The 2022 season is almost complete for Eastern Washington football, and the team will look to close the season with a win. Eastern hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 19 with kickoff scheduled for 1:02 from Roos Field. The game will be the team's senior day as the departing Eagles will be honored in a pregame recognition.

The game will be broadcast regionally on SWX and online via ESPN+. Additionally, the contest will also be broadcast on 700-AM ESPN and 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area. Larry Weir returns for his 32nd season calling the play-by-play, with analysis handled by Paul Sorensen for the 20th season. Broadcasts begin one hour prior to kickoff and include an expanded post-game show.

After two straight road games, the Eagles will be able to enjoy their home field for the team's final game. Eastern played at No. 16 Montana this past Saturday (Nov. 12), falling in the game, 63-7. The Grizzlies scored six touchdowns in the first half and continued to limit the Eagles' offense throughout the game. It was the fifth game this season that Eastern has played a ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision. The Eagles are 2-8 on the season and 1-6 in the Big Sky. This season will snap Eastern's 15-year stretch of winning seasons, the longest active streak in the Football Conference Subdivision. 

Freddie Roberson caught five passes for 79 yards in the game and moved into 18^th place on the program's all-time receiving list with 2266 yards. Roberson's 797 yards this season is a career-high for the redshirt-junior.

Efton Chism III caught eight passes for 71 yards, giving him a career-high, 62 receptions this season.

Redshirt-freshman, Kekoa Visperas entered the game in the third quarter and completed 9-of-12 passes for 69 yards. Visperas delivered his first career touchdown throw, a six-yard pass to Blake Gobel. Visperas also recorded a career high, 28 yards rushing.

Silas Perreiah showed some determined running against Montana, carrying the ball 11 times for 60 yards.

The Eagles will host a Northern Colorado team that is coming off a 21-20 win over Northern Arizona in Greeley, Colo. UNC trailed 13-20 with 7:50 left in the game, before they organized a 24-play, 96-yard drive to score a 15-yard touchdown to bring the score to 19-20. The Bears then went for the two-point conversation and UNC quarterback, Dylan McCaffrey, converted the attempt on a pass to Max Pierce. The Bears are 2-5 in the Big Sky this season and 3-7 overall.

In the series history between Eastern and UNC, it has been a one-sided affair, with the Eagles owning a 14-1 record against the Bears. Eastern is undefeated against UNC since they joined the Big Sky in 2006. During that stretch, the Eagles have outscored the Bears 464-219, with an average score of 38-18.

At Roos Field, Eastern is 7-0 against UNC.

Twelve Eagles Have Made Their Starting Debuts This Season
Through seven games this season, 12 Eagles have made the first starts of their careers.   

Five Eagles, including a trio of transfers, made their first career starts for the Eagles against Tennessee State. On the defensive side, linebackers Derek Tommasini and Jaren Banks made their first starts in an Eagle uniform. Tommasini transferred in from Idaho and had seven tackles. Banks, a Rice transfer, ended with seven as well.

On the offensive side, Seth Carnahan who also transferred from Idaho, started at right tackle. Brenden Rivera, a sophomore, earned the start at right guard. Justice Jackson started at running back and was second on the team with 23 rushing yards.

Against Oregon, redshirt freshman Tuna Altahir made the start at running back.

Micah Smith made his first career start at running back against Montana State. Smith totaled career-highs with 114 rushing yards on 13 carries, plus two touchdowns and a career-long rush of 56 yards. It was the first 100+ rushing yard game of his career.

A trio of defensive players made their starting debuts at Florida, in Conner O'Farrell and Trevor Thurman at linebacker, plus Soli Paleso'o at tackle. O'Farrell racked up four tackles and Thurman had one. 

Current Starts on Defense (292 starts by 21 players): Mitchell Johnson 40, Tre Weed 35, Joshua Jerome 28, Darrien Sampson 27, Ely Doyle 19, Marlon Jones Jr. 17, Anthany Smith 16, Brock Harrison 16, Debore'ae McClain 14, Matthew Brown 14, Caleb Davis 10, Keshaun King 11, Derek Tommasini 9, Jaren Banks 8, Jacob Newsom 7, Demetrius Crosby Jr. 6, Conner O'Farrell 6, Soli Paleso'o 3, Cage Schenck 3, Trevor Thurman 2, Ahmani Williams 1.

