Eastern Washington Meme

EWU Memes for playoff game this weekend

With the Eagles going deep into the playoffs, with a win this weekend advancing them to the National Championship game... the EWU marketing department decided to make a few memes on Facebook. I changed them a little...

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

Things we can take away from the UW-EWU game

Many Eastern Washington fans are lamenting on what could have been last night. The Eags had a ball intercepted in the endzone to end their comeback and they fell to FBS member Washington 30-27. They outplayed, out-gained and out-quarterbacked the Huskies.

An EWU wide receiver even made it quite clear that the Huskies are one of the most arrogant teams they've played. That's kind of crazy for a football team that hasn't SHARED a national championship since the early 90s. But having followed the WSU Cougars for a long time, the Huskies' behavior doesn't surprise me at all. If there were a smug center to the universe, UW fans would be in the middle of it, sniffing their own farts.

With that, lets talk about what we learned from this game...

Eastern is legit again
While it is amazing that Sac State beat Oregon State, let me point out that the Beavers have a slow start to every season and then they come on late. Look up the scores, they always are terrible right out of the gate and that has really stunted their chances at long-term glory. But who would have thought that EWU would be playing in a very competitive game against UW? What this shows is that the Eagles could play in the Pac-12. I'm not kidding, they could. They're going to give UW a better fight than WSU and probably some other teams in the conference.

Bo Levi-Mitchell is a steely-eyed missile man
Greatest quarterback in EWU history? Erik Meyer, Matt Nichols... Bo Levi Mitchell? The guy lit up the Washington secondary like a damn Christmas tree and had Warren Moon talking about his "NFL arm." Before this season is over, Mitchell might be the best player in Eagles' history.

Husky fans are lame
We already talked about this but I want to touch on it again. You guys are the worst possible fans in the realm of college football. If I wanted to hang out with a bunch of yuppies that want to talk about how great they are, I'll go to a creative writing workshop. Any other fan base would have been going "Hey good job EWU! You played us tough" It's a respect thing. You think Husky fans would be caught dead saying that? Nope because they're UW!

I hope for nothing but losses for the University of Washington the rest of the way.

FBS in 10 to 15 years
If fans start showing up to EWU games, you've really got to start looking at a move to the FBS. They're competing with Pac-12 programs now, they're winning national championships and they have a large corporate sponsorship base in Spokane. EWU is better set for a move to the FBS than Montana or Montana State and that's the truth. While they'll have to do some work to their stadium and Spokane will need to realize there's a football team out in Cheney, it's a definite possibility now.

College Football is here!

Today is the day. College football returns to the state of Washington. And it does so in a BIG BIG way.

Heading into Husky Stadium will be the defending Eastern Washington University Eagles. Sure they might be 18 point underdogs to the home Washington Huskies but you don't win a National Championship by being a pushover team.

From ESPN.com:

"Washington QB Keith Price makes his debut as Jake Locker's replacement against Eastern Washington, which is hardly a patsy. Sure, the Eagles are an FCS team. But they also are the defending FCS national champions and they are the preseason No. 1 team in FCS football. Warning! Warning!"

Now I've grown up a UW fan so this will be the first time I've ever rooted against the Dawgs, but in this matchup Eastern is my team. I have to root for the Eagles.

I've got the jersey out of the closet. It still has the smell of a National Championship on it. It's sure to be a great game and hopefully the Eagles can pull off the upset. I'll be at the game. Feel free to follow my tweets at @CaseyKnopik as I'll be tweeting before, during and after the game.

Eastern Washington vs Washington game an NCAA must see

The national exposure for Eastern Washington University just keeps coming. NCAA.com has now previewed the game as a "must-see matchup."

From NCAA.com:

Eastern Washington’s first game action since winning the FCS championship will be its inaugural matchup against Washington at Seattle's Husky Stadium on Sept. 3.

It’s a must-watch game for Evergreen State football fans; seven players -- four Eagles and three Huskies -- are on various preseason watch lists:

• Eastern Washington quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and wide receiver Brandon Kaufman are on the 20-player watch list for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top FCS player.

• EWU safety Matt Johnson and defensive tackle Renard Williams are on the 20-player watch list for the 2011 Buck Buchanan Award, given to the top FCS defensive player.

