Eastern Washington vs Illinois State FCS Preview

Eastern Washington Eagles vs Illinois State Redbirds - FCS Playoffs
Location: Roos Field, Cheney, WA
Game Time: Saturday, Dec. 8, 3:05 PM (Pacific)
TV: ESPN 3

On Saturday the Illinois State Redbirds travel to the red turf of Roos Field for a FCS Quarterfinal game against the Eastern Washington Eagles.

It's a battle of red!

Illinois State is 6-0 this season on the road, including last weeks playoff victory at Appalachian State, 38-37.
The Redbirds are led by senior quarterback Matt Brown who threw for five touchdowns in the win over the Mountaineers. On the season he completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,998 yards and 25 touchdowns.

For the Eagles it was all Kyle Padron at quarterback last week. This season the Eagles passing offense ranks ninth in the NCAA with 301 yards per game and in the last two games, Padron has thrown for three touchdowns, 708 yards and completed 71 percent of his passes. Padron is expected to be the starter this week, but it will be interesting to see if redshirt freshman Vernon Adams sees any playing time during the game. Adams certainly has the electric play-making ability.

But passing is not going to be easy for the Eagles as Illinois State's passing defense ranks ninth in the FCS in passing efficiency. It's certainly going to be a great matchup!

EWU will have to rely on their ground game and lucky for them running backs Demitrius Bronson and Quincy Forte have been catching on as of late. Look for another close game from the Eagles but they'll hangout at the end and move on to the FCS Quarterfinals!

FINAL SCORE: Eastern Washington 30, Illinois State 27

Roos Field might get a whole lot better

It looks like EWU is planning big to replace those bleachers on the Washington Street side of Roos Field. Much like they made a splash with the red turf, they're going all-in on an 8,000-seat addition to the stadium that once looked like a high school played there.

The vision is in place at Eastern Washington University for a multimillion-dollar “city within a city” that aims to improve the campus experience on game day – and every day.
The Gateway Project, unveiled recently to the EWU Board of Trustees, would include 8,000 additional seats on the Washington Street side of Roos Field. Inside, the facility would house concessions, leased commercial space, suites and more.

Now comes the hard part, said Mike Westfall, vice president for university advancement and executive director of the EWU Foundation, which made the presentation to the trustees.

“Right now we are trying to temper expectations as much as possible, so we are strictly in a feasibility phase right now,” Westfall said. “But everyone we have heard from has reacted favorably.”

Now there's plenty of other bells and whistles with this project that make it more than extra seats in the stadium. While they haven't even begun taking donations, so who knows how far out this is, it shows a direction for the future. The current size of their stadium is more than adequate now for all their games, except for the Montana Griz game. An increase of 8,000 seats and the extra facilities that they're putting along with it look like this is more of a precursor to the FBS. Again, this is years and years and years off, but if you're not selling out your stadium every game right now, why are you adding 8,000 seats?

Most of the feedback from alumni I've seen is very positive and I'd imagine that the fundraising will be a popular effort. However, it has a $20 million price tag - I think the press box project was just a few million to complete - and it would be the biggest addition that Roos Field has ever seen. I'm just guessing you might see this become a reality in 5-10 years if the project doesn't lose steam. By that time, EWU might be ready for the WAC (I'm not thrilled at the prospect of being an FBS small fish).

It's amazing how much EWU changed when I went there, and how much it built up after I left. This project doesn't surprise me. The university has gradually improved their campus and this is another step in that.

Now the question becomes... is it a better stadium than WSU?

Eastern's 2010 FCS Championship Rings

Today Eastern Washington University posted on their flikr account a photo of the Championship rings that the football team received.

I think the rings are absolutely awesome!

They feature "the Inferno" of Roos Field on side and the Eastern Eagle logo on the top.

The photo was taken on The Inferno which is just awesome because of course the team went 8-0 including play-off wins on the turf this year. And it all started back in September with the victory over Montana. Which was still the coolest sporting even I have ever been too.

Relive that game today.

What do you think of the rings?

This just in NFL scouts, Taiwan Jones is fast

Yahoo Sports has jumped on board with the Taiwan Jones hype machine. EWU's star running back has just put in a VERY fast 40 time which could push him up on the draft board...


After serious work and rehab at Athletes Performance in Carson, California (a bit of which we caught on tape recently), Jones flew up to the Bay Area and put on a major show in front of what San Francisco 49ers running backs coach Tom Rathman told one observer was the biggest NFL attendance for a private workout he had ever seen. API's Travelle Gaines told Yahoo! Sports that Jones ran one 40 and times in the range of 4.27 to 4.35 on all stopwatches. We'll get the official times later today and pass them along (as well as an interview with Mr. Jones), but this could really push Jones up quite a few draft boards. Currently seen as a third- to fifth-round prospect, Jones may jump up a bit higher based on today.

