MISSOULA, Mont. — The game came down to the literal last second, but Eastern Washington football missed the Top-5 upset by one play. Eastern fell to No. 2 Montana, 29-24 in Missoula on Saturday. EWU's record now falls to 3-3 in the Big Sky and 4-6 overall. The Grizzlies improved to 6-0 in conference and 10-0 this season.
"The team was prepared and our kids played well. There were a lot of plays up to the last that we could have been better at, but we had momentum on both sides in both halves. That was a battle and no one outside of our players, coaches and fans gave us a chance, but that's all we needed," head coach Aaron Best said. "It was another one of those epic games, but we just came up short. Coach Anderson put a game plan together and we took advantage of elements of their defense. Our challenge was to protect and I think we did a pretty good job at times today."
The resilience from Eastern was apparent as the team fell in a 22-0 hole after the first quarter. From there, EWU had the advantage, outsourcing Montana 24-7 over the next three quarters.
The Eagles closed the gap to 22-14 by halftime and used 10 second half points to give themselves a chance to win at the end of the game.
In his first career start as an Eagle, Jake Schakel played ahead of his years, passing for 451 yards on 43-63(68.3%) passing, throwing two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Following the punt return unit stopping the Grizzlies fake attempt, Schakel drove Eastern down the field in the fourth quarter with an 11-play, 63-yard drive. The redshirt-freshman found Cole Pruett for the eight-yard touchdown with 1:01 left in the game. EWU then recovered the onside kick attempt to put the team in position to take the lead. Schakel again guided the team down the field, completing 4-of-5 passes and getting the Eagles into the redzone. As time expired, Eastern was unable to cross the goal line and take the lead, falling to the Grizzlies on the road.
Eastern Washington out-gained Montana in total offense, 479 to 351 for the game.
"[Jake] stood in there and made a ton of plays, over and over again. He stood the test of all the pressures and situations.," Best added. "That was a memorable one and our guys fought. They gave everything they had and that's all we asked. We'll bounce back and we'll be better for it knowing we just took the number two team in the country toe-to-toe and five yards away from winning the game."
Scoring Summary
Montana was set up on their first drive with good field position with a 60-yard punt return, starting at the EWU 24 yard line. The Grizzlies would score on a 12-yard touchdown pass, part of a 5-play drive to go up 7-0.
On Montana's next drive, they marched 78 yards on 4 plays to score its second touchdown. The Grizzlies went up 14-0 and 4:10 on the clock.
In the second quarter, Montana grinded an 11-play, 88-yard drive, resulting in the Grizzlies' third touchdown, a 3-yard rush. They converted the two-point conversion and were up 22-0 and 10:27 remaining in the half.
Eastern moved the ball on its next drive, as Jake Schakel found Cole Pruett for 21 yards. Schakel then found Miles Williams for 32 yards on his next pass. Two plays later, Schakel connected with Kevin Allen III on a wheel route for a 10-yard score. EWU was on the board, trailing 22-7 and 8:17 on the clock.
Following another stop from the Eagle defense, the offense was on the move again. Schakel completed a 14-yard pass to Landon Cooper and a 21-yard strike to Purett. Schakel found Pruett again for 23 yards and put Eastern in the redzone. Allen took the handoff and powered 10 yards for the touchdown, his second score of the day. EWU reduced the deficit to 22-14 and took that score into halftime.
Montana opened the second quarter with a quick, 3-play, 65-yard drive, using a 25-yard touchdown run to go up 29-14 on the Eagles.
EWU's offense continued to move the ball, with Schakel finding Pruett and Williams for 10+ yard completions. The Eagles moved the ball to Montana 7-yard line, but the drive stalled there. Soren McKee came on and converted a 24-yard field goal to reduce the Grizzly lead to 29-17 and 2:21 remaining in the third quarter.
Eastern pulled within five of Montana late in the fourth quarter, as Schakel went 8-of-10 on passes for 70 yards to set up an Eagle touchdown. Schakel capped the drive off with an 8-yard strike to Cole Pruett to cut the Grizzly lead down to 29-24 and 1:01 remaining.
Eag Notes
- Jake Schakel threw for his first career touchdown on a 10-yard pass to Kevin Allen III. Schakel's 451 passing yards is tied for 19th in EWU history for a single game and the most since Eric Barriere threw for 451 in 2021 against Idaho State. His 43 completions is tied for 4th all time in program history with Matt Nichols, who had 43 against Stephen F. Austin in 2009. The 63 attempts from Schakel is tied for 7th in program history.
- Following the first quarter, EWU's defense allowed 177 yards of total offense including 16 in the fourth quarter.
- Allen III posted his second multi-touchdown game this season, with a receiving and rushing score.
- Eastern's defense held the Grizzlies to 1-of-10(10%) on third-down conversions, and 1-of-2 on 4th-down conversions.
- Cole Pruett posted a career game with 10 catches for 133 yards and 1 touchdown. Miles Williams also set career-bests with 11 catches for 136 yards. Adding to the career-bests was Landon Cooper, who finished with 7 catches for 75 yards.
- Read Sunn led the Eagles with 7 tackles in the game, making 3 solo. Drew Carter tallied 6 tackles with 4 solo.
- The game was the second time this season EWU has out-gained its opponent in total yards. Eastern had a 597 to 358 advantage in the game against Western Illinois.
- EWU held the advantage in time of possession with a 37:48 to 22:12 edge.
Up Next
Eastern Washington plays its final home game of the 2025 season next Saturday (Nov. 15) at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. The game will be senior day for the Eagles as the team honors 19 seniors pregame.
2025 EWU football tickets are now on sale! Join Spokane County's team for all five home games at Roos Field in Cheney starting as low as $99. Group tickets, fundraising options and single game tickets are also available. For more info, visit goeags.com/fbtickets or contact the EWU Ticket Office at 509-359-6059 or tickets@ewu.edu.
Join the Eagle Athletic Fund for as low as $50 per year! Support Eagle student-athletes on and off the field while enjoying exclusive EAF perks such as season ticket and tailgating priority, invitations to special events, exclusive access, and more. Visit goeags.com/eaf for more information.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
FOLLOW THE EAGLES
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
