Schedule allows EWU to start late
Eastern Washington University, in taking advantage of one of the most favorable early-season schedules in recent memory, will belatedly open fall football camp Monday.
Eight-year head coach Paul Wulff expects some 70 veterans and 20 newcomers to be on hand as the Eagles begin preparations for their Aug. 31 season and home opener against Montana-Western, an NAIA school located in Dillon, Mont., that is coming off a dismal 1-9 season.
It will mark the first time Eastern, which finished a disappointing 3-8 last fall, has opened the season at home and against a lower-division opponent since 1997 when the Eagles went 12-2 and advanced to the semifinals of the then NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
In addition, Wulff’s young but relatively experienced team, which is competing for the first time this fall under the NCAA’s new Football Championship Subdivision designation, will get a week off following its opener before entertaining UC Davis at Woodward Field on Sept. 15.
“It might be one of the best schedules we’ve had in quite some time,” said Wulff, who relishes the idea of an early bye week that will give him and his staff 14 days to evaluate film and make adjustments following the Montana-Western game.
It doesn’t hurt, either, that a perennially powerful UC Davis team will serve as the final tuneup for Eastern’s Sept. 22 Big Sky Conference opener against Idaho State in Pocatello.
“Playing a game early like that against Montana-Western will be good for us – and something we’re just not accustomed to or normally able to do here,” Wulff said. “Then we have a very tough (FCS) UC Davis team that is very talented and well coached that is going to be a great challenge for our football team.”
In eight of their last nine seasons, the Eagles have opened on the road against Football Bowl Subdivision foes in order to bolster their budget with the payouts offered by the bigger schools.
In only one of those instances – in 2001 when they toppled Connecticut 35-17 – have they come away victorious.
This fall, Eastern will play its “money game” on Oct. 20, when it travels to Provo, Utah, to take on Brigham Young.
By starting fall camp later and not scheduling as many early double-day practices, Wulff will split up the 29 preseason workouts allowed under NCAA rules and stage a couple of two-a-day workouts – along with a controlled scrimmage on Sept. 7 – in between the Montana-Western and UC Davis games.
In an effort to get a better look at his rookies in the first week of camp, Wulff will practice his newcomers at 9 in the morning and his veterans at 2:30 in the afternoon on both Monday and Tuesday. The first full-team workout will be at 9 a.m. Wednesday.