Game Book

In a topsy-turvy Big Sky Conference opener, the No. 15 Eastern Washington University football team fell to No. 4 Montana State 38-35 on Saturday (Sept. 24) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. With the loss, the Eagles fall to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in conference action, while the Bobcats improve to 3-1 and 1-0. Montana State has now won two-straight over EWU, both coming in Cheney.
 
Eastern trailed 31-21 going into the fourth quarter. Gunner Talkington orchestrated two consecutive touchdown drives with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Roberson and an eight-yard strike to Nolan Ulm. With 9:18 to go, EWU led 35-31, its first lead since the second quarter.
 
On the next drive, Montana State faced fourth-and-eight on their own eight-yard line when Jaren Banks intercepted a pass in the endzone. However, EWU fumbled on the next drive and it was recovered by MSU. The Bobcats would take advantage of the turnover and scored on a 13-yard rushing touchdown to take a 38-35 lead.
 
The Eagles looked to bounce back with plenty of time on the clock (3:26), but got called for an interception facing 4^th and 14 and it would lead to the Bobcat victory, 38-35.
 
"When you have two good teams, it's going to come down to five-to-seven plays in a ball game. We overcame a blocked punt and we overcame a missed field goal when we did have a blocked punt before the first half ended. Jaren Banks had an interception in the redzone - there was a lot of good to take out of this game we just couldn't close it out," said head coach Aaron Best. "On third down, we weren't as productive as we would've liked being just three-of-12 for 25 percent. We had our way early, but it was a back-and-forth game the entire way. We went into the half down three and ended the game down three, so we didn't scratch and claw enough in regards to the outcome. We don't get to Nolan Ulm's play if we don't possess the ball in a situation with less than three minutes where they have three timeouts. It's unfortunate because Micah Smith had a great game, but one mistake doesn't take away from the great day that he had on the ground. Our players fought their tails off, they battled back and played an inspirational game, we just fell three points short. We did all we could. We bent as much as we could bend, but at the end they made more plays than we did in the late third and fourth quarter, and we couldn't overcome."
 
Talkington completed 16 of his 26 pass attempts for 201 yards and three touchdowns. Freddie Roberson led the team with 90 receiving yards on two catches and a touchdown, followed by Efton Chism III who had 53 yards on six catches and a touchdown as well. Micah Smith earned the first 100-yard rushing game of his career, going for 114 yards on 13 carries plus two touchdowns.
 
On the defensive side, Ely Doyle led the way with 11 total tackles plus a breakup, his second career game with at least 10 tackles. A trio of Eagles had nine tackles in Anthany Smith, Derek Tommasini and Banks. Banks had an interception, Tomassini had two hurries, and Soli Paleso'o had two sacks for 13 yards.
 
Seth Harrison was a perfect five-for-five on extra point attempts. Nick Kokich punted five times for 189 yards (average of 37.8) with a long of 50.
 
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half. Eastern Washington struck first and led 14-10 after the first quarter thanks to two rushing touchdowns from Micah Smith in his first career start. Montana State took its first lead of the game early in the second quarter, when a four-yard strike from Talkington to Chism put the lead back in EWU's hands. With 6:51 left in the half, the Bobcats pulled back ahead 24-21 and they would take that lead into the locker room.
 
Montana State extended the lead to 31-21 to start the third quarter on a 12-play drive that ticked 6:55 off the clock. The Bobcats held the Eagles scoreless during the third frame, and took the 10-point lead into the fourth.
 
Eastern Washington came alive to start the fourth when Talkington hit Freddie Roberson for an 80-yard catch-and-run to the endzone, trimming the lead down to 31-28 with 13:59 left to go. With 9:24 left to play, the Eagles retook the lead. Talkington found Nolan Ulm in the endzone on an eight-yard strike, putting EWU up 35-31 after the PAT.
 
Banks came up with an interception in the endzone when the Bobcats were facing fourth-and-eight, but an EWU fumble on the next play allowed Montana State to score on a 13-yard passing touchdown to pull back ahead 38-35. Eastern was called for an interception on an attempted game-winning drive, and the Bobcats held on for the win.
 
The Eagles had 349 yards of total offense, 148 on the ground and the other 201 through the air. Montana State amassed 466 total yards, including 355 rushing yards and 111 yards passing. The Bobcats had the ball for 38:36 compared to 21:24 for the Eagles.
 
