Eastern Washington University "Eagles" versus Cal Poly "Mustangs" Saturday, March 27  • 1:05 p.m. Pacific Roos Field  • Cheney, Wash.
TV:	Regionally in Eastern Washington on SWX (Sam Adams, Bill Ames)
Webcast:	Pluto TV Channel 1053 (http://pluto.tv & http://watchbigsky.com)
Radio:	700-AM ESPN and 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area. Larry Weir returns for his 30th season calling the play-by-play, with analysis handled by Paul Sorensen for the 18th year. Broadcasts begin one hour prior to kickoff and include an expanded post-game show.
Internet Radio:	https://tunein.com/radio/Eastern-Washington-Eagles-Sports-Network-s273711/
Radio Mobile Phone App:	Via tunein radio.
Live Stats:	EWU Home Games: http://ewustats.com
EWU Game Program:	https://publogix.com/e/20-ewaufbyb/

This is one Homecoming the Eagles hope doesn't end happily.
 
The 12th-ranked Eastern Washington University football team hosts its former head coach and some familiar names on the opposing sideline when the Eagles host Cal Poly this Saturday (March 27) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. in a game televised regionally in Eastern Washington by SWX, and may also be viewed via Pluto TV Channel 1053 (http://pluto.tv & http://watchbigsky.com). Fans can also listen to the game on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting one hour prior to kickoff.
 
At this time, no tickets will be made available to the general public, including current season ticket holders. In accordance with the Health Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Phase 3 guidelines, Eastern is permitted to allow attendance at up to 25 percent of capacity of the facility. However, as EWU considered regional and institutional guidelines to safely bring spectators back to campus for EWU Football, it was determined to limit attendance to guests of student-athletes and a limited number of EWU students. In addition, Eastern parking lots will continue to be closed to the general public and no pre-game tailgating or overnight parking will be allowed.
 
Eastern had a bye last week, but improved to 2-1 when it came from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Idaho State 46-42 on March 13 in Pocatello, Idaho. All-America quarterback Eric Barriere had what head coach Aaron Best termed his "best game as an Eagle" as he finished with 474 yards of total offense and accounted for 32 points.
 
This week Barriere will put his perfect 12-0 record at Roos Field on the line as the Eagles seek to extend its school record 15-game winning streak at home. But they'll have to do it against a coach who did some winning of his own at "The Inferno" just a few short years ago.
 
Beau Baldwin spent nine seasons as Eastern's head coach (2008-2016) and four as an EWU assistant (2003-06) before taking the offensive coordinator job at Cal. That lasted three seasons until he took the head coaching position at Cal Poly, and was to make his debut in the fall of 2020.
 
Instead, he had to wait until March 13 to make his debut, and the Mustangs fell to Southern Utah 34-24. They followed that with a 73-24 loss to UC Davis on March 20. Four members of his staff have past connections to EWU – Paul Wulff, Erik Meyer, J.C. Sherritt and Nicholas Edwards.
 
But the Eagles are going to try to avoid the distractions that come with such a match-up and focus on the game between the end zones. The distractions also include the decisions allowing only a limited number of fans into the game.
 
"We always talk to the team about controlling what we can control," said head coach Aaron Best. "Our focus has to be on us. We have a lot to work on, and the Idaho State game exposed some things about our team in certain areas. We have to get a few guys back too. We have to continue to progress three games in."
 
This week's game starts the second half of the six-game league schedule for Eastern, while Cal Poly will be playing its third contest. So far this season, the Eagles have lost to Idaho 28-21, beat Northern Arizona at home 45-13 and then triumphed over Idaho State 46-42 to improve to 2-1. The Mustangs, who had to pause their program in February because of the pandemic, are 0-2 after playing UC Davis in a make-up game from a contest originally scheduled for Feb. 27.
 
"Let's just be honest, we're blessed to be in the situation to be able to compete," said Best. "This spring is different, and we chose to play. We knew it was going to come with some turbulence and speed bumps. We have to shore up some of the x's and o's to be able to put on a good performance going into the game versus Cal Poly."
 
Eastern is 9-2 all-time versus Cal Poly – 5-0 at home and 4-2 on the road -- with a seven-game winning streak in the series. In 2019 in San Luis Obispo, Eastern scored its first six touchdowns on drives that took just nine minutes, and went on to win on the road. Cal Poly had a chance to take the lead with 4:58 to play, but failed on a two-point conversion. Then, after the second EWU turnover, the Mustangs missed a field goal with 1:02 left that could have won it.
 
The last time the two teams met in Cheney in 2018, Eastern rolled to a 70-17 rout in Cheney. The 53-point margin was the largest ever in a Big Sky Conference game for EWU, and the third-largest overall.  The Eagles actually outgained the Mustangs on the ground 441-378, and EWU set a school and Big Sky Conference record with an average of 14.7 yards per rush.
 
But in Cheney in 2015, the Eagles needed overtime and a failed 2-point conversion by Cal Poly to prevail 42-41 in a game in which Eastern trailed by 15 in the fourth quarter. Cal Poly had 503 rushing yards in that game. A year later in San Luis Obispo in a 42-21 Eastern victory, Cal Poly had 372 yards rushing as a team.
 
The Idaho game was EWU's first since Nov. 23, 2019, when EWU beat Portland State 53-46 to end the regular season. But instead of playing Florida last fall on Sept. 5, the pandemic forced the Eagles to wait a full 462 days before playing again.
 
A 48-5 win last year at ISU extended EWU's current streak of 51 seasons with at least one road win and winning for the 11th-straight time over Idaho State. Those streaks were extended to 52 and 12, respectively, this year when the Eagles edged ISU 46-42 on March 13 in Pocatello.
 
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.
 
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 and 28-21 on Feb. 27, 2021, representing the only two losses in 12 games for Best in his head coaching career versus the five opponents. In school history, EWU is 76-40 versus those five foes, and 17 of those losses and just seven wins are against Idaho.
 
The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year -- are slated to begin on April 24 and conclude on May 16.
 
 
 

Game Notes

 
Attendance Limited to Student-Athlete Guests and Some Students
 
Spectators will be allowed into this week's game, but will be limited to guests of student-athletes and a limited number of EWU students, Eastern Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey announced March 19.
 
At this time, no tickets will be made available to the general public, including current season ticket holders. In accordance with the Health Washington – Roadmap to Recovery Phase 3 guidelines, Eastern is permitted to allow attendance at up to 25 percent of capacity of the facility. However, as EWU considered regional and institutional guidelines to safely bring spectators back to campus for EWU Football, it was evident that the number of spectators should be less than the 25 percent of capacity allowable.
 
"As we continue moving in the direction of a full -- and safe -- Roos Field experience in the future, considerable efforts have been made to prioritize the guests of our student-athletes and a limited number of current EWU students," said Hickey.  "We recognize that this course of action is not what many passionate Eags want to hear. Please know that the health and wellness of Eastern students and staff are of paramount importance."
 
In addition, Eastern parking lots will continue to be closed to the general public and no pre-game tailgating or overnight parking will be allowed.
 
Eastern also hosts Idaho on April 10, and additional spectator attendance will be reevaluated as that date approaches. The process for obtaining the limited tickets if they become available will be communicated directly to those who qualify.
 
"We hope to see as many Eags as allowable at Roos Field as soon as we can safely do so," Hickey added. "Until then, we hope that you will continue to cheer on the Eags as the football game will be available to watch or listen to in various ways."
 
 
Eagle All-America QB Wins His First STATS Perform National Player of the Week Honor
 
In his 34th career game for the 15th-ranked Eastern Washington University football team, All-America quarterback Eric Barriere had a game for the ages – and was rewarded for it as well.
 
For the first time in his career, Eric Barriere was rewarded as the STATS Perform National Offensive Player of the Week after helping rally the Eagles to a 46-42 Big Sky Conference victory over Idaho State on March 13 in Pocatello, Idaho. He has previously received national recognition as an All-American and received weekly honorable mention accolades, but this is his first national player of the week award from STATS.
 
Barriere also earned the ROOT SPORTS Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week Award on March 14 for the second-straight week and fifth time in his career.
 
"Eric is flat-out the best player in the country," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "In my estimation, the ISU game was his best game as an Eagle bar none. I know his stats were immense and he's played a lot of good football, but in that game he played calm, cool and collected. He ran the ball and extended plays when he needed to, and he kept his eyes downfield. Even though we are amazed by the feats he shows us in games, his response in so many situations in the ISU game was so very mature. It was so fun to watch. He was taking what they were giving him and made plays when he needed to make plays. He's the best player in America at our level, just watch the video."
 
He passed for 455 yards and five touchdowns, rallying Eastern from a 42-31 deficit with 8:41 left. He completed 34-of-50 passes and had 474 yards of total offense. Besides accounting for 30 points with his five TD passes, he had a key two-point conversion pass to bring Eastern to within a field goal of the Bengals.
 
He passed for TDs on three of EWU's first four scoring drives of 80, 75, 70 and 62 yards. He then led EWU on a 10-play, 86-yard TD drive with 5:49 left to pull Eastern to within three after he passed for the two-point conversion.
 
After an ISU punt, he directed EWU on a game-winning, nine-play, 60-yard drive that included a game-winning 6-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Boston with 25 seconds to play. Anthany Smith clinched the victory with an interception on the game's final play.
 
Barriere now has five 400-yard passing performances in his Eastern career as he recorded the 44th in school history, and has 11 performances with at least 300 yards. Coupled with his 19 rushing yards, Barriere had 474 yards of total offense to give him nine career performances with 400+ and 16 with 300+. His passing yardage total was the second-best of his career and his total offense tally was third.
 
Eastern had 596 yards of total offense against ISU, and a trio of receivers had big games. Andrew Boston finished with 10 receptions for 143 yards and two scores, Freddie Roberson had eight for 142 and Talolo Limu-Jones added eight grabs for 99 yards and a score.
 
Barriere was honored by the Big Sky the week before after he passed for 413 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-13 victory over Northern Arizona on March 6 at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.  Eastern piled up 622 yards of total offense in the 32-point victory – the 34th 600-yard game in EWU's history. Eastern won for the 15th-straight time at "The Inferno" and will next play there on March 27 versus Cal Poly. Eastern has a bye this Saturday (March 20).
 
 
Eagles Now 58-10 on the Red Turf with Record 15-Game Winning Streak
 
Having won all five of its regular season home games in 2019 and all eight in 2018, Eastern has started the  2020-21 season 1-0 at home to give the Eagles a school-record 15-straight wins at Roos Field. Eastern is now 58-10 (85.3 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). Overall, the school record is 21 set from 1935-40. 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 six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 45-6 (88.2 percent), plus are 13-4 (76.5 percent) in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since 2010 are to conference foes Montana State (2011), Portland State (2011 and 2015), Northern Arizona (2015) and Weber State (2017), 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 has won 85.1 percent of its games since the red turf was installed in 2010 – including a 4-0 record versus rival Montana.
 
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 170-65 record (72.3 percent) in 235 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.
 
 
Streak of At Least One Road Win Extended to 52 Seasons
 
A 51-season streak of winning at least one road game was extended to 52 when Eastern Washington won its road game at Idaho State on March 13, 2021, in Pocatello, Idaho, by a 46-42 score. The year prior, EWU had also extended it with a win at ISU on Nov. 9, 2019. That streak now includes all 37 seasons Eastern has been a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA). The last time Eastern was winless on the road was 1969 when the then-Savages were 0-4 away from home and finished 4-5 on the season. In fact, since then, Eastern has had at least two road wins in all but six seasons (1974, 1975, 1976, 1988, 1989, 1994), a current streak of 26-straight seasons with at least a pair. Eastern extended that from 25 to 26 against Cal Poly on Nov. 16, 2019, and will try to extend it to 27 when EWU plays is regular season finale at UC Davis on April 3.
 
