Eagles come up short
BOULDER, Colo. – Eastern Washington University threw another scare into another major conference football power on Saturday, but ended up with nothing more than another stinging defeat.
The Eagles (0-2), despite leading for all but a few minutes of the game, gave up two late touchdowns and suffered a 31-24 loss to Colorado University in front of a Folsom Field crowd of 46,417.
The outcome was in doubt until CU safety D.J. Dykes picked off a Matt Nichols pass in the end zone with 3 seconds remaining to seal the deal for the Buffaloes (2-0).
“It stings right now,” Eastern coach Beau Baldwin said after watching his team fall to a Big 12 Conference school for the second week in a row. “But I’m very excited. I’m excited for our team and where we go from here.”
Wherever that is, it would have been nice to head out with an upset over an FBS school on its resume. And the Eagles seemed destined to do just that, until CU scored two touchdowns in the final 2 minutes, 5 seconds to overcome a 21-7 halftime deficit and avoid the embarrassment of losing at home to FCS team for the second time in three years.
The Buffaloes, who lost to EWU’s Big Sky Conference rival Montana State in 2006, were trailing 24-17 before mounting a late fourth-quarter touchdown drive that tied the game with 2:05 left.
And they won it just seconds later when cornerback Cha’pelle Brown picked off an errant Nichols’ toss and returned it 27 yards to give CU its first lead and put Eastern scrambling in a vain attempt to answer.
“These guys were a better team than Montana State was,” CU’s senior safety Ryan Walters said of Eastern, which lost at Texas Tech last weekend, “and I knew from watching film that this was going to be a dogfight.”
Eastern scored on its first possession on a 43-yard pass from Nichols to Brysen Brown.
Colorado answered with a 9-yard scoring pass from Cody Hawkins to Josh Smith, but the Eagles took advantage of a recovered fumble on a CU punt return to recapture the lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Toke Kefu early in the second quarter.
And they padded their cushion less the 3 minutes later when linebacker J.C. Sherritt picked off a Hawkins pass and returned it 48 yards for a TD that gave the Eagles their 21-7 halftime lead.
Colorado outscored EWU 24-3 in the second half, with the Eagles’ only points coming on a 52-yard field goal by Felipe Macias that put them up 24-17 with just 3:52 left in the game.
“I give Colorado some credit,” Baldwin said. “They made some adjustments (in the second half) and made some plays, too.”
Eastern’s Ryan Kelley, a senior defensive back, wasn’t as gracious.
“They got desperate, and they got lucky,” he said of the Buffaloes. “I don’t like to talk bad about teams, but they aren’t going to get far in the Big 12. They aren’t playing like a Big 12 team. They’re playing like a Big Sky team.”
Nichols, on the strength of a brilliant first half, finished 32 for 51 for 303 yards and one touchdown. Teammate Tony Davis had nine receptions for 73 yards.
Eastern has a bye this week before taking on Division II Western Washington in its home opener on Sept. 20.
The Eagles open Big Sky Conference play the following Saturday with another home game against the Idaho State Bengals.