Fresno State News Release

The Eastern Washington University football team will play its first-ever game versus Fresno State University when the two teams meet on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, Calif. The two schools recently reached and signed an agreement for the non-conference meeting, and it was mutually announced on Tuesday (Nov. 10).
 
The Bulldogs are a member of the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Eastern is 8-24 all-time against current members of the league, with 24 of those meetings coming versus former Big Sky Conference rivals Boise State and Nevada (Reno).
 
The Bulldogs were 4-8 overall a year ago, including a 34-20 victory over Sacramento State of the Big Sky. Fresno State was 2-6 in the Mountain West, and ended the season with a four-game losing streak after beating Hawaii 41-38 on Nov. 2.
 
Fresno State was scheduled to open the 2020 season against Big Sky member Idaho State, but that game was canceled as the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Bulldogs began an eight-game Mountain West Conference schedule on Oct. 24 at home versus Hawaii and thus far are 2-1 heading into a Nov. 14 game at Utah State.
 
The Eagles, a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), are scheduled to open their 2020-21 season on Feb. 27 at Portland State, followed by a March 6 showdown versus Montana at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Eastern has never played Mountain West members Colorado State, Hawaii, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming and Fresno State. The last time EWU played a team from that league came in 2010 when Eastern lost at Nevada 49-24, but then won 13 of its last 14 to claim the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision title.
 
Although Eastern is 8-24 overall versus the league, just six of them (2-6 record) have come versus members of the FBS.  Eastern is 6-13 overall versus Boise State, but 1-2 since it moved to FBS in the mid-1990's. Nevada also left the Big Sky at that time, and EWU was 1-7 versus Nevada (UNR) prior to that (1-8 overall). Eastern also lost to San Diego State in 2003, Air Force in 2004 and San Jose State in 2005, and defeated Utah State in 1994.

Fresno State is 91-38-4 (.699) all-time against the 13 current members of the Big Sky, with EWU and Northern Colorado the only schools it hasn't played thus far. Fresno State beat Sacramento State 34-20 in 2019 in its most recent meeting, and beat Idaho 79-13 in 2018. The Bulldogs are scheduled to host Cal Poly in both 2021 and 2022.

The last loss Fresno State suffered to a team currently affiliated with the Big Sky came against Montana State on Nov. 17, 1984 (35-31). The Bobcats went on to win the championship in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (then I-AA).

Since then, the Bulldogs have won 23-straight against FCS opponents, including 17 in a row versus current members of the Big Sky. In the 13 games played versus FCS foes since 2005, Fresno State has won by average of 31.8 points per game (average score of 44.0 to 12.2 with victories by scores of 66-0, 79-13, 51-0, 56-16 and 55-17).

Eastern's 2021 schedule is nearly complete, with two more games left to announce pending the completion of signed contracts. The Eagles were supposed to play Jacksonville State on Sept. 11, but the Gamecocks backed out of that home-and-home agreement which included a game at JSU in 2019. Eastern will play at Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021, before opening Big Sky Conference play at home versus Portland State on Sept. 25.

Eastern's 2022 and 2023 schedules also have several openings the Eagles are in the process of trying to fill. Besides the Fresno State game, the only other non-conference game currently scheduled is a contest at Oregon of the Pac-12 Conference on Sept. 3, 2022. Eastern was to play at Florida to open the 2020 season, but that game was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Eastern was also scheduled to play non-conference home games versus Western Illinois and Northern Arizona, and those will potentially be re-scheduled for the future, as well as the Florida game.
 
 
2021 Season
9/4/21               FBS Opponent To Be Announced
9/11/21             Non-FBS/FCS Opponent To Be Announced
9/18/21             at Western Illinois
9/25/21             Portland State
10/2/21             Bye
10/9/21             at Montana State
10/16/21           Southern Utah
10/23/21           at Cal Poly
10/30/21           at Idaho
11/6/21             Sacramento State
11/13/21           at Northern Arizona
11/20/21           Idaho State
 
2022 Season
9/3/22               at Oregon
9/10/22             Open
9/17/22             Open
9/24/22             Northern Colorado
10/1/22             Bye/Open
10/8/22             at Montana
10/15/22           UC Davis
10/22/22           at Portland State
10/29/22           Idaho
11/5/22             at Idaho State
11/12/22           at Weber State
11/19/22           Cal Poly
 
2023 Season
9/2/23               Open
9/9/23               at Fresno State
9/16/23             Open
9/23/23             Bye/Open
9/30/23             at Northern Colorado
10/7/23             Montana State
10/14/23           at Idaho
10/21/23           Portland State
10/28/23           at Sacramento State
11/4/23             at Southern Utah
11/11/23           Northern Arizona
11/18/23           Weber State