In other news, WSU players were spotted eating hamburgers in Pullman. 

EWU fires Earlywine

You could kind of see this one coming. Eastern Washington hasn't had a whole lot of success in the past four years. While I feel that Earlywine was dealt a raw hand after the whole Mike Burns fiasco, this move is probably best for all parties involved.

Eastern Washington men’s basketball coach Kirk Earlywine was informed Monday morning by Eagles athletic director Bill Chaves that his contract will not be renewed.

Earlywine, who is in his fourth year as Eastern’s head coach, told The Spokesman-Review that he met with Chaves and learned of his firing but was given no specifics on why the contract will not be renewed.

“I’m disappointed,” said Earlywine, who compiled a 10-20 record this season and is 46-73 overall, “but as disappointed as I am for myself I’m even more disspointed for my players and my assistant coaches.”

Now who could possibly be the new head coach at EWU?

Best EWU shooter ever?

The EWU womens' team is absolutely full of talent. One of those is Kyla Evans, a senior who I got the privilege of watching play back when I was in college. Tremendous player and a very dangerous shooter to leave out on the perimeter. So it's no shocker that she accomplished this...

Evans, who now has 197 treys in her career, had been just three three pointers away from the record for more than a month. But when a chronic back injury flared up just before the start of conference play, she was forced to sit the last 10 games. The untimely hiatus didn't seem to affect the senior though, as she turned in the best performance of her season in her first game back.

Evans finally surpassed Stephanie Ulmer, who owned the previous record of 195 career three pointers made. Ulmer played for head coach Wendy Schuller from 2002-05.

"I am very happy for Kyla," said Schuller. "She has been through a lot in her career, and is certainly deserving of the honor. I'm glad she is able to leave her mark at Eastern."

How sad is it that I was there for both Ulmer's and Evan's careers? Perhaps I should have taken a slightly heavier load than two classes a quarter.

What Tatjana Sparavalo had to say...

Thanks for the concern Casey (see the below post) but I am alive and well after my brush with death out on the ski slopes. By the way.... Ski lodge bars are awesome. Okay I'm done. Moving on.

If you've covered EWU women's basketball in the past few years, chances are you've ran into Tatjana Sparavalo. I can remember first seeing this girl playing basketball and immediatly fearing for the safety of the opposing team. She plays tough, hard-nosed basketball and she's from Serbia. Seems about right.

Anyways, they did a Q&A with her on GoEags.com, because she's awesome and she's leading the team in scoring and all that jazz. I thought I'd take a little gander at what she said.

Q: What do you plan to do with your degree?


A: “I’m not really sure yet. I might try to find a job somewhere in California because I like the weather there. If not, I might go home.”

You shouldn't go home Tatjana because there is a state that is kind of like you're home. It's called Montana.

Q: Why did you choose to come to Eastern?


A: “I really liked Coach Schuller because she was very caring. And, I thought it was a good program. Another reason I came was because Milan Stanojevic, another basketball player from Serbia, signed with Eastern. I thought it would be an easier adjustment for me if I had someone to relate to from back home.”

It's true, Coach Wendy Schuller is awesome. I've never heard somebody say a bad thing about her, or if somebody did say a bad thing about her, there was usually a resulting barfight from those wanting to defend her honor. She's that cool. Oh and she wears awesome sweaters.

Q: What has been your favorite class and why?


A: “I don’t think I really had a favorite class. But, I do really like the ethics and leadership class that I am taking right now.

Sure, Tatjana , coming from the player that has no problem throwing 'bows and laying down the law. You keep talking about ethics as your "Big Sky stitches caused" stat keeps counting upwards.

Q: Who is your favorite teammate and why?


A: “Probably Kyla Evans and Julie Piper. I can’t pick only one. Kyla, Julie and I are all best friends. We have been through thick and thin together.”

Oh sure, pick Julie Piper, the EWU copy of Tim Duncan and Kyla Evans, Reggie Miller's prodigy.

Q: Who was your first celebrity crush?


A: “George Clooney! When I saw him in E.R., I fell in love with him, and I am still in love with him today.”

I'm very disappointed this isn't "Brandon Hansen and Mike Miller, the Big Sky TV commentators" but I guess I will just let this one slide.

For the full Q&A, click here.

EWU is kind of a big deal now

Eastern Washington has been buzzing about this year's recruiting class, which probably won't have any affect of next year's season, but it's still great to talk about these things like they're the most important things in the world.

