The Eastern Washington University football team is advancing to the Second Round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs after a 19-9 win over Northern Iowa at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., on Saturday (Nov. 27) afternoon. The nine points were the second-fewest points allowed by the No. 4/6 Eagles in EWU's playoff history, as Eastern Washington improves to 10-2 on the year and the Panthers finished the season 6-6.
 
Eric Barriere threw for 283 yards, completing 20 of his 34 pass attempts. He threw one interception, had one passing touchdown and scored the other with his legs. Additionally, he moved up in three FCS categories and is now third all-time in career offensive yards (14,884), sixth in passing yards (13,279) and ninth in passing touchdowns (116).
 
The Eagles are now also 66-1 since 2010 when winning the turnover battle thanks to two interceptions from Keshaun King and one from Marlon Jones Jr. Eastern Washington was 8-of-19 on third-down conversions and the Panthers were just 2-of-15.
 
Eastern Washington amassed 412 yards of total offense on 78 plays, 129 of which came on the ground plus 283 through the air. Northern Iowa had 423 total yards of offense with 108 rushing yards and 315 passing yards.
 
"It started and ended with the defense. It started with a stop at the goal line on defense and we got the ball back, and all of a sudden it ended up being a pick late by Marlon Jones Jr. to end the day to get into Eagle formation. That was about as masterful of a job on defense that we could've done. We gave many opportunities to the offense, and it's obviously a very salty Northern Iowa defense. We were up to the challenge on defense and we won the day on defense and scored enough points. We held them to seven points, holding anybody to seven points in any games in those conditions is awesome, and you're in the playoffs so it doesn't matter how it looks, it was effective and we move on," said head coach Aaron Best. "It was a gutsy, gutsy, gutsy and awesome, awesome, awesome performance by the defense. Coach Eti Ena and company put them in situations and they were resilient and fought through adversity the entire game. Northern Iowa probably had more possessions later in the game than we wanted to with a couple of extra points, but 19-7, 19-9 at the end of the day, we played lights out on defense."  
 
After Northern Iowa turned the ball over on downs facing fourth and goal on its opening drive, the Panthers punted three-straight times while the Eagles took a 9-0 lead. The scores came via a 26-yard pass through traffic from Eric Barriere to Nolan Ulm, resulting in Ulm's first career touchdown. Another first came on the next drive, when Wyatt Hawkins made his first career field goal on a 22-yard try.
 
The Panthers pulled within two points after a 14-yard receiving touchdown that took 3:06 off the clock following a nine play, 85-yard drive. At the half, the Eagles led 9-7.
 
Northern Iowa started the quarter with a 55-yard field goal try that fell short. On the ensuing drive, EWU turned the ball over on downs. The Panthers faced third and 18 on their own 30-yard line when Keshaun King grabbed his second interception of his career and returned it 20 yards. From there, Barriere scurried and avoided the sack, rushing 18 yards into the endzone and the Eagles took a 16-7 lead after the point after attempt by Hawkins was good.
 
In the third quarter, the Eagle defense held UNI to a missed field goal, an interception and a punt on its three drives as EWU took the nine-point lead into the fourth.
 
Hawkins came on again in the fourth quarter and made a 30-yard field goal try to extend the lead to 19-7.
 
A safety with 3:51 left in the game were the only points Northern Iowa scored after its lone touchdown with 34 seconds left in the second quarter. Between then, Eastern Washington forced UNI to punt three times, turn the ball over on downs twice, miss a 55-yard field goal attempt, and had two interceptions – both of which came from the hands of King.
 
Freddie Roberson was Eastern's leading receiver with 127 yards on five catches. In the first quarter, he caught an 86-yard pass from Barriere that would wind up being the program's longest passing play in its playoff history.
 
The Eagle defense had three interceptions which tied a playoff record for EWU. They also had an impressive 12 passes broken up, setting a new playoff record as well. Demetrius Crosby Jr. had four of the breakups in his first career start which is also a new playoff record. King's two interceptions also tied a record with three other players.
 
Today marked the first meeting between the two foes since the 2016 season. Eastern Washington is now 2-6 all-time against Northern Iowa, with both wins coming consecutively at home. In the FCS Playoffs, the Eagles are now 1-3 against the Panthers.
 
It's now on to No. 6 seed Montana, who Eastern Washington defeated in a thriller by a score of 34-28 in Cheney back on Oct. 2, 2021. The Grizzlies ended the regular season 9-2 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky Conference play. The Eagles take on Montana on Friday, Dec. 3 in Missoula, Mont. at 6 p.m. Pacific time in the second round on ESPN+ in what will be the second time the two rivals have faced off in the postseason.
 
