A pair of early fourth downs didn't go Eastern Washington University's way, and Washington of the Pac-12 Conference used a fast start to beat the Eagles 47-14 in the college football season opener for both teams Saturday (Aug. 31) at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash.
 
The Huskies turned a fourth-and-two into a 23-yard touchdown run on its first possession and went on to lead 21-0 in the first quarter. Eastern was out-gained 162-54 in the opening 15 minutes and had its own fourth-and-two play in the period end with a sack.
 
Junior Andrew Boston's 64-yard touchdown catch and run from junior Eric Barriere was the lone score in the first half for EWU, which trailed 28-7 at halftime. The Huskies scored the next 14 points in the second half and finished the game with a 570-274 advantage in total offense.
 
Eastern entered the game ranked fourth in the STATS preseason top 25 poll for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, and were ranked third in the American Football Coaches Association poll. The Huskies, meanwhile, were ranked 13th in the Associated Press media poll and 12th by the coaches in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision.

The 65,709 fans at Husky Stadium was the largest crowd Eastern has ever played in front of, breaking the record set 12 years ago in 2012 at Brigham Young of 64,522.
 
"We didn't give them as much of a test as we anticipated," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "I feel at times we were playing our brand and our niche of football, but we just weren't consistent enough. The two bright spots were that we came away unscathed injury-wise and that there were no turnovers. First games you always worry about penalties, turnovers and sloppiness. We weren't very tidy on both sides of the ball. That wasn't the best version of Eastern Football you'll see this year in the next 11 games."
 
Besides the TD connection from Barriere to Boston, the Eagles also had an impressive 15-play, 79-yard drive in the first half, but it ended with a missed 35-yard field goal. Late in the third quarter Eastern put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive which was capped by a 4-yard TD run by Antoine Custer Jr.
 
Barriere completed 21-of-35 passes for 211 yards, and Boston had six catches for a career-high 112 yards. Junior linebacker Chris Ojoh had a career-high 11 tackles with a pass broken up. Junior rover Kedrick Johnson had nine tackles, and senior safety Dehonta Hayes added eight.
 
 
Records & Rankings . . .
 
Both schools had monumental 2018 campaigns, with Eastern finishing 12-3 and as the runner-up in FCS. Washington was 10-4 overall and 7-2 in the Pac-12 North Division. Washington beat Utah 10-3 in the league championship game, then fell 28-23 to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
 
Despite missing nine players near the end of the season who had begun the season as starters – six on defense and three on offense -- the Eagles finished 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference to share the league title with Weber State and UC Davis. The Eagles won their last four games of the regular season, then won three home games in the NCAA Football Championship Playoffs before falling to North Dakota State 38-24 in the title game in Frisco.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
Eastern opens its five-game home schedule on Sept. 7 when Lindenwood visits "The Inferno." Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. The Lions were a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) last year, and all 11 of their games were league counters. Lindenwood finished 4-7 to finish 10th in the 12-team league, and will move to the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2019.
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
With neither team committing a turnover, the game came down to yardage. The Huskies had 200 rushing and 370 passing to finish with 570, while EWU had 63 on the ground and 211 through the air for a total of 274. Washington, which had a significant advantage in yards per play (7.0 to 4.2), also registered four sacks while EWU's defense had none.
 
 
EWU Highlights . . .
 
* Eight Eastern players made the first starts of their careers in Seattle. They included senior Will Gram as the starter at left guard, Dennis Merritt at running back and Dre' Sonte Dorton at wide receiver. On defense, first-time starters include "Buck" end Mitchell Johnson, nose tackle Caleb Davis, rover Joe Lang and cornerbacks Ira Branch and Darreon Moore. On special teams, sophomore Trevor Bowens made his debut as EWU's punter, junior Andre Slyter takes over as EWU's placekicker and sophomore Cody Clements is in his first year as long snapper. Eastern returns a total of 20 players with 253 games of starting experience entering the 2019 season, including 10 players on defense with 72 starts and 10 on offense with 181 starts.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
The 2019 meeting had a similar feel to 2015 when the Eagles were ranked second in FCS and the Huskies were 25th in FBS. Eastern lost that game 59-52, just a year after the Eagles upset nationally-ranked Oregon State 49-46 on the road in 2013. In 2011, the Eagles fell at Washington by a slim 30-27 score after entering that game as the defending champions in FCS.
 
The Eagles won their 10th Big Sky Conference title and clinched their 13th berth in the FCS Playoffs in 2018. It was the 12th-straight season the Eagles finished 5-3 or better in the Big Sky, with a 12th-straight winning season and 21st in the last 23 years. 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 Best.
 
 
Head Coach Aaron Best Comments . . .
 
On Loss: "A loss is a loss – there are no moral victories. Yes, that's a heck of a football team. Yes, they've been Pac-12 champions multiple times. Yes, coach (Chris) Petersen has a great track record. But yes, we also didn't have the best version of Eastern Football today."
 
On Boston and Ojoh: "There are always individual positives, but it's a team game. Chris was flying around the field like he usually does, and Andrew was crisp with his route running and playmaking ability. We should have got the ball to him a few more times – we had a couple of errant balls where we could have moved the sticks and had some more chunk plays. But that's the game of football."
 
On Inconsistency: "We didn't play enough well enough for some portions of that game to give ourselves a chance to win. We were too sporadic. There have to be multiple plays made in all three phases, and we didn't make enough. That was obvious and it was disappointing from a coaching standpoint that we couldn't muster more big plays in all three phases."