Months of conditioning, two weeks of practices, a couple of scrimmages and enough hours in the film room to make Siskel eject Ebert could not have prepared Eastern Washington for what it will face in tonight's season-opening football game.
The schedule says EWU plays Southwest Texas State, a team that, like the Eagles, is attempting to rebound from a 4-7 season. What the schedule leaves out, and what concerns second-year EWU coach Mike Kramer, is the 90-degree heat and suffocating humidity anticipated for the 4:07 p.m. PDT kickoff in sweltering San Marcos, Texas.
Those conditions were impossible to recreate during the two-a-day practices that concluded last week in Cheney. And there just isn't enough room to practice 40-yard out patterns in the sauna at the health club.