Eastern Washington coaches quick to pick up the pieces from Texas Tech loss
LUBBOCK, Texas – Credit the Eastern Washington coaches for not hanging their heads Saturday night.
The Eagles’ charter plane had barely left the ground when the tray tables came down and laptops fired up.
Within minutes, defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding and line coach Eti Ena were dissecting the 56-10 loss at Texas Tech. For 2½ hours, the images on the screen lurched forward and backward as the coaches scrutinized every movement.
Fans would like to forget this one, but coaches don’t have that luxury. There wasn’t a moment to lose – North Dakota State is coming to Cheney on Saturday. The Bison will be watching the same film.
Others coaches followed suit, including Aaron Best. He’d already played the big picture in his mind from his debut as head coach: an anemic running game, spotting passing and receiving, a passive pass rush and poor tackling in space.
The game was scoreless after three possessions for each side. Then Tech took over in all phases.
“Let’s just not let the score and the end result indicate how this got away from us,” Best said. “Those first four possessions on both sides, it was a little bit back and forth, and it was probably the first-of-the-year game blues on both sides.
“But this was more than a game for a quarter, and we wanted it to be more than a game for four quarters, and unfortunately that didn’t happen, and we’ll learn from this tomorrow,” Best said.
If they didn’t know it already, the Eagles learned that life isn’t the same without receivers Cooper Kupp, Kendrick Bourne and Shaq Hill. On the same night that Bourne earned a roster spot with the San Francisco 49ers, his former teammates were struggling to carry on the tradition.
It was the same in the run game. Backs Sam McPherson and Antoine Custer Jr. combined for just 89 yards on 25 carries for a 3.6-yard average, and McPherson’s 23-yard off-tackle run in the second quarter was Eastern’s second-longest play from scrimmage.
McPherson credited Tech’s discipline and gap-control: “They did their job, and we just didn’t execute as well as we needed to. I thought our game plan was great coming in, we just needed to execute better.”
With a first-year coordinator in Bodie Reeder and a new group of receivers, the Eagles are searching for an identity. On Saturday, that seemed to be the kind of ball-control offense that wins playoff games.
Of course, you have to get to the playoffs in the first place. The Eagles have done that in the past with the medium and long passing game, but that was absent on Saturday.
All afternoon Reeder’s play-calling hovered at half pass, half run, with only four downfield throws. None came close to their targets.
Once they surmise that this offense isn’t going to stretch the field, opponents will adjust. Will Eastern be able to do the same?
It was the same story on defense. After getting drive-ending sacks on two of the Red Raiders’ first three possessions, the pass rush went limp. Against a strong-armed but immobile quarterback like Tech’s Nic Shimonek, the Eagles sorely missed linebacker Samson Ebukam.
He, too, is in the NFL, leaving the Eagles to take a “team approach” to the pass rush, as Best said during fall camp. It didn’t work this time, as Shimonek (26 of 30 for 384 yards) enjoyed a leisurely day in the pocket.
Open-space tackling was another problem. Leading only 14-3 midway through the second quarter, Tech faced third-and-10 its own 32. Shimonek hit Keke Coutee on a short pattern, but cornerback Nzuzi Webster didn’t come close to wrapping up Coutee.
Their bodies collided shortly after to catch, but Coutee regained his balance on the way to a 68-yard touchdown.
“It’s going to sting, let it sting tonight, and we’ll make the adjustments moving forward,” said safety Mitch Fettig.