MORE COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH AARON BEST:
 
On the Safety: "It was situational situation and we practice that every week by putting ourselves in that situation. Looking at it, it was a 12-point game and we didn't want to put them on the plus side of the 50-yard line and put our defense in a bind. Obviously, the kick wasn't ideal with the return going out to the 50, but it gave us some reprieve up 10 by putting our defense back out there. It was one of those situational moments, looking at the clock and looking at the score, it was the appropriate thing to do at the time. We didn't panic and we knew what we were doing. We probably earned three or four extra seconds by Nick Kokich walking the end line a little bit, and we orchestrated what we anticipated. We've worked on that all season, many time, and the situation presented itself so we used it."
 
On Scoring the Least Amount of Points All Season: "It was a good old-school, smashmouth, football game. We held them in check on defense over and over again and they stood the test of the series that they got presented. It was one of those pieces where it probably a Missouri Valley score at the end of the day, you don't find these in the Big Sky very often. We played a brand of ball that we were up to the challenge for this week and the defense played absolutely phenomenal, complimentary football at the end of the day. There were a lot of ebbs and flows, but our guys were up to the challenge and scored more points in the name of the game, the playoffs."
 
More on the FCS Playoffs
 
The Eagles are making their 15th appearance in the playoffs, and the Northern Iowa game was their first on Thanksgiving weekend since 2009 when they played at Stephen F. Austin.
 
Five Big Sky Conference teams advanced to the playoffs, with first-round byes received by league champion Sacramento State (No. 4 seed), Montana (#6) and Montana State (#8). Eastern did not play the Hornets, but defeated the Grizzlies 34-28 on Oct. 2 and lost to the Bobcats 23-20 on Nov. 6. UC Davis, a team EWU defeated 38-20 on Nov. 13, also received an at-large bid and will play at South Dakota State on Nov. 27, with the winner playing at Sac State.
 
UC Davis fell in the First Round to South Dakota State today, 56-24.
 
The Eagles could potentially play #3 seed James Madison in the quarterfinals and #2 seed North Dakota State in the semifinals, but could face no other league school until the championship game. The quarterfinals of the playoffs are Dec. 10 and 11, the semifinals are Dec. 17 and 18 and the championship game is in Frisco, Texas, on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 9 a.m. Pacific time and televised by ESPN2.
 
Eastern now has 12 playoff berths in an 18-year span (2004-2021), ranking the Eagles as one of only five schools in FCS to accomplish that feat. New Hampshire (2004-05-06-07-08-09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17) made the playoffs for the 14th-straight time in 2017, but has not qualified for the last four tournaments. James Madison (2004-06-07-08-11-14-15-16-17-18-19-20/21-21) has 13 appearances since 2004, while Eastern, North Dakota State (2010-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20/21-21) and Montana (2004-05-06-07-08-09-11-13-14-15-19-21) have 12 in that stretch.
 
This is the third time head coach Aaron Best has taken the Eagles to the playoffs as head coach (2018-2020/21-2021), and he was with the team for eight seasons as an assistant (2004-05-2009-10-12-13-14-16) and one as a player (1997). He has been involved in a total of 27 postseason playoff games with a record of 16-9 as a coach and 2-1 mark as a player.
 
The Eagles won the 2010 NCAA Division I title and were runners-up in 2018, and advanced to the first round of the playoffs in the 2020-21 campaign. Eastern fell at North Dakota State 42-24 on April 24, 2021, during the abbreviated 2020-21 season in which the playoff field consisted of just 16 teams.
 
Of EWU's 20-13 record overall in the FCS Playoffs, the Eagles are 16-6 at home, 3-6 on the road and 1-1 at a neutral site in the championship game. Eastern was the 2010 NCAA Division I Champions after winning three home games in the playoffs and then defeating Delaware 20-19 for the title in Frisco, Texas. Eastern also hosted and won three games in 2018 when the Eagles fell to North Dakota State 38-24 in the title game. Eastern hosted three games in 2012, 2013 and 2016, but lost in the semifinals all three seasons, plus in 1997 when the games were played at Albi Stadium in Spokane. Eastern hosted two more playoff games in 2014, falling in the quarterfinal round.
 
Since 2010, Eastern has hosted 18 playoff games at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., winning 14 of them. Until losing at NDSU in the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign, Eastern didn't have to play on the road since 2009 when it fell at Stephen F. Austin in the first round.
 
Eagles Now 64-12 on the Red Turf
 
A school-record stretch of 20-straight wins at Roos Field came to an end on Oct. 23, 2021, when the Eagles lost 35-34 to Weber State. Eastern then followed that with a 23-20 setback to fourth-ranked Montana State two weeks later.
 
