From big and brawny to fast and furious.

That’s the change of direction Eastern Washington takes as the 14th-ranked Eagles march on in the I-AA football playoffs.

A week after upending top-ranked and physically imposing Southern Illinois 35-31, Eastern takes on speedy Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals this evening at Woodward Field.

“It’s great to be at home, especially with our fans,” EWU star receiver Eric Kimble said. “We have to get them wound up… . Hopefully a lot of people show up and we can show them how good of team we are.”

Kickoff against the No. 9 Bearkats is 4:30.

“They have good team speed at their skill positions on both offense and defense,” Eastern coach Paul Wulff said. “They score so many points so fast, it’s scary how quick they get up on people. They’re just able to mow people down… . The two common opponents that we’ve played they’ve beaten.”

The Eagles (9-3) were whipped 37-14 in their season opener at Nicholls State and the Bearkats (10-2) crushed the Colonels 38-10 midway through the season. In Week 3, top-ranked Montana was throttled 41-29 in Huntsville, Texas, and four weeks later the Grizzlies won 31-28 in Cheney.

But it should also be noted that Montana opened the playoffs by thrashing Northwestern State 54-7, which came two weeks after the Demons pounded SHSU 45-27 by rushing for 446 yards.

Southern Illinois was a dominant running team and piled 299 of its 462 yards of total offense against the Eagles on the ground. Sam Houston averages 346 yards through the air and 125 rushing.

“They’re a very good passing team, one of the best in the country,” Wulff said. “They have great skill kids and a senior quarterback that has great moxie and is extremely accurate.”

Quarterback Dustin Long (3,735 yards, 36 touchdowns) is the equal of Eastern star Erik Meyer (3,474, 31) and the Bearkats have two receivers, Jarrod Fuller (82 catches, 1,188 yards, 8 touchdowns) and Jason Mathenia (57, 1,071, 11), who have numbers comparable to Kimble (79, 1,402, 19), EWU’s game-breaker.

“You try not to worry about what the other team does but focus on what we do,” Meyer said. “But during the game when there is another guy out there leading his team and they’re doing good, you try to feed off that… . It’s kind of a battle.”

The difference is the running attack. Eastern’s Darius Washington has 917 yards and he has three capable backups in Reggie Witherspoon, Toke Kefu and Dezmon Cole, all with more than 300 yards. Jason Godfrey leads SHSU with 634 yards.

“We’re not as good as we’d like but sometimes we’re adequate,” veteran Bearkat coach Ron Randleman said of his running game. “We’ve got some pretty good running backs but sometimes we probably throw it a little too much to have a good running game.”

Eastern will try to be balanced to run down the clock and keep the Bearkats offense off the field. The Eagles ran the ball 505 times this year and passed 380, giving them almost a 3-minute advantage in time of possession. Sam Houston passed 453 times and ran 383 and despite outscoring opponents 470-270 held the ball almost 4 minutes a game less. EWU has outscored opponents 454-288.

The pressure is on the defenses.

Eastern has to slow down Long, who has only been sacked six times but has thrown 14 interceptions, six combined in SHSU’s two losses.

“We need to mix it up,” Wulff said. “We don’t want to give one look all game long, so it’s going to be very challenging for us… . When he’s got time he’ll take his shots. If there is pressure he’s very good at getting rid of the football, which makes it difficult to get to him. Their offensive line does a nice job of protecting him.”

The Bearkats defense, which allowed teams to run for 161 yards a game, has to try to get off the field quickly by stopping an offense that has averaged 182 yards on the ground.

“You’re not going to stop them,” Randleman said. “A good offensive team is going to move the football. You hope to slow them down.”

What part field conditions and the cold weather play is something both sides dismiss since it is something they can’t control.

“The field will be firm, I don’t think it will be an issue of mud, but we’ll be blowing snow off it,” Wulff said. “I guess if you watch enough Green Bay Packers games, you probably get that picture in your head. It will be cold, I don’t have to hope for that.

“They’ve got mature kids and good coaches on their side of the field … it doesn’t really matter.”

It was 70 degrees for Sam Houston’s game on artificial turf last week.

“We know if we’re going to go north this time of year the weather isn’t going to be nice,” Randleman said. “We talked about it the other day. We just have to go play football. If we can’t focus on the ballgame and we’re going to let the weather beat us, we don’t deserve to win.”

One factor that could tilt the game in Eastern’s favor is the way the season has played out. The Eagles have been in a must-win situation since the loss to the Grizzlies. Their last three games have been against ranked opponents and the last two have been come-from-behind nailbiters.

“We feel like we’re always in the ballgame,” Wulff said. “The kids on our team have really developed the belief we can win. If it takes four quarters to win, we have that chance. The kids have developed that confidence.”