Now since going to EWU, it always seemed like the Eagles had no problem getting talent to come to Cheney. They have two large universities in the states that they can get tranfers from, and Paul Wulff was always a good recruiter in California.

Still, it wasn't like this year's class after their national championship win. Let's do a recap of what happen...

EWU out recruits Boise State, Idaho - By getting the top player in the state, Cody McCarthy. He should be the next J.C. Sherrit, as he plays linebacker and fullback. He was either going to walk on at Boise State or play for Army, but instead chose EWU. Notch one up for the Eagles!

EWU gets two Huskies - The Taiwan Jones loss with get a little easier with the Eags getting Demitrius Bronson from UW to transfer, and Andru Pulu.

(Click here for the full EWU release, I'm going to snatch up the important or eye catching parts...)

EWU gets some big boys - The two 300-pounders the Eagles signed included David Delgado, a 6-4, 320-pound defensive lineman from St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School in American Canyon, Calif. Thomas Gomez from Graham Kapowsin High School in Graham, Wash., is 6-2, 310, and is listed as an offensive lineman, but may end up on the defensive line.

"High school players are just getting bigger," said Baldwin. "We've been very good around here about signing lean players and developing them, and we still want to do that. But everywhere we go there are just bigger players and it's happening at every level with the signing classes and what they are bringing in."

EWU gets some good skill players - Included is Vernon Adams, a quarterback from Pasadena, Calif., and Alemany High School. In his final two seasons, he passed for 5,234 yards and 49 touchdowns, and rushed for another 1,263 yards and 19 more scores in leading Alemany to an overall record of 22-5. Local product Jordan Tonani signed as a defensive back after helping Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash., finish unbeaten and win the State 4A title last fall.

Well... I'm so pumped for football season to start now.

EWU sells out Griz game tickets in 23 minutes

It didn't take long for EWU to sell out their game against Montana, which along with being a home away from home game for the Griz faithful, it is also the first time the school will unveil its red turf.

23 Minutes. That's all it took.

Is having too many QBs a bad thing?

One of the underlying stories this spring for Eastern Washington University football is the logjam they have at the quarterback position. This isn't anything new, as Erik Meyer battled Skyler Allen for the starting job in 2004, and Matt Nichols fended off Chris Peerboom for the position in 2006 (it wasn't that tough, actually, Peerboom was a trainwreck). However, this isn't just two guys going for one spot. It's six.

Yes a half-dozen quarterbacks have aspirations for the starting quarterback position at Eastern Washington University, and the normal reaction would be "hey, fantastic, the more depth the better!" but that's simply not the case. This might be a hand grenade that blows up in Eastern's hand and I'm a bit worried about it.

First they brought in an SMU transfer Bo Levi Mitchell, which is a fantastic grab by the coaching staff. Anytime you can get a player from the upper level of Div. I, you've got to be happy. However, the issue I have with Mitchell is that he's a junior meaning that at best, we'll get two good years from him. Nevermind it might take him a while to get acclimated to the system.

The other problem is that there is plenty of young talented quarterbacks that were already in the system at EWU before Mitchell came. I'm always following the school of thought that you want to go with the guys that have been in your system for a while, and will give you plenty of years out on the field. Sophomore quarterback Jeff Minnerly looked pretty good last season when he gave Matt Nichols a break in games. I don't see why he couldn't be the heir apparent to the position as opposed to Mitchell.

There are plenty of quarterbacks on the roster too, but I can't really comment on them because I haven't seen them play. However, they're probably thinking the same thing Mitchel and Minnerly are thinking - I came here to play, not sit on the bench.

I understand that this is how the game of football works and things will shake out, but I would guess that Mitchell would be the front-runner for the job and that would cause a large majority of the quarterbacks behind him in the depth chart to transfer. Those kids are competitors and expected to play when they came out to EWU. Then this new kid transfers in and takes that spot. It's all very normal in the world of college football, but if you're those kids - you're probably out of here. So your sudden depth at the quarterback position is lost. And since Mitchell is a junior, we only get him for two years.

What happens after that? These young kids you were bringing up in the system are gone. The quarterbacks that did have some playing time are gone. Mitchell merely serves as a stop-gap and then two years from now you find yourself throwing an untested freshman quarterback out to the wolves.

I don't think Eagle fans understand just how important this spring is when it comes to setting up the future for Eastern's football program, and the long ramifications it could have. Let's hope that the coaching staff makes the best possible choice and has enough foresight to understand that perhaps having six kids competing for the same job isn't the best possible situation.