At the time, the streak was the top active mark in FCS and came just one victory shy of the overall school record of 21 set from 1935-40. Eastern won all five of its regular season home games in 2019, all eight in 2018, three at home in the 2020-21 season and was 3-0 in 2021 before the loss to the Wildcats, who had handed EWU its last home loss in 2017.
 
Eastern Washington bounced back in its first round FCS playoff game against Northern Iowa on Nov. 27 in a 19-9 victory.
 
The Eagles entered the 2021 season as one of three teams with the longest active home winning streaks in FBS with 17 consecutive victories, and EWU improved that to 18 with a resounding 63-14 win over Central Washington on Sept. 11. Victories over Montana on Oct. 2 and Idaho on Oct. 16 extended it to 20. The other schools who entered the season with 17-game home winning streaks included James Madison, which extended its streak to 19 with a 55-7 win over Maine on Sept. 11. North Dakota also had a 18-game streak after winning its home opener Sept. 18 versus Drake, but fell at home on Oct. 2 against North Dakota State. James Madison lost at home 28-27 on Oct. 9 versus Villanova, thus giving EWU sole possession of the top active mark for two weeks.
 
Eastern is now 64-12 (84.2 percent) overall at "The Inferno" since 2010. The stadium has been known as Roos Field since 2010 when a new red synthetic Sprinturf surface made its debut. Eastern's last home loss came on Nov. 4, 2017, versus Weber State.
 
At its current site, the previous school record was 11 consecutive home wins set between 9/16/78 and 9/27/80 (between losses was from 11/19/77 to 11/1/80). Eastern had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a 36-21 loss to Montana State on Sept. 24, 2011. The Eagles also had a nine-game winning streak at that venue snapped against Sacramento State on Oct. 21, 2000, when the Hornets made a 23-yard field goal with no time remaining.
 
Eastern has lost just eight regular season games at "The Inferno" – 50-8 (86.2 percent), plus are 14-4 (77.8 percent) in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since 2010 are to conference foes Montana State (2011 and 2021), Portland State (2011 and 2015), Northern Arizona (2015) and Weber State (2017 and 2021), as well as North Dakota State (2017).
 
Eastern finished a perfect 8-0 in its debut season at "The Inferno," including three playoff victories. Eastern's triumphs since the red turf was installed in 2010 include a 6-0 record versus rival Montana. The original red turf at Roos Field was replaced in summer of 2020 by a new AstroTurf surface.
 
The North Dakota State game on Sept. 9, 2017, was the 50th at Roos Field since the red turf surface was installed in 2010. In 2016, Eastern finished 7-1 in the 50th season of football at EWU's current stadium location, which opened in 1967. Eastern has a 176-67 record (72.3 percent) in 243 games at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field) since 1967, with the Eagles utilizing Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane as the school's main home field from 1983-89.
 
Eastern Now 66-1 Since 2010 When Winning the TO Battle
 
In the last 13+ seasons (2008-2021), the Eagles are now 75-2 when they've won the turnover battle, 25-9 when they've been tied and 26-36 when they've lost (total of 126-47).
 
However, Eastern's nearly 12-year, 63-game streak of winning the game when they won the turnover battle came to a halt on Nov. 6, 2021, versus Montana State when MSU had two turnovers to EWU's none. The last time EWU lost a game when it won the turnover battle came in the 2009 FCS Playoffs at Stephen F. Austin when EWU had two miscues and forced four in the 44-33 loss.
 
Thus, EWU is now 66-1 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 22-9 when they've been tied and 24-29 when they've lost. That's a collective record of 112-39 (74.2 percent), with 29 of those 39 losses (74 percent) coming in games EWU has lost the turnover battle and 59 percent of EWU's wins coming when they've won the turnover battle (78 percent when including ties).
 
In 2021, EWU won the turnover battle versus Central Washington (2-0), Western Illinois (1-0), Southern Utah (1-0), Northern Colorado (2-1), Idaho (3-0), Montana State (2-0), UC Davis (2-0) Portland State (2-0), and Northern Iowa (2-1) and lost to UNLV (3-2) and Weber State (3-2). The Eagles were tied versus Montana (2-2).
 
In 2020-21, EWU opened the year by falling to Idaho 28-21 after losing the turnover battle 2-1. Eastern beat Northern Arizona 45-13 on March 6, but also lost the turnover battle in that one, 3-0. Eastern beat Idaho State by both score (46-42) and the turnover battle (3-2). Eastern won the turnover battle 2-1 against Cal Poly on March 27, but lost 1-0 at UC Davis in a 32-22 victory on April 3. The Eagles closed the regular season by registered two four-quarter interceptions – the only turnovers of the game – in a 38-31 win over Idaho on April 10. In the FCS Playoffs, the lone turnover was an Eagle interception on offense as North Dakota State won the turnover battle 1-0.