• Washington running back Chris Polk, who is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday, is on the watch list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award as well as the Maxwell and Doak Walker awards.

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian has not ruled out Polk possibly playing in the season opener, but said this was the best time to have the procedure done. “We don’t know. It depends on his body and how he recovers,” said Sarkisian, who finished 7-6 last year, including a 19-7 victory against Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl, UW’s first bowl since 2002. “But I think for the long haul of this thing it was the right thing to do.

“It’s not serious but I just didn’t want it to linger and I thought the doctors handled it really well, and let’s just do it now so we are not dealing with this thing come October, November,” Sarkisian added. “It potentially could be a couple of weeks but I think he already feels good about it.”

The Walker Award is given annually to the nation’s top college running back; the Maxwell Award has been presented to the nation’s top player since 1937.

• Huskies defensive lineman Alameda Ta’amu is on the Nagurski, Bednarik, Outland watch lists.

The Bednarik Award is given to the best defensive player in the country; the Outland Trophy goes to the nation’s best interior linemen on both sides of the ball; the Nagurski Award is presented to the best defensive player in college football.

• UW kicker Erik Folk is on the watch list for the Lou Groza Award, presented annually to the nation’s top kicker.

As for the teams, Eastern Washington edged Montana State as the preseason pick by both the coaches and the media to win the Big Sky title.

The Eagles open the season with three consecutive road games, including non-conference games at Washington and South Dakota, then the Big Sky opener at Montana, which last season failed to advance to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1992.

“We know darn well that it is hard,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said of replicating the success his team had in 2010. “It is hard work in the offseason. It’s hard work to win the non-conference games we have on our schedule. And it’s hard to win any Big Sky Conference game, let alone trying to win the league title.

“It starts over again no matter what it says on paper and whatever comments are made that we look better entering 2011 than we did in 2010,” added Baldwin, whose team returns 15 starters and 52 lettermen from last season’s team that finished 13-2.

“That doesn’t matter in terms of the success we have on the field. Our players are very mature in handling that and understand we still have to work hard and look for short-term goals.”

Washington was picked to finish third -- behind Oregon and Stanford -- in the North Division in the inaugural Pac-12 preseason poll.

Sarkisian, entering his third season at the Huskies' helm, said one of his preseason goals is continuing the physicality with which UW won the final four games of 2010. "We've got to play lower football, better pad-level football, to be the physical football team I think we can be," he said.

I can't wait for this game! And yes, I'll be there keeping fans updated from a fan's perspective through twitter.

Matt Johnson named top 10 FCS defensive back

The Sports Network, basically the best site on the internet for all things FCS related (sorry ESPN but you suck when it comes to REAL college football) has released their list of the top 10 defensive backs in the Football Championship Series.

They didn't rank the defensive backs, instead just listed the top 1o. And making the list is Eastern Washington University's very own Matt Johnson.

Here's what The Sports Network had to say about Johnson:

Matt Johnson, Eastern Washington, S, Sr., 6-2, 220 - With 15 career interceptions, Johnson will threaten the school record of 18. He's entering his fourth season as a starter, having earned All-Big Sky first-team and The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS All-America third-team honors for the FCS champion Eagles last season. In 15 games, he totaled 105 tackles with five interceptions and eight other pass breakups, adding two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He is a physical presence who is instinctive.

And of course you can always check out goeags.com for more on Eastern Athletics.

Is it football season yet? I'm ready for the repeat!

Eastern Washington University red turf

When Eastern Washington University decided to replace the grass of Woodward Field with a red artificial turf one thing was certain, that the University would get a lot of national attention.

But another, and perhaps more important, item was that the red turf would provide a home-field advantage never before seen in Cheney, Washington.

The most popular colored turf is the blue turf of Boise State University. The Broncos installed their blue turf in 1986 and have dominated at home since then.

1986: 4-2 1987: 5-2 1988: 5-2 1989: 5-2 1990: 7-1 1991: 7-0 1992: 3-3 1993: 3-4 1994: 10-0

1995: 5-2 1996: 1-6 1997: 3-2 1998: 4-3 1999: 8-0 2000: 6-0 2001: 5-1 2002: 7-0 2003: 6-0

2004: 7-0 2005: 6-1 2006: 6-0 2007: 7-0 2008: 6-0 2009: 7-0 2010: 2-0 Total: 135-31

Take a look at the Broncos' home records each season since the blue turf went in.

