Eagles need win in big way against MSU
Any college football team forced to deal with a top-loaded schedule like the one dropped on Eastern Washington this fall runs the risk of playing itself out of the conference title picture and postseason playoff contention before the leaves turn.
That’s why there was such an increased sense of urgency spicing up practices at EWU this week as the Eagles prepared for this afternoon’s crucial Big Sky Conference game against 11th-ranked Montana State that kicks off at 2:05 at Woodward Field.
Eastern (3-2 overall, 1-2 in the Big Sky) is coming off back-to-back conference losses to Portland State, a top-25 team at the start of the season, and Montana, the No. 1-ranked Football Championship Subdivision team in the nation. Eagles coach Paul Wulff is convinced that a loss to the Bobcats (4-1, 2-0) will leave his team playing for little more than pride the rest of the year.
“It’s important, obviously,” Wulff said of today’s game. “We need to win. We’ve lost two close ballgames to two pretty solid football teams, and were playing another one in Montana State.
“We really don’t have much of a choice. We have to play a good football game just to give ourselves a chance to win, if we want to have any further playoff and conference (title) aspirations.”
According to Wulff, anything less than a near-perfect effort on the part of his Eagles simply won’t cut it against an MSU team that has been solid all season long under first-year head coach Rob Ash.
The Bobcats, who returned 13 starters from last year’s 8-5 team that advanced to the second round of NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, lead the Big Sky in pass defense (195.4 yards per game) and rank No. 2 in scoring defense (14.6 points per game).
MSU’s only loss came on the road against Texas A&M in the season opener for both schools. Since then, the Bobcats have won four straight, with their defense allowing only two touchdowns during that span.
“They do a great job on defense with their schemes,” Wulff said of the Bobcats, who play much more Cover 2 and zone pressure-style defense than they did under Ash’s predecessor, Mike Kramer. “It’s going to be another heck of a challenge for our offense – maybe our biggest challenge to date.”
Eastern will counter MSU’s stingy defense with the second-best passing offense in the conference and the hottest quarterback in sophomore Matt Nichols, who completed a school-record 37 of 59 passes for 451 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday’s 24-23 loss at Montana.
Nichols has thrown for 1,580 yards and 13 touchdowns, while being intercepted only twice.
“Matt Nichols is the best quarterback we’ve seen all year, at least since A&M,” Ash said. “He really stays in the pocket. Montana came after him and he scrambled a little, but most of the time he hung in there and made good throws.”
Wulff is also wary of MSU’s offense, despite the fact the Bobcats rank near the middle of the Big Sky in nearly every major statistical category.
“Offensively, they’re more balanced now than they’ve been in the past,” Wulff said. “They’ve got a senior quarterback (Jack Rolovich) who has played a lot of football, and two excellent running backs in (Aaron) Mason and (Demetrius) Crawford.
“Their offensive numbers are very misleading, because they’ve played three straight games in snow, rain and mud, and that’s obviously affected them a tremendous amount. You’ve got to realize, they made the playoffs a year ago and a lot of those kids who played in the playoffs for them are back.
“They’ve got a nice team, and regardless of what schemes they run, there’s enough talent there to make a lot of good things happen for them.”
Notes
Eastern owns a lopsided 22-8 edge over MSU in this series and has won the last four. … The Bobcats lost their season opener to Division I Texas A&M but outgained the Aggies 402-390. … Eastern (plus 1.8) and MSU (plus 1.4) rank 1-2 in the Big Sky Conference in turnover margins. … The Eagles’ total offense average of 489.9 yards per game ranks third nationally among FCS schools.