 
Eastern Now 56-0 Since 2010 When Winning the TO Battle
 
In the last 13 seasons (2008-20), the Eagles are now 65-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 24-9 when they've been tied and 23-33 when they've lost (total of 112-43). 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 56-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 21-9 when they've been tied and 22-26 when they've lost. That's a collective record of 99-35 (73.9 percent), with 26 of those 35 losses (74 percent) coming in games EWU has lost the turnover battle and 57 percent of EWU's wins coming when they've won the turnover battle (78 percent when including ties).
 
In 2020-21 thus far, EWU lost 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).
 
 
Baldwin Returns With a Posse of Former Eagles Who Are Now Mustangs
 
Beau Baldwin has on his Cal Poly staff a trio of former Eagle players – Walter Payton Award-winning quarterback Erik Meyer (quarterbacks coach), Buck Buchanan Award winner J.C. Sherritt (defensive coordinator and linebackers coach) and All-America wide receiver Nicholas Edwards (offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach). He also has on his staff as offensive line coach and running game coordinator Paul Wulff, who was head coach at Eastern the eight seasons prior to Baldwin (2000-2007).
 
Thus, Saturday's game features coaches on both sides who have collectively won 167 games (Best 29, Baldwin 85, Wulff 53), seven Big Sky Conference titles (1-4-2) and 10 appearances in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (1-6-3). The 2010 Eastern squad, with Baldwin as head coach and Best as offensive coordinator/offensive line coach, won the NCAA Division I title.
 
Thanks to a come-from-behind victory in the title game, Eastern won its final 11 games of the season to win the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Championship. Sherritt and Edwards were on that team. Eastern won the title with four-straight playoff wins, including a 20-19 victory over Delaware in the championship game on Jan. 7, 2011, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The Eagles scored three touchdowns in the final 16:48 of the game to rally from a 19-0 deficit and end their season with a school-record 13 victories (13-2 overall). Eastern finished 8-0 on its new, red Sprinturf surface at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field), including three playoff games. In particular, the overtime victory against North Dakota State tested Eastern's mettle, as the Eagles had to go on a 13-play, 90-yard drive to knot the game with 23 seconds to play in regulation. Eastern was no stranger to narrow victories, with nine of Eastern's wins coming by an average of 6.2 points per game, including seven decided by seven points or less. Of those nine games, the Eagles trailed or were tied in the fourth quarter of six of them, in one they trailed in the third quarter and in the other two they were scoreless in the final stanza.
 
During his stay in Cheney, Baldwin was honored by two organizations as FCS Coach of the Year in 2010 (College Sporting News and American Football Monthly), and finished as high as third in the voting as a perennial finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award given by The Sports Network (and later by STATS) to the top head coach in FCS.
 
Baldwin was also Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013, and was the American Football Coaches Association Region 5 Coach of the Year in 2014. The Inland Northwest Sportswriters and Broadcasters (SWABS) selected Baldwin as its Coach of the Year in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
 
 As EWU's head coach, Baldwin had a 58-14 Big Sky record for a winning percentage of .806 to rank as the fifth-best in league history (at the time). His .733 winning percentage overall (85-31) was seventh all-time in the 54-year history of the Big Sky. He was just four wins shy of the school record of 89 victories by Dick Zornes from 1979-93 during EWU's transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I and the Big Sky.
 
His final year at the helm in 2016 was the sixth time Baldwin took the Eagles to the playoffs as head coach (2009-10-12-13-14-16), plus two more as offensive coordinator (2004-05). Eastern finished his final season 12-2 overall after a perfect 8-0 league campaign, winning the school's seventh title with Baldwin as a coach (2004-05-10-12-13-14-16). He coached in a total of 29 postseason playoff games (12 appearances) with a record of 18-10-1, including eight appearances in the FCS Playoffs and two at both the NCAA Division II and NAIA levels when he was at Central Washington.
 
 
Total of 17 Players Have Made First Career Starts
 
Sophomore Justin Patterson made the first start of his career at Idaho State on March 13, and had a pair of tackles in his debut. Thus far in the 2020-21 season, 17 players have made the initial starts of their careers – 10 on defense and seven on offense.
 
Four players made their first career starts in the Northern Arizona game, including three on the defensive side. Junior Debore'ae McClain and redshirt freshman Brock Harrison made their first starts, as did redshirt freshman nickel back Marlon Jones Jr. The lone starting debut on offense was by sophomore Brad Godwin at guard.
 
In addition, true freshman kicker Jackson Cleaver made his Eagle debut versus Northern Arizona and scored EWU's first points with a 28-yard field goal, then made all six of his extra point attempts after that.
 
Six Eagles on both sides of the ball made their first starts of their careers at Idaho on Feb. 27, including true freshman offensive guard Wyatt Hansen and true freshman wide receiver Efton Chism III, 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, tackle Jacob Newsom, 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. In all, a total of six true freshmen saw action and made their collegiate debuts at Idaho – several on special teams. The six true freshmen who played were Hansen, Chism, wide receiver Nolan Ulm, linebacker Conner O'Farrell, running back Justice Jackson and defensive lineman Ben Roe. In the NAU game, defensive backs Kameron Lane and DaJean Wells and defensive lineman Matthew Brown all played as true freshmen.
 
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. Here are the current starts by EWU players:
 
Current Starts on Defense (111 starts by 20 players): Calin Criner 16, Jack Sendelbach 15, Chris Ojoh 14, Tre Weed 14, Mitchell Johnson 13, Kedrick Johnson 8, Darreon Moore 7, Darrien Sampson 6, Ty Graham 3, Anthany Smith 3, Joshua Jerome 3, Keshaun King 3, Jacob Newsom 3, Brock Harrison 2, Ira Branch 3, Caleb Davis 2, Jusstis Warren 1, Debore'ae McClain 1, Marlon Jones Jr. 1, Justin Patterson 1,.
 
Current Starts on Offense (138 starts by 17 players): Tristen Taylor 43, Eric Barriere 26, Andrew Boston 21, Johnny Edwards IV 12, Dylan Ingram 5, Conner Crist 5, Talolo Limu Jones 5, Freddie Roberson 5, Wyatt Musser 3, Matt Shook 3, Tamarick Pierce 3, Brad Godwin 2, Blake Gobel 1, Dennis Merritt 1, Wyatt Hansen 1, Anthony Stell Jr. 1, Efton Chism III 1.
 
 
Defense Leads the Way After First Two Games

Offense pays the bills at Eastern, but the defense has definitely cashed in with two impressive performances thus far. Although the Eagles fell to Idaho 28-21 on Feb. 27, the defense surrendered just 366 yards, including only 70 on the ground. In a 45-13 win the next week versus Northern Arizona, the defense surrendered just 338 – 128 rushing and 210 passing. In those two games, Eastern had a 344-yard advantage in total offense (1,048 to 704), and forced opponents to punt 13 times and settle for field goal attempts on four occasions.
 
Eastern followed that by giving up 42 points and 512 total yards at Idaho State on March 13. The defense did allow just 93 yards rushing, and through three games this season have allowed an average of just 97.0 per game.
 
Linebackers Chris Ojoh and Ty Graham have led the way through three games with 24 tackles apiece, with Ojoh also breaking up a pair of passes. Safety Anthany Smith has 20 with two interceptions and a pass broken up. Junior defensive ends Mitchell Johnson and Debore'ae McClain each have has 1 1/2 sacks, and redshirt freshman defensive end Brock Harrison already four quarterback hurries plus an interception he returned versus Idaho State on March 13.
 
 
Additional Pre-Season Rankings Pegs Eastern No. 12 in Nation
 
Eastern was ranked 12th nationally in the winter/spring preseason rankings released Feb. 9 by Athlon Sports, as well as the weekly poll of sportswriters and broadcasters released by Stats Perform on Feb. 22. Eastern fell to 22nd nationally in the Stats Perform poll released March 1, with Idaho jumping into the rankings at No. 19 and Weber State moving up to No. 2.
 
In the poll released on March 8, Eastern moved up to No. 18 while Weber State remained second and UC Davis entered the rankings at No. 23 after beating Idaho 27-17. The Eagles beat Idaho State on March 13 and moved up one spot to 15th, while Weber State dropped one spot to third and UC Davis moved up to 21st after a close 18-13 victory for WSU over the Aggies. Most recently, in the Mach 22 poll, Eastern is ranked 12th, Weber State is third and UC Davis is 15th. In the coaches poll released March 23, the rankings are #11, #2 and #19, respectively.
 
Weber State was ranked No. 2 in the nation in the preseason Athlon poll behind North Dakota State, and Idaho was the other Big Sky Conference school in the rankings at No. 24. Weber State was picked No. 4 by Stats Perform in its initial poll of the season.
 
 Eastern opened the winter/spring season with a 28-21 loss at Idaho on Feb. 27, and will end the regular season on April 10th versus the Vandals. Eastern does not play Weber State, but the Eagles are scheduled to play at UC Davis on April 3. The Aggies were listed "On the Cusp" in the Athlon rankings.
 
The Athlon rankings came a day after Eastern was picked 14th in winter/spring rankings by Hero Sports, which also honored Eric Barriere as the sole quarterback on its preseason All-America squad. Eastern earned five other top 25 preseason rankings last fall. The Eagles were picked 18th by Stats Perform, and Hero Sports and Street and Smith's also gave the Eagles that ranking. Eastern was No. 20 in the Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25 rankings and were ranked 23rd by College Football America.
 
EWU 2020-21 EWU Preseason Rankings
(as of Feb. 8, 2021)
 
FCS Top 25 Preseason Rankings
12th (winter/spring) - Athlon Sports (#1 NDSU, #2 Weber State, #24 Idaho)
14th (winter/spring) - Hero Sports (#1 NDSU, #3 Weber State)
18th (fall) – Stats Perform (#1 NDSU, #4 Weber State, #6 Montana State, #7 Montana, #12 Sacramento State)
18th (fall) - Hero Sports (#1 NDSU, #3 Weber State, #5 Montana State, #7 Montana, #12 Sacramento State)
18th (fall) - Street & Smith's (#1 NDSU, #5 Weber State, #8 Montana State, #9 Montana, #16 Sacramento State)
20th (fall) - Athlon Sports (#1 NDSU, #4 Sacramento State, #6 Weber State, #7 Montana State, #9 Montana)
23rd (fall) - College FB America (#1 NDSU, #6 Montana, #7 Montana State, #8 Weber State, #11 Sac State)
 
 
Quarterback Eric Barriere Picked by Hero Sports as Lone QB on Its Preseason All-America squad
 
Hero Sports honored quarterback Eric Barriere as one of 29 players selected to its FCS All-America squad on Feb. 8 as selected by Sam Herder and Brian McLaughlin. The honor comes after a fall season in which he earned four other honors, including those picked by STATS Perform (third team), Hero Sports (second team), Phil Steele Publications (fourth team) and College Sports Journal (one of three quarterbacks on its 60-player preseason All-America squad). In addition, last July 24 the Big Sky Conference office announced Barriere as its choice as the preseason Offensive MVP of the league.
 
Barriere hails from Inglewood, Calif., and is a 2016 graduate of La Habra HS. He is a communication studies major at EWU and has previously earned third team All-Big Sky honors as both a sophomore (2018) and junior (2019). 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.
 
EWU 2020-21 EWU Preseason Honors
(as of Feb. 8, 2021)
 
Senior Co-Captains
QB Eric Barriere (2nd Year), S Calin Criner (1st Year), LB Ty Graham (1st Year), RB Tamarick Pierce (1st Year), LB Jack Sendelbach (2nd Year), OT Tristen Taylor (1st Year)
 
All-America
QB Eric Barriere - 1st Team Hero Sports (winter/spring)
QB Eric Barriere - 2nd Team Hero Sports (fall)
QB Eric Barriere - 3rd Team STATS (fall)
QB Eric Barriere - 4th Team Phil Steele Publications (fall)
QB Eric Barriere - College Sports Journal (fall; one of three quarterbacks on 60-player team)
LB Chris Ojoh – 3rd Team Hero Sports
 
All-Big Sky Conference
QB Eric Barriere – Official Team Selected by League Office (also MVP on offense) & 1st Team Phil Steele Publications
OL Tristen Taylor – Official Team Selected by League Office & 2nd Team Phil Steele Publications
WR Andrew Boston – 3rd Team Phil Steele Publications
DL Mitchell Johnson – 3rd Team Phil Steele Publications
K Seth Harrison – 3rd Team Phil Steele Publications
 
 
 
68 Percent of EWU's Roster Are From Washington in 2020-21
 
The Eagles currently have 96 players on its 2020-21 roster, and 65 of them – 68 percent – are from the state of Washington. Eastern's coaching staff is Washington-based as well, with eight of the team's 10 full-time coaches (80 percent) hailing from the Evergreen State. Head coach Aaron Best is a 1996 graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash.
 
