New pieces – and one big missing piece – can make for a puzzling day.
 
But the Vandals placed the final piece with a winning touchdown with 54 seconds to play as the 12th-ranked Eastern Washington University fell to Idaho 28-21 in a Big Sky Conference game on Saturday (Feb. 27) at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho. The game was the opener for both teams as Eastern began its long-awaited 112th season in school history.
 
Eastern led early 14-0, but the Vandals took their only lead of the game after an eight-play, 68-yard drive led to game-winning touchdown with 54 seconds to play. The Eagles could only get to the Idaho 49 on the next drive before running out of time.
 
"The players did some really good things and fought well," said EWU associate head coach Eti Ena. "We were proud of how so many players stepped up in roles they have been practicing for, and now they have a game under their belts. We have things to build off of but we still have some work to do."
 
Senior All-American Eric Barriere passed for 339 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 57 attempts as EWU managed 426 yards of offense. A year ago when EWU led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense, the Eagles averaged 40.6 points and 524.8 yards per game. Senior Talolo Limu-Jones caught a career-high nine passes for 93 yards for EWU, and sixth-year senior Tamarick Pierce rushed for 63 yards.
 
Eastern had an interception return for a touchdown by junior Anthany Smith and held Idaho to 366 yards, including just 90 rushing. Smith also had a career-high 10 tackles, and former Vandal Ty Graham had nine in his Eagle debut. Defensive tackle Joshua Jerome made the first start of his career and had eight tackles with a sack.
 
Entering his fourth season at the helm, Aaron Best was unable to be at the game after testing positive from Covid-19 earlier in the work. Ena, EWU's associate head coach/defensive coordinator, filled the coaching duties that Best was unable to fulfill remotely while in isolation.
 
After a 462-day wait to play a game, the Eagles had 12 players – six on each side of the ball -- make their starting debuts. A trio of those starters were playing their first collegiate games, including a pair of true freshmen who attended EWU for the first time last fall.
 
"Idaho had a lot of new pieces too," said Ena. "This was a game where both teams found out what each other has. That's the intriguing part. As we got into the flow of the game, you kind of try to counter-punch each other and attack where you can. It was a well-played game by both teams, but unfortunately we didn't get it done at the end."
 
The Eagles open their three-game home schedule next Saturday (March 6) at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time when Northern Arizona visits Roos Field. Eastern hosts Idaho in the rematch on April 10 at Roos Field.
 
 
Records
 
* Eastern finished 7-5 in 2019, including a 6-2 record in the Big Sky to finish in a third-place tie. However, the Eagles were passed over for a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs despite finishing as the national runner-up in 2018. Eastern was ranked 12th in this week's Stats Perform NCAA Football Championship Subdivision top-25 poll.
 
* Idaho was 5-7 overall in 2019 and 3-5 in the league, and was ranked No. 24 in a winter/spring FCS poll announced recently by Athlon Sports (EWU was 12th).
 
* None of EWU's five league opponents this winter/spring – including a pair of games with Idaho – had winning records overall or in the league in 2019. They combined for a 20-39 record overall and 12-28 in the Big Sky. However, Idaho knocked off Eastern 35-27 on Sept 21, 2019, representing the only loss in 10 games for Best in his head coaching career versus the five opponents. In school history, EWU is 75-39 versus those five foes, and 16 of those losses and just seven wins are against Idaho.
 
* The UC Davis versus Cal Poly game scheduled for Feb. 27 has already been postponed to March 20.
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
* Preseason FCS All-America selection and Big Sky Conference MVP Eric Barriere completed 32-of-57 passes for 330 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. It was the ninth 300-yard passing performance of his career. He extended his streak of passes without an interception to 250 when his pass went through an EWU receiver's hands and was picked off by the Vandals. His last interception came on his 14th attempt at Sacramento State on Oct. 5, 2019.
* Senior Talolo Limu-Jones caught a career-high nine passes for 93 yards, eclipsing his previous high of eight catches.
* True freshman receiver Efton Chism III started in the first appearance of his career and had six receptions for 50 yards.
* Sophomore Freddie Roberson had a career-high seven catches for 48 yards, nearly doubling his career high of four grabs.
* Sophomore Anthony Stell Jr. also had a career high with four receptions, doubling his previous high of two. He caught a 16-yard touchdown pass.
* Senior Tamarick Pierce rushed for 63 yards.
* Sixth-year senior Dennis Merritt caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Barriere early in the second quarter and finished with three catches for 46 yards and another 41 yards rushing.
* Junior safety Anthany Smith made the first start of his career and had a 71-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter. It was his second career interception, and he also had a career-high 10 tackles, eclipsing his previous high of five. Smith was injured in the third game of the 2019 season for EWU and didn't play the rest of the season. The Idaho game was his 19th as an Eagle.
* Sophomore Joshua Jerome also made his first career start, and responded with eight tackles, with three of them for loss. He had a sack and also had two quarterback hurries.
* Senior Ty Graham, who previously played at Idaho, made his Eagle debut and had nine tackles.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
Although the Eagles had three new coaches on the defensive side of the ball – plus Ena assuming serving head coaching duties – the Eagles held Idaho to 34 yards in the first quarter and scored a touchdown on Smith's 71-yard interception return for a score.
 
Eastern extended the lead to 14-0 when Eastern capped a seven-play, 70-yard drive with a 27-yard Barriere-to-Merritt scoring connection. But the Vandals scored the next 14 and the game was knotted at halftime.
 
The Eagles regained the lead on the first possession of the second half, driving 75 yards on nine plays. Barriere hit Stell for a 16-yard touchdown to put EWU up 21-14. On the next Idaho possession, Eastern held on a fourth down and stopped a Vandal drive, but Idaho would knot the score at 21 after a short Eagle punt.
 
The game was 21-all in the fourth quarter, and a key turning point came with 11:01 left when a short 24-yard field goal by EWU's Seth Harrison was ruled as a miss, but was so high it appeared hit the scoreboard as opposed to the upright. It was reviewed, however, there was no video proof to overturn the play.
 
A punt, Eastern's seventh of the day, led to Idaho's game-winning drive. The Vandals also punted seven times.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Since the series started in 1942, Idaho has won 17 of the 24 games played between the two schools, with a pair of five-game winning streaks. The Eagles are 4-10 all-time in Moscow, including a 35-27 loss in 2019 when the Vandals opened a 28-0 lead at halftime. Until 2018, Eastern had never defeated the Vandals in Cheney, losing 28-7 in 1942, 38-21 in 1992 and 40-15 in 1994. Eastern is 2-4 all-time at Albi Stadium in Spokane (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1997, 1999).
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* Eastern confirmed Thursday (Feb. 25) that head football coach Aaron Best had tested positive for Covid-19 and would miss the season-opening game at Idaho. Per NCAA rules, the entire team and staff are given PCR tests every Wednesday.  The most recent test results were received Thursday morning, with Coach Best being the only positive result with no symptoms. Following institutional and regionally approved contact-tracing protocols for positive tests, it was determined that no other team members or staff needed to be quarantined. The decision to play the football game, as scheduled, was made during a zoom call hosted by the Big Sky Conference featuring medical staff and athletic administrators from both Universities. Coach Best will be under isolation protocols for an undetermined amount of time, with CDC guidelines followed. "It is certainly unfortunate not to be able to enjoy this Saturday as an entire EWU football family," said Best. "The team is ready to compete and their preparation to get to this stage has been nothing less than incredible. We will all be back together soon!"
 
* Six Eagles on both sides of the ball made their first starts of their careers, including true freshman offensive guard Wyatt Hansen, true freshman wide receiver Efton Chism III and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Jacob Newsom who were playing their first games in college. The others on offense were guard Wyatt Musser, tackle Matt Shook, running back Tamarick Pierce and wide receiver Anthony Stell Jr. On defense, the first-time starters were end Jusstis Warren, tackle Joshua Jerome, linebacker Ty Graham, safety Keshaun King and safety Anthany Smith.  Graham was playing his first game as an Eagle after playing previously at Idaho and redshirting in 2019, Warren is a sixth-year senior and played one game in 2019 after transferring from Washington.
 
