keshaun King. Harrison kicked a field goal to give EWU a 20-0 lead with 10:48 left in the quarter.
 
A blocked punt by redshirt freshman Justin Patterson led to another field goal, then Lang had his fumble recovery for a TD on the next UNC possession at the 8:08 mark. After a failed try on fourth down by the Bears, the Eagles scored again on a 32-yard scoring pass from Barriere to Johnny Edwards IV with 3:59 to play. Harrison kicked another field goal on the final play of a 40-point half.
 
Special teams had a hand in the second half onslaught, blocking a punt and creating a turnover off a kickoff return. Eastern had a 2-1 lead in turnovers forced, improving to 52-0 since 2010 when winning the turnover battle.
 
In playing its first game as an unranked team since 2011, Eastern had dropped out of the national rankings last week for only the second time since 2011. The Eagles had been ranked 46-straight times in the STATS poll, and 103 of the last 104 (EWU had a 57-week streak ended with the final poll of the 2015 season). In preseason rankings in 2019, EWU was ranked fourth by STATS and third by the American Football Coaches Association – both the highest of the season -- before falling to Washington.
 
 
Records & Rankings . . .
 
* Eastern is 3-4 overall and 2-1 Big Sky Conference play, with a 35-20 victory over North Dakota on Sept. 28 counting in the league standings for EWU. Prior to that, the Eagles had lost their previous two games to FCS competition by a total of 12 points, then fell at Sacramento State 48-27 on Oct. 5.
 
* Winless on the road in five games, The Bears are 1-6 overall 1-2 in the Big Sky, where home teams entered Saturday having won nine of the 13 games played thus far. A week after Eastern fell 35-27 at Idaho, the Bears beat the Vandals 27-24 in Greeley, Colo. That came two weeks after the Bears were defeated 50-0 at Sacramento State, a team Eastern lost to 48-27 on Oct. 5 in Sacramento. The Bears lost at Northern Arizona on Oct. 5 by a 41-23 score. Eastern's next opponent at Roos Field is NAU on Nov. 2.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern has a bye before taking its 0-4 road record to Montana on Oct. 26. Eastern has come out on top in six of the last seven meetings with the Griz, and seven of the last nine. In fact, the Eagles are 13-1 since 2012 against its rivals from the Treasure State – UM (6-1) and Montana State (7-0). Eastern won 48-41 in Montana in 2017, before the addition of Idaho to the league in 2018 resulted in EWU and Montana not playing each other that season for the first time since 1982. Idaho -- and no longer Montana – is now considered to be EWU's "rival" by the league and will play each other every season. Portland State is EWU's other "rival," while Idaho will face Montana every year starting in 2020.
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern had a 409-112 advantage in total offense in the opening 30 minutes, with 319 through the air. Eastern had a 47-point second half versus Portland State last year, but the 40 points in the first half were EWU's most since at least 2011.
 
* In Eastern's last home game – a 35-20 win over North Dakota -- Eastern had a 6-0 advantage in turnovers forced. In three home games thus far, EWU has a 9-3 advantage in turnovers forced and a 594.3 to 365.0 average advantage in total offense. The result is a 49.3 scoring average compared to 24.0 for opponents.
 
* Eastern entered the Northern Colorado game ranked ninth in the FCS in total offense (474.3), 15th in passing (303.5), 48th in rushing (170.8) and 25th in scoring (34.5). Defensively, Eastern was 59th in rushing defense (157.2), 104th in passing defense (278.3), 90th in total defense (435.5) and 113th in scoring defense (38.3) among 116 FCS schools. Eastern also entered with the fifth-most first downs in FCS with 141.
 
* Individually, Eastern's Eric Barriere was 11th in FCS with an average of 299.0 passing yards per game, and eighth with 15 touchdown passes, eighth in points responsible for (20.0 per game with 15 TDs passing and five rushing), and 11th in total offense (327.7). Running back Antoine Custer Jr., who has had a pair of 100-yard performances this season, entered 35th nationally in rushing (83.8) and 17th in rushing touchdowns (six). Eastern's Dre' Sonte Dorton was ranked 44th in receiving yards (79.5 per game), 85th in receptions (4.5 per game; 27 total) and 28th with four touchdown catches (Jayson Williams also has four). Fellow wide receiver Andrew Boston was 79th in receptions (4.6 per game; 23 total). Dehonta Hayes entered ninth in tackles (10.8 per game; 65 total), and Dylan Ledbetter was tied for the FCS lead with two blocked kicks and is tied for second with two fumble recoveries.
 
 
EWU Highlights . . .
 
* Junior Conner Crist made the first start of his career (at left guard) versus Northern Colorado on Oct. 12, giving EWU a total of 15 players who have made their starting debuts in 2019. Crist is a 2016 graduate of Tigard (Ore.) High School, and the UNC game was his 19th as an Eagle.
 
* Eastern is now 56-34-3 in its previous 93 Homecoming contests, and last year beat Idaho 38-14. The year prior, EWU fell to Weber State 28-20 after beating Northern Colorado 49-31 in 2016.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* With a 12-game winning streak, the Eagles lead the overall series 13-1 and haven't lost a game to the Bears since the second meeting in 1981. Northern Colorado became a member of the Big Sky Conference in 2006 and Eastern has won all 11 meetings by a collective 401-202 score (an average score of 36-18). 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, 49-37 in 2016, 48-13 in 2018 and 54-21 in 2019 to improve to 7-0 versus the Bears in Cheney (6-1 in Greeley).
 