 
More About the Eagles in 2020-21
 
A third team All-American as a junior, Eric Barriere is one of four returning starters on an offensive squad which led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense in 2019. The Eagles also have six returning starters on defense, plus all three of their specialists.
 
The Eagles have 43 returning letterwinners, as the fourth season under Aaron Best is underway. The breakdown is 20 letterwinners back from the offense, 20 on defense, a kicker, a punter and a long snapper. Eastern lost eight returning players since the summer when the pandemic took its toll on the 2020 schedule, which was going to be Eastern's best home schedule in school history. The adjusted, abbreviated schedule will not count against the eligibility for all student-athletes.
 
Eastern has 14 seniors on its squad, that coming after losing in excess of 20 in each of the past two seasons. Eastern had only 14 seniors in 2017 and 12 in 2016.
 
Three of the returning players include All-Big Sky offensive tackle Tristen Taylor, linebacker Jack Sendelbach and running back Dennis Merritt, who were granted a sixth year by the NCAA to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries. Also receiving a sixth year was University of Washington transfer Jusstis Warren, who played in just one game in 2019. Conceivably, all four of those players could return in the fall of 2021 as well.
 
Taylor had started 28-of-28 games as an Eagle until a season-ending knee injury kept him out of the lineup on Sept. 22, 2018, versus Cal Poly. He has now started all 43 games he has played in his career, and was a second team All-Big Sky selection in 2019 after earning honorable mention in both 2016 and 2017.
 
Cheney native and Idaho transfer Ty Graham redshirted in 2019 and is now playing in 2020-21, as well as previous letter winners Chris Ojoh (linebacker) and Tamarick Pierce (running back). Ojoh and Pierce retained their redshirt status in 2019 by playing in four games apiece in 2019.
 
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. Eastern has achieved that feat ever since its last back-to-back-empty seasons in 2002 and 2003.
 
In 2018, Eastern secured its 10th Big Sky title and 13th appearance in the FCS Playoffs in what is now 36 years as a member of the FCS (formerly I-AA). Since 2010 when EWU won the NCAA Division I title, the Eagles have won league titles six times (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018) and advanced to the playoffs all six of those seasons.
 
From 2004 to 2009 Eastern advanced to the playoffs four times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009), and won the league title twice (2004, 2005). Eastern has three other playoff berths in school history (1985, 1992, 1997) and two other titles (1992, 1997), and has only had two multi-year stretches in which they accomplished neither. Those were both six-year stretches from between 1986-1991 and 1998-2003.
 
The Eagles have been impressive – if not dominant – in the league in the last 13 years (2007-2019), winning 80 percent of their games (83-21) and six titles. In that span, Eastern has had no league finish below 5-3 and five of them have included 7-1 or 8-0 records.
 
 
More About the 2020-21 Winter/Spring Schedule
 
The original winter/spring schedule was released on Nov. 4, and Sacramento State was the only team to announce then that the Hornets would skip the spring season and prepare for the fall 2021 campaign. But since Jan. 15, Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Northern Colorado announced they were playing a reduced schedule, leaving the league with eight teams to play the full six games.
 
Essentially, league administrators came up with a schedule that replaced EWU's home game with the Grizzlies with the NAU contest, and EWU road games versus PSU and MSU with games at Idaho State and Idaho.
 
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 16. Teams are required to play four games to qualify.
 
The game with Cal Poly will mark the return to EWU of new Mustang head coach Beau Baldwin, who spent 13 previous seasons as a coach at EWU. He was an assistant from 2003-06, and head coach from 2008-16.
 
Eastern was 3-1 in the 2019 season versus opponents on this spring's schedule, including a league-opening 35-27 loss at Idaho on Sept. 21, 2019. Later, on consecutive weeks, Eastern defeated NAU (66-38), ISU (48-5) and Cal Poly (42-41). The Eagles haven't played UC Davis since a 34-29 victory in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in 2018, giving EWU a perfect 8-0 mark all-time against the Aggies.
 
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. The schedule also included non-conference home games versus Western Illinois and Northern Arizona, and a trip to play at Florida.


How the 2020-21 FCS Football Season Will Work
 
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrinkle into 2020-21 NCAA sports scheduling, and FCS football is no exception. Based on original correspondence from the NCAA last fall, below is the latest information on the state of this year's FCS season and the plans to host a revised championship in the spring.
 
The Basics . . .
The fall championship, usually culminating in an early January title game, is still planned to be played — albeit in the spring this year. The championship is currently scheduled for April 18-May 16, with 16 teams making the playoff field as opposed to the usual 24. In this 16-team bracket, 11 teams will automatically qualify via conference championships. The remaining five will be at-large selections. Schools that opted to play games in the fall will have their results considered in the selection process for the spring championship field.
 
Conference-by-Conference Spring Season Information (as of Feb. 10, 2021) . . .
*Big Sky: Eight teams will play six conference games each, starting Feb. 27. The five schools opting out include Sacramento State, Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Northern Colorado.
*Big South: Five teams will play four conference games each, starting March 13. Two teams played at least one game in the fall, and league schools are also allowed to play up to four non-conference games in the spring.
*CAA: 11 teams will play six conference games each, starting March 6.
*MEAC: The conference previously announced a start date of Feb. 20. However, Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M have since announced they will not be playing.
Ivy League: No spring season.
MVFC: 11 teams will play eight conference games each, starting Feb. 19. Three teams played at least one game in the fall.
*NEC: Eight teams will play four conference games each, starting March 7. The No. 1 and No. 2 teams will play for the NEC title.
*OVC: Eight teams will play seven conference games each, starting Feb. 21. Four teams played at least one game in the fall.
*Patriot League: Six teams in two divisions will play four games each starting March 13. Two games will be against teams within divisions, and two outside the divisions. The divisional winners will play for the title on the weekend of April 10.
*Pioneer League: Eight teams will play a six-game schedule starting March 13. Four teams played at least one game in the fall.
*SoCon: Nine teams will play nine conference games each, starting Feb. 20. Three teams played at least one game in the fall.
*Southland: Seven teams will play six conference games each, starting Feb. 20. Four teams played at least one game in the fall.
*SWAC: Nine teams will play six conference games each, starting Feb. 21. The schedule also includes one non-conference open date for each team.
*League receives automatic berth in FCS Playoffs.
 
The last regular season games of the spring schedule, including conference championships, must come no later than April 17. Once regular season play concludes, the 16-team playoff bracket will be revealed on Sunday, April 18. The four rounds will be conducted each of the next four weekends, ending with the national championship game on Sunday, May 16 at 11 a.m.  Pacific time. The national championship game will be played in Frisco, Texas, as originally planned. Toyota Stadium in Frisco has been host to the title game since 2010 and will remain the annual host through at least 2024.
 
How does automatic qualification into this year's championship work?
Eleven conference champions will earn automatic berths into this year's playoff field, one more than the usual 10. This includes the addition of the MEAC champion, as the conference has opted into the FCS championship following the cancelation of the 2020 Celebration Bowl. Under normal circumstances, the Celebration Bowl pits together the conference champions from the SWAC and MEAC.
In addition to the MEAC, here are the other conferences who will receive automatic qualification into the 2020-21 field: Big Sky, Big South, Colonial Athletic Association, Missouri Valley Football Conference, Northeast Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Pioneer Football League, Southern Conference and Southland Conference. Each conference must have at least three schools participating in football in order to be eligible for automatic qualification.
This leaves five spots for at-large selections in the 16-team playoff field.
 
How will the rest of the FCS playoff field be determined?
The FCS Championship committee has determined that at-large candidates must play a minimum of four games this season to be considered for selection.
After that, it will be difficult to choose in a season that allows scarce opportunities for non-conference play and inconsistent scheduling models from conference to conference. The committee has noted that quality wins will be a factor, particularly in non-conference and FBS play.
 
How will the committee look at teams who played in the fall?
Some schools decided to play a few non-conference games in the fall before beginning league play in February or March. Other programs have opted to solely play a non-conference slate in the fall. All fall results will be considered in the spring when the championship field is announced.
 
 
On the Horizon for EWU
 
Eastern home football games on March 27 (Cal Poly) and April 10 (Idaho) will kick-off at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time and be broadcast regionally on SWX. Eastern began its winter/spring 2020-21 Big Sky Conference schedule on Feb. 27 at Idaho (28-21 loss) and March 6 at home versus Northern Arizona (45-13 win), and both were televised by SWX. Eastern then won at Idaho State 46-42 on March 13.
 
Eastern will also play a road game at UC Davis (April 3 at 1:05 p.m. Pacific) as part of the abbreviated winter/spring schedule. The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year -- are slated to begin on April 24 and conclude on May 16.
 
SWX, a sister station of KHQ in Spokane, is available over-air on channels 6.2 in Spokane/Cheney/Coeur d'Alene/Sandpoint/Lewiston, 23.3 in Yakima and 25.3 in the Tri-Cities. The station is also available via Comcast 306/112 in Spokane; Davis Cable 37/310 in Cheney; Spectrum 1245 in Coeur d'Alene & Pullman/Moscow; Charter 183 in Tri-Cities/Yakima; Cable One 36 in Lewiston; Northland Cable 317 in Moses Lake; and Northland Cable 115 in Sandpoint. New SWX/KHQ Sports Director Dennis Patchin will call the play-by-play for Eagle games.
 
Eastern home games will also be available via PlutoTV on channel 1053, as well as via https://bigskyconf.com/watchbigsky. Eastern games are also aired live on radio on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting a half-hour prior to tipoff. Larry Weir serves as the play-by-play broadcaster and Paul Sorensen is the analyst. Live statistics from all Eastern home games are available via http://ewustats.com.
 
 
 
 

Player Notes

 
Eagles Name Six Co-Captains for 2020-21 Season
 
Six Eastern football players were selected by their teammates as co-captains for the 2020-21 season, including quarterback Eric Barriere and linebacker Jack Sendelbach who will return for their second seasons as captains. They are joined by fellow seniors Tamarick Pierce (running back), Calin Criner (safety), Tristen Taylor (offensive tackle) and Ty Graham (linebacker).
 
Including Taylor and Graham, the six co-captains represent 211 total games worth of collegiate experience entering the 2020-21 season, including exactly 100 total starts. Sendelbach and Taylor are both sixth-year seniors who graduated from high school in 2015, while the other four were 2016 graduates and have all redshirted previously.
 
The six players represent three different states, including Washington, Idaho and California. Sendelbach is a 2015 graduate of Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle, Wash., and Graham is a 2016 graduate of Cheney (Wash.) HS. Criner graduated in 2016 from Rocky Mountain HS and is from Boise, Idaho, and the other three are from California. Pierce is from Oakland and graduated from Saint Mary's HS in 2016; Barriere hails from Inglewood and is a 2016 graduate of La Habra HS; and Taylor is from Stockton and graduated in 2015 from Stagg HS.
 
 
Five Current Eagles Have Completed Coursework Toward Degrees
 
Five Eastern players have already completed requirements toward their bachelor's degree. Linebacker Jack Sendelbach graduated following spring quarter of 2019 in marketing, and is now in a graduate program for sport and recreation administration. Linebacker Ty Graham is now working toward his master's degree in business administration after having already received his marketing degree from EWU with a minor in sports management. Defensive lineman Jusstis Warren, who like Sendelbach is a sixth-year senior, has also received his bachelor's degree and is now a graduate student in communications studies. Cornerback Darreon Moore has received his management degree and is now working on his MBA like Graham. And offensive tackle Tristen Taylor has completed his criminal justice degree and is now working toward a second degree in psychology.
 
