Pass It On: Eagles Put Playoffs In Perspective

Humility be damned - for this weekend, at least.

Mike Kramer figures it like this: When you’ve come as far in the past 12 months that his Eastern Washington football team has, you’ve earned the right to use the P-word.

Which is why Kramer has no problem discussing the playoff (gasp!) implications of today’s 1:05 p.m. regular-season home finale against Northern Arizona.

“I think our players and our coaches have gone through these first nine games with such humility regarding last year, that we can finally talk about it - the playoffs,” Kramer said. “Now, at this juncture of the season, I can say it:

“This is a big game, this is a game we have to have. OK, we’ve worked hard, we’ve reached this point and now we deserve a chance to play for a playoff spot.”

The Eagles (6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big Sky Conference) come into today’s Woodward Stadium showdown as a slight underdog against the Lumberjacks (8-2, 5-1). And even if they pull off the upset, they would need to beat Cal State Northridge on the road next Saturday to have any chance of making the 16-team Division I-AA playoffs.

“We realize that we’re still talking about only the possibility of making the playoffs,” Kramer added, “and that there will be no more possibility if we lose.”

NAU, which closes its regular season today, has already assured itself of at least a tie for second place in the Big Sky and might have earned its first I-AA playoff berth.

But Kramer doesn’t expect his players to be in awe of the nation’s sixth-ranked team, which comes in averaging a league-high 533.9 yards and 46.0 points per game.

Kramer said the team called a players-only meeting this week to discuss how far they have traveled since finishing 3-8 and last in the Big Sky Conference last fall.

“For us, it’s like, ‘Hey, we survived the holocaust of ‘95, so if (a playoff berth) is within range, let’s go get it. Because we worked so hard in the off-season, we feel we can compete with these guys, so let’s play as hard as we can.’

“We have such tremendous junior and senior leadership on this team. I have no doubt we’ll play as wild and as hard and as confident as we can.”

Still, no other I-AA team in the country scores like coach Steve Axman’s Lumberjacks, who boast the Big Sky’s top rusher and scorer in senior tailback Archie Amerson and No. 3 passer in redshirt freshman Travis Brown, who Kramer calls “a marquee player, deluxe.”

“Mark it down, Travis Brown is a premier quarterback on his way to the NFL,” Kramer said of NAU’s rangy 6-foot-5 rookie, who has thrown for a league-high 3,140 yards and 22 scores. “He’s just making a four-year stopover in Flagstaff.”

Kramer has some weapons of his own, including the running back tandem of senior Joe Sewell and junior Rex Prescott, who rank 2-4 among Big Sky rushers and have combined for 1,668 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.

Notes

Today’s game will mark the last Woodward Stadium appearance for 10 EWU seniors, but only three of them - offensive tackle Aaron Barfield, cornerback Ryan Moore and wide receiver Jerrold Jackson - are original members of the recruiting class of 1992. The others are transfers… . EWU leads the all-time series against NAU 7-6, but has lost two straight to the Lumberjacks. … Kramer said his Eagles are as healthy as they’ve been in some time, with backup tight end Scott Johnson (knee) and wide receiver Steve Correa (shoulder bruise) expected to play despite injuries suffered in last Saturday’s 37-27 non-conference loss to Idaho. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Eagles vs. NAU