* The Eagles have won 55 of their last 65 Big Sky games since a 0-2 start in 2011. Included are current stretches of 45 victories in the last 53 games (including two at the end of the 2012 season) and 23 of the last 27 (since 2016). Including three wins at the end of the 2009 season, Eastern has a 65-13 record in league games since then. Including four non-conference victories (two versus MSU, and one each against Cal Poly and Northern Arizona), two playoff wins (Montana and UC Davis) and one loss (Idaho), the Eagles are 61-11 since the 0-2 start in 2011 and 51-9 since the end of the 2012 campaign.
 
* Having won all five of its regular season home games in 2018 and a trio of playoff games, Eastern has extended its current home winning streak to a record-tying 12 in the 2019 season. Eastern is now 55-10 (84.6 percent) overall at Roos Field since 2010. The stadium has been known as "Roos Field" since 2010 when a new red synthetic Sprinturf surface made its debut. Eastern's last home loss came on Nov. 4, 2017, versus Weber State. At its current site, the previous school record was 11 consecutive home wins set between 9/16/78 and 9/27/80 (between losses was from 11/19/77 to 11/1/80). Overall, the school record is 21 set from 1935-40. Eastern had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a 36-21 loss to Montana State on Sept. 24, 2011. The Eagles also had a nine-game winning streak at that venue snapped against Sacramento State on Oct. 21, 2000, when the Hornets made a 23-yard field goal with no time remaining.  Eastern has lost just six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 42-6 (87.5 percent), plus are 13-4 (76.5 percent) in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since 2010 are to conference foes Montana State (2011), Portland State (2011 and 2015), Northern Arizona (2015) and Weber State (2017), as well as North Dakota State (2017).
 
* In the last 11+ seasons (2008-19), the Eagles are now 61-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 24-8 when they've been tied and 22-33 when they've lost (total of 107-42). The last time EWU lost a game 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 52-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 21-8 when they've been tied and 20-26 when they've lost. That's a collective record of 93-34 (73.2 percent), with 26 of those 34 losses (76 percent) coming in games EWU has lost the turnover battle and 56 percent of EWU's wins coming when they've won the turnover battle (78 percent when including ties). Neither team had a turnover in the first game of the season between EWU and Washington, then EWU lost the battle versus Lindenwood 2-1 and tied Jacksonville State 2-2. Eastern lost by another 2-1 margin at Idaho, but swung the tide by winning 6-0 versus North Dakota. Eastern was tied 2-2 versus Sacramento State and won 2-1 versus Northern Colorado. In 2019 thus far, Eastern is 2-0 when it has won the turnover battle, 1-2 when it has more turnovers and 0-2 when tied.
 
 
Head Coach Aaron Best Comments . . .
 
On Win: "In all three phases, it was probably our best output in seven games. Scoring 40 in any half is awesome, especially on your home field. We were on the plus side of the turnover margin and on third down we were better both on offense and defense. We had an upper hand in those areas and that helped us score as many points as we did. It goes to show that when you protect the quarterbacks, chances are they'll keep their eyes downfield and make plays. We did a much better job up front of protecting – we had variations of protections and called the game well to keep them off-balance."
 
On Limu-Jones & Receivers: "He was a weapon today. He's prepared at practice and in the film room to have a game like this. I'm going to challenge him to continue to do those things because it's showing dividends right now. The hard part is to continue to try to do more to get more; the easy part is to rest on your laurels and hope you can get it done again. He's put himself in positions and then has made plays when they are there. We lost Dre' Sonte Dorton early in the game, but thankfully Limu-Jones, Jayson Williams and Andrew Boston stepped up, and Johnny Edwards had some big catches. They helped pick up the slack."
 
On Red Zone & Kicking Field Goals: "We want Seth Harrison to end all drives, but we want him kicking one-pointers instead of three-pointers. We have to find different, more creative and more efficient ways to get into the end zone instead of settling for field goals. Productivity on first down and a mixed down and distance on second down will give you an opportunity on third down to become a choice down as well. That red zone area is our challenge a bit on offense – we're scoring, but kicking field goals is not the end result we want in those situations."
 
On Defense: "We were playing in front of our home fans on Homecoming, and those guys had something to prove. They felt they were flat in the first half last week, and they came out and played a flat-out almost flawless first half. We were kind of sputtering in the red zone on defense, but collectively on defense we put pressure on Jacob Knipp and kept Milo Hall in check a little bit. In any half when you put up a bagel, it's huge no matter what the circumstances or situations are. On top of that we put up 40 points, seven of those coming via Joe Lang. That sideline must be magical, because Talolo tight-roped that same sideline as Joe did."
 
On Special Teams: "We got two bonus babies in the special teams arena. We had a blocked punt from Justin Patterson which then flips the field. And then we had the forced fumble on kickoff cover. So two times our special teams put our offense in a situation where our offense is staring at three points minimum. It was a tremendous job by Coach Heath Pulver – they executed and played with an absolutely resiliency and relentless on special teams. That's what it takes. It's 11 guys playing fearlessly and they did that today."