Another challenge awaits the Eastern Washington University football team this week, as it heads to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the University of Florida Gators. Kickoff is set for Saturday, Oct. 1 at 9 a.m. Pacific time from Ben Griffin Hill Stadium.
 
The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network via ESPN+. 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.
 
With Hurricane Ian fast approaching the state of Florida, the game is still scheduled as planned. Currently, Florida officials are working closely with campus and local officials to monitor the hurricane and its potential impact. For any updates on the status, stay tuned to GoEags.com.
 
The Eagles are eager to stop a two-game skid that includes losses to Oregon (Sept. 10, 7-14) and Montana State (Sept. 24, 38-35), and currently sit at 1-2 overall and 0-1 in Big Sky Conference play. Eastern, who is currently ranked No. 18 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the Stats Perform top-25, has one win against Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee State in the season-opener.
 
Florida fell out of the AP Top-25 after a narrow 38-33 loss at Tennessee on Saturday. Not only will this be the second Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Eastern has faced this season, it will be the second time that its opponent has fallen out of the top-25 after a loss the week prior. The Gators are 2-2 overall (0-2 SEC), with wins over then No. 7 Utah (29-26) and South Florida (31-28). Three out of Florida's four opponents this season have been nationally ranked.
 
Florida and Eastern Washington have never played each other before. In fact, it will be Eastern's first-ever game against a Southeastern Conference (SEC) opponent and game played in the state of Florida. Eastern Washington is 11-28 all-time against FBS opponents, while Florida is 67-17-4 against foes from the FCS. Eastern's last win over an FBS opponent came in 2021 with a 35-33 double overtime victory at UNLV.
 
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 enters 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 will enter 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.
 
Most recently, 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 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 42-18, including 30-8 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 79 percent of their games (99-26) 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 Eagles take a brief pause from conference action after the contest with Montana State, as they head to Florida for the second-matchup against an FBS foe this season on Oct. 1. The Gators (3-0) are currently ranked No. 18 in the AP top-25 and play at Tennessee on Saturday as a part of ESPN's College Game Day. Big Sky play resumes at Weber State on Oct. 8. Conference action includes additional road games at Cal Poly, Idaho and Montana with home matchups against Sacramento State for Homecoming, 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 has been tabbed the starter by head coach Aaron Best following Fall Camp. Among them is quarterback Gunner Talkington who has been tabbed the starter by head coach Aaron Best following Fall Camp.

Florida Game Added Back on Schedule After Covid Cancellation
 
 The Eastern Washington University at Florida football game was officially added back to EWU's schedule on March 24, 2021, when the two schools announced the Eagles will travel to play the Gators on Oct. 1, 2022. The game will be played at 88,548 seat Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.
 
The meeting was originally announced in 2016, but the game on Sept. 7, 2020, was unable to be played because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be the first-ever game versus the Southeastern Conference for the Eagles, a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. Eastern Washington has also never played a football game in the state of Florida.
 
At the time it was first announced, the Gators were coached by Jim McElwain, a former Eagle. The Montana native spent 15 years in Cheney, Wash., from 1980-94 -- first as a player and then as a coach. He received his bachelor's degree in 1984 from EWU and also worked on his master's degree while an Eagle. McElwain departed Florida during the 2017 season, and has been the head coach at Central Michigan since 2019.
 
This is the second time EWU has played two FBS teams in the same season. The Eagles played at Oregon on Sept. 3, 2022 and suffered a 70-14 loss, prior to playing Florida. Eastern also has games scheduled versus Fresno State (2023), Nevada (2024), Boise State (2025) and Washington (2026 and 2028). Eastern had two FBS opponents on its schedule in 2008 when it opened the season with a 49-24 loss at Texas Tech and then were edged by Colorado the next week 31-24.

Seven Eagles Have Made Their Starting Debuts This Season
 
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 River, 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.
 
Current Starts on Defense (214 starts by 18 players): Mitchell Johnson 33, Tre Weed 29, Darrien Sampson 26, Joshua Jerome 23, Debore'ae McClain 14, Anthany Smith 14, Matthew Brown 12, Ely Doyle 12, Marlon Jones Jr. 11, Brock Harrison 9, Jacob Newsom 7, Caleb Davis 6, Keshaun King 5, Demetrius Crosby Jr. 5, Derek Tommasini 3, Jaren Banks 3, Cage Schenck 1, Ahmani Williams 1.
 
Current Starts on Offense (126 starts by 19 players): Wyatt Musser 23, Freddie Roberson 22, Wyatt Hansen 21,  Dylan Ingram 17, Efton Chism III 12, Matthew Hewa Baddege 5, Luke Dahlgren 5, Jakobie James 5, Anthony Stell Jr. 4, Gunner Talkington 4, Blake Gobel 3, Brenden Rivera 3, Seth Carnahan 3, Andrei Leonardi 2, Brad Godwin 2, Nolan Ulm 2, Robert Mason III 1, Justice Jackson 1, Tuna Altahir 1, Micah Smith 1
 
2022 Season Tidbits
 
In a battle of two top-15 teams, Eastern Washington hosted Montana State and lost by a score of 38-35. EWU was down 31-21 entering the fourth quarter and rallied to take a 35-31 lead with 3:26 to play. However, two key turnovers and another MSU score would be the difference. EWU has now lost consecutive games to the Bobcats by a combined six points, both coming at home.
An early bye week is rare, but not unprecedented. Eastern Washington had byes after the first two games in both 2008 and 2012. They had a bye after the first game of the season in 2001.
 
The crowd of the 47,289 at Oregon was the 10th largest crowd Eastern has played in front of in program history. It was the largest since 2019 when EWU played against a program record 65,709 at Washington. The 70 points scored by the Oregon Ducks were the most scored by an opponent since 1990 when EWU allowed 84 to No. 10 Houston. The game was head coach Aaron Best's 60th as head coach.
 
Eastern started the season 1-0 for the second-straight year after beating Tennessee State. The win streak extends to two games at Roos Field. Eastern is now 3-1 against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference.