It’s time for these two to get even

Idaho State and Eastern Washington will finally get a chance to pick on someone their own size this afternoon, when they open Big Sky Conference football play at Woodward Field.

Kickoff is set for 12:37 p.m., and approximately 20 minutes prior to that, EWU will honor the members of its “100 for 100” all-time team in a pregame ceremony celebrating the school’s 100th year of football. At halftime, the top “100 for 100” vote getters at each position will be revealed, and four new members will be inducted into the Eagles’ Athletic Hall of Fame.

But the most important thing to the coaches and players involved in the game will be finding out how they measure up against a fellow Football Championship Subdivision opponent.

Both Idaho State (0-3) and 11th-ranked Eastern (1-2) opened their seasons with play-up games and back-to-back losses to Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

Last week ISU lost at home to North Dakota (a former Division II school transitioning to FCS) 38-35, while the Eagles used a big fourth quarter to put away D-II Western Washington 52-31.

Eastern finally got its running game going against Western, amassing 225 yards on the ground – or 155 more than it had, combined, in losses to Texas Tech and Colorado.

Senior tailback Dale Morris paced the Eagles’ rushing attack with 90 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, while freshman Tyler Hart, his backup, added 69 yards and two TDs on just five carries. Senior fullback Alexis Alexander finished with 53 yards on four carries.

“If we can’t maintain the kind of offensive balance we had against (the Vikings), we can’t consider ourselves a championship-caliber team,” said EWU head coach Beau Baldwin, who will match wits this afternoon against his former boss at Central Washington, John Zamberlin, who expects the Eagles to once again emphasize the run.

“With Alexander, Morris and Tyler Hart and that No. 10, Jimerson, they’ve got a bunch of guys back there who can carry the ball for them,” ISU’s second-year coach said of the Eagles. “We’ve struggled a little bit against the run … so I’m sure they want to get their run back on track and take some pressure off (quarterback Matt) Nichols.

“They sure are capable, and even though they’re younger up front, they’ve got some big guys in that offensive line that present some problems.”

The Bengals have allowed an average of 240 yards per game this fall, but Baldwin is convinced they are still much better than their record, pointing out that they fell behind early in their losses to Idaho and North Dakota, only to come back and make the final score respectable in both instances.

“I see them as a dangerous team, no matter what,” Baldwin said. “They are talented in a lot of areas, and they do things well, schematically. And overall, in two of those three (losses), to me, all it was was a bad start.

“That is a team that could easily be 2-1 right now.”

Game notes

ISU features a prolific passing combination in sophomore quarterback Russel Hill, who threw for 404 yards in last Saturday’s loss to North Dakota, and senior wideout Eddie Thompson, who has 182 career receptions. Thompson left last week’s game in the second quarter with a knee injury but is expected to play this afternoon. … Eastern leads the series 20-9 and has won three of the last four.