Since 2001, Eastern has annually averaged more than 20 selections to the Big Sky All-Academic team. Eastern has had a league-most 423 selections from 2001-2019 (the school with the next-best total has 300), and Eastern has won a total of 622 Big Sky All-Academic honors since joining the league in 1987. A total of 26 were honored in 2019, and a program-best 34 were recognized in the 2016 season.
 
 
After 833 Days Without Playing a Game, Ty Graham Finally Makes Eagle Debut
 
He grew up around the Eastern football program, and a circuitous route – with some irony mixed in – had Eagle co-captain Ty Graham playing his first game in an Eagle uniform against Idaho on Feb. 27, 2021. He responded with nine tackles in his EWU debut, and is tied with Chris Ojoh for the team lead in tackles with 24 through three games.
 
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 the field to make his EWU debut – ironically 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.
 
While playing from 2016-18 for the Vandals, Graham had 133 tackles at Idaho, including 13 for losses. He had 2 1/2 sacks, an interception, two passes broken up and a forced fumble in 27 career games. As a junior in 2018 he had 65 tackles, including 12 in 38-14 loss at EWU at Roos Field on Oct. 27, 2018. He had 28 tackles as a sophomore and 40 as a true freshman in 2016. 
 
Now working toward his master's degree in business administration, Graham has already received his marketing degree from EWU with a minor in sports management. He had a 3.53 grade point average through spring quarter 2020 and previously won Big Sky All-Academic honors while a Vandal.
 
John Graham spent a short time as Idaho's linebackers coach when Ty was on the roster there. Ty's older brother, Andrew, played football at Montana Tech and Central Washington. His grandfather, Dan Graham, spent 11 years as head coach at nearby Reardan (Wash.) High School.
 
 
Walter Payton Award Finalist Eric Barriere Already Piling Up Yards
 
Senior quarterback and Walter Payton Award candidate Eric Barriere has opened his senior season by passing for 1,203 yards and 10 touchdowns already. Included was a 413-yard passing effort versus Northern Arizona on March 6 to earn Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for the fourth time in his career. The following week he repeated as BSC Offensive Player of the Week when he had 451 passing yards at Idaho State, giving him a total of five honors in his career.  In addition, he won his first STATS Perform FCS Offensive Player of the Week honor.
 
Barriere has now had 16 performances of at least 300 yards of total offense and 11 with at least 300 yards passing in his 34 games as an Eagle (18-8 as a starter, including 12-0 at home). He has had nine with at least 400 yards of total offense and five with at least 400 passing.
 
In his career, he has completed 59.9 percent of his passes (558-of-931), good for 7,503 yards, 66 touchdowns and 18 interceptions, and has rushed 255 times for 1,231 net yards and 17 more TDs. He had a passing efficiency rating of 146.9 as a sophomore, 151.6 in 2019 and a 147.2 mark in his career to currently rank fifth in school history. His touchdown passes rank sixth, his total of 8,734 yards of offense rank fifth all-time at EWU and his passing yardage is sixth. He is just a single yard behind the career rushing record for a quarterback of 1,232 yards set by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14).
 
He opened his senior season at Idaho on Feb. 27 by completing 32-of-57 passes for 330 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Barriere 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.
 
He finished his junior season ranked second in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game (E.J. Perry of Brown was at 367.8). Barriere was third in passing (309.3, with Northern Arizona's Case Cookus at 342.8) and was sixth with 31 touchdown passes and fifth in points responsible for (20.2 per game with 31 TDs passing, eight rushing and a two-point conversion).
 
He closed his junior season with 239 passes without an interception, setting the school's single season record for interceptions-to-attempts ratio. He had only four picks in 438 attempts, a miniscule average of .009 per attempt compared to the previous record of .010 set by Erik Meyer in 2005 (five interceptions in 410 attempts). His last interception came on his 14th attempt at Sacramento State on Oct. 5, 2019.
 
Barriere finished with the seventh-most passing yards in school history with 3,712, and his 31 touchdown passes is eighth. Including 558 rushing yards, his 4,270 yards of total offense was third-most all-time at EWU.
 
He ended the 2019 season with 260 yards and three touchdowns passing, and another 23 yards and a score on the ground in EWU's 53-46 win over Portland State on Nov. 23. He had pass completions of 46 and 50 yards, giving him 28 plays in his career of at least 40 yards. One game earlier, he had a career-best 164-yard rushing performance at Cal Poly, finishing with one TD rushing and one passing. He also had 176 yards through the air to give him his 340 yards of total offense.
 
In Eastern's first two games in November, Barriere had a total of 935 yards of total offense to earn him two-straight ROOT Sports Offensive Player of the Week honors as announced by the Big Sky Conference office. He was honored twice in 2019 and once in 2018.
 
His second honor in 2019 came after his 467-yard performance in a 48-5 win at Idaho State on Nov. 9, and he also received honorable mention as the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Offensive Player of the Week (STATS). Barriere passed for 406 and rushed for 61 versus the Bengals to finish with 467 yards total. He had three passes of at least 58 yards versus Idaho State (58, 59, 80), and the 80-yarder against ISU was the longest of his career.
 
One week before the ISU game, he was rewarded for totaling 488 yards in EWU's 66-38 win over Northern Arizona on Nov. 2 by earning his player of the week honors from the Big Sky and also received honorable mention as the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Offensive Player of the Week (STATS) and Performer of the Week (College Football Performance Awards). He had 367 yards through the air and 101 on the ground for 468 yards of total offense versus the Lumberjacks. He had a trio of touchdown passes, and finished 30-of-46 with no interceptions for an impressive 183.5 passing efficiency rating. He had a 75-yard touchdown pass to Talolo Limu-Jones on EWU's first offensive play of the game, and also caught a 20-yard pass from wide receiver Johnny Edwards IV.
 
In his previous home game on Oct. 12, he completed 28-of-43 passes for 445 yards and five touchdown passes for EWU in a 54-21 victory over Northern Colorado in which EWU led 40-0 at halftime. Coupled with his 41 yards rushing, his 486 yards were the second-most of his career.
 
Barriere had 309 yards passing with two touchdowns and 103 rushing and a TD versus Sacramento State on Oct. 5. He accounted for 412 of EWU's 497 yards of total offense, including a 92-yard touchdown run after he was flushed out of the pocket by Sacramento State. That equaled the fourth-longest run in school history, ranking only behind runs of 96 by Taiwan Jones (2009 versus Idaho State), 95 by John Ditz (1954 versus Lewis & Clark) and 94 by Sam McPherson (2018 versus Northern Arizona). It was the longest run by a quarterback, with the previous long set by Barriere versus Southern Utah in 2018 when he had an 85-yard TD run (he also had a 66-yard scoring run at Portland State in 2018). The Eagles had four runs of at least 81 yards in 2018.
 
He accounted for all four of EWU's touchdowns with two rushing and two passing against Idaho on Sept. 21. He had just 74 passing yards at halftime, but finished 28-of-46 for 365 yards, with another 20 on the ground. His rushing TDs (2), pass attempts (46), and total plays of offense (57, including 11 rushing) were all career highs at the time, and his 424 yards of total offense was the second-most.
 
He had perhaps his fastest start as an Eagle on Sept. 14 at Jacksonville State, completing 11-of-12 passes for 156 yards in the opening quarter to help EWU to a 28-7 lead. However, EWU failed to score in the fourth quarter and JSU won 49-45, as Barriere finished 24-of-43 for 294 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
 
One game earlier versus Lindenwood when EWU had a school-record 769 yards of offense, Barriere accounted for 556  by himself to rank as the 14th-most in Big Sky Conference history and just four away from the school record. That helped him earn Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors from College Sports Madness, as well as honorable mention from STATS for the National FCS Offensive Player of the Week award that wide receiver Dre' Sonte Dorton won. Barriere completed 32-of-46 passes for 522 yards, five touchdowns and an impressive 200.76 passing efficiency rating. He recorded the second-most passing yards in school history and just missed the top 14 in the 56-year history of the league (528 yards is No. 14 on the list). He rushed for 34 more yards, giving him 556 to come four yards from the EWU total offense record of 560 set by Gage Gubrud in 2017 versus Montana in which he also set the passing yards record of 549. Barriere's previous career highs were 352 passing yards and 405 yards of total offense.
 
Barriere was extremely productive throwing the ball in 2018 as an injury replacement for All-American Gage Gubrud (now at Washington State), finishing 13th in FCS in passing efficiency (146.9), 29th for passing yards overall (2,450) and 13th in touchdown passes with 24 after setting school and FCS Playoff records with seven versus Maine on Dec. 15. He was ninth with 198 total points responsible for and was 26th in average per game (14.14). He also finished 45th in total offense per game (218.8). Barriere averaged 6.2 per carry and finished with 613 yards on the ground to break the school record of 606 set by Gubrud in 2016.
 
In 2018, Eastern finished as the only school to rank in the top 20 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense, rushing and passing. The Eagles averaged 528.2 yards on offense to rank third in FCS, including 255.9 rushing (10th) and 272.3 passing (20th). Eastern was also ranked fourth in scoring (43.1). The Eagles as a team finished the 2018 season with a school-record 6.62 average per rush on the season to break the previous record of 6.41 set in 2001. The Eagles set team records for rushing yards (3,839) and rushing touchdowns (41).
 
 
Harrison's 2020-21 Campaign Has Odd Twist After Going a Perfect 12-of-12 in 2019
 
Redshirt freshman kicker Seth Harrison was the only player in FCS with an average of at least one field goal attempt per game to be perfect in the 2019 season, going 12-of-12 in the 2019 season. However, his 2020-21 debut at Idaho on Feb. 27 had an odd twist. After his first career miss on a 50-yarder in the second quarter, he attempted a 24-yarder in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 21-all with 11:01 left. His kick was ruled as a miss, but was so high it appeared to hit the scoreboard as opposed to the upright. It was reviewed, however, there was no video proof at the time to overturn the play. The next day (Feb. 28), the Big Sky issued an apology for the error, saying in a social media post "After watching additional video footage, it is evident that the official incorrectly ruled it as a missed field goal. The Big Sky acknowledges and regrets this error in officiating."
 
Harrison missed the Northern Arizona game, but then kicked a career-long 50-yard field goal in the first quarter at Idaho State on March 13. The boot equaled the 17th longest in school history. He is now 13-of-15 kicking field goals in his career.
 
In 2019, Harrison was 31st in field goals with an average of 1.09 per game, including four field goals – the second time in four games he did that -- in a 48-5 victory over Idaho State on Nov. 9. He had makes of 40, 36, 21 and 36 in the first half, and his 40-yarder was a career long. He also had 10 kickoffs for a 57.5 average with one touchback.
 
Harrison was also 50-of-53 on extra points in 2019, having a string of 22-straight makes from Oct. 5 until missing his first attempt at Cal Poly on Nov. 16. He also averaged 52.9 yards on 78 kickoffs (six touchbacks). He received honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors and also earned Freshman All-America accolades.
 
Harrison garnered Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors from the league after converting all nine of his extra point attempts and booting a 27-yard field goal in a 66-38 win over Northern Arizona on Nov. 2. He also had 10 kickoffs for a 50.8 average versus the Lumberjacks with one touchback.
 
In EWU's previous home game, he kicked four field goals (32, 21, 21 and 23) and made all six of his extra points to finish with 18 points in Eastern's 54-21 romp over Northern Colorado on Oct. 12. All four of his field goals came in the first half as he came one kick away from the school record of five. He also had 10 kickoffs for a 52.9 average.
 
Harrison had a field goal of 35 yards versus Montana on Oct. 26. In his first action as the No. 1 kicker on Sept. 14 versus Jacksonville State, Harrison made a 22-yard field goal, converted all six of his extra points, had eight kickoffs for a 58.1 average with two touchbacks and even recovered a fumble that led to an EWU touchdown.
 
