EWU Game Notes

The Eastern Washington University football team hits the road once again to play at Cal Poly on Saturday, Oct. 22. Kickoff is set for 5:02 Pacific time in San Luis Obispo, Calif., at Alex G. Spanos Stadium on ESPN+ and via 700-AM ESPN & 103.5 FM.
 
Both teams are in search of their first conference victories, sitting with identical 1-5 overall records and 0-3 Big Sky Conference records. The Eagles, who are on a five-game losing streak for the first time since 1995, have played arguably one of the toughest schedules in all of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). This is the first time in the last five games that EWU has not played a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent or a ranked-conference opponent.
 
There is, of course, familiarity within the programs, as Cal Poly's head coach Beau Baldwin coached the Eagles from 2008-16 and head Eagle coach Aaron Best was on his staff as the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. Best is an unblemished 3-0 all-time against Cal Poly and 1-0 against his predecessor, including a 62-10 romp over the Mustangs on March 27, 2021 in Cheney. The Eagles are 10-2 all-time versus Cal Poly, 6-0 at home and 4-2 on the road, and own an eight-game winning streak dating back to 2005.
 
Cal Poly's lone win came over San Diego by a score of 28-27 on Sept. 10. EWU and the Mustangs have one like opponent in Sacramento State. Cal Poly lost to the Hornets, 49-21 on Oct. 1, and EWU suffered a 52-28 loss on Oct. 15. Both teams gave up over 200-yards rushing to Sacramento State.
 
The Mustangs rank third in the FCS in passing offense with 344.3 yards through the air per game, which leads the Big Sky.
 
A win at Cal Poly would give the Eagles 54-straight seasons with at least one road win. EWU has not been 1-5 since the 2006 season, its last losing season, as the program has strung together a streak of 15-straight seasons with a winning record.

On the ground, the Eagles are led by Micah Smith who has 228 rushing yards and two scores. Gunner Talkington has completed 128 of his 205 passing attempts for a total of 1,454 yards and 15 passing touchdowns. His favorite target is Efton Chism III, who has caught 34 passes for five touchdowns and 357 yards. Freddie Roberson follows with 399 yards on 20 catches, plus four touchdowns. Ely Doyle, who had three games this season with 10-or-more tackles, leads the way with 50. Marlon Jones Jr. has intercepted two passes this season. As a team, EWU averages 123.3 rushing yards, 243.67 passing yards, and 25.17 points per game. They are 16^th nationally in forced fumbles.

Eastern Washington returns home on Oct. 29 to host Portland State at 1:02 p.m. Pacific time from Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. The game will air regionally on SWX and ESPN+.

Game Notes

Eastern is coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history and its 15th Football Subdivision Championship playoff berth. Gone is 2021 Walter Payton Award winner and All-America quarterback, Eric Barriere, along with fellow All-Americans Tristen Taylor and Talolo Limu-Jones, but what's back is a group of players who learned under their tutelage and are ready to emerge.
 
Eastern Washington lost 10 starters from the 2021 squad that finished the year 10-3 (6-2 in league play). The Eagles did not lose a regular season game on the road, a feat that hadn't been done since 1967, and won their first seven games for the program's best start the FCS level. Starters lost include six on offense and four on defense along with 18 total letterwinners. Back are 12 starters (five offense, seven defense, plus three kickers, a punter and snapper) and 47 letterwinners.
 
Headlining the cast of returners are eight players who have previously earned All-Big Sky Conference honors, with five being honored following the 2021 season. Among the five are wide receivers Freddie Roberson and Efton Chism III, guard Wyatt Musser, and defensive line members Joshua Jerome and Mitchell Johnson. Safeties Anthany Smith and Tre Weed, along with kicker Seth Harrison, earned honors in 2020-21.
 
Eastern entered the Fall season with a total of 31 players returning with 285 games of starting experience, including 16 players on defense with 181 starts and 15 on offense with 104 starts.
 
And the Eagles entered it as one of the top 25 teams in FCS as well. In the preseason rankings released in June by Athlon Sports, the Eagles ranked No. 15. In the HERO Sports preseason poll released in May, Eastern came in at No. 18. Eastern closed the 2021 season seventh in the Stats Perform NCAA Football Championship Subdivision top 25 poll, and EWU was ninth by the coaches. Eastern was ranked in 30-straight Stats Perform polls until falling out on Oct. 10, 2022.
 
Eastern was picked to finish sixth by both the coaches and the media in the Big Sky preseason poll. It was also ranked No. 13 in the preseason Stats Perform poll and No. 12 by the AFCA.
 
Consistency has been a cornerstone of EWU football, and the Eagles have cemented an 18-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-back-empty seasons in 2002 and 2003. Eastern has led the nation in total yards of offense per game twice in the last three years (2021, 554.5 and 2019, 524.8).
 
In 2018, Eastern secured its 10th Big Sky title. Three years later, the Eagles secured their 15th appearance in the FCS Playoffs in what is now 38 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 plus in 2020-21 and 2021.
 
While the Eagles were making their 15th appearance overall in the FCS Playoffs in the 2021 season, sixth-year head coach Aaron Best made his 12th as an EWU player or coach. In six years at the helm, Best owns an overall record of 42-22, including 30-11 in Big Sky play.
 
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 16 years (2007-2022), winning 76.3 percent of their games (100-31) 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.
 
The remaining conference action includes additional road games at Idaho and Montana with home matchups against Portland State, and Northern Colorado for the regular season finale.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused headaches and the need for adaptation, but it did allow 11 seniors to participate in a sixth Fall. Among them is quarterback Gunner Talkington who was tabbed the front runner at quarterback following Fall camp.

Series History with Cal Poly

Eastern is 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 the abbreviated 2020-21 season, the Eagles blasted the Mustangs 62-10 in the Cheney homecoming for former Cal Poly head coach Beau Baldwin, a former Eagle head coach. The Eagles haven't lost to Cal Poly since falling on the road 40-35 in 2005. Eastern has won the last four times they've played in San Luis Obispo, with wins in 2011

(53-51 in 3 OT), 2013 (35-22), 2016 (42-21) and 2019 (42-41). In the 2019 meeting, 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 35-yard 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 at home and the 53-point margin was the largest ever in a Big Sky Conference game for EWU. Combined with the 62-10 victory in the 2020-21 season, Eastern has outscored the Mustangs 132-27 in the last two meetings in Cheney with winning margins of 52 and 53 to rank fifth and third, respectively, in EWU's history as a member of NCAA Division I. Ranking No. 2 on the list is EWU's 54-point win (61-7) over the Mustangs in 1994 in the first game in the coaching career of Mike Kramer and the first-ever night game at Roos Field. 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.

Prior to Baldwin taking over as head coach, the triple-option offense of the Mustangs had averaged 405.0 rushing yards in the previous four meetings against EWU from 2015-2020/21 (503 in 201, 372 in 2016, 378 in 2018, 367 in 2019). In the 2020-21 game under Baldwin, Cal Poly had 168 rushing and 70 passing.