Eastern needs win and some help from playoff committee

MISSOULA –“A perfect storm,” Eastern Washington football coach Beau Baldwin called it.

That was a week ago, after the Eagles’ 22-point home loss to Northern Arizona, a game that shook the confidence of Eagle fans, players and coaches.

How then, could Baldwin describe what happened Saturday afternoon in Missoula, when the Eagles suffered their worst Big Sky Conference loss in 20 years, a defeat that may already have cost them a spot in the postseason?

Baldwin tried.

“We all hurt right now,” he said outside a sullen Eastern lockerroom following a 57-16 loss to Montana that ended a four-game EWU winning streak over the Griz.

“We have to find a way to come together and put together a great week. There is nothing else to say right now. … It’s a matter of coming back and putting everything we have into next week,” Baldwin said.

There’s plenty to play for in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Portland State, and the Eagles should be able to summon the necessary emotion on Senior Day with their season on the line.

There’s another motivator: Even after the pratfalls of the past two weeks, the Eagles (6-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Sky) still can earn a share of the conference title with a victory over PSU and an NAU win at first-place Southern Utah.

The other prize – earning a fourth straight spot in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs – isn’t in the Eagles’ control.

Even with a win over PSU (8-2 overall, 5-2 Big Sky), the Eagles would only be 7-4 and their postseason fate in the hands of the NCAA selection committee.

Would the panel be able to overlook the last two games, when the Eagles were outscored 109-46 and looking nothing like a playoff-caliber team? Or the narrow escapes against Northern Colorado and Weber State in the two weeks before that?

At this juncture, Eastern’s résumé looks less impressive than that of several other Big Sky rivals who also could finish 7-4 overall:

– Northern Arizona, (7-3 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky) which has closed the season with a flourish;

– Montana (6-4, 4-2), who should they beat Montana State next weekend would close with a three-game win streak; also, the Griz own victories over EWU, NAU and four-time defending FCS champ North Dakota State.

– Southern Utah (7-3 and 6-1), which still sits alone atop the conference and whose only league loss came last weekend at PSU, 24-23.

That one-point Viking win might turn out to be a boon for the Eagles, as it clinched a postseason spot for PSU and might lessen their resolve on Saturday in Cheney.

“I do know one thing, if we aren’t able to earn a win next week we won’t be playing again,” Baldwin said.

“But if we are able to earn a win we’re at the mercy (of the selection committee). The bottom line is we have to find a way to put together a good last football game of the regular season. Whatever happens after that we’ll see,” Baldwin said.

Job One for the Eagles is to regroup from Saturday. The players were trying to do that even as they trudged to their lockerroom in Missoula, focusing on the need for better execution.

Regardless, the Eagles are trying to focus on themselves after back-to-back lopsided defeats.

“We have to find ways to snap back out of that,” Baldwin said. “We’ve had snowballs before and we’ve been in situations where we’ve felt it, but it hasn’t gone for this long.”

“Those are things we have to look at and work on this next week,” Baldwin said.