EWU 2021 Winter/Spring Football Schedule

Eastern Washington University is scheduled to host a trio of teams starting this February as the result of an abbreviated 2020-21 football schedule announced by the Big Sky Conference on Wednesday (Nov. 4).
 
Montana is scheduled to visit EWU's Roos Field on March 6, with Idaho coming to Cheney on March 27 and Cal Poly on April 10 in the return to EWU of new Mustang head coach Beau Baldwin. Ten of the league's 11 schools will play in the winter/spring, with Sacramento State opting out because of concerns with the short turnaround to the fall 2021 season.
 
Eastern will open the campaign on Feb. 27 at Portland State, and will also play road games at UC Davis on March 13 and Montana State on April 3. Open dates in the schedule are set for March 20 and April 17 in case games need to be re-scheduled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 16-team NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs are scheduled to begin April 24 and culminate with the championship game on May 15.
 
"Albeit this is an abbreviated version of the fall schedule, this opportunity allowed to us in spring by EWU President David May, our administrators, and the Big Sky Conference is truly something we are looking forward to," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "Preparations have been underway for quite some time now. Having the ability to put those preparations on display in a competitive manner is certainly something we have coveted and will do so in a safe and responsible manner."
 
Current season ticket holders will be contacted for renewal options following decisions on whether or not fans will be allowed to watch the games. Eastern's original 2020 schedule included league home games against Montana, Idaho, Montana State and Weber State, as well as non-conference games versus Western Illinois and Northern Arizona.
 
On Aug. 7 in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Big Sky Conference announced that all league schools – including Eastern – would move their 2020 schedule to winter/spring 2021.  The NCAA had previously announced that the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs would not have its playoffs in the fall, and eventually announced their move to 2021.
 
The 2020 schedule was going to be Eastern's best in school history, featuring home games versus Montana, Montana State, Idaho and two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion Weber State. The Eagles were scheduled to open Big Sky Conference play at Southern Utah on Sept. 26, followed by its conference home opener versus Montana on Oct. 3.
 

EWU 2021 Winter/Spring Football Game Dates

Feb. 27 – at Portland State
March 6 – Montana
March 13 – at UC Davis
March 20 – Open
March 27 – Idaho
April 3 – at Montana State
April 10 – Cal Poly
April 17 – Open
April 24 (first round of 16-team playoffs)
May 1 (quarterfinals)
May 8 (semifinals)
May 15 (championship)
 
 

2021 Big Sky Winter/Spring Football Schedule

 
February 27
Eastern Washington at Portland State
Northern Colorado at Idaho
Weber State at Idaho State
Montana at Northern Arizona
Montana State at UC Davis
Southern Utah at Cal Poly
 
March 6
Montana at Eastern Washington
Idaho at Idaho State
Montana State at Weber State
Portland State at Northern Arizona
Southern Utah at Northern Colorado
UC Davis at Cal Poly
 
March 13
Eastern Washington at UC Davis
Portland State at Idaho
Idaho State at Southern Utah
Cal Poly at Montana
Northern Colorado at Montana State
Northern Arizona at Weber State
 
March 27
Idaho at Eastern Washington
Idaho State at Northern Colorado
Montana State at Montana
Northern Arizona at Cal Poly
UC Davis at Portland State
Weber State at Southern Utah
 
April 3
Eastern Washington at Montana State
Montana at Idaho
Idaho State at UC Davis
Southern Utah at Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado at Weber State
Cal Poly at Portland State
 
April 10
Cal Poly at Eastern Washington
Idaho at Southern Utah
Idaho State at Montana State
Portland State at Montana
Northern Arizona at Northern Colorado
Weber State at UC Davis
 

More on 2020-21 Schedule . . .

 
Eastern's 2020 schedule was to include Big Sky home games against the top three favorites of Eagle fans – Montana (Oct. 3), Idaho (Oct. 17) and Montana State (Nov. 7). The Eagles were also scheduled to host league powerhouse Weber State (Oct. 24) in a league counter, and host Western Illinois (Sept. 12) and Northern Arizona (Sept. 19) in non-conference games.
 
Currently with a 14-game home winning streak, the Eagles were to host the Grizzlies, Vandals and Bobcats in the same year for the first time in EWU history.
 
Now, Eastern will instead take solace that the Grizzlies and Vandals will still be coming to Cheney, as well as Cal Poly, whose new head coach, Beau Baldwin, is the school's new head coach.
 
The Montana schools joined EWU at finishing third in the 2019 Big Sky standings with 6-2 records, but both the Grizzlies and Bobcats advanced to the FCS Playoffs. Montana State finished 11-4 and the Grizzlies were 10-4, while EWU finished at 7-5.
 
Eastern was 2-2 in 2019 versus its winter/spring 2021 opponents. Eastern beat Portland State (53-46) and Cal Poly (42-41) to end the season, and earlier in the year fell on the road to both Montana (34-17) and Idaho (35-27). The non-conference loss to the Vandals hurt EWU's chances at a playoff berth.
 
Portland State, coached by former Eastern assistant Bruce Barnum, finished 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the league a year ago, as did UC Davis and Idaho.
 
Cal Poly was 3-8 overall and 2-6 in the league in 2019 in its final season under long-time Big Sky head coach Tim Walsh, and Baldwin then took over. His assistants include former EWU head coach Paul Wulff (2000 to 2007), as well as former Eagle All-America players Nicholas Edwards (wide receiver and letterwinner 2009-10-11-12), Erik Meyer (quarterback 2002-03-04-05) and J.C. Sherritt (linebacker 2007-08-09-10).
 
Looking beyond, the Big Sky Conference has already announced its league football schedules through the 2023 season. As a result the Eagles will play Idaho on a regular basis and Montana less regularly.
 
All 13 Big Sky teams will continue to play eight conference games with four at home and four on the road. Each team will have two "rivals" it will play each season, and EWU's two rivals are now Idaho and Portland State. The design of the schedules, which were set to begin in 2020, were to have each Big Sky team will play each other a minimum of two times.
 
Montana, EWU's former rival prior to the return of Idaho, is now in the rotation with the other 10 league schools. Thus, EWU will host Montana just once in that four-year span (on March 6, 2021), while going to UM on Oct. 8, 2022, and not playing the Griz in both 2021 and 2023. Thus, unless a non-conference game is scheduled, EWU will have played Montana at Roos Field just once in a seven-year span from 2017 to 2023.
 
Eastern also plays in Bozeman in 2021 and hosts Montana State in 2023, but does not play the Bobcats in the 2022 season.
 
A year ago, Eastern was just 1-3 in the non-conference portion of its schedule before going 6-2 in the Big Sky to barely miss a berth in the FCS Playoffs.

Consistency has been a cornerstone of EWU Football, and the Eagles have cemented a 16-year run of winning the league title and/or advancing to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs at least every other year. Since 2004, Eastern has advanced to the playoffs and/or won the league title at least every other year, and hasn't had back-back-empty seasons since 2002 and 2003.