Eastern Washington expecting ‘hungry’ Boise State team after Week 1 loss

Read Sunn’s five years at Wyoming included three winning seasons, a couple of bowl game victories and a personal resume of 42 games played.

But when he first arrived as a transfer at Eastern Washington during the offseason, one specific blemish to the Cowboys’ record caught the eye of his new teammates: a loss to a Big Sky team.

“A lot of guys gave me a hard time when I got here because we lost (17-13) to Idaho last year,” Sunn said Tuesday, three days before the Eagles are scheduled to play at Albertsons Stadium in Boise against Boise State.

“I’ve been on the side of beating an FCS team,” Sunn said, “and I’ve been on the side of losing to an FCS team.”

These memories – plus his four career games against the Broncos, all losses – are experiences Sunn, one of EWU’s starting linebackers, has been talking about this week.

He said he learned that FBS teams can’t afford to treat FCS teams lightly, and that FCS teams have great players, too, messages that historically Eastern Washington teams know well.

“Those players on FCS teams are going to come ready to play, because they’ve had that game circled on the calendar the whole time,” Sunn said. “If you come out flat, which I’ve been a part of that side of it, and you don’t treat it like you would any other game, the next thing you know it’s the fourth quarter and it’s a one-score game.”

Now that Sunn is on the other side of an FCS-FBS matchup, he’s been applying that experience in reverse.

“We’ve got to be that team that comes in ready to play and ready to take advantage if they come out flat,” he said. “Or if they don’t, (ready to) still compete.”

Whether Boise State (0-1) comes out flat or ready to play is a compelling question, because after a 34-7 loss to South Florida last week, the Broncos hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff would almost certainly be dashed should they stumble and lose to the Eagles (0-1).

“I’ve heard their fans are kind of up in arms right now,” EWU sixth-year wide receiver Nolan Ulm said. “We know they’re going to be hungry to bounce back at home against us.”

Boise State coach Spencer Danielson spoke at length during his weekly press conference about how poorly the Broncos played in that Thursday night loss to South Florida, a defeat that dropped them out of the AP poll.

“We are judged on what happens on that field. You can’t erase plays. That is our team,” Danielson said. “That is who you are. You can’t run from it.”

Offensively, Boise State outgained South Florida 378-372 and achieved 10 more first downs. But the Broncos rushing attack, long a strength of their program, gained an average of just 3.2 yards on 38 carries, and as a team they fumbled five times, losing three of them.

Midway through the third quarter, the Broncos trailed only by a field goal, 10-7. But the Bulls scored the game’s final 24 points, handing Boise State a humbling loss.

“Our team hasn’t been through what we went through on Thursday night in a long time,” Danielson said.

Playing at home for the first time this season, the Broncos will host an Eagles team that is also coming off a loss in its opener, 31-21 at Incarnate Word. It was a game Danielson said “honestly should have gone Eastern’s way.”

“They’re going to be one of the better FCS teams, I believe that,” he said. “… I know those guys are going to come in here ready to beat us. And they have every right to come here and beat us. We have every right to beat them.”

The chance to play at an FBS stadium is something that’s pretty easy to get amped up for, Ulm said, and it also will be an experience that prepares the team to play at Montana State (Sept. 27) and Montana (Nov. 8), two of the louder Big Sky stadiums, later this season.

“It’s exciting we’re going to get every team’s best. That’s what we want,” Ulm said. “None of us came to Eastern to play an easy preseason schedule. We want to play a loaded schedule like (playing against) Oregon and Florida a couple years ago. That’s something we look forward to. We’re not scared of it.”

All-time, EWU is 11-29 against FBS programs, its most recent victory coming against UNLV, 35-33 in double overtime, in Las Vegas. Last year the Eagles lost 49-16 at Nevada in their lone matchup against an FBS opponent.

Compared to Incarnate Word, Boise State will present the Eagles with different challenges. The Broncos’ offense is more pro-style and runs at a slower pace. They will use personnel differently than Incarnate Word did.

“We’re actually going to see a quarterback go under center probably this week,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “There’s a lot of adjustments that need to be made going into (this) game week.”

For nearly two decades, when the two programs were both Big Sky members, this matchup was almost an annual affair (Boise State has won 13 of 19 all-time matchups). But Friday’s game – played on Boise State’s familiar blue turf – will be the first between Eastern and Boise State in 25 years, and it’s been 29 years since the Eagles last defeated the Broncos, 27-21 in 1996.

“(It’s an) opportunity to be on the Blue, to face them in their first home game,” Best said. “(It) is going to be memorable for everybody.”