Eastern cleans slate for Weber
OGDEN, Utah – The pressing question as the Eastern Washington football team prepares to take on winless Weber State this afternoon is: Can Montana beat the Eagles twice?
The Grizzlies did it on the field last weekend, 31-28, by blocking a short last-minute field goal. Now Eastern must block Montana from its mind while moving on to another game.
“Anybody, when they lose a game that’s a tough loss, you hope you respond off that,” Eastern head coach Paul Wulff said. “I’d like to think we have way too much leadership and too much character to let that happen.
“This is a huge game. We go on the road, win this one, we get over that stuff and it’s gone.”
It would figure that the Wildcats (0-7, 0-4) would be the perfect medicine for the Eagles (4-3, 3-1) to stay in the thick of the Big Sky Conference race.
But Wulff isn’t ready to chalk up the win and look ahead.
“They’re scary,” Wulff said. “If you didn’t know their record and watched them on film you would say they are a 4-3, 5-2 team.”
First off, Weber put a solid 35-23 hurt on the Eagles last year in Cheney and is hoping to avoid matching the worst start in school history.
Besides worrying about the residual affect of a heartbreaking loss, the Eagles have to contend with a Weber State team well versed in the Eastern ways. Head coach Jerry Graybeal and his offensive coordinator, J.D. Sollars, spent 16 years as EWU assistants, the last five when Wulff was on the staff.
“I know Coach Wulff and his staff very well and I can tell you they will be very prepared in all phases of the game,” Graybeal said.
The Weber headliners are sturdy running back Nick Chournos, the defending rushing champion, and stout defensive lineman Brady Fosmark, who was a national player of the week last week despite a big loss.
“Defensively, they’re very good,” Wulff said. “They’re very physical in their defensive line. They have the best defensive lineman in the league. Fosmark is really a good player. (Offensive tackle) Paul Terrell has his hands full.”
Eastern leads the Big Sky in scoring (33.4) while Weber is last in scoring defense (35.0). The key for the Eagles is the running game, led by league leader Darius Washington (108.1).
Eastern must run well so the Wildcats can’t tee off on quarterback Erik Meyer, the leader in passing efficiency (172.02) and second in total offense (295.7). That will also give the receivers, led by Eric Kimble (111.7 yards a game), more room in the secondary.
“This will be the most explosive offensive team we’ve faced this season,” Graybeal said of EWU. “They can really throw and catch the ball. Erik Meyer is playing as well as any quarterback in Division I-AA and he has a great receiver in Eric Kimble. Darius Washington is a strong, quick running back who will make you pay if you focus all your attention to the passing game.”
Chournos is banged up but had 97 yards last week despite sore ribs, giving him 766 this season. It was a punishing ground game that buried Eastern last year with Chournos gaining 193 yards, 176 in the second half. Stopping him changes the outlook.
“They’ve struggled throwing the ball consistently, which has hurt them,” Wulff said. “They lost a lot of seniors off last year’s offensive line, so they’re not quite as productive as they were a year ago. That has hurt them and they’ve turned the ball over a lot.”
Sophomore Ian Pizarro will be Weber’s third different starter at quarterback. In a backup role he has hit 13 of 24 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Senior Kyle Bauer started the first two games and the last two, with Jeff Fowler starting the three in between before suffering a shoulder separation.
The three QBs have combined to complete 94 of 217 passes for eight touchdowns with 13 interceptions. They have lost Mike Mathis, their third-leading receiver, who averages 21.5 yards a catch, with a broken arm.
The Wildcats have given up the ball 19 times and are a minus-six in takeaways.
“It seems like we take one step forward then three back,” Graybeal said. “We are really going to emphasize the basics this week.”