Stats Perform Walter Payton Award Release

Will the third time be the charm?
 
Eastern Washington University quarterback Eric Barriere is one of 25 finalists for the Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award, which is presented to the national offensive player of the year in college football's Division I subdivision.
 
This is the third time Barriere has been named a finalist, finishing fifth as junior in 2019 and runner-up last year in 2020.
 
A 50-member national media panel will select the winner on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas, the night before the FCS Championship game.
 
The Payton Award, named for the legendary running back and in its 35th season, has served as a stepping-stone for such NFL players as Steve McNair, Tony Romo, Brian Westbrook, Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance and former Eagle Cooper Kupp. Kupp was EWU's latest recipient in 2015, with other former Eagles honored including Erik Meyer (2005) and Bo Levi Mitchell (2011).
 
Barriere, who will lead the Eagles through the first round of the FCS Playoffs at home against Northern Iowa this Saturday, leads FCS with 40 touchdown passes, and is second in passing efficiency (176.0), total offense (406.0 per game) and passing yards (385.6). He is second in points responsible for (266 with 40 TDs through the air, three on the ground and four two-point conversions) and points responsible for per game (24.2).
 
In recent weeks, he has re-written the Big Sky Conference and EWU record books, breaking a trio of major records. He established two major career records during his performance versus UC Davis on Nov. 13 that included a 34-of-54 passing performance for 411 yards and three touchdowns, plus another 42 yards on the ground. His 10th career passing performance of 400+ yards and his 16th with 400 yards of total offense earned him ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week for a record sixth time this season, and 12th time overall in his illustrious career.
 
With 49 total games of experience, he is 29-11 in 40 career games as a starter (16-2 at home), with 12,996 passing yards, 115 touchdown passes, 1,587 yards rushing and 14,583 total yards of offense as an Eagle.

Barriere has had 29 performances of at least 300 yards of total offense and 21 with at least 300 yards passing in his 49 games as an Eagle. He has had 16 with at least 400 yards of total offense and 10 with at least 400 passing, including 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 versus Idaho on Oct. 16, 2021. He now owns four of the top five passing performances in school history, and four of the top six performances for total offense.
 
In his career he has completed 62.3 percent of his passes (940-of-1509), good for 12,996 yards, 115 touchdowns and 27 interceptions, and has rushed 364 times for 1,587 yards and 21 more TDs (a school-record total of 136 touchdowns accounted for). He had a passing efficiency rating of 146.9 as a sophomore, 151.6 in 2019 and 176.2 thus far in 2021 for a 155.1 mark in his career to currently rank fourth in school history. His touchdown passes, passing yardage and 14,583 yards of offense are all school and Big Sky records, and his attempts and completions are No. 2 in school history (behind Matt Nichols with 996 completions and 1,608 attempts from 2006-09.
 
Barriere enters the 2021 postseason with a string of 126 passes without a pick, but he's had other noteworthy streaks in a career which includes just 27 interceptions in 1,608 attempts (.017 interceptions per attempt; or 59.6 attempts per interception). Earlier in the 2021 season he had another streak of 154 passes without an interception, and he entered the 2020-21 season with a streak of 239 attempts without a peak. That streak ended at 250 in the opener at Idaho on Feb. 27, 2020, when he had a pass go through an EWU receiver's hands and was picked off by the Vandals.
 
Barriere owns the EWU career rushing record for a quarterback with 1,587 yards, breaking the previous record of 1,232 yards by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14). Eastern is 23-2 when Barriere has rushed for at least 21 yards, with the lone losses coming at Sacramento State (10/5/19) when he finished with 103 and at home versus Weber State (10/23/21) when he had 85.
 
Barriere is a preseason All-America selection and on watch lists for two end-of-season player of the year awards in FCS. Twelve times in his career he has won Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors (six in 2021, three in 2020-21, twice in 2019, once in 2018). He has received accolades as National FCS Player of the Week for his performances in three different games, including a pair from Stats Perform.

