It didn't take long for the Eagles to recover from a two-week layoff.
 
The 12th-ranked Eastern Washington University football team scored three touchdowns in the first six minutes of the game and went on to rout Cal Poly 62-10 in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday (March 27) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Eastern rolled up 683 yards of offense and allowed just 238 versus its former head coach and some familiar names on the opposing sideline. Eastern had a 21-0 lead with 8:59 left in the first quarter, and went on to score the second-most points in the first quarter as a member of FCS to take a 28-7 advantage.
 
Eastern set its school record for first-half points in leading 45-7 at intermission, and had a 447-102 advantage in offense. The Eagles capped the half with a 55-yard field goal by Seth Harrison, matching the third-best in school history and ranking only behind makes of 57 and 56 yards. It was the longest by an Eagle in more than 14 years.
 
Eastern finished with the 16th-most points in school history, and the 52-point differential equaled the fifth-best for EWU as a member of FCS. The yardage total for EWU was the eighth-most all-time in school history.
 
"Our guys came out and flat-out played relentless from the first snap of the game," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "We went down and scored on our first two possessions on offense, and scored a defensive touchdown too. When you can get up in a game early, it creates momentum – especially when the defense gets stops and the offense scores points."
 
All-America quarterback Eric Barriere didn't start, but EWU is still 12-0 at Roos Field when he starts as the Eagles extended its winning streak at "The Inferno" to 16 games. He had 246 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone, and for the game was 23-of-33 for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Starter Gunner Talkington was 6-of-9 for 132 yards and a pair of TDs as EWU finished with 416 through the air.
 
Senior Talolo Limu-Jones had seven receptions for a career-high 147 yards as 11 different Eagles caught passes. Senior Tamarick Pierce rushed for 80 yards and a pair of scores for EWU, which had eight different players carry the ball. Eastern finished with 267 rushing yards.
 
Senior Ty Graham and Arizona State transfer Ely Doyle each had nine tackles for the EWU defense. Eastern had six quarterback sacks, led by the two of sophomore Joshua Jerome, who also had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Junior Mitchell Johnson had an interception he returned 34 yards for a touchdown to give EWU its 21-0 lead, and he also broke-up a pass, had a quarterback hurry and had one tackle.
 
"It was a total team win by all three phases," praised Best. "There were a lot of players who had a hand in the winning effort today."
 
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. Barriere had what Best termed his "best game as an Eagle" as he finished with 474 yards of total offense and accounted for 32 points.
 
The game versus Cal Poly was a homecoming of sorts for Mustang head coach Beau Baldwin, who 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 CP, which is now 0-3 in his short tenure in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Four members of his staff have past connections to EWU – Paul Wulff, Erik Meyer, J.C. Sherritt and Nicholas Edwards.
 
Eastern plays at UC Davis next Saturday (April 3) at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time at the UC Davis Health Stadium in Davis, Calif., in a battle of 3-1 teams in the league.  The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year -- are slated to begin on April 24 and conclude on May 16.
 
"They are all big," said Best of the upcoming game with the 15th-ranked Aggies. "We came off a bye and they come at a good time – there is never a bad bye on the schedule. But you are always anticipating how you are going to play coming off an off week with some rest. At the end of the day, with a six-game season every game is a playoff game. It leaves you little room for error. We do know we are 3-1 and going against a very capable and high-caliber UC Davis team."
 
 
Records
 
* Eastern is now 3-1 and Cal Poly is 0-3. Eastern was ranked 12th in this week's Stats Perform NCAA Football Championship Subdivision top-25 poll. Previously, the Eagles opened the season with a loss to Idaho 28-21, then beat Northern Arizona at home 45-13 and Idaho State on the road 46-42. Cal Poly fell to Southern Utah 34-24 in its opener, then followed that with a 73-24 loss to UC Davis on March 20.
 
