Eastern Washington has pass-first offense, California heat to contend with on the road against Fresno State

A few weeks ago, when Cheney got to nearly 100 degrees, coaches reminded Eastern Washington football players that they had better get used to it.

In Fresno, they cautioned, it’ll be hot.

Sure enough, the forecast Saturday calls for temperatures around 90 degrees when the Eagles continue their season against the Fresno State Bulldogs at 6 p.m. in California.

But the heat is hardly the only challenge this game presents. After losing to a run-dominant North Dakota State team last weekend, the Eagles now face the challenge of beating a team that likes to throw.

“This is a whole different can of worms when you talk about offense,” EWU coach Aaron Best said.

Last week, for example, Fresno State redshirt sophomore quarterback Mikey Keene completed 31 of 44 passing attempts for 366 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. They ran the ball 37 times but plodded at a 3.1-yards per play clip to 116 on the game. The Bulldogs won at Purdue, 39-35.

Hardly the run-first attack of the second-ranked Bison, who finished with 337 on 39 attempts – an average of 8.6 yards per rush.

“They’re both tough teams,” EWU defensive lineman Jacob Newsom said on Monday. “Fresno’s looking to get the ball to their athletes and get them in space, whereas NSDU (said) ‘we’re going to run in this gap, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’”

This is also the second straight “guarantee” game for the Eagles: They received a $200,000 payout for the NDSU game and for this will receive $300,000.

The pair will fall shy of the payouts the team received last year for games at Oregon ($635,000) and Florida ($750,000), but the trade-off is less travel and only having to play one FBS team, this Fresno squad, rather than those two Power 5 schools. Next season, EWU is scheduled to again play one FBS team: Nevada, another MWC team, for a guarantee of $400,000.

Dating back to last year, Fresno State has won 10 games in a row. As a program it has won its last 17 games against FCS opponents, including a 35-7 win over Cal Poly in the Bulldogs’ 2022 opening game.

There is also plenty of familiarity between the two programs. The most recent coaching position held by current Fresno State offensive coordinator Pat McCann and running backs coach Aaron Prier came at Eastern Washington.

EWU athletics director Tim Collins, who was hired this summer, was Fresno State’s senior associate athletic director for development from 2018 to 2023. Defensive end Da’Marcus Johnson, now an EWU super senior, played his previous three years at Fresno State.

Offensively, Eastern Washington is looking to get its offense on track after scoring 10 points and having a field goal blocked against NDSU. The Eagles put up 339 yards on the Bison, which last year allowed only six of 15 opponents to accumulate at least that many. They also turned the ball over only once, on the final play of the first half that was without real cost.

But the Eagles also reached the red zone just once all game, converted on 5 of 17 third downs and punted seven times.

Fresno State’s defense is a veteran group, with 10 seniors starting and three more listed as backups. Last year’s Bulldogs’ team allowed the second fewest points (19.4 per game) and fourth-fewest yards (339.8) in the Mountain West.

Purdue gained 363 yards against Fresno State last week, but the Big Ten’s Boilermakers were 2 for 12 on third down and only once put together back-to-back scoring drives on their home field. Now the Bulldogs get to play at home, where they went 5-1 last year.

“Kudos to coach Pat (McCann),” Best said. “Anytime you beat a Power 5 opponent it’s big.”

Still, the Eagles are eager for the opportunity to build on what they did last week, seeking their first win over an FBS team since beating the MVC’s UNLV 35-33 in overtime two years ago in Las Vegas.

“We’ll shore a few things up,” Best said. “Nothing’s going to be perfect. But we’ll continue to find out who we are collectively and then who we will become by the mid to end part of the year. I’m excited for these guys and the opportunity Saturday night.”