As usual, Griz right at home in Cheney

Parking along the shoulder had already snaked around the curve that connects Washington Street to Betz Road, which is to say a mile from Woodward Stadium, a walk sure to cut into anyone’s pre-game tailgating. So the resourceful Montana fan hit on a remedy.

He would hitchhike the rest of the way.

This snapshot and the bumper-to-bumper crawl along State 904 to the freeway a full hour after the final gun Saturday produced one obvious conclusion: while a willing host, Cheney is not a town built for big games, even in the medium-time of the Big Sky Conference.

And a not so obvious one: that the same may be true of this edition of the local football team, too.

We have only the evidence of Montana’s 19-3 victory over Eastern Washington at Woodward on which to base this, an unfortunate bit of business for the Eagles in which they were flagged for 13 penalties, had two punts blocked, once spent 14 straight game minutes playing defense – though to be fair, they didn’t give up point during that stretch – and saw their conference MVP quarterback misfire on 13 of his last 15 passes, not counting the intentional grounding in the end zone that cost them a safety.

“To come out like this,” said coach Beau Baldwin with a shake of his head, “it’s hard.”

Yes, but it’s also been easy.

The Eagles have not beaten Montana at Woodward since 1991 – two more losses and a 2002 win at Albi Stadium interrupting that six-game bummer. Some of those have been spirited close calls and some not, but there has never been a whiff quite like this one – and it allowed the usual army from Missoula which swelled the crowd to 10,830 to unfurl its favorite banner.

“I love that ‘Washington’s Grizzly Stadium’ sign,” admitted coach Bobby Hauck, enjoying the play on UM’s own stadium name. “That’s awesome. I think our people have a ball over here – and we play well here.”

This no doubt gets under the skin of the Eastern folks, convinced that the Grizzlies have grown far too full of themselves from two decades of steady success. On the other hand, it’s not a good advertisement for humility when half the EWU grandstand empties with nine minutes to play and the home team down just two scores.

At least the Eagles stuck it out. Greg Peach came up with two of his four sacks to twice get his offense the ball back, and after the killing safety, Baldwin ordered up a fire drill of an onside kick that looked to have worked – until it was erased by not just one, but two flags.

“I know we lost, but we played our hearts out,” said Peach. “It reminds me of last year (a 24-23 loss). I thought our defense outplayed their offense, but it just didn’t go our way.”

He was being a little generous, but the Eagles did improve mightily on their 600-yard giveaway at Portland State. Still, they couldn’t get off the field, and it grew downright absurd when the Grizzlies kept the ball for the last 7:23 of the first half – despite being flagged twice themselves, suffering a sack, dropping a pass and having another batted down. In all, the ball was snapped 21 times – the last for a chip-shot field goal that missed.

“It’s funny,” Hauck said. “You don’t get the points, but the momentum changes.”

As it has for these teams. It is too much to say that two losses to open the Big Sky season dead-ends EWU’s season – only three years ago they made the playoffs with four – but those strong showings against BCS teams a month ago are looking like fool’s gold. The Eagles are struggling with identity and consistency – and possibly even with a new coaching staff trying to find its way. Eastern may have many weapons, but to see Alexis Alexander – who’s averaging a mere 12 yards a carry – rip off a spectacular 48-yard run to end the first quarter and not get another call until only 10 minutes remained seems more than an oversight.

“I’ll take full blame for not getting them into the right rhythm,” Baldwin said.

And then here are the Grizzlies, written off by some after a loss at Weber State – the end of a 25-game regular season winning streak – but posting the closest thing to a shutout in the Sky this year.

“It’s a competitive endeavor,” Hauck shrugged. “You lose once in a while. We haven’t gone any place. I don’t know where the season will lead us, but I think we’re a pretty good football team and I don’t think we’ve forgotten how to play defense, either.”

What the Eagles won’t forget is the sting.

“Just for what was at stake and losing three years in a row,” Peach said. “Especially against the Grizzlies. You always want to beat them. It’s the No. 1 priority coming into the season. You want to beat the best team and, historically, they’re the best team in the Big Sky.”

On Saturday, they were the best team in Cheney, coming and going.