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At UC Davis on Nov. 13 in a 38-20 victory, Barriere established EWU and Big Sky Conference records for career passing yards and touchdown passes. He broke the previous school and league records of 12,616 yards held by former Eagle Matt Nichols (2006-09), who was present at the game. Barriere tied the Eastern and BSC records of 110 TD passes held by Vernon Adams (2012-14) and has exceeded that since then. Barriere now ranks ninth all-time in FCS history in career passing yards (12,996) and is 11th in touchdown passes (115).  He is only 160 yards from moving into eighth in yards, 216 from seventh, 268 from sixth and 405 from fifth. For TD tosses, he is one away from a tie for ninth, two from eighth, three from seventh, four from sixth, five from fifth and six from fourth.
 
In the Weber State game on Oct. 23, Barriere passed the EWU and Big Sky records for total offense previously held by Nichols with 13,308 yards in 47 games. Barriere now has 14,583 in 49 career games, a total which currently ranks sixth in FCS history and is 32 from fifth, 137 from fourth and 170 from third.
 
"He's a legend. He's a present-day legend," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best of Barriere's performance versus UC Davis. "He's still writing his script, and every day he tries to get better and we found a way to win. A lot of the credit goes to the players up front protecting him while he's staring downfield."
 
In addition to his single game school records versus Idaho, he finished the game 26-of-35 passes (74 percent) for a passing efficiency rating of 284.32 that was close to the school record of 313.5. Barriere's performance earned him accolades as the FCS Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, College Sports Madness FCS Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) FCS Top Performer award. In addition, he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors for the 11th time of his career and fifth this season.
 
One week prior to the Idaho game, he had a 32-of-41 performance for 347 yards and three touchdowns as EWU led 43-10 at halftime en route to a 63-17 romp at Northern Colorado on Oct. 9. In the first half alone, he was 23-of-29 (79 percent) for 231 yards as he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors (his 10th).
 
He had a 30-of-43 passing performance in a 50-21 Big Sky Conference win at Southern Utah, throwing for 518 of EWU's then school-record 554 passing yards (the other 36 came on a fake punt). He had four touchdown passes against the Thunderbirds. Barriere had no interceptions for the third-straight game, and entered the Montana game with 125 attempts without a pick after throwing two in EWU's season-opening 35-33 win at UNLV. His streak was snapped at 154 attempts versus the Grizzlies.
 
Following the Southern Utah game on Sept. 25, he received his second-straight FCS National Offensive Player of the Week accolade from College Sports Madness. He also received honorable mention as FCS Offensive Player of the Week from Stats Perform and honorable mention as the FCS Performer of the week from College Football Performance Awards. In addition, his second-straight 500-yard passing performance on the road helped him win him his ninth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award, and he earned the same honor from CSN.
 
He broke FCS records for most passing yards (487) and total offense (497) in a single half versus Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021, as EWU took a 55-21 halftime lead in the 62-56 shootout victory. The old records of 480 and 491 were set in 2012 by Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion versus New Hampshire. Barriere finished with a school-record 562 yards of total offense (542 passing yards were just seven from the school record).
 
He had the most yards in back-to-back games in school history in both passing and total offense with 542 passing at Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021 (a then school-record 562 of total offense) and 518 pass a week later at Southern Utah (546 total). He is the first FCS player with consecutive 500-yard passing performances since Cornell's Jeff Mathews in 2011 (521 versus Cornell and 548 at Penn).
 
The performance at Western Illinois earned Barriere his eighth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award and he was also recognized nationally as he was named the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week, the College Football Performance Association FCS National Performer of the Week and the College Sports Madness National Offensive and Big Sky Player of the Week.
 
He was selected as Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year and was the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award in the 2020-21 season. He was selected to six different FCS All-America squads during the season impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. A unanimous first team All-Big Sky choice in the 2020-21 season, he earned third team All-Big Sky Conference honors as both a sophomore (2018) and junior (2019).
 
He finished the 2020-21 season ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (sixth, 369.0 per game), passing offense (seventh, 348.4), passing touchdowns (second, 19) and points responsible for (ninth, 17.4 per game).
 
In 2019, Barriere finished fifth in the voting for the prestigious Walter Payton Award presented by STATS, and earned third team FCS All-America honors from Hero Sports. That season he finished second in FCS in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game and was third in passing (309.3), ninth with 31 touchdown passes and fourth in points responsible for (20.2 per game with 31 TDs passing, eight rushing and a two-point conversion).