Baldwin expects Eagles to move forward

Beau Baldwin is not happy with the way his first season as Eastern Washington University’s head football coach has played out.

The Eagles, coming off a 9-4 season that included a trip to the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs – where they lost 38-35 to eventual two-time national champion Appalachian State – were expected to challenge Big Sky Conference power Montana for this year’s title.

While they might still do just that, they are 2-4 overall and wallowing in sixth place in the conference standings with the same 1-2 conference record shared by Portland State and Sacramento State.

Eastern’s only Big Sky victory came at home against winless Idaho State and was sandwiched between losses to PSU and Montana, which dominated last Saturday’s showdown at Woodward Field 19-3.

“It’s obviously a tough situation,” Baldwin said Wednesday, when asked about the morale of his players, who must travel to Bozeman to take on Montana State (3-3, 1-1) Saturday. “I thought they did the right things last week in practice, as far as how they went about things, and I told them that.

“And it’s always frustrating when you don’t come out with the result you like when you feel you did the right things preparing all week. But such is life, and such is football.”

Baldwin said he feels fortunate to have a group of veteran leaders on his roster.

“(They) understand that regardless of where we are now and our record and this and that, we have an opportunity to go play college football again next Saturday. … We took a couple of beats that were, in my opinion, tough. But how are we going to move on?”

With a sense of urgency, most likely, because another loss would extinguish the Eagles’ smoldering postseason hopes.

Baldwin insists his expectations and goals have not been altered by his team’s struggles.

“It’s not like our expectations, as far as how we want to practice each week and what we want to do this week against Montana State, have changed,” he said. “But what I think happens is that the outside world expects you to go from the Appalachian three-point loss (last season) right back into Game 12 and the first round of the playoffs next year – that that’s just going to happen, and it’s not just going to happen … it has to be earned.

“I always talk about understanding the process it takes along the way. Yes, there are big goals down the road, and they’re at the end of your goal chart. But it all starts with day-to-day goals, week-to-week goals.”

Cool in the cold

For a young man who grew up in basking in the sun in Hawaii, Weber State quarterback Cameron Higgins has done a remarkable job of performing in extremely adverse weather conditions the past two weeks.

Two weeks ago, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound sophomore threw for 237 yards and four touchdowns as the Wildcats (5-2, 3-0) upset Montana 45-28 in the wind and rain in Ogden, Utah. Last Saturday, he shook off the effects of freezing temperatures, gusty winds and swirling snow in Bozeman to complete 28 of 35 passes for 349 yards and four TDs in a 35-12 rout of Montana State.

MSU coach Rob Ash described the weather conditions in Bobcats Stadium as “brutal.”

“But (Higgins) acted like it was 75 (degrees) and balmy – impressive,” Ash said.

Weber State coach Ron McBride was equally wowed by Higgins’ effort in the wind and cold.

“His concentration level was very good in both games – not worrying about the weather, but worrying about the looks that the team we were playing was giving us,” McBride said. “He was unreal (last Saturday), because Montana State was not going to let us run the football. They’re very quick on defense and they do a good job of scheming, and if we’re going to beat them, we’re going to have to throw the ball – and the weather conditions were not conducive to throwing the ball.

“I’ll tell you what, he was amazing.”

Peach leads nation

Eastern Washington senior defensive end Greg Peach was credited with four sacks in last weekend’s 19-3 loss to Montana and moved into the No. 1 spot among FCS defenders with a season total of 11. Peach ranks third on Eastern’s career sacks list with 281/2, but needs just 11/2 more to move past Jeff Allen and into a tie with Frank Staudenraus for the all-time lead.

In addition, the 6-2, 250-pounder from Vancouver, Wash., is tied for second nationally in tackles for loss, averaging 2.17 per game.

Quick kicks

Northern Arizona’s Jerome Souers became the fifth coach in Big Sky history to earn 60 victories last Saturday when the Lumberjacks dumped Portland State 37-17. … After losing its previous three games by a combined 10 points, Northern Colorado snapped its seven-game streak last weekend with a 29-9 win over Idaho State. … Idaho State’s 10-game losing streak ranks as the third longest among FCS schools, behind only Indiana State (20) and Columbia (12).