* Also on Saturday, #15 UCD beat Idaho State 31-27; #3 WSU won at home over Northern Arizona, and Idaho edged Southern Utah 33-32. Through Saturday's games, Weber State sits atop the league standings at 3-0, followed by EWU and UC Davis at 3-1. Idaho is 2-1 and Northern Arizona is 1-2, while the last three teams in the standings are Idaho State (1-3), Southern Utah (1-3) and Cal Poly (0-3). The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year with only five at-large berths -- are slated to begin on April 24 and conclude on May 16.
 
* 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.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
 On Eastern's second play of the game, Talkington – a surprise starting quarterback -- found Limu-Jones for a 71-yard gain to open the floodgates. The Eagles followed with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Talkington to Freddie Roberson, then Pierce rushed 44 yards for a score.
 
Eastern's then scored on a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown by Johnson, just 6:01 into the game. Eastern finished the quarter with a Dennis Merritt recovery of a fumbled pass completion into the end zone from Barriere to Andrew Boston. The 28 points came just a single point from EWU's FCS-best of 29 in the first quarter.
 
The first career touchdown reception for Efton Chism III followed in the second quarter, tight end Dylan Ingram also caught a TD pass, then Harrison booted his field goal just before intermission. The 45 points were four better than the school-record halftime total of 41 set in 1994 in the first game in the coaching career of Mike Kramer and the first-ever night game at Roos Field.
 
Eastern scored in the third quarter on a 47-yard field goal by Harrison, then Pierce had his second TD of the game with a 7-yard run to cap a 95-yard drive. Eastern's final TD came on an 18-yard pass from Talkington to sophomore Michael Taras.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Eastern is now 10-2 all-time versus Cal Poly – 6-0 at home and 4-2 on the road -- with an eight-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.
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* Having won all five of its regular season home games in 2019 and all eight in 2018, Eastern has started the  2020-21 season 2-0 at home to give the Eagles a school-record 16-straight wins at Roos Field. Eastern is now 59-10 (85.5 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. Eastern has lost just six regular season games at "The Inferno" – 46-6 (88.5 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 won the turnover battle 2-1, and in the last 13+ seasons (since 2008) the Eagles are now 66-1 when they've won the turnover battle, 24-9 when they've been tied and 23-33 when they've lost (total of 113-43). 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 57-0 since 2010 when they've won the turnover battle, 21-9 when they've been tied and 22-26 when they've lost. 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).
 
* 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 entering the game having 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. 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.
 
* Junior quarterback Gunner Talkington made the first start of his career for the Eagles, as did junior linebacker Cale Lindsay. Thus far in the 2020-21 season, 19 players have made the initial starts of their careers – 11 on defense and eight on offense.
 
Current Starts on Defense (118 starts by 21 players): Calin Criner 16, Jack Sendelbach 15, Chris Ojoh 14, Tre Weed 15, Mitchell Johnson 14, Kedrick Johnson 8, Darreon Moore 7, Darrien Sampson 7, Ty Graham 4, Anthany Smith 4, Joshua Jerome 4, Keshaun King 4, Jacob Newsom 4, Brock Harrison 3, Ira Branch 3, Caleb Davis 2, Marlon Jones Jr. 2, Cale Lindsay 1, Jusstis Warren 1, Debore'ae McClain 1, Justin Patterson 1.
 
Current Starts on Offense (149 starts by 18 players): Tristen Taylor 44, Eric Barriere 26, Andrew Boston 22, Johnny Edwards IV 12, Dylan Ingram 6, Conner Crist 6, Talolo Limu Jones 6, Freddie Roberson 6, Wyatt Musser 4, Matt Shook 4, Tamarick Pierce 3, Brad Godwin 2, Blake Gobel 1, Dennis Merritt 2, Wyatt Hansen 2, Gunner Talkington 1, Anthony Stell Jr. 1, Efton Chism III 1.
 