Current Starts on Offense (203 starts by 21 players): Freddie Roberson 29, Wyatt Hansen 28,  Wyatt Musser 27, Dylan Ingram 21, Efton Chism III 19, Luke Dahlgren 12, Gunner Talkington 11, Brenden Rivera 10, Jakobie James 9, Seth Carnahan 8, Matthew Hewa Baddege 7, Tuna Altahir 6, Anthony Stell Jr. 5, Nolan Ulm 5, Blake Gobel 4, Andrei Leonardi 4, Brad Godwin 2, Micah Smith 2, Justice Jackson 2, Robert Mason III 1, Aiden Nellor 1, Jett Carpenter 1.

Series History with Northern Colorado
With a 13-game winning streak versus UNC, the Eagles lead the overall series 14-1 and haven't lost a game to the Bears since the second meeting in 1981. Northern Colorado became a member of the Big Sky Conference in 2006 and Eastern has won all 12 meetings by a collective 464-219 score (an average score of 38-18).

However, Eastern barely won 43-41 in 2015 in Greeley and 26-18 at home in 2014 and had to rally for a 35-28 victory in 2010 in Greeley during EWU's run to the NCAA Division I title. The teams did not play in the 2012, 2013 and 2017 seasons because of league expansion, but EWU won at home 48-27 in 2011, 26-18 in 2014, 49-31 in 2016 and 54-21 in 2019 to improve to 7-0 versus the Bears in Cheney.

The Eagles are 7-1 in Greeley after a 63-17 romp in October of 2021. In the win, Eastern racked up 479 yards of total offense and improved to 6-0 for the first time since becoming members of the Football Championship Subdivision. Eric Barriere completed 32 of 41 passes, with three touchdowns and one interception. Dennis Merritt scored three rushing touchdowns in the game as well.

Eagles Now 65-14 on the Red Turf
A school-record stretch of 20-straight wins at Roos Field came to an end on Oct. 23, 2021, when the Eagles lost 35-34 to Weber State. Eastern then followed that with a 23-20 setback to fourth-ranked Montana State two weeks later.
 
At the time, the streak was the top active mark in FCS and came just one victory shy of the overall school record of 21 set from 1935-40. Eastern won all five of its regular season home games in 2019, all eight in 2018, three at home in the 2020-21 season and was 3-0 in 2021 before the loss to the Wildcats, who had handed EWU its last home loss in 2017.

The Eagles entered the 2021 season as one of three teams with the longest active home winning streaks in FBS with 17 consecutive victories, and EWU improved that to 18 with a resounding 63-14 win over Central Washington on Sept. 11. Victories over Montana on Oct. 2 and Idaho on Oct. 16 extended it to 20. The other schools who entered the season with 17-game home winning streaks included James Madison, which extended its streak to 19 with a 55-7 win over Maine on Sept. 11. North Dakota also had a 18-game streak after winning its home opener Sept. 18 versus Drake, but fell at home on Oct. 2 against North Dakota State. James Madison lost at home 28-27 on Oct. 9 versus Villanova, thus giving EWU sole possession of the top active mark for two weeks.

Eastern is now 65-14 (82.2 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. Prior to that, 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). 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 nine regular season games at "The Inferno" – 50-10 (83.3 percent), plus are 14-4 (77.8 percent) in playoff games. The only regular season losses at home for EWU since 2010 are to conference foes Sacramento State (2022) Montana State (2011 and 2021), Portland State (2011 and 2015), Northern Arizona (2015) and Weber State (2017 and 2021), 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's triumphs since the red turf was installed in 2010 include a 6-0 record versus rival Montana. The original red turf at Roos Field was replaced in summer of 2020 by a new AstroTurf surface.
   
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 177-67 record (72.5 percent) in 244 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.

Senior Banquet
Eastern Washington football will host its end of the season banquet on Sunday, Nov. 20, as the team will celebrate its senior class and the 2022 EWU Football team.

Tickets to the event are $10 for both online and walk-up registration. Click the link HERE to purchase tickets online.