Harrison, a redshirt freshman from Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) High School, didn't even start out the year as EWU's kicker. That role fell to junior Andre Slyter, who was 1-of-3 kicking field goals and later left the program. Harrison and Slyter were replacing EWU career and single season kick scoring leader Roldan Alcobendas, who was a perfect 16-of-16 kicking field goals in 2018 to win the Fred Mitchell Award as the top placekicker in the nation (all levels but FBS).
 
Thus, entering the 2020-21 spring season, Eastern kickers had made 29-of-31 field goal attempts since 2018.
 
 
Senior Calin Criner Wears No. 4 Legacy Jersey for Eagles
 
Eastern senior Calin Criner is continuing the legacy of wearing the No. 4 jersey for the Eagle Football team, a tribute that has existed for more than 10 years.  Since the 2008 season when senior Jason Belford had the number, the coaching staff has selected a leader on defense to wear the jersey. It symbolizes the defensive player who most embodies the characteristics of defense at Eastern -- grit, toughness, effort, leadership and academic success.
 
Since arriving at Eastern in the fall of 2016 from Rocky Mountain High School in Boise, Idaho, Criner has seven interceptions, 183 tackles, 10 passes broken up, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his 38-game career (16 as a starter). He had four performances in his career with at least 10 tackles, but he has yet to play in the 2020-21 season.
 
In 2019, Criner started all 12 Eastern games and was third on the team with 85 tackles on the season. He also had three passes broken up and four interceptions. His average of 7.1 tackles per game ranked 14th in the Big Sky and his average of 0.33 interceptions tied for second.
 
Twice he received national accolades for his performances in individual games in 2019. He had his second two-interception game of his career and had eight tackles in EWU's 48-5 victory over Idaho State (11/9/19) to earn College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Playing in front of a crowd of 14 family and friends which included his well-known father and grandfather, he also broke-up a pass and one of his tackles was for a loss of two yards.
 
Earlier in the season, Criner helped Eastern to a dominating 6-0 advantage in turnovers forced with another pair of interceptions and seven tackles in EWU's 35-20 victory over North Dakota (9/28/19). He was rewarded by earning honorable mention for STATS National Defensive Player of the Week honors.
 
Criner is the son of long-time collegiate and professional coach Mark Criner. Calin's grandfather, Jim Criner, was head coach at Boise State from 1976-82 and guided the Broncos to the 1980 NCAA Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) title.
 
In 2019, senior Dylan Ledbetter wore the No. 4 jersey and went on to win honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors.
 
Although the honor isn't necessarily given to the most talented defensive player on the team, Eastern has had 11-straight players in that number earn All-Big Sky honors, and 13 of a possible 14 since Eastern joined the league in 1987. Below is the list of players who have worn that number since EWU became a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1984 (Big Sky in 1987).
 
Name – Year - Pos. - Hometown / Previous School
Hunter, Darryl - 1983-84-85-86 - DB - Tacoma, Wash. / Foss HS
%Corr, Dominic - 1986-87-88-89 - RB - Seattle, Wash. / Garfield HS
%Wright, Harold - 1990-91-92-93 - RB - Tacoma, Wash. / Lakes HS '89
Givens, Roderick - 1995 - DB - Auburn, Wash. / Auburn HS '94
#%Brightful, Lamont - 1998-99-00-01 - WR - Everett, Wash. /Mariner HS '97
%Williams, A.J. - 2002-03 - DB - Lacey, Wash. - North Thurston HS '01
%Dotson, Anthony - 2005-06-07 - DB - Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS '03
%Belford, Jason - 2005-06-07-08 - DL - Tacoma, Wash. / Lincoln HS '04
#%Sherritt, J.C. - 2007-08-09-10 - LB - Pullman, Wash. / Pullman HS '06
%Brown, Allen - 2010-11-12-13 - DB - Tacoma, Wash. / Foss HS '09
%Raynes, Todd - 2012-13-14-15 - DB - Kenmore, Wash. / Inglemoor HS '11
%Zamora, Miquiyah - 2013-14-15-16 - LB - Pasco, Wash. / Chiawana HS '12
%Havili, Albert - 2013-14-16-17 - DL - Federal Way, Wash. / Federal Way HS '13
%Fettig, Mitch - 2015-16-17-18 - DB  - Olympia Wash. / Olympia HS '14
%Ledbetter, Dylan - 2016-17-18-19 - DL - West Seattle, Wash. / O'Dea HS '15
Criner, Calin – 2017-18-19-20 – DB – Boise, Idaho / Rocky Mountain HS '16
 
#All-America selection (Brightful was first team in 2001, second team in 2000 & second team in 1999 as return specialist, and honorable mention in 2001 as a wide receiver; Sherritt was the Buck Buchanan Award winner in 2010, and first team in 2009 and 2010 as a linebacker).
 
%All-Big Sky Conference selection (Corr was first team in 1989 & second team in 1989 as return specialist; Wright was Big Sky Newcomer of the Year in 1989, and first team in 1991 & second team in 1992 as a running back; Brightful was first team in 2001 as a wide receiver and return specialist, first team in 2000 as a return specialist, second team in 2000 as a wide receiver and first team in 1999 as a return specialist; Williams was honorable mention in 2003 and 2002 as a safety; Dotson was second team in 2007 as an outside linebacker; Belford was second team in 2008 and honorable mention in 2007 as a defensive end; Sherritt was the Big Sky Defensive MVP in 2010, first team in 2009 and 2010 as a linebacker & honorable mention in 2008 as a linebacker; Brown was second team in 2012 & honorable mention in 2013 as a safety; Raynes was third team in 2015 as a safety; Zamora was first team in 2016 & honorable mention in 2014 as a linebacker; Havili was second team in 2017 as a defensive end; Fettig was third team in 2018 & 2017 & honorable mention in 2016 as a safety; Ledbetter was honorable mention in 2018 and 2019 as a defensive tackle).
 
 
Boston Goes Over 100 Career Catches
 
A freshman All-America selection in 2018, Andrew Boston returns for his junior season after earning third team All-Big Sky honors in 2019. After catching eight passes for 120 yards versus Northern Arizona on March 6 and another 10 for 143 yards and a pair of touchdowns versus ISU, he has 111 receptions for 1,524 yards and 12 touchdowns in 28 career games (21 as a starter) as an Eagle, but did not play in EWU's 2020-21 opener at Idaho on Feb. 27.
 
He finished the 2019 season 79th in FCS in receptions per game (4.5 with a total of 50) and 75th in receiving yards per game (66.4 with a total of 730). He caught a career-high 10 passes for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Idaho State on Nov. 9. Earlier in the season, he had six catches for 112 yards and a TD versus Washington in EWU's opener on Aug. 31.
 
Boston finished his freshman season second on the team with 43 receptions for 531 yards (12.3 per catch) and four touchdowns. He had a career-high nine catches versus Idaho on Oct. 27, and had five grabs for a season-high 89 yards and a TD against Nicholls in the first round of the FCS Playoffs on Dec. 1. He scored a touchdown versus Maine in the semifinals, and had scores against Washington State and Cal Poly in back-to-back games early in the season.
 
 He is from Puyallup, Wash., and is a 2017 graduate of Emerald Ridge High School. He was the 2017 co-Scout Team Offensive Player of the Year. He earned honorable mention freshman All-America honors from Hero Sports in 2018, and received third team accolades by from Phil Steele Publications. He earned third team All-Big Sky honors as a sophomore in 2019.
 
 
Mitchell Johnson Up to 7 1/2 Career Sacks
 
In a big year for the defense at Eastern, redshirt freshman Mitchell Johnson was awarded first team Freshman All-America honors in 2018 from Hero Sports and Phil Steele Publications, on his way to earning second team All-Big Sky honors.
 
He now has 84 tackles, 7 1/2 sacks, three interceptions, three passes broken up, three fumble recoveries and a pair of forced fumbles in his 30-game career (13 as a starter). He had 1 1/2 sacks and eight total tackles versus Northern Arizona on March 6, 2021.  In his sophomore season in 2019, he had 41 tackles with 1 1/2 sacks and an interception.
 
Mitchell burst on the scene in 2018 and responded with 31 tackles, a team-leading 4 1/2 sacks, a pair of interceptions, two passes broken up, a pair of quarterback hurries, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. Johnson earned second-team All-Big Sky honors in his first season as an Eagle. He played in all 15 games as a backup in 2018, and had season highs of four tackles in three different games. He had four of his sacks in consecutive games versus Northern Arizona, Washington State and Cal Poly. Two of them came against the Cougars, and he also had a half-sack versus Maine on Dec. 15 to advance EWU to the NCAA Division I Championship Game on Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas. Mitchell also had interceptions against Southern Utah in the regular season and UC Davis in the playoffs. His fumble recovery came against Weber State on Oct. 13 – Eastern's last setback until losing to North Dakota State in Frisco. He also had a sack and forced fumble against Cal Poly on Sept. 22 which was returned 62 yards for a touchdown by teammate Jim Townsend.
 
A 2017 graduate of West Linn (Ore.) High School, Johnson was EWU's Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year when he redshirted in 2017.


More on Eagle Offensive Players
 
The four returning starters on offense in the 2020-21 season include quarterback Eric Barriere, offensive tackle Tristen Taylor and wide receivers Johnny Edwards IV and Andrew Boston. A total of 10 players return on offense who have started games as Eagles.
 
Eastern closed the 2019 season with the best offense in FCS, finishing at 524.8 yards per game. Eastern also ended the regular season second in scoring (40.6), fifth in passing (317.1) and eighth in turnover margin (+0.92 per game). The Eagles also ranked 19th in rushing at 207.8 yards per game, and were the only team in FCS to rank in the top 24 in total offense, rushing and passing.
 
In EWU's last 16 seasons (2004-2019), EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 13 times, total offense on 12 occasions and scoring seven times. In school history, EWU has won a trio of FCS titles for total offense (2019, 2001, 1997), as well as three passing offense titles (2016, 2015, 2011) and two for scoring offense (2014, 2001).
 
Backing up Barriere in 2020-21 will be junior Gunner Talkington, sophomore Simon Burkett and redshirt freshman Trey Turner. Talkington was the only player of the three to throw a pass in 2019, completing 9-of-26 for 73 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He's completed 15-of-38 passes for 135 yards and a pair of scores in his career.
 
Edwards returns for his senior season with 36 games of experience (12 as a starter), and has career totals of 52 receptions for 823 yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior, he was third on the team with 32 catches for 553 yards (17.3 per reception) and three scores, but he has not played in the 2020-21 season.
 
The most dynamic receiver at the end of the 2019 season turned out to be Talolo Limu-Jones, who had a career-high nine catches for 93 yards versus Idaho on Feb. 27, 2021. He now has 37 games of experience (four as a starter), and has 65 career catches for 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns – an average of 17.2 per reception. He is currently EWU's leading receiver in 2020-21 with 23 catches for 279 yards and a score.
 
He finished with 24 grabs for 577 yards in 2019, with his per-catch average ranking second in school history behind the record of 25.8). He was 63rd in FCS with seven touchdown catches and his average of 24.04 yards per catch closed the year second behind the 24.49 average of Isaiah Weston of Northern Iowa.
 
Also returning to the receiver position are sophomores Freddie Roberson and Anthony Stell Jr., a pair of former high school teammates who both have excelled after three games. Roberson has 19 grabs for 255 yards and a touchdown, and Stell has 11 for 180 and a pair of scores.
 
Both were impressive as redshirt freshmen in 2019. Roberson closed the year with 14 catches for 220 yards and a score, and Stell had five grabs for 41 yards. In the 2020-21 opener at Idaho on Feb. 27, Roberson had a career-high seven catches for 48 yards, and Stell caught a career-high four for 70 with a touchdown. Stell topped that with five catches for 84 yards and a TD versus Northern Arizona on March 6, and Roberson finished with 65 yards and a score on four catches.
 
