EWU-Montana notes: Gage Gubrud, EWU overcome slow start, beat Montana
It was the Northern Iowa recipe all over again.
Tasked on Saturday with stopping Eastern Washington’s passing game, the Montana defense pressured quarterback Gage Gubrud and pressed his receivers.
The strategy worked – for a while.
After three possessions, the nation’s leading passer was 2 for 9 for 19 yards and the Eagles trailed Montana 7-0.
Eastern’s biggest home game of the season was playing out like the 34-30 squeaker over Northern Iowa in September, when an ineffective Gubrud was pulled in the third quarter.
Times have changed, and so has Gubrud, who’s become a master of taking what’s given.
“Against that defense you have to win on the outside,” Gubrud said after the Eagles’ 35-16 win. “And our receivers did a great job of doing that. Not a lot of teams are going to be able to leave them alone.”
Ironically, the Eagles’ first big play came against double coverage. Late in the first quarter, on second-and-10 from his own 31, Gubrud went deep and found Cooper Kupp in stride for a 69-yard touchdown.
Suddenly, Gubrud was back in the groove. He completed 16 of his next 20 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns as the Eagles built a 35-10 lead late in the third quarter.
Along the way, Gubrud spread the field and spread the wealth – eight different Eagles caught passes.
He also tortured the Grizzlies with near-perfect sideline passes. One of the best was a 40-yarder to Kendrick Bourne down the left sideline, which Bourne took over the shoulder at the Montana 6.
Three plays later, Gubrud showed his touch with a lofting pass over the top that Kupp hauled in for a 6-yard score.
“We thought against that type of defense it would be that type of game where we might get some losses and have some three-and-outs,” coach Beau Baldwin said. “But we thought we would get some big-chunk plays because of their style.”
Gubrud faltered down the stretch when the game was almost out of Montana’s reach. With a chance to put the Eagles up 42-10, he threw his first interception in 222 pass attempts. He threw another early in the fourth quarter.
Gubrud finished 21 of 37 for 327 yards, four touchdowns and two picks.
Kupp moves closer to more records
Kupp now has catches in 46 straight games, knocking three other players out of the record of 45. Jacksonville State’s Josh Barge also has a current total of 46 in a row, and the previous record of 45 was originally set by Marcus Lee of Towson (2005-08), then tied by current EWU wide receivers coach Nick Edwards from 2009-12.
Kupp has broken 12 FCS records, eight Big Sky Conference all-time marks and 21 school records.
He owns the FCS record with 67 career receiving TDs and 6,065 receiving yards, and is second on the all-time FCS receptions list (378, 17 behind the record of 395 set by Elon’s Terrell Hudgins from 2006-09).