Eastern Washington quarterback Jared Taylor returns to Cheney after injury against Boise State

BOISE – Eastern Washington quarterback Jared Taylor, who left Boise State’s Albertsons Field on a stretcher Friday night, returned to Cheney on Saturday morning, a university official confirmed.

Midway through the fourth quarter of Eastern’s 51-14 loss to Boise State, Taylor left the field after he was tackled on a rushing play. He left under his own power, but he received medical attention soon after. The game was temporarily paused as Taylor’s parents, teammates and coaches gathered around him.

Taylor’s status for next week’s football game at Northern Iowa was not immediately clear. If he is unable to play, redshirt sophomore Nate Bell would be in line to make his first collegiate start. Redshirt freshman Jake Schakel, who has yet to take a snap in a college game, would be the primary backup.

Taylor, a redshirt senior, accounted for the majority of Eastern’s 293 yards of offense against the Broncos, rushing 17 times for 76 yards and a touchdown while completing 14 of 28 passes for 102 yards.

The Eagles played the entire game without starting running back Malik Dotson, whose left foot was in a boot beforehand. Dotson and Taylor were teammates in high school and in junior college.

Big plays, big edge for Broncos

Boise State’s offense showcased its explosive playmaking abilities far more than its ability to grind out clock on Friday.

The Broncos (1-1) connected on nine pass plays that went for at least 15 yards and another eight rushes that gained at least 10. Those chunk plays accounted for exactly 500 of the Broncos’ 637 total yards of offense.

Five of those plays resulted in touchdowns, including a 60-yard reception by redshirt senior Ben Ford and a 77-yard run by sophomore Dylan Riley late in the fourth quarter.

“Too many explosive plays on defense,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “Way too many explosive plays.”

The Eagles (0-2) had seven such plays – four passes for more than 15 yards and three rushes for more than 10 – the longest being a 36-yard catch by Miles Williams and a 49-yard reception by Noah Cronquist. They were the biggest plays on the Eagles’ two touchdown drives in the second and fourth quarters, respectively.

Aside from those two drives, Eastern’s longest was a 10-play, 40-yard drive that stalled at the Boise State 35-yard line in the third quarter. It ended on an incomplete fourth-down pass.

“They brought their A-game and we did not,” Ulm said. “They had a lot of momentum, and we just weren’t able to get things going.”

Eastern Washington finished with a 3-minute advantage in time of possession.

Familiar faces meet on field

Many EWU players took time after the game to find Boise State safety Derek Ganter Jr., the former Eagles player who transferred late in spring practices.

Ganter, a redshirt sophomore, was an all-Big Sky second team player a year ago, when he led the Eagles in tackles (95). He played mostly on special teams Friday and entered the game defensively when the game was decisively in Boise State’s favor.

Redshirt sophomore Boen Phelps, a Freeman High School graduate, played about half of Boise State’s defensive snaps at linebacker and made one tackle. He was also credited with one quarterback hurry.

EWU redshirt junior defensive end Dishawn Misa, who started his career at Boise State, made one tackle for a four-yard loss.

EWU loses again to FBS opponent

Eastern Washington’s 35-33 overtime victory against UNLV in 2021 was, at the time, the program’s third win over an FBS school across a nine-year stretch, one that included wins over Washington State in 2016 and Oregon State in 2013.

That 49-46 victory in Corvallis, Oregon, is one of just six in NCAA history for an FCS team over a ranked FBS opponent (the Beavers were No. 25 at the time).

But since that win over UNLV, the Eagles have now lost five straight to FBS opponents: to Oregon (70-14) and Florida (52-17) in 2022, to Fresno State (34-31 in double overtime) in 2023, to Nevada (49-16) in 2024 and to Boise State (51-14) on Friday.

For playing those five games, Eastern received a total of $2.445 million in payouts.

EWU has one FBS opponent scheduled for each of the next three seasons: at Washington in 2026 and 2028, and at Oregon in 2027. The Eagles are also scheduled to play at Washington State in 2030.