*NOTE: Boise State went 10-0 in the 1994 season while competing in the FCS regular season and playoffs when they were members of the Big Sky.












Now that is home field advantage!

Well yesterday the red turf of Roos Field, or the Inferno as it's called, claimed another victim. The Sacramento State Hornets lost in the final seconds to Eastern 28-24.

Eastern improves to 3-0 on the red and 6-2 on the season (5-1 Big Sky).

The home field advantage is starting!

And if you missed the feature on the red turf that ESPN ran before the Boise State/Oregon State football game a few weeks ago, here it is:

Eastern Washington University football uniforms

This season it appears that the Eastern Washington University football program is taking a page out of the Oregon Ducks playbook.

Five games, five different uniform combination.

The Eagles have yet to wear the same uniform in any of their games yet. Except for their trademark red helmets there have been no continuity.

Here's a look at what the team has taken the field in:

At Nevada: White jerseys and red pants.

In Seattle vs. Central Washington: Black jerseys and black pants.

Vs. Montana on the red turf: Red jerseys and red pants.

At Montana State: White jerseys and white pants.

At Weber State: White jerseys and black pants. (as pictured above)

Now the real question is that this will be the second game on the red turf of Roos Field and will the Eagles wear their all red uniforms again?

I sure hope so because it only makes sense. Red on red.

Eastern Washington beats Montana and history is made

Last night was nothing short of legendary.

It was the greatest moment in the history of the sporting world that I have ever had.

When I first heard that Eastern was putting in red turf I hoped I could be at the first game there. When I heard that the Eagles would be playing the rival Montana Grizzlies I knew I HAD to be there.

And there I was.

Our seats were in the front row of the endzone. I was so close that on the FIRST ever Eastern touchdown on the red turf of Roos Field I was right there. And on every replay.

I get a text from Brandon, "I just saw you on TV! You're part of Eastern history now! Every replay shows you!"

Here's the only video I could find of the touchdown. No Spokane station had it on their sites. Nice work Spokane media. Nice work.

Fast forward to 2:05. I'm the guy in the number 8 Eastern jersey jumping and screaming.



Where we were sitting we were surrounded by Montana fans. And I knew that I didn't like the Griz, but I must say that they have some of the most annoying fans I have ever met. From the drunk woman next to me who kept yelling "You're turf is pink! You're turf is pink!" to the guy who kept trying to rhyme insults with Inferno (the nickname of the red turf). He came up with such things as "Craperno." "Suckiterno." and even "Grizerno." Yeah, his IQ was off the charts.

As for the game the Eagles won. Staked claim to their new red turf. Introduced Roos Field the correct way with a win. And beat the hated Grizzlies for the first time in Cheney since 1991. That loss also was the first back-to-back losses in the regular season since 2002 for the Griz. Now Montana will only be able to watch as Eastern is sitting pretty for the rest of the Big Sky season.

At the end of the game, Montana had tried to lateral for a miracle. Once the play ended everyone stormed the field. We jumped on the Eagle logo in the middle of the field and chanted "Roos! Roos! Roos!"
I'd seen other university students around the nation be able to rush the fields of their schools but never thought I'd be able to be a part of it. Until last night.

The fans on the field got an unsportsmanlike conduct call which gave Montana another play. The cocky Griz fans still had something to talk about. Until the play happened. This play resulted in their quarterback getting killed and coughing up the ball. The defense scooped up the ball and scored for a final of 36-27.

Griz nation was stunned.

The fans rushed the field again.

It was everything that sports is meant to be. Two teams putting their hearts and souls into a game. One team winning. And history being made.

I'm glad I got to be a part of that history. Eastern Eagles!

Here's some pictures from the game:

Matt Nichols update

In the Dallas Cowboys first preseason game on Sunday Matt Nichols out of Eastern Washington University got to play at the end of the game as the 4th string quarterback and pretty much just handed the ball off.

Tonight in the Cowboys second preseason game he got more of chance to show what he has, only it could have certainly went better.

