EWU has an itch to scratch at PSU
Eastern Washington University will attempt to keep its Big Sky Conference football record unblemished and close the book on two years of futility against Portland State this afternoon, when the Eagles take on the host Vikings at PGE Park.
Kickoff is set for 1:05, and first-year EWU coach Beau Baldwin is hoping his team can use its back-to-back losses to PSU – by a combined score of 62-21 – the past two seasons as motivation.
“They feel, in a sense, like it gives them a lot of incentive going into this game,” Baldwin said. “A lot of our guys that have had significant playing time (the last two years) have not had any success against Portland State, and I’m hoping they’re going to be hungry for some.”
To satisfy that hunger, the Eagles (2-2 overall, 1-0 in the BSC) will need to slow down a PSU passing attack that is the most prolific in the country.
The Vikings (1-3, 0-1), despite alternating quarterbacks throughout their first four games, have thrown for a Football Championship Subdivision-best average of 356.5 yards per game. They will operate today against an Eastern team that ranks last in the Big Sky in pass defense, having allowed an average of 371.0 yards per game to its first four opponents, who have completed a combined 69.9 percent (123 of 176) of their pass attempts.
“When they get hot, they can be really hard to handle,” Baldwin said of the Vikings, who have a pair of proven quarterbacks in junior Tygue Howland and sophomore Drew Hubel. “They have a nice scheme going with their run-and-shoot offense, and we have to find a way to take them out of their offensive rhythm.”
Howland, who threw for 394 yards and three touchdowns in last Saturday’s 41-31 road loss to Sacramento State, has completed 44 of 96 passes for 661 yards and four TDs on the year. Hubel has connected on 69 of his 118 throws, three of which have resulted in scores.
Baldwin said he doesn’t know which of coach Jerry Glanville’s QBs will start, but added it really doesn’t matter as Eastern’s defensive game plan is concerned.
“They’ve both played a lot of football, and they’ve both been effective,” he said of Howland and Hubel. “But we have to be more concerned with defending their scheme.”
Portland State’s defense will have its hands full, as well, in trying to slow down the Eagles, who rank third nationally in passing yards with an average of 326.8 yards per game.
Junior quarterback Matt Nichols has completed 112 of 176 passes for 1,301 yards and 10 touchdowns. But his success against the Vikings has been minimal.
As a redshirt freshman in 2006, Nichols got the start in a 34-0 road loss to PSU but was pulled from the game after completing just 9 of 19 passes for 80 yards and throwing an interception. In last season’s 28-21 loss in Cheney, he threw for 363 yards and two touchdowns, but he was picked off once and sacked five times.