* Senior linebacker Ty Graham grew up around the Eastern football program, and a circuitous had him playing his first game in an Eagle uniform against Idaho. With his father, John Graham, on the EWU coaching staff as defensive coordinator for eight years, Graham eventually graduated from Cheney, Wash., High School in 2016. He subsequently joined the University of Idaho program and played three seasons for the Vandals, but elected to transfer to EWU for the 2019 season. He had to redshirt that year, then, the 2020 season was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, when he took to the field to make his EWU debut against his former team, it was 833 full days since his last collegiate game. Ironically, that came on Nov. 17, 2018, in a 63-10 loss at Florida when he had six tackles and a forced fumble. Eastern was scheduled to open the 2020 season at Florida before that game was wiped out because of the pandemic.
 
* Eastern entered the 2020-21 season with a total of 20 players returning with 191 games of starting experience, including 10 players on defense with 86 starts and 10 on offense with 105 starts.
Current Starts on Defense (97 starts by 16 players): Calin Criner 16, Jack Sendelbach 15, Chris Ojoh 12 Mitchell Johnson 12, Tre Weed 12, Darreon Moore 7, Kedrick Johnson 8, Ira Branch 3, Darrien Sampson 4, Caleb Davis 2, Ty Graham 1, Anthany Smith 1, Jusstis Warren 1, Joshua Jerome 1, Keshaun King 1, Jacob Newsom 1.
Current Starts on Offense (116 starts by 16 players): Tristen Taylor 41, Eric Barriere 24, Andrew Boston 19, Johnny Edwards IV 12, Dylan Ingram 3, Conner Crist 3, Talolo Limu Jones 3, Freddie Roberson 3, Blake Gobel 1, Dennis Merritt 1, Wyatt Hansen 1, Wyatt Musser 1, Matt Shook 1, Tamarick Pierce 1, Anthony Stell Jr. 1, Efton Chism III 1.
  
* Although having never played in February, practicing and playing in the winter months is nothing new for the Eagle football program. Entering this season, the Eagles have played 31 games in 13 appearances in the NCAA Football Championship subdivision playoffs, including 21 home games. And EWU is successful in the winter months to boot, including a 15-6 record in those 21 home playoff games. Since 2004, EWU is 39-7 in regular season games in November with a nine-game winning streak, and are 16-9 in the playoffs in November and beyond for a collective 55-16 record (77 percent). Since 2010, EWU is 40-9 in November and beyond for 82 percent – 26-4 in regular season games and 14-5 in the playoffs.
 
 
On the Horizon
 
 * The Eagles will open a three-game home schedule versus Northern Arizona on March 6 at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time. The Eagles have won their last 14 homes games at "The Inferno," and All-America quarterback Eric Barriere returns for his senior season a perfect 11-0 as a starter there. The Northern Arizona game will be the first game on the new red Astroturf surface installed at "The Inferno" last summer.  The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year -- are slated to begin on April 24 and conclude on May 16.
 
* At this time, no spectators will be permitted to attend games, practices or scrimmages due to institutional, regional, and state guidelines in regards to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
 
More Comments from Associate Head Coach Eti Ena
 
On Anthany Smith: "Anthany made a great play there – he's a smart and heady player, and obviously he's good. He's going to make an impact for our defense this season."
 
On Close Game: "We had the lead, but we didn't let up at all. The level of play was still there, but my hat is off to Idaho. They weren't going to quit either. It was kind of what you would expect in this kind of game – both teams are going to keep playing and Idaho capitalized more."
 
On Defense: "I'm proud of our veterans and a lot of other players who got a chance to get in there. We have that next man up mentality, and when it's your turn you have to seize the opportunity. Some of those guys who haven't played in games really battled. We have to keep developing our depth and keep on working hard. This process this season is weird with the Covid scenario, but everybody has to keep developing and hope to peak at the right time."
 
On EWU Offensive Line: "We've practiced against them, and they have a good group of players. As they gel together and get used to playing with each other more, they will keep getting better and better. I think they did well today. I'm excited to see them continue to develop as we move forward through this spring season."
 
On Next Week's Home Opener: "Getting one under our belt was important – especially after not playing for so long. I was intrigued to see how we started the game, and we started well. But we have to maintain that flow. We would expect to improve from having a game under our belt and show some growth from this experience."