All-Big Sky tight end Jayce Gilder graduated, but three other tight ends from 2019 return. Junior Dylan Ingram now has 28 games of experience, and has caught five passes for 53 yards and a score in his career. Sophomore Aiden Nellor is also back and has 13 games of experience as an Eagle, as well as redshirt freshman Blake Gobel, who now has seven games of experience.
 
Gobel played in four games in 2019, making his debut on Oct. 26 versus Montana. He had his first career catch on a 15-yard touchdown on a fake field goal attempt, then started in EWU's 42-41 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 16. The Eagles started in a three tight end formation and turned it into a 25-yard rushing gain on EWU's first offensive play
 
The running back position is void of one of the most productive backs in school history, but still returns senior Tamarick Pierce, who received a redshirt in 2019. Senior running back Antoine Custer Jr. handled the majority of the carries in 2019 and finished 15th in FCS in rushing (102.3), 12th in total rushing yards (1,228) and 11th in rushing touchdowns (16). Custer finished the year with six 100-yard performances – including his last four games – and earned second team All-Big Sky honors.
 
Pierce made the first start of his Eastern career at Idaho on Feb. 27, 2021, and rushed for a team-high 63 yards on a career-high 13 carries. He followed that with his first 100-yard rushing game with 105 and two scores versus Northern Arizona on March 6.
 
He now has a 6.3 career average per rush which currently ranks fourth in school history. Pierce has rushed for 1,242 yards and 20 touchdowns in 42 games as an Eagle with 15 catches for 120 yards and another score. He redshirted the 2019 season as he continued to rehabilitate a 2018 injury. A psychology major, Pierce has earned Big Sky All-Academic honors three times in his career thus far.
 
After coming off an injury from the year before, Pierce made his 2019 debut versus Montana and had a team-leading 57 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries (long of 30). He finished with 177 yards in four games played, and retained his redshirt status.
 
Sixth-year senior Dennis Merritt returns after suffering a serious lower leg injury versus Lindenwood on Sept. 7, 2019, and missing the remainder of the season. He opened the 2020-21 season by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter and finished with three catches for 46 yards (career high) and another 41 yards rushing. He now has 698 yards and four touchdowns rushing in his career, and another 13 catches for 205 yards and three scores in 312games. Merritt had 87 yards (7.2 per rush) in 2019 before he was injured.
 
True freshman Silas Perreiah and redshirt freshman Micah Smith rounded out the running back corp in 2019, with both making their debuts as Eagles versus Lindenwood on Sept. 7. Perreiah has now played in 13 career games, and has 268 yards rushing with a touchdown and three catches for seven yards and another score. He had 126 yards rushing and a score versus North Dakota in 2019.
 
Eastern received a boost at running back with the return of sophomore Isaiah Lewis in 2020-21. He played in two games early in the 2019 season and had 64 yards and a touchdown rushing versus Lindenwood, but shortly after that left the team. As a redshirt freshman in 2018, he played in three games and had 52 yards, including 47 versus Southern Utah.
 
Besides true freshmen, Eastern's other running back in 2019 is Washington transfer Jamyn Patu. Although he didn't carry the ball for the Huskies, in his final two seasons at O'Dea High School in Seattle, Wash., he rushed for 3,777 yards and 42 touchdowns on 430 carries, averaging 155.8 per game and 8.8 per rush. As a senior in 2017, he was the Associated Press Washington Player of the Year for all classifications, and was the Seattle Times Player of the Year for all classifications.
 
The biggest priority for EWU in 2020-21 is replacing four starters on the offensive line, a situation which was helped considerably with the return of Taylor. He entered the 2020-21 season having started all 40 games he's played as an Eagle, but the four starters lost totaled 193 games played and 141 starts in their careers.
 
Taylor has now started all 43 games he's played as an Eagle. He has earned All-Big Sky Conference honors three times previously at EWU. He was a second team choice in 2019 and received honorable mention in 2016 and 2017. He redshirted in 2015 and was lost to a knee injury after three games in 2018. He is now working on a second degree in psychology after having already earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.
 
Senior starting center Conner Crist now has 25 career games of experience and four starts under his belt, including seven games and two starts in 2019. Junior starting guard Wyatt Musser now has 15 games worth of experience in his career and made the first start of his career on Feb. 27, 2021, at Idaho. Junior tackle Matt Shook also made the first start of his career against Idaho, and now has 13 games of experience after not playing in 2019 because of an injury.
 
The team's fifth starter in the 2020-21 season is true freshman Wyatt Hansen, and he started in his first collegiate game of his career on Feb. 27, 2021, at Idaho. Sophomore Brad Godwin made his first career start at guard in the next game on March 6 against Northern Arizona and now has 11 games of experience.
 
Eastern had 2,450 yards of offense in the last four games of the 2019 season (612.5 per game) to take over the national lead in total offense and maintain it. Eastern closed the year with 559 yards against Portland State on Nov. 23 and had 496 one game earlier at Cal Poly on Nov. 16. Prior to that, the Eagles had 706 versus Northern Arizona on Nov. 2 to rank fifth in school history, and 689 at Idaho State on Nov. 9 to rank seventh all-time. Eastern also had a school-record 769 in 2019 versus Lindenwood, and 637 against Northern Colorado on Oct. 12 to rank as the 19th most in EWU history.
 
The four linemen honored on the All-Big Sky team in 2019 combined to start 171 games, with 194 total games of experience. Offensive tackle Chris Schlichting (first team) started all 52 he played, and Taylor (second team) has started all 40 games he has played in his career. Center Spencer Blackburn (first team) started the last 49 of his 51-game career, and Kaleb Levao (third team) started 30 of the 51 he played. The fourth starter lost from 2019 was Will Gram, who finished his career with 39 games worth of experience and 10 starts (all in 2019).
 
Eastern had some impressive rushing performances in 2019, rushing for at least 174 yards eight times and at least 247 in six games (including the last four). The school's 5.29 average per rush ranked 13th in FCS. The Eagles had a season-high 320 versus Cal Poly on Nov. 16 as Barriere rushed for a career-high 164 and a score and Custer finished with 107 and four touchdowns on just nine carries.
 
 
More on Eagle Defensive Players
 
The six starters returning on defense feature a quartet in the secondary, plus the group is led by Jack Sendelbach, who served as one of EWU's co-captains in the 2019 season and will serve again in 2020-21. The other starters back include safety Calin Criner, rover Kedrick Johnson, end Mitchell Johnson and cornerbacks Tre Weed and Darreon Moore. A total of 10 players who had started previously return, led by current totals of 16 starts of Criner and 15 by Sendelbach. Those 10 players entered the 2020-21 season with a combined 86 starts.
 
Kedrick Johnson is back for his senior season, and has now played in 31 total games in his career (eight as a starter). He has 103 tackles, a pair of sacks and four passes broken up in his career after a 2019 campaign which saw him come on strong to finish with 50 tackles and a pair of PBUs.
 
Eastern's other two returning starters in the secondary are at cornerback where junior Moore and sophomore Weed return. Weed has now played 18 games (13 as a starter) and has career total of 51 tackles, two interceptions and eight passes broken up. He earned Freshman All-America accolades after a season in which he had 44 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes broken up as an 11-game starter. Moore has played in 24 career games (seven as a starter), and has 40 tackles with three passes broken up and a sack, but has yet to play in 2020-21. Moore started seven games in 2019, and finished the season with 29 tackles and three passes broken up,
 
Junior Ira Branch and sophomore Darrien Sampson each started three games in 2019, with Sampson closing the year with 17 tackles and a pair of PBUs, while Branch closed with 14 stops and broke up four passes. Sampson has played in 17 career games now (six starts) and has 23 tackles, two interceptions and three passes broken up. Branch has 19 games of experience in his career (three starts) with 19 tackles and four passes broken up.
 
Other returning letterwinners in the secondary include senior Tamir Hill, junior Keshaun King, junior Anthany Smith, junior Dean Sise and sophomore Demetrius Crosby Jr. King and Smith both made their starting debuts as safeties in EWU's 2020-21 opener at Idaho on Feb. 27, 2021. Smith had a career-high 10 tackles and a 71-yard interception return for a touchdown which was the 18th-longest in school history. He had the first interception return for a touchdown for EWU since Nzuzi Webster had a 48-yard return versus UC Davis on Nov. 10, 2018.
 
King now has 22 tackles in his 17-game career (three as a starter), and Smith has 47 career tackles, three interceptions and two passes broken up in 21 games (three as a starter). Smith played in just three games in 2019 before being lost for the season with an injury.
 
The secondary also includes Arizona State transfer Ely Doyle, as well as redshirt freshman Marlon Jones Jr. Doyle played in one game while at ASU, and is a former teammate at Bishop Alemany High School in California with starting linebacker Chris Ojoh. Doyle had his first tackles of his EWU career against Northern Arizona on March 6 and finished with seven.
 
Sendelbach and Ojoh headline a linebacker corp that includes five returning letterwinners. Sendelbach has not played in 2020-21, but he has 159 tackles in his 36-game career (15 as a starter), and has had eight performances in double figures. He has earned Big Sky Conference All-Academic honors three times as an Eagle, and has already received his bachelor's degree in marketing. He is now in a graduate program for sports and recreation administration.
 
Sendelbach was second on the team with 94 tackles with three sacks as an 11-game starter in 2019. Ojoh began that same season as a starter in the first three games but was injured, and played in just one game after that to retain his redshirt status. He had 27 tackles in four games, and he now has 174 tackles, three sacks, an interception and five passes broken up in his 33-game career (14 as a starter). He has five performances in his career with at least 10 tackles.
 
Four other returning lettermen are back for a defensive line which routinely rotates 9-12 players a game. Junior Caleb Davis has been productive in his first two years in the program with 47 tackles and a pair of sacks in 23 games, including 21 stops and one sack as a sophomore. But he has not played in the 2020-21 season.
 
Sophomore Joshua Jerome made the first start of his career against Idaho on Feb. 27, 2021, and responded with eight tackles (three of them for loss), a sack and two quarterback hurries. He has played just 18 career games (three as a starter), but already has 57 career tackles with 2 1/2 sacks and a pass broken up.
 
Junior Debore'ae McClain had 11 tackles in 2019, and now has 27 in 30 career games with 1 1/2 sacks. He made the first start of his career against Northern Arizona on March 6 and had three tackles.
 
Also back on the defensive line is Jusstis Warren, who transferred to EWU in 2019 from the University of Washington. He made his first start as an Eagle on Feb. 27, 2021, versus Idaho, and finished with four tackles. He played in EWU's opener against his alma mater in 2019, but missed the rest of the season. In his 31-game career as a Husky, he had nine tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, a forced fumble and caught a 2-yard touchdown pass.
 
Five redshirt freshmen are also on the roster – Warren Hardin, Brock Harrison, Jacob Newsom, Soli Paleso'o and Jacobe Lee. All but Lee played as true freshmen in 2019, with that quartet combining for eight games played. Paleso'o had two tackles in two games played, and Harrison also had a pair in four games worth of action. Newsom made the first start of his career on Feb. 21, 2021, at Idaho.
 
 
More on Eagle Special Teams Players
 
A year after having new players at each position, this season Eastern has some semblance of experience with sophomore kicker Seth Harrison, sophomore punter Nick Kokich and sophomore long snapper Cody Clements.
 
As a true freshman, Kokich made his season debut four games into the season and held the punting position the rest of the year. He averaged 39.0 yards in 41 punts in 2019, with 10 downed inside the opponent 20-yard line and a long of 59 to equal the 38th longest in EWU history. In 52 career punts, he has averaged 39.3 per kick with a long of 59.
 
Eastern's kickoff return team suffered a jolt in 2019 when senior Dre'Sonte Dorton was injured and lost for the year at mid-season. However, that provided opportunities for other players who could potentially step into future full-time return roles.
 
Stell ended up returning four kickoffs for a 20.0 average, and Marlon Jones Jr. had a pair for 62 yards and a long of 40 during limited action as a true freshman. Weed returned three for 50 yards, and Talolo Limu-Jones ended the year with two for 44 yards in EWU's season finale. Earlier in the season, Johnny Edwards IV returned three for 41 yards and Smith had a pair for 29.
 