I didn't watch the game but only read the message boards and the game log. It doesn't appear things went good for Nichols. He came into the game in the middle of the 4th quarter and finished 8 for 14 for 72 yards. He threw 0 TDs and had 2 interceptions. That gave him a very very low passer rating of just 31.5.

Not a good way to win the coaches eye and gain a roster spot. His 2nd interception came in the endzone as time expired for a touchback. The Cowboys would lose to the Raiders 9-17.

But hey, it was his first real action in an NFL game. So there's only up to go from here. Hopefully the next time he's given an opportunity he can take full advantage of it.

Nickname for Eastern's Red Turf

Eastern Athletics are running a fan vote contest to help find a nickname for the new red turf the debuts this fall.

And I must say. All the choices are terrible. Just awful.

Now I'm a huge fan of the red turf. I think it will be sweet. But these nicknames are just horrible.

Here's the list and why each choice is bad:

Red Sea - Red Sea, Sea of Red. These are Nebraska. Everyone knows that. Don't use it.

Red Zone - No. This is from the 20 yard-line to the goal line. Not a nickname for a field.

Inferno - Really?!?! I didn't know we were choosing a nickname for a WNBA team.

Big Red - Like the gum.

"So kiss a little longer, Make it last a little longer, Longer with Big Red! That Big Red freshness lasts right through it, Your fresh breath goes on and on, While you chew it! So say goodbye a little longer, Make it last a little longer, Give your breath long lasting freshness with Big Red!"

Red Carpet - Please tell me you're not serious! Can you say bad porno.

Ring of Fire - Like Johnny Cash. I went down, down, down into a burning ring of fire...or bad nicknames.

Lava Pit - Look out for dinosaurs!!!

You can vote at goeags.com.

I hope none of these win. I'd rather see Grizzly Blood Rug.

At the time I wrote this there were 31 total votes with Ring of Fire in first with 10, Red Zone with 7, and Inferno and Big Red tied with 5.

Eastern red turf camera

Eastern Washington University has been hard at work installing the red turf of soon-to-be Roos Field.

You can keep an eye on the progress at goeags.com and their Turf Cam.

EWU to rename Woodward Field

Saw this on the KREM 2 website.

CHENEY -- Red turf isn't the only change planned for Eastern Washington University's football field. The school also plans the change the name of the field after graduate Michael Roos.

Known as Woodward Field for 73 years, EWU will change the name to Roos Field this fall. Roos played on the offensive line at Eastern from 2001-2005 and now stars for the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

Roos recently donated $500,000 to make the red turf possible at EWU. He also raises money for the school every year through the Michael Roos Foundation.

“We are thrilled to be able to acknowledge in this manner the incredible contributions Michael has made to Eastern Washington University,” said Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves. “We felt this was the most appropriate honor we could give him."

The date for the dedication of Roos Field is yet to be determined.

Nichols to Seahawks?

We've posted a lot about Matt Nichols of Eastern Washington University. The reason, we're kinda bias toward EWU.

A few weeks back I posted a clip from ESPN that talked about how Nichols was perhaps the most under the radar quarterback.

Well today on Seahawks.com they were talking about the quarterback class for this draft and ranking the players based on NFLDraftScout.com.

The first few picks were easy but then the remaining quarterbacks start to clump together.

Here's what they had to say about the former Eagle quarterback:

Don’t forget about: Matt Nichols. The Eastern Washington University QB didn’t get invited to the combine. But he did get to show his stuff at the East-West Shrine all-star game, and displayed better size (6-2, 220) and arm strength than the bigger-school passers on the West team – Kansas’ Todd Reesing and BYU’s Max Hall. Nichols also was productive at EWU, setting 14 school and six Big Sky Conference records in 47 games. But he’s still rated No. 15 among the QBs in this class.

I have a strong feeling that whichever team takes a chance on Nichols will become the "official" team of Just South of North.

Matt Nichols NFL bound? Sure seems that way.

I came across this today on ESPN.

Under the radar quarterback: Matt Nichols

Todd McShay thinks so. He says that Nichols reminds him of a young Tony Romo. And don't be surprised if in 5 years we see Nichols as a potