REMINDER: Tonight's EWU Football Coaches Show will be live from campus and available to listen to only on 700-AM ESPN at 6 p.m. Pacific time. The show will return to the Buffalo Wild Wings at Northtown Mall in Spokane next Monday (Nov. 1) for the remainder of the regular season.
 
After eight-straight weeks of competition, the bye week has arrived for the Eastern Washington University football team.
 
The Eagles, who played four of their first six games on the road, are coming off a loss at home to Weber State, 35-34, on Saturday. EWU started the season 7-0 for the program's best start at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, and are now 7-1 with a 4-1 mark in Big Sky Conference play. The Eagles are currently ranked No. 7 in both the Stats Perform and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) polls.
 
Eastern Washington will use the week to rest and regroup, but are eager to rid the taste of a loss and focus on the next task which is a matchup against No. 6 Montana State on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Roos Field. Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m. for Senior Day and Military Appreciation Day, and broadcast on ESPN+ and regionally on SWX. The Bobcats, who are 7-1 and 5-0, will also be coming off of a bye.
 
"The goals were the same regardless of the outcome of (the Weber State) game. We want to get into the training room and get back as many players as we can, but we aren't out a ton of guys. Our eighth game came against a very physical defense and special teams unit, and our defense faced 95 snaps. So, there are going to be some bumps and bruises we endured that we'll need to take care of. We'll practice a couple of times next week, and work on more individual aspects and less unit-wise. Then we'll start our prep for Montana State late in the week," said head coach Aaron Best. "Win or lose, you have to flush it – you get 24 hours. This one is going to sting, and it stings even more because you can't score again until the next home game, which is two weeks away. That's the hard part. You can't go back and re-do it – we understand that. But you also can't make up for it either. Our opponent is going to be a new team we face, and it's a team that is undefeated in the conference up to this point."
 
The team will practice from Wednesday through Friday, with many coaches taking advantage of the off-week and hitting the recruiting trail as well. After Montana State, the Eagles hit the road for the final two regular season matches at No. 9 UC Davis (Nov. 13) and Portland State (Nov. 20), and then will await their fate for the 2021 FCS Playoffs on Selection Sunday, which is Nov. 21.
 
Currently, the Eagles are the FCS leaders in scoring (51.5 per game), total offense (603.9 yards per game) and first downs (218). Eastern is now third nationally in passing efficiency, with a mark of 179.46 which includes a 430.8 passing yards per game (second in FCS), 31 touchdowns, a 66.8 percent completion mark (fourth) and just six interceptions.
 
Senior quarterback Eric Barriere remains first in passing efficiency (181.26), touchdowns (30), total offense (432.0) and passing yards per game (414.0), and is second in points responsible for (204 with 30 TDs through the air, three on the ground and a trio of two-point conversions).
 
Versus Idaho, Barriere had school records of 600 yards passing (No. 8 in FCS history & No. 5 in BSC history), 577 yards of total offense, seven touchdown passes and eight TD's responsible for. That gave him a total of 123 TDs responsible for in his career, surpassing the record of 121 by Vernon Adams Jr. The following week, he set a Big Sky Conference career record versus the Wildcats. He finished the game with 330 yards of total offense (245 passing and 85 rushing) to give him 13,558 in his career and break the previous EWU and Big Sky records held by former Eagle Matt Nichols with 13,308 from 2006-09. With 12,051 passing yards, Barriere is now 565 from the school and league records held by Nichols of 12,616. With 105 career touchdown passes, he is five from the Eastern and BSC records of 110 held by former Eagle Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14).
 
Dennis Merritt is first in the FCS in total touchdowns (16), rushing touchdowns (13), and scoring (12.0 per game), and is also 15th in rushing yards (663) and 32nd in rushing yards per game (82.9). Talolo Limu-Jones is seventh in receiving yards yards per game (101.3 with a total of 608 in six games) and 21st in receptions per game (6.6 with a total of 37). Andrew Boston is 14th in receiving yards (629) and 35th in receiving yards per game, with Efton Chism III 13th with six TD receptions.
 
Looking ahead to the Montana State game, Eastern has won 32 of 42 games in the series, including 14 of the last 15. Eastern has won the last seven meetings, and haven't lost to the Bobcats in 10 years since MSU prevailed 36-21 at Roos Field in Cheney in 2011. Eastern is 14-4 all-time at home versus MSU.
 
In the last six meetings, Eastern has scored 267 points and generated 3,377 yards of total offense for averages of 44.5 points and 562.8 yards per game. This will be the seventh time – but first since 2015 – that both teams will enter the match-up nationally ranked.