Eastern used several players as punt returners in 2019, including Criner, Weed and Sampson. Weed has the best return of the year with a 13-yarder to end the season versus Portland State.
 
 
 

Series Notes

 
* Eastern is 9-2 all-time versus Cal Poly – 5-0 at home and 4-2 on the road -- with a seven-game winning streak in the series. In 2019 in San Luis Obispo, Eastern scored its first six touchdowns on drives that took just nine minutes, and went on to win on the road. Cal Poly had a chance to take the lead with 4:58 to play, but failed on a two-point conversion. Then, after the second EWU turnover, the Mustangs missed a field goal with 1:02 left that could have won it. In 2018, on its way to an appearance in the NCAA Division I Championship Game, Eastern won handily 70-17 and the 53-point margin was the largest ever in a Big Sky Conference game for EWU, and the third-largest overall.  Eastern won handily 42-21 in San Luis Obispo in 2016, but in 2015 the seventh-ranked Eagles needed to rally from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to prevail 42-41 in overtime in Cheney.
 
 
Looking Back . . . Eagles Score Fast and Survive for 42-41 Win
           
Eastern scored its first six touchdowns on drives that took just nine minutes, and went on to win on the road for a second-straight week by holding on for a 42-41 victory at Cal Poly on Nov. 16, 2019, at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif. In this game, time of possession could be thrown out the window, and thankfully, two late Eagle turnovers could as well. Eastern had two late fumbles that both led the Mustang touchdowns and nearly cost the Eagles the win. Cal Poly had a chance to take the lead with 4:58 to play, but failed on a two-point conversion. Then, after the second EWU turnover, the Mustangs missed a field goal with 1:02 left that could have won it. In a rematch of EWU's 53-point blowout victory in Cheney in 2018, Eastern had the ball for just 16:53 compared to 43:07 for the Mustangs. But Eastern made their possessions count, scoring those first six touchdowns on just 31 plays for 450 yards and 9:01 off the clock – averages of 14.5 yards per play and 1:30 per possession. Senior running back Antoine Custer Jr. scored four touchdowns on the ground and had 107 rushing yards total, as he went over the 1,000 yard mark for the season and had his 11th 100-yard game. He was also EWU's leading receiver with three catches for 27 yards. Junior quarterback Eric Barriere had a career-high 164 yards on the ground, finishing with one TD rushing and one passing. He also had 176 yards through the air to give him his 13th performance of his 30-game career with at least 300 yards of total offense with 340. Eastern did most of its damage in the rushing category with 320 yards. Eastern's third-straight victory came against the triple-option attack of the Mustangs, who rushed for 367 yards. Cal Poly had an 88-54 advantage in total plays with an offense that has given EWU fits in the past.  In fact, in the last three meetings alone, Cal Poly had averaged 417.7 yards on the ground per game.  Four Eagles finished in double figures in tackles, led by the 14 of rover Kedrick Johnson. Linebackers Jack Sendelbach and Andrew Katzenberger each had 11, and Jim Townsend finished with 10. Dylan Ledbetter added nine. Defensive stops were few and far between by both teams, but Townsend had two with a forced fumble that EWU's Mitchell Johnson recovered and another stop on a fourth down play which EWU subsequently scored after to take a 14-0 lead. Ledbetter also had a key tackle in the fourth quarter to force a punt, and Joshua Jerome had tackles on second down and third down prior to Cal Poly's missed field goal. He finished with six tackles, not including his stop on the failed 2-point try by the Mustangs. Eastern scored its first four touchdowns in the first half on a collective total of just 19 plays for 284 yards and just 5:27 in time of possession. Starting the game in a three tight end set, a 25-yard run by Talolo Limu-Jones led to a 40-yard touchdown run by Custer, then Jones caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Barriere to give EWU a 14-0 lead just eight minutes into the game. Eastern's second score, a three-play, 77-yard drive, was set-up when Eastern's defense stopped Cal Poly on downs. Eastern scored again in the second quarter on a 38-yard run by Custer, then ended the half with a six-play, 75-yard drive that took just 1:18 off the clock. The Eagles led 28-14 at halftime, with Cal Poly scoring one of its TDs after a muffed Eastern punt return. Cal Poly pulled to within 28-21 and EWU had a kickoff return for a touchdown by Anthony Stell Jr. called back because of a penalty, but EWU scored again anyway. A seven-play, 91-yard drive took just 2:11 of the clock as Barriere scored on a 37-yard run. Eastern had a chance to go up by three scores, but were forced to punt. Custer scored on a 13-yard run to put EWU up by 14, but Cal Poly scored twice to pull within 42-41 with 4:58 left. However, the Mustangs attempted a two-point conversion after their second score, and pressure by Johnson resulted in a tackle by Jerome well short of the end zone. The Eagles then coughed the ball up again with 3:05 play, but Jerome had key tackles on second and third down to force a fourth-and three situation. Cal Poly's 35-yard field goal attempt with 1:02 left was wide, and EWU was able to go into victory formation to secure the win.
 
 
Looking Back Further . . . Custer and Fumble Returns Spark No. 6 Eagles Past Mustangs 70-17
 
With Antoine Custer Jr., and the Eagle defense leading the way, the sixth-ranked Eagles beat Cal Poly 70-17 on Sept. 22, 2018, in the Big Sky Conference opener for both schools at "The Inferno." The thunder was provided by fumble returns for touchdowns in the first half by Cole Karstetter (38 yards) and Jim Townsend (62 yards) following forced fumbles by Kurt Calhoun and Mitchell Johnson, respectively. The lightning was provided by Custer, who scored on touchdown runs of 62 and 43 yards to help EWU open a 42-17 lead. With 30 carries for 441 yards on a windy day with sustained winds of 23 miles per hour, EWU set a new Big Sky record for average per rush with a mark of 14.7. That broke the old record of 11.1 set by Portland State versus UC Davis in 2013 (427 yards, 38 attempts). The total of 441 were the most for EWU since getting a school-record 456 versus Cal State Northridge on Sept. 25, 1999. When the dust cleared after a 35-point second half, Eastern rolled up 657 total yards – then the ninth-most in school history -- and held Cal Poly to 399. The Mustangs and their option offense entered with an average of 230.0 rushing yards per game, but EWU outgained them on the ground 441-378 and had a 10+ yard advantage per carry (14.7 to 4.4). The 70 points scored were the fourth-most in Eastern school history at the time and most versus a NCAA Division I opponent. Cal Poly dominated possession in the first quarter, but the Eagles got the upper hand on the scoreboard. In the first quarter, EWU led 14-3 in a quarter in which it had just six offensive plays and Cal Poly had 31, with a 13:37 to 1:23 advantage in time of possession. Calhoun forced an errant Cal Poly pitch, and it was scooped up by Karstetter for a 38-yard return, and that was followed by a 62-yard run by Custer. Eastern then scored again with eight seconds left in the half when a sack and forced fumble by Johnson led to a 62-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Townsend to lead at halftime 35-10. Eastern scored 35 points in the second half as a total of 67 Eagles saw action. In his first action in 2018, Custer averaged 16.6 yards per rush to finish with 133 yards on just eight carries, with touchdown runs of 62 and 43 yards. It was the fourth 100-yard rushing performance of his career, and he now has six plays in his career of 43 yards or more. Quarterback Gage Gubrud completed 21-of-27 passes for 217 yards with one touchdown pass. He had an 8-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Boston, and also rushed four times for 50 yards and a score.  Senior Zach Eagle was his team's leading receiver with five catches for 61 yards, and Jayson Williams caught four for 64 yards. Running back Sam McPherson chipped in 84 yards on eight carries, and Dennis Merritt had 92 yards on two carries, including an 81-yard touchdown run to close out EWU's scoring. Calhoun had 11 tackles with a forced fumble, and defensive tackle Dylan Ledbetter had a career-high 10 stops. Mitchell and senior defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli each had a sack. Sixth-year kicker Roldan Alcobendas converted all 10 of its extra point attempts.
 
 

More Past Games . . .

 
* In 2016, the Eastern offense and defense came through again and the third-ranked Eagles defeated 14th-ranked Cal Poly 42-21 in a key Big Sky Conference showdown Nov. 5, 2016, at Alex G. Spanos Stadium in San Luis Obispo, Calif.  Eastern's defense allowed the Mustangs to rush for 386 yards, on par with the 370.3 yards per game Cal Poly averaged entering the game to lead the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. But EWU also came up with two turnovers – both resulting in touchdowns -- to help EWU open a 35-14 lead in the third quarter. The defense also came up with a pair of big fourth down stops, including a key one at the EWU 7-yard line with 7:50 to play and EWU clinging to a 14-point lead. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp passed for two touchdowns in the third quarter alone, and added a TD reception in the fourth quarter to clinch the win. Shaq Hill and Kendrick Bourne combined for five touchdowns receiving to lead the Eagle offense. Eastern finished with 513 yards of offense, including 397 by quarterback Gage Gubrud who passed for 357 and rushed for another 40.
 
* In 2015, the seventh-ranked Eagles rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to score 22 unanswered points in the final 5:11 of regulation and in overtime to top Cal Poly and the top rushing offense in the nation 42-41 in a Big Sky Conference showdown Oct. 10, 2015, in Cheney, Wash. Eastern scored on its first play of overtime and kicked an extra point, then the Mustangs scored. But Eastern's Nzuzi Webster recovered a Cal Poly fumble on the two-point conversion attempt, putting a sour note on a huge day for the Mustangs that included 503 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground on 89 carries. Although out-gained 519-370 in total offense in the game, Eastern had 145 of its yards on its final three possessions of the game, including drives of 85 and 55 yards to force overtime. Despite sustained winds of 17-22 miles per hour throughout the game, quarterback Jordan West passed for 224 yards and four touchdowns, including a pair to Kendrick Bourne. Cal Poly averaged 5.7 yards per rush, finishing with 503 yards and six touchdowns on 89 carries. The option-oriented Mustangs went into the game leading FCS in rushing with an average of 363.8 yards per game. Quarterback Chris Brown finished with 173 yards on the ground, and the Mustangs finished an impressive 9-of-17 on third down and 4-of-5 on fourth down.
 
* In the 2013 meeting in California, the Eagle defense held the nation's top rushing team to three points through the first three quarters and Cooper Kupp set a pair of FCS receiving records, as the Eagles bested the option offense of Cal Poly 35-22 on Nov. 16, 2013, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. In a victory that wrapped up the league title for the Eagles, Eastern out-gained Cal Poly 486-437 in the game, including 415-146 in the middle two quarters. After a 44-yard drive for a game-opening field goal, in their next six possessions, the Mustangs managed no drive of longer than six plays or 54 yards. Meanwhile, EWU took a 35-3 lead. Kupp caught eight passes for 139 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he equaled the FCS record for most consecutive games with a TD catch of 11 and broke the FCS record for receiving yards by a freshman. Vernon Adams completed 14-of-21 for 224 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but left the game with a shoulder injury suffered on a third-quarter TD pass. Senior Anthony Vitto replaced him and completed 14-of-21 passes for 127 yards and a TD. Ronnie Hamlin led the Eagles with 10 tackles, and senior Bo Schuetzle had the first two interceptions of his career to go along with a pair of tackles. The triple-option attack of Cal Poly went into the game averaging 308.6 rushing yards per game to lead FCS, and finished with 313.
 
* In Cheney in 2012, Eastern came up with big drives on offense and big stops on defense, and the seventh-ranked Eagles rolled past 16th-ranked Cal Poly 34-17 at Roos Field. Vernon Adams led the Eagles with 288 yards passing and 68 on the ground, as the Eagles finished with 542 as a team. He completed 19-of-29 passes and had three touchdown tosses, and Eastern's scoring drives in the game were of 81, 66, 74, 69, 41 and 83 yards. Eastern had its second-best rushing effort of the season with 254 yards, with sophomore Quincy Forte finishing with 83 and junior Demitrius Bronson adding 82 and a score. Senior Nicholas Edwards had a team-leading five catches for 55 yards. Defensively, the Eagles allowed the vaunted Cal Poly triple-option attack to rush for 251 yards and finish with 411 yards total. The Mustangs were at one point in the game 9-of-13 on third down, but converted just one of its last five. The Eagles forced Cal Poly to punt five times, and also had a 3-1 advantage in turnovers forced. Senior defensive end Paul Ena had a team-high nine tackles.
 
* In the 2011 thriller, a touchdown pass by wide receiver Greg Herd sparked Eastern Washington to scores on four consecutive plays (two touchdowns and two conversions) in the second and third overtimes as the Eagles prevailed 53-51 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Coming on what appeared to be a designed reverse, Herd's 25-yard TD toss to fellow wide receiver Nicholas Edwards helped send the game into a third overtime. After a game-tying point after conversion by Mike Jarrett, Bo Levi Mitchell passed 25 yards to Herd on the very next play for the go-ahead score to begin the third OT. Mitchell then scrambled his way into the end zone for the all-important two-point conversion. Cal Poly scored on the next possession, but Alden Gibbs broke up a pass on the two-point conversion to preserve Eastern's victory. A trade of field goals – including a school-record 15th on the season by Jarrett – opened the overtime. Eastern sent the game into overtime with a 10-play, 80-yard drive to score with 1:51 to play on a 22-yard pass play from Mitchell to his older brother Cory Mitchell, who finished the game with a career-high seven catches for 132 yards. Eastern couldn't stop Cal Poly from running the ball and the Mustangs couldn't stop the Eagle passing game. The Mustangs rushed for 405 yards on 95 carries and scored three-straight touchdowns late in the game to rally from a 28-14 deficit. Eastern, which passed for 461 yards in the game, converted 8-of-10 third downs in building a 28-14 lead in the third quarter. But three-straight empty possessions helped the Mustangs rally with scoring drives of 71, 80 and 77 yards. Mitchell completed 34-of-50 passes for 436 yards and five touchdowns, and Edwards caught 10 passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Six Eagles had double figures in tackles, as Cal Poly had 107 total offensive plays compared to 73 for the Eagles. Linebacker Grant Williams finished with a career-high 19 tackles (seventh in school history), and linebacker Ronnie Hamlin had a career-high 16. Linebacker Tyler Washburn had 12 and Allen Brown had 10.
 
* In a 2004 game in Cheney, Erik Meyer passed for 417 yards and four touchdowns, and Eric Kimble caught nine passes for 151 yards and three of the scores to help the 21st-ranked Eagles upset 11th-ranked Cal Poly 38-21. Eastern handed the Mustangs their second-straight loss after a 7-0 start that had them ranked fifth in the country two weeks earlier. The performance by Meyer was then the fifth-best in school history as he finished with 431 yards of offense despite getting sacked six times. He completed 21-of-32 passes with one interception, and scrambled for 48 yards of gains while getting sacked for 34 yards of losses. Eastern piled-up a season-high 573 yards of total offense as it had 417 passing and 156 rushing. Defensively, Eastern held Cal Poly to 343 yards of offense, including just two yards rushing.
 
* Eastern beat the Mustangs 61-7 in the first-ever NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (then known as I-AA) game for Cal Poly to open the 1994 season. That game was also the head coaching debut of former Eagle head coach Mike Kramer. Eastern was blasted 52-35 in San Luis Obispo to end the 1995 season, but two years later the Eagles finished 12-2 and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs. Eastern defeated the Mustangs in Cheney by a 38-21 score in 2004, when Cal Poly entered the game ranked 11th nationally and EWU was 21st. The Eagles eventually received an at-large playoff berth in 2004 while the Mustangs stayed home with a 9-2 mark. Eastern lost at Cal Poly 40-35 in 2005 in a game matching the 11th-ranked Eagles and the 18th-ranked Mustangs. In 2011, the Eagles scored on four consecutive plays (two touchdowns and two conversions) in the second and third overtimes as the Eagles prevailed 53-51 in San Luis Obispo. The 2012 game was also a match-up of nationally-ranked teams, with No. 7 Eastern prevailing 34-17 over the 16th-ranked Mustangs.
 
 
 
 
  

Recent Game Recap

 
Eagles Rally to Win With 25 Seconds Left at Idaho State
 
The 16th-ranked Eastern Washington University scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes to complete a comeback against Idaho State and win 46-42 in a Big Sky Conference game March 13 at Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho.
 
Senior quarterback Eric Barriere passed for 455 yards and five touchdowns, rallying Eastern from a 42-31 deficit with 8:41 left. He completed 34-of-50 passes and had 474 yards of total offense. Besides accounting for 30 points with his five TD passes, he had a key two-point conversion pass to bring Eastern to within a field goal of the Bengals.
 
He passed for TDs on three of EWU's first four scoring drives of 80, 75, 70 and 62 yards. He then led EWU on a 10-play, 86-yard TD drive with 5:49 left to pull Eastern to within three after he passed for the two-point conversion.
 
After an ISU punt, he directed EWU on a game-winning, nine-play, 60-yard drive that included a game-winning 6-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Boston with 25 seconds to play. Anthany Smith clinched the victory with an interception on the game's final play.
 
Barriere now has five 400-yard passing performances in his Eastern career as he recorded the 44th in school history, and has 11 performances with at least 300 yards. Coupled with his 19 rushing yards, Barriere had 474 yards of total offense to give him nine career performances with 400+ and 16 with 300+. His passing yardage total was the second-best of his career and his total offense tally was third.
 
Eastern had 596 yards of total offense against ISU, and a trio of receivers had big games. Andrew Boston finished with 10 receptions for 143 yards and two scores, Freddie Roberson had eight for 142 and Talolo Limu-Jones added eight grabs for 99 yards and a score.
 
Eastern rushed for 141 yards and held ISU to 93, with Dennis Merritt leading EWU with 82 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. Leading receivers for Eastern were Andrew Boston with 10 for 143 yards and two scores, Freddie Roberson with eight for 142 and Talolo Limu-Jones with eight grabs for 99 yards and a scored.
 
Ty Graham led Eastern's defense with eight tackles, and Anthany Smith and Darrien Sampson each had interceptions. Debore'ae McClain had 1 1/2 sacks and Jacob Newsom had one.
 
 

More Aaron Best Comments

 
On Long Road Trip to Idaho State: "It takes a little bit of wind out of your sails when you take two days to get to a destination to play an early-evening/late-afternoon game on Saturday. But our team fought and fought hard. It was a very, very gutsy performance and far from perfect in a lot of ways. We just ended up making a couple of plays at the end when we needed to. It was a very good team victory, and I thought our special teams group stepped their game up quite a bit from the NAU game. We played more consistently in the main four special teams units, and it was good to have Seth Harrison back to kick that 50-yard field goal. That was a boost in the arm. We just made more plays in the end."
 
On Road Trip Back and Bye: "The end result was a 10-hour bus ride back, and lost an hour with the time change. So we got back about 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Our bye couldn't have come at a better time. We'll see who we have to go up against Cal Poly with. We'll get our feet back on the ground and prepare for Cal Poly."
 
 On Anthany Smith: "He's an emotional leader for us, and he absolutely knows where he needs to be. He's a physical and vocal leader for us – he plays on the backend so everybody hears him. He plays the game the way it's supposed be played – very fast, very fearless and very physical. That's what we want out of any defensive player, especially one who is playing center field like he does. There is no doubt he's been a force these last three games, and we lean on him to make plays."
 
On Victory Over NAU: "Our team did a great job with the game plan in all three phases. It was a windy environment but the sun was out, and it was our first home game in the 2020-21 season and the first game on the new red turf. We held serve and we've won 15 in a row at home. We're happy for the fans who weren't in the stands, but were on the hills watching. It was nice having Andrew Boston back making plays and over 100 yards. His leadership and his ability be able to catch the ball and get up field really helped in that department."
 
On Returning After Covid-19 Isolation: "It was awesome to get to see the smiles, the joy and the emotion of what these players and coaches love to do. It was more normal this week, and I was excited for the experience today. It wasn't any less than what I expected. Getting back in the swing of things was beautiful."
 
On Victory: "Collectively we played a pretty good brand of football in all three phases. There are some things to clean up that can be better and we turned the ball over a few too many times for our liking. But we leaned on our defense and only gave up three points after our turnovers, and those things are hidden in the stat line sometimes. We had to rely on our defense a little bit."
 
On Offensive Explosion After 426 Yards and 14 Points from Offense at Idaho Last Week: "We are thankful for what we have. We sometimes get so accustomed to offensive fireworks at Eastern and sometimes there aren't as many fireworks. Fourth of July happens only once a year, and fans expect that every Saturday – I do as well. But this is the second time two weeks in that our defense has allowed us to rely on some different things. We can play more team ball together, and we've done that for two weeks. We came up short last week, but today we put 45 points up on the board. But that doesn't come without a ton of hard work."
 
On Needed Improvements From 2019: "We needed to learn how to play better team football more consistently, and we lacked that at times. There were games where we played the best football I've ever seen in all my years as a part of this football program. But at other times we played some of the worst ball I've ever seen. Luck and the injury bug sometimes gets involved, but you have to be more consistent in league or non-league. You can't get too high and you can't get too low."
 
On Keys to Success: "It starts with turnovers, then it's third down conversion percentage and red zone. You have to move the sticks to get to the red zone, and those are the three things we've hammered home these past few years. We have to be better in those three areas than our opponent."
 
On Replacing Four Starters on the Offensive Line:  "We lost some offensive linemen who started a lot and played a lot of football in the past few years. It's always exciting, refreshing and difficult to put new players in those positions that have never really played college football. We are putting them in an impactful game setting and will be forced to play 75, 80 snaps – they haven't done that in their careers thus far."
 
On Cornerback Experience: "The cornerback position was very young and green in 2019. We lost four seniors after the 2018 campaign, so all the guys who saw action in 2019 really hadn't played before. It was hard to watch early and we weren't as good as we knew we would be. But we had guys step-up, including Tre Weed who earned freshman All-America honors after being moved from safety to corner. We're excited to see that group as a whole go from year one to year two, and see how much progress they've made. We want to see what kind of production and competition they've gained."
 
On Eric Barriere: ""The quarterback is the linchpin of the team. No matter what you run, the quarterback is the player you really rely on. It is settling to have back such a dynamic quarterback like Eric. This will essentially be his third year as a starter, so we're expecting huge things out of him for sure. Eric is one of the most electrifying playmakers I have witnessed play in person. He made a huge jump in touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2019, which in turn made him that much harder to defend. I expect his senior season to be even better. He is certainly one of the best players in this league and at this level. I can't wait to see what is in store. "He's highly-respected, and, on top of that, he's made a lot of progress. He's stayed consistent and really cut down on his turnovers in 2019. That was something he really wanted to do and he did it, and now he has to build on that."
 
On Andrew Boston:  "Andrew is a film junky and he absolutely gives all he has on Saturday. He will strive for more in the future and the best version of 'Boss' is yet to come. He followed up a productive freshman year with a solid sophomore campaign."
 
On Tristen Taylor:  "Tristan is a tough-minded and gritty player. He had a brilliant bounce-back season coming off an injury in 2018. He's a physical player who still has room to grow and lead as a player, and with time to accomplish those tasks. Tristen becomes our bell cow up front. He's played a lot of football and we're excited about his ability to play multiple positions. He's capable of playing all three positions, so we'll rely on him heavily."
 
On Other Offensive Linemen: "Matt Shook is coming off an injury from the 2018 season and early in the fall of 2019, and we're excited to get him back. He's played enough ball for us in the past to get a great evaluation on him. Wyatt Musser played a bit in 2019 and rotated in with Will Gram, and this season we'll lean on him for more reps than he had that year. There is some experience, but we want to build on that experience and continue to build competitive depth up front."
 
On Seth Harrison: "Seth started the season as a backup and ended as the guy at our kicker position. He followed our perfect 2018 season kicking field goals with one of his own. We're excited to see him continue to grow and compete for more."