The Bison are the last playoff foe the Eagles faced, and now they'll be the first.
 
In a rematch of the 2018 NCAA Division I Football Championship game, Eastern Washington University found out on Sunday (April 18) it will play at North Dakota State in the first round of the 2020-21 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
 
It will be Eastern's first road trip in the preliminary rounds of the playoffs since 2009. It snaps a string of 17-straight home playoff games at "The Inferno" in Cheney, Wash., not including a pair of title games in Frisco, Texas, to conclude the 2010 and 2018 seasons.
 
The game versus NDSU will be played Saturday, April 24 at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time at the Fargodome in Fargo. N.D. Due to NCAA restrictions limiting seating capacity to 25 percent for this year's FCS playoffs, EWU will not have tickets to sell and NDSU is unable to guarantee tickets. Fans interested in purchasing playoff tickets should contact the North Dakota State athletic ticket office or visit gobison.com.

Eastern finished 5-1 and with a five-game winning streak to earn an at-large berth out of the Big Sky Conference. The Bison are 6-2 and also received an at-large entry after losing to Missouri Valley Conference champion South Dakota State 27-17 last Saturday (April 17) at the Fargodome.
 
Eastern was ranked eighth in last week's STATS Perform NCAA Football Championship Subdivision top 25 poll, while the Bison held down the No. 2 spot behind James Madison. Since EWU won the title in 2010, North Dakota State has won eight of the last nine titles, with JMU winning the other championship in 2016.
 
Eastern is 1-3 all-time versus the Bison, losing 34-24 the last time they met on Jan. 5, 2019, in Frisco, Texas, for the title for the 2018 season. North Dakota State won its third-straight title in 2019 in a year the Eagles did not qualify for the playoffs. Eastern will me making its 14th appearance in the FCS Playoffs, and NDSU will be making its 11th.
 
The first appearance for NDSU came in 2010, and EWU beat the Bison 38-31 in overtime in the quarterfinals at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. The two teams met in regular season games in 2016 and 2017, with EWU falling 50-44 in overtime in the Fargodome in the first meeting, then losing the following season 40-13 in Cheney.
 
Consistency has been a cornerstone of EWU Football, and the Eagles have extended to 17 seasons a current 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.
 
Fellow Big Sky Conference member Weber State, a recent FCS powerhouse the Eagles have not faced since falling 14-6 in Ogden, Utah, on Oct. 13, 2018, is on the opposite side of the bracket. The Wildcats received the league's automatic berth with a 5-0 record in league play and host Southern Illinois in their opener.
 
Not including championship games in 2010 and 2018, Eastern's last 17 games in the playoffs have come at home at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles have won 13 of them, and their last road game in the playoffs was Nov. 28, 2009, in Nacogdoches, Texas, in a 44-33 loss to Stephen F. Austin. Eastern's last playoff road win was on Nov. 24, 2007, when Eastern upset second-seeded and No. 3 ranked McNeese State 44-15.
 
The NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – just 16 teams this year with only six at-large berths (changed from five on 4/7/21) -- all take place on April 24 with first-round games, followed by the quarterfinals on May 1-2 and the semifinals on May 8. All rounds of the FCS playoffs will be broadcast on ESPN's family of networks, with the national championship game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, taking place on Sunday, May 16, at 11 a.m. Pacific time on ABC.
 
 

Dates/Sites/Pairings of First-Round Games (all times Pacific)

April 24 at Brookings, South Dakota - Noon (ESPN3) - Holy Cross (3-0) at #1 South Dakota St. (5-1)
April 24 at Ogden, Utah - 1 p.m. (ESPN3) - Southern Ill. (5-3) at Weber St. (5-0)
April 24 at Newark, Delaware - 4 p.m. (ESPN3) - Sacred Heart (3-1) at Delaware (5-0)
April 24 at Jacksonville, Alabama – 11 a.m. (ESPN3) - Davidson (4-2) at #4 Jacksonville St. (9-2)
April 24 at Harrisonburg, Virginia – 11 a.m. (ESPN3) - VMI (6-1) at #3 James Madison (5-0)
April 24 at Grand Forks, North Dakota - 1 p.m. (ESPN3) - Missouri St. (5-4) at North Dakota (4-1)
April 24 at Fargo, North Dakota, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN3) - Eastern Wash. (5-1) at North Dakota St. (6-2)
April 24 at Huntsville, Texas – 9 a.m. (ESPN3) Monmouth (3-0) at #2 Sam Houston (6-0)
 
 

EWU Versus North Dakota State (1-3) . . .