Eastern Washington now readies to take on its second FBS opponent of the year at Florida next week (Oct. 1). The Gators, who are currently ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll, just lost at No. 11 Tennessee, 38-33. Kickoff is set for 9 a.m. Pacific time in Gainesville, Fla.
 
Scoring Summary
 
After the Eastern Washington defense held Montana State to a three-and-out in its opening drive, the Eagle offense struck first. It took just two plays before Micah Smith rushed 56-yards to the endzone and Seth Harrison's extra point attempt went through the uprights to help EWU take an early 7-0 lead. The rush was the longest of Smith's career and it was his fourth-career rushing touchdown in his first-career start.
 
Montana State quickly tied the game on its next drive on a 45-yard rushing touchdown, 7-7, with 10:40 to go in the first. The drive lasted four plays and 75 yards to take 1:50 off the clock.
 
Micah Smith struck again on the ensuing drive for his second rushing touchdown of the game, his first multi-scoring game of his career. This score went for 28-yards and took 1:33 off the clock on a four-play, 75-yard drive that gave Eastern a 14-7 lead.
 
MSU cut the lead to four after a 37-yard field goal. At the end of the first, Eastern led 14-10 despite only having the ball for 3:57 compared to 11:03 for the Bobcats.
 
The Bobcats took their first lead of the game, 17-14, at the start of the second quarter following a 13-yard rushing touchdown. The score capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive.
 
Montana State's lead did not last long. Eastern Washington strung together an aggressive drive that took 4:55 off the clock and consisted of 11 plays and 65 yards and ended on a four-yard strike from Gunner Talkington to Efton Chism III. It was Talkington's eighth passing touchdown of the season and Chism's third. Eastern converted on fourth-and-two on MSU's 19-yard line, and the Bobcats committed back-to-back penalties to help keep the drive alive.
 
The lead would swing once again on the next drive. The Bobcats found the endzone on a five-yard strike to end a five-play, 63-yard drive, retaking a 24-21 lead with 6:51 left in the half.
 
With 1:07 remaining, Montana State missed a 20-yard field goal and the Eagles trailed by just three at the half, 24-21.
 
The Bobcats extended their lead to 31-21 on their first drive of the third quarter. The drive took 6:15 off the clock and lasted 12 plays and 58 yards, ending on a two-yard rushing touchdown.
 
Eastern trailed 31-21 heading into the fourth. On the first play of the fourth, Talkington found Freddie Roberson for an 80-yard catch-and-run to the endzone. The drive was just 12 seconds long and cut the lead to 31-28 with 13:59 left in the fourth.
 
The Eagles retook the lead, 35-31, with 9:24 left to go when Talkington found Nolan Ulm in the endzone on an eight-yard reception. The drive was seven plays for 45 yards, taking 2:47 off of the clock. It was Eastern's first lead since they led 21-17 in the second quarter.
 
Montana State's final score of the game came with 3:26 left to play on a 13-yard rushing touchdown. The play lasted just 17 seconds and was two plays long.
 
Additional Comments from Head Coach Aaron Best

Thoughts on Montana State's Play: "First off, I hope (MSU quarterback) Tommy is okay. He was up and out of pads and walking out after halftime to watch the second half from the sidelines, so it looked like he was at least moving. You never want to see anyone hurt on the football field, much less their quarterback who you rely on, but (Sean) Chambers came in and ran the show the rest of the game and didn't miss a beat. We knew that they had one (quarterback) instead of using two at that point, but we just couldn't get it done. They had 355 yards on the ground and Chambers was a healthy dose of that, Elijah Elliot was the other piece. There were pockets where we played really good and really well at the line of scrimmage and there were other times where they got loose. We need to be more consistent. Teams are going to get yards on the ground, but we try to minimize those, especially on third-and-eight or third-and-nine where they all of a sudden put it on the ground to move the sticks. We did play better, we played inspired, we played together, we played tough, but we didn't put enough together to win this ball game."
 
Thoughts on Gunner Talkington: "It was obviously an off week for a lot of people against Oregon. This time around, he didn't get a ton of attempts with looking at the stats, so there weren't a lot of plays. Montana State possessed the ball a lot from their standpoint, but Gunner stayed in there and he's a tough kid. His eyes are down the field, he's not looking at the rush. Unfortunately, late in the game, we didn't have our best pass protection and we couldn't quite get it done. We'll look at those things and tweak them, but it's not like we're off. I think we can clean up a few things up as we go forward but we don't have anything to hang our heads about. There are no moral victories as we always talk about when you're on the wrong side of the scoreboard, we just fell three points short. We played well, just not well enough."