Meyer, Eagles disappointed season is over
There were tears and hugs and sad smiles in the Eastern Washington locker room at the UNI Dome late Saturday night.
But Erik Meyer had his head down, hustling to get dressed.
He seemed defiant, almost angry as he answered questions about the 15th-ranked Eagles’ last-minute 41-38 loss to No. 7 Northern Iowa in the first round of the I-AA football playoffs.
“I never had a doubt in my mind we were going to score every time we had the ball,” Eastern’s sensational quarterback said. “I definitely felt we had the better team.”
Then he took a deep breath and looked up.
“It obviously didn’t end the way I wanted it too,” he whispered. “It’s been great playing with these seniors. That’s the sad part, I won’t get to play with them again. That’s what hurts, that hurts more than the loss.”
That brief moment in the locker room, before he had to rush off to meet the media in Cedar Falls, Iowa, captured the essence of Meyer: the ability, confidence and determination to succeed, which are only superseded by his leadership that makes the Eagles believe they can and should win every game.
“He’s the best football player ever to play at this university,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “He’s been a phenomenal leader and team leader. He’s going to pass on some great attributes to younger kids. A lot of younger kids got to see what a true competitor is … I don’t know if anyone that has come through this program has ever wanted to win more.”
Meyer’s career ended well short of where he expected it to, but not for a lack of effort. He completed 25 of 44 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns and scored another touchdown on a 24-yard scamper.
Under his guidance, the Eagles shared back-to-back Big Sky titles and made the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time, while earning national acclaim because of the offensive production.
Eastern has now been in the playoffs five times, second to Montana’s 16 among current Big Sky teams.
The loss
From the days of leather helmets, the No. 1 axiom in football is games are won or lost in the trenches.
That was the case on Saturday; UNI controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game. The Panthers rushed for 176 yards and sacked Meyer seven times. The Eagles rushed for 94 yards and sacked impressive sophomore Eric Sanders just twice.
And that’s where the season-long injury bug hit hardest. Not one player on the offense line – which included just two seniors, both centers – played every snap at the same position. The only defensive lineman to play in every game was true freshman Greg Peach.
“The injuries throughout the year never allowed the team to reach its full potential,” Wulff said. “The shuffling of people never allowed this team to get to that elite level week-in and week-out. It affected our whole season and it all showed up in last game, too.”
Eastern lost two dozen starters and a half-dozen key backups and special teams players. The combined games-lost was close to 100 and that doesn’t include the game a player was hurt in, which might have come early.
That also happened again on Saturday. Starting tight end Tim Calhoun, possibly the best blocker on the team, hurt a knee on the fifth play of the game and never returned. Starting tailback Ryan Cole, an outstanding blocker, got turf toe on the first series and didn’t return, finishing with two carries for six yards.
Preseason All-America cornerback Isaiah Trufant, who missed six-plus games with an ankle sprain, dislocated a shoulder a week ago and could hardly tackle. All-league cornerback Jesse Hendrix had the flu and was given an IV prior to the game.
It’s no wonder the Eagles struggled to make game-turning or game-saving plays all year, which was the case down the stretch against UNI.
Eastern finished the season 7-5, but lost the four games against I-AA opponents by a total of 17 points, none by more than five.
“I don’t believe any of the other 15 teams in the playoffs would have been in the playoffs if they’d gone through the adversity, the injuries, we’ve gone through,” Wulff said. “When we got in (the playoffs), I shook my head … to go through what we went through and get in is unbelievable. It’s a tribute to the seniors, their character and perseverance and all the young kids that had to step up and play.”
Eastern had 10 yards of offense on its final three possessions. UNI had 189, including 41 on three pass interference penalties. The Eagles, penalized just twice for 10 yards in the first half, finished with 10 for 138.
The records
With his big final game, Meyer finishes as the most efficient quarterback in NCAA Division I-AA and Big Sky Conference history.
Meyer’s rating of 166.47 narrowly surpassed the previous record of 166.27 set by Montana’s Dave Dickenson from 1992-95.
Overall, William & Mary’s Shawn Knight (1991-92) had a better rating at 170.8, but had just 558 attempts and 367 completions (Meyer had 1,097 attempts and 721 completions).
Meyer became just the 17th player in I-AA history to pass for more than 10,000 yards in his career. His 10,261 passing yards rank 16th in I-AA history (eighth in the Big Sky), 10,942 yards of total offense rank 14th (seventh in the Big Sky) and 84 touchdown passes ranks 15th.
He finished the 2005 season with 4,003 yards to become just the 12th player in I-AA history to finish with that many yards in a single season. He had nine 300-yard games, averaging a school record 333.6 per game. He ranked second in I-AA in total offense per game (352.0 per game), and was fifth in efficiency (169.3).
Meyer, who finished fourth behind three seniors in the voting for the Walter Payton Award as the best offensive player in I-AA football last year, learns today if he is among the three finalists for the 2005 award.
Many of Meyer’s completions went to Eric Kimble, including nine for 155 yards at UNI. Including kick returns, Kimble’s final game was his finest. He had a career-high 245 all-purpose yards with 65 yards on three punt returns and 25 yards on a kickoff return. His previous high was 236 yards in last year’s I-AA playoffs at Southern Illinois.
A four-time All-Big Sky Conference selection, the last two years as a first-team pick, Kimble had two touchdown receptions against the Panthers for 46 in 46 career games, second to the 50 the legendary Jerry Rice had at Misssissippi Valley from 1981-84.
Kimble broke the Big Sky career reception yards record, surpassing the 4,049 yards Sacramento State’s Fred Amey had from 2001-04. Kimble’s total of 4,140 ranks fourth in I-AA history and his 253 catches is eighth (second in Big Sky history).
Kimble was one of four senior wide receivers the Eagles had. The others were Raul Vijil, Craig McIntyre and Richmond Sanders. Together, those four players had career totals of 503 catches for 7,858 yards and 74 touchdowns in 156 games worth of experience (74 starts).
“I can’t explain in words how well our receivers play,” Meyer said. “Every single one of them is a playmaker and makes plays day-in and day-out in practice and in games. They are always making plays. Sometimes I’ll just throw the ball up to them and they’ll come down with it. I have all the confidence in the world in those guys.”
Together, the “E2” passing combination of Meyer to Kimble hooked-up 201 times for 3,169 yards and 35 touchdowns. And that doesn’t include an 11-yard pass from Kimble to Meyer this season.
Kimble finished the season with a school-record 87 pass receptions for 1,419 yards and 12 touchdowns. He ranked fifth in I-AA in receptions per game (7.25) and was fourth in yards per game (118.3).
Adding insult to injury
Eastern Washington had just lost a heart-breaking playoff game for the second straight season and the Eagles were in a hurry to get home.
It didn’t happen.
The game ended at 10:30 p.m. Central time and the Eastern travel party was at the closed Waterloo airport by 11:30. However, it took the private security company two hours to pass everyone through the screening process.
Everyone was on the plane at 1:30 a.m. but there was a half-hour discussion about safety because some lights went out on part of the long runway and four-plus hours of troubleshooting couldn’t fix them.
The charter plane was overweight about 3,000 pounds for a safe take-off on the short runway. Instead of sending the equipment staff on a three-day journey home it was decided to burn off fuel to lose the weight.
At 2 a.m. the pilot taxied to the edge of the runway and fired up the engines.
Finally, at 3 a.m., the plane took off and it was a smooth – and safe – flight home.
The good news is the plane landed at 3:40 a.m. – unfortunately, that was Pacific time.