2010 – W - 38-31 (ot) – Roos Field; Quarterfinals of FCS Playoffs
2016     - L - 44-50 (ot) – Fargodome in Fargo, N.D.
2017 – L - 13-40 – Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
2018 – L - 24-38 – NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas
 

EWU versus the Missouri Valley Conference

Illinois State - 1-2
North Dakota     - 5-0 (UND was Big Sky member in all five meetings)
North Dakota State - 1-3
Northern Iowa - 1-6
South Dakota - 0-1
South Dakota State - 1-0
Southern Illinois - 1-0
Youngstown State - 0-2
Totals - 10-14
Eastern has not played Indiana State, Missouri State, Western Illinois
 
 

More on the Eagles . . .

 
Eastern has won its last five games since a season-opening loss to Idaho, and Weber State won all five of its games to capture the regular season Big Sky Conference title and the league's automatic berth.
 
In the final two weeks of its regular season, Eastern beat No. 11 UC Davis 32-22 on the road, then won its 17th-straight at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., with a come-from-behind 38-31 victory over Idaho.
 
The Eagles are led by Walter Payton Award candidate and the preseason league MVP Eric Barriere, who has 2,324 yards of total offense and 18 passing touchdowns in six games. Twice this year he has directed game-tying and game-winning scoring drives in the fourth quarter for EWU, and he is just 157 yards from hitting the coveted 10,000-yard mark for offense (current total of 9,843).
 
Eastern finished 7-5 in 2019, including a 6-2 record in the Big Sky to finish in a third-place tie. However, the Eagles were passed over for a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs despite finishing as the national runner-up in 2018. Eastern was also passed over for a berth in 2017 despite a 7-4 finish overall and 6-2 mark in the Big Sky.
 
In finishing 5-1 in the Big Sky Conference in the 2020-21 season, Eastern has now won at least five conference games in the last 14 seasons, with a 6-2 or better finish (75 percent) in 11 of those 14. Since EWU's last losing league season in 2006 (3-5), the Eagles are 88-22 for a .800 winning percentage.
 
Head coach Aaron Best will be making his 11th appearance in the FCS Playoffs as either an EWU player or coach. As head coach, he has led EWU to finishes of 6-2, 7-1, 6-2 and now 5-1 in the league in his four seasons at the helm, a 24-6 record and .800 winning percentage that currently ranks sixth in the 58-year history of the league (third among coaches with at least four seasons). Overall, Best is currently 31-13 for a .705 winning percentage to rank 12th all-time in the league (ninth among coaches with at last four seasons at the helm).
 
Through the 2020-21 season, the Eagles have won 64 of their last 76 Big Sky Conference games (84.2 percent) since a 0-2 start in 2011. Included are stretches of 54 victories in the last 64 games (including two at the end of the 2012 season) and 32 of the last 38 (since 2016). Those are percentages of .844 and .842, respectively. Including three wins at the end of the 2009 season, Eastern has had a 74-15 record (.831) in league games since then. Including four non-conference victories (two versus MSU, and one each against Cal Poly and Northern Arizona), two playoff wins (Montana and UC Davis) and one loss (Idaho), the Eagles are 70-13 (.843) since the 0-2 start in 2011 and 60-10 (.857) since winning the last two games at the end of the 2012 campaign.
 
 
 

EWU Playoff Notes . . .