SportsNation visits EWU...

Colin Cowherd's Alma Mater makes an appearance on his TV show...

Reese Court is a horrible, cursed place

Having experienced too many heartbreaks by women's teams in Reese Court, and listening to the latest spooky occurrence - The No. 1 seeded Eagles losing to Montana St in the Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Tournament 65-57, I have come to the conclusion that this place is cursed.

Did somebody build it on an ancient burial ground? Is there a Montana jersey buried under it's foundation?

Several times the EWU Volleyball program clinched the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Conference Tourney, only to be upset by Sacramento State in the Championship Game. When the EWU men's basketball team finally won the Big Sky and were off to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, a promising program in the making fell apart. Head coach Ray Giacoletti left, some seniors graduated, but a sure-fire head coach was brought in to replace him - Mike Burns, who had ties to area and was the associate head coach of the team before he took a brief hiatus down at WSU.

By all accounts, Burns should have been able to turn it around. However, the next season they won only 8 games. The coming of Rodney Stuckey never lead to a Big Sky Championship. Promising players transferred and now Coach Earlywine is now only getting the program back on it's feet.

This isn't normal! There has to be something wrong about this place. Can't we implode the place and just play games at the Spokane Arena? I'm getting some priest or witch doctor to cleanse the place of any evil spirits, but knowing the luck of the place, a ceiling tile will probably fall on them.

Epic Video: EWU Red Turf promo

The first of what I would assume many Red Turf videos made by EWU Athletics.

The worst college basketball defeat ever

I love my Eags, but good god they were terrible last night. They probably would have gotten beat by Ferris High School with the effort they put fourth.

So Mark Dunn (pictured right) scores the first two points of the game against BYU. And then the Cougars proceed to score 33 straight points as the Eagles failed to score for NINE minutes.

(Bleech.)

And the game only got worse as the final was an absolute slaughter, 91-34 in what has got to be the worst or one of the worst losses in EWU men's basketball history. And this is just 48 hours after playing a very promising game against a good Nevada team. What the hell? I know Provo isn't full of nightlife so they couldn't have been out the previous night or something.

Oh well, looks like back to the ol' drawing board.

Big Sky Conference continues to show their love for Montana

(Sigh) EWU senior linebacker is suspended the same week as the Montana game? You've got to be kidding me! Here's the lowdown from the Spokesman's Steve Bergum...

The Big Sky Conference has suspended Eastern Washington University senior linebacker Kyle Wilkins for one game because of the illegal hit his put on a Weber State receiver during Saturday’s 31-13 loss to the Wildcats at Woodward Field.

I did not see a replay of the hit, but from my pressbox view, I did not think it deserved even the personal-foul penalty it drew at the time, helping set the stage for three WSU scores in the final 90 seconds of the first half.  I have a call in to EWU coach Beau Baldwin to get his take on the hit and the suspension and will update this post with whatever comments he makes.

I worked the soundboard for broadcast of the Weber State game and I do not remember any hit eliciting a response like "that's an illegal hit" or any sort of question like that. What prompted the video review then? My guess is that the Montana Grizzly Conference strikes again.

(Something tells me there will be ten suspendable hits made by Griz players this weekend and they won't even get a sniff by the Big Sky)

The Big Sky Conference is in Montana's jockstrap

I hate the Big Sky Conference. It might as well be called the "We love Montana" conference because I swear the Grizzlies run the league office. After having one of the best performances in the nation, EWU running back Taiwan Jones has to share honors with two other Big Sky Players...

In a rarity, the league has selected tri-Players of the Week on Offense with Montana quarterback Andrew Selle, Weber State QB Cameron Higgins and Eastern Washington running back Taiwan Jones all sharing the honor. For the second straight week, Eastern Washington linebacker J.C. Sherritt is the Defensive Player of the Week. Portland State’s Aaron Woods is the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Jones has 190 yard on just 15 carries and 4 touchdowns. That's Barry Sanders numbers right there. Meanwhile Selle and Higgins both had good performances under center but their numbers are something that happen every weekend by a QB in the Big Sky Conference. Jones' running numbers are something of a rarity.

He scored on nearly a THIRD of his carries.

Ridiculous Big Sky Conference, don't even try and pretend you're a real league office.

EWU cuts marching band

Eastern Washington University will save $30,000 by cutting it's marching band.

Yawn.

I'm sure some music department people will complain a little bit and some boosters will lament about the "lack of atmosphere" by not having a marching band but I think for the most part - not a whole lot of people are going to turn their heads.