 
On the Horizon
 
* With the winner staying in contention for a possible playoff berth, Eastern plays at UC Davis next Saturday (April 3) at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time at the UC Davis Health Stadium in Davis, Calif.  The game should have a similar feel to the 2018 season when both the Eagles and Aggies were two of the premier teams in FCS. They met on Nov. 10, 2018, in Cheney, and EWU entered ranked as high as third (coaches; 5th by STATS) and UC Davis was ranked as high as fourth (STATS; 7th by the coaches). The result was an overwhelming 59-20 victory for EWU after falling behind 10-0. They met again just a few weeks later in the FCS Playoffs, and EWU needed a touchdown with 26 seconds left to prevail 34-29 on Dec. 8, 2018. The Eagles entered that game ranked fourth by STATS and third by the coaches, and UC Davis was seventh and 10th, respectively. After the narrow win, third-seeded Eastern went on to fall to top-seeded North Dakota State in the NCAA Division I Championship Game.
 
* UC Davis is 20-14 its last 24 games under head coach Dan Hawkins, and three of those losses have been to the Eagles, who have won all eight of the games in the series which started in 2005. In 2017, in the first season for both schools with new head coaches, Eastern rallied for a 41-38 victory on Oct. 7 at Davis, Calif.
 
* Including a pair of victories over UC Davis in the 2018 season, the Eagles have won all eight of the all-time meetings against the Aggies, including the notorious "Fog Bowl" in the first meeting in 2005. That 24-7 game at fog-shrouded Roos Field (then Woodward Field) featured near-zero visibility from the pressbox. Although a non-conference game, that day EWU clinched the Big Sky Conference co-championship with Montana and Montana State, and secured the automatic berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (then known as I-AA). The Bobcats upset Montana 16-6 in Bozeman that same day, opening the door for the Eagles to garner its second-straight league title and playoff berth. The Eagles found out the outcome of the MSU-UM game in the second quarter, then rested many of its starters in the second half. In the other meetings, Eastern won in Cheney in 2007 by a 41-31 score, and then prevailed 31-28 in a Big Sky Conference game in 2012. In 2014, Eastern won at UC Davis 37-14, and romped 63-30 in 2016 in Cheney. The Eagles also had a come-from-behind 41-38 victory at UC Davis in 2017.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Aaron Best
 
On Victory: "It was a well-rounded game by us again. The last two times we've played at home – Cal Poly and Northern Arizona – we've played really well in all three phases. And we played together and the units fed off of each other. We put ourselves in a precarious position with a turnover in the red zone on offense, but the defense stopped Cal Poly for no points. Later in the game we had a blocked punt in our own end, and the defense yielded just three points. That's what you have to do to gel and bond as a team to buckle down in those situations."
 
On Performance: "We were efficient on offense and we only gave up yards between the 20s. When you only give up 10 points – especially at home – there are going to be good things that happen on the red. This a Cal Poly team which was coming off a road game at UC Davis, so we knew it would be tough for them going back-to-back on the road -- it always is no matter who you are. We were fortunate we played as well as we did today, and it was because of great preparation. I commend our team for that."
 
On Deepness at Some Positions: "We have depth and it's been built over time. We have a lot of guys capable of making plays. And when given the opportunity – whether it be the first quarter or fourth quarter – those reps are earned. They are not deserved and they aren't just handed out. We were fortunate to be in the situation to bring players in at certain times throughout the game. Looking at the stats, there wasn't a guy who had the bulk of the yards. They shared the mail, so to speak. We did a good job of keeping Cal Poly off-balance."
 
On Winning Third Game After Season-Opening Loss: "Wins are hard to come by – half the country loses every week. We just happened to be on the better half of things today. From top-to-bottom, it was a total team effort. We were efficient, we moved the ball, we broke tackles and we held onto the football for the better part of the day."
 
On Winning 16th-Straight at Roos Field: "It's always fun to play at home, and we got to play in front of some fans. It was our 16th win in a row on the red, and that is something we look to continue when we get back here in a couple of weeks. Now we'll put our efforts toward UC Davis after this total team victory. We're proud of everybody involved."