 
* Eastern will be making its 14th appearance in the playoffs in 2020-21, becoming just the 12th team in FCS to have 14 or more appearances (still ranked 12th following 2020-21 selections). The other appearances for the Eagles came in 1985, 1992, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018. With a 6-5 record during an injury-ravaged season in 2011, Eastern fell a victory shy of making its first back-to-back-to-back appearances, but accomplished that feat in 2012-13-14. The Eagles were also 6-5 in 2015 and missed the postseason, and 7-4 in 2017 when they were also passed over. Eastern was 7-5 in 2019 and also did not receive a bid.
 
• The 2020-21 season is Aaron Best's second playoff appearance as head coach and 11th overall. He was a player in 1997, then coached in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and now 2018). He has now been a part of 26 playoff games (17-9), with 23 as a coach (15-8) and three as a player (2-1). He has been involved in 21 of those games at home (15-6), just three on the road (1-2) and was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 2010 when the Eagles won the NCAA Division I title with a 20-19 victory over Delaware on a neutral field in Frisco, Texas. He returned to Frisco as head coach in 2018, with the Eagles falling 38-24 to North Dakota State.
 
• The Eagles have a 19-12 record in their previous 13 playoff appearances, ranking 10th all-time for wins, seventh for percentage (.613, 19-12) and 12th for appearances. Eastern has a 15-6 record at home, 3-5 on the road and 1-1 in the championship game on a neutral field. Eastern has advanced to the semifinals in the FCS Playoffs six times (1997, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018) and is 2-4 in those games. The Eagles have won their opener 10 times (1985, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018) and are 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The Eagles won the title in 2010 in its first appearance in the championship game. The Eagles have received first-round byes in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 (the playoffs were expanded to 20 teams in 2010 and to 24 teams in 2013).
 
* Not including championship games in 2010 and 2018, Eastern's last 17 preliminary games in the playoffs have come at home at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Eastern has won 13 of them, falling in the semifinals at "The Inferno" in 2016, 2013 and 2012, and the quarterfinals in 2014.
 
* Eastern's last road game in the playoffs was Nov. 28, 2009, in Nacogdoches, Texas, in a 44-33 loss to Stephen F. Austin. Eastern's last playoff road win was on Nov. 24, 2007, when Eastern upset second-seeded and No. 3 ranked McNeese State 44-15. The other two road victories for the Eagles came in 2004 over top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Southern Illinois (35-31), and in 1985 in EWU's first-ever playoff game at fifth-ranked/seeded Idaho (42-38).
 
 

A Look at EWU's Season Thus Far . . .

 
On Feb. 27 in the 2020-21 season opener for both teams, Eastern was finally able to begin its 112th season in school history after a delay of five months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Eagles opened a 14-0 lead at Idaho, but the Vandals would take their only lead of the game with 54 seconds left and won 28-21. Eastern had 426 yards of total offense – including 339 by Eric Barriere – while holding the Vandals to 366 yards.
 
Two days prior to that game, Eastern confirmed that Best had tested positive for Covid-19 and would miss the season-opening game at Idaho.  He followed proper isolation protocols via CDC guidelines and the Spokane Regional Health District, and came out of isolation on Saturday, March 6 to coach versus Northern Arizona.
 
The Eagles beat Northern Arizona 45-13 on March 6 in the first game on the new red Astroturf surface installed at "The Inferno" last summer. The Eagles then won on the road at Idaho State 46-42, needing two fourth quarter touchdowns to pull out that victory. Eastern followed with a 62-10 romp past Cal Poly at home on March 27, then EWU won at 11th-ranked UC Davis 32-22, extending EWU's streak of seasons with at least two road wins to 27. At ISU EWU extended its streak of at least one to 52 seasons.
 
Through games played on April 10, Weber State sits atop the league standings at 5-0, followed by Eastern Washington at 5-1 and UC Davis at 3-2. Northern Arizona is 2-2, Idaho is 2-3 and Idaho State is 2-4, while the bottom two teams in the standings are Southern Utah (1-5) and Cal Poly (0-3).
 
On April 17th, a make-up day for games previous postponed because of Covid-19 protocols, Idaho is at NAU. Because they decided after its loss to Eastern to cancel the rest of its spring schedule, Cal Poly had games canceled at NAU, as well as home versus UC Davis and Weber State. Those games are considered a "no contest" and do not affect records.