It's not knock against the EWU Music Department, they did a fine job putting on their productions but the average football fan nowadays doesn't give a rats behind about a marching band or the cheerleading squad. Maybe it's just the short attention span that affects our generation right now, but things that have been traditional so long just really don't fly anymore.

Having talked to several music majors at EWU, they really don't like being in the marching band. It's somewhat fun but I'm sure they'd rather be doing something else on a Saturday. I'm sure some of the members enjoy the experience but it's still a lot of work and time. They probably won't be up in arms about it.

And to save $30,000? In these times you've just got to make cuts and frankly there are more people that care about the product on the field than the halftime entertainment. I'm not saying music is less important, but I don't think cutting the marching band will cause the casual football fan to go nuts.

Sometimes I've heard people question why we have cheerleading and bands at sporting events anymore. We keep doing it because it's traditional and we keep finding people that want to do it, but generally it seems that fans aren't very enthused by either. I feel sorry for the cheerleaders out at EWU sometimes because the crowd sometimes just refused to aknowledge them.

Why? It's got to be generational. In our grandparents and parents age, the game was the big event of the week with plenty of pageantry and people really got behind the whole school spirit thing. Nowadays, there's so many distractions, so many sports, so much going on that these side items just kind of get caught up at static.

And now throw in that the economy is in tank, these sort of things just get thrown in the tank. It's a shame, but on the other hand these things don't seem to be a very high priority.

Hopefully Matt Nichols is not on steroids

Thank you Dave Cook, there's nothing like sending me a little good news via email after Ortiz-gate.

On the cusp of breaking Eastern Washington University's career records for passing and total offense, senior quarterback Matt Nichols has been selected by The Sports Network as a preseason candidate for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.

A 33-game starter for the Eagles, Nichols was named to the Payton Watch List for the second-straight season after earning All-America honors and Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP accolades as a sophomore in 2007. The 2005 graduate of West Valley High School in Cottonwood, Calif., earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors a year ago, and enters his senior season with 8,786 yards passing, 9,376 yards of total offense and 63 touchdown passes in his career.

In other words, EWU quarterback Matt Nichols is really, really, really freakin good. I thought I had seen the best QB in school history when Erik Meyer was under center but Nichols might surpass him. While he wont have as much post-season success - that's kind of unfair because of the NCAA infractions slapped on the school this past year.

Oh and Nichols can grow one badass beard. Seriously, he looks like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Come late August, he'd better have a Peter Griffen-esque beard otherwise I will not be happy.

Eastern Washington third in preseason polls

Woo hoo! You know college football is just around the corner when the preseason polls start to come out. Even though Eastern Washington has no chance at making the postseason thanks to the NCAA sanctions, but hey! Whatev. Let's play some football...

Media Poll
1. Montana (27) - 283
2. Weber State (5) - 261
3. Montana State - 203
4. Eastern Washington - 195
5. Northern Arizona - 156
6. Portland State - 120
7. Sacramento State - 102
8. Northern Colorado - 71
9. Idaho State - 47

Coaches Poll
1. Montana (7) - 63
2. Weber State (1) - 57
3. Eastern Washington (1) - 48
4. Montana State - 41
5. Northern Arizona - 32
6. Portland State - 30
7. Sacramento State - 27
8. Northern Colorado - 15
9. Idaho State - 10

Now granted Montana returns 13 starters from last year, but has there ever been a year when they weren't picked first in the Big Sky Conference? I swear the commissioner's offices are located in Missoula.

As far as Eastern being ranked third - I'm a little skeptical. I think once this team hits some adversity, they're going to crumble since they have no postseason to play for. Why make the extra effort if you don't have a chance at glory anyways?

Just my thoughts on it, let's hope the Eags prove me wrong!

Eastern license plates

My fiance recently moved from that state of Nebraska to Washington. She had to get new license plates for her car. She decided that she'd opt for the Eastern Washington University plates.

They came in the mail today and they are pretty cool. She figured that even though they were an extra $30 (because they fall under the personalized plate category)$28 of those dollars go to Eastern scholarships.

And I also found something else out about the plates on the EWU Web site today.

EWU will now be recording a $28 gift on the record of those who buy or renew their specialized Eagle License plate. To receive credit, mail a clear photocopy of your registration (with VIN blocked out) to:

EWU Foundation/Gift Processing
Eastern Washington University
127 Hargreaves Hall
Cheney, WA 99004-2413

Brandon and I would get these (as somehow we managed to get diplomas from the school and thus became alumni), but we already have personalized plates. His says JSTSOUT and mine says HOFNRTH. But when we park, he always has to park to the left of my car. So that way people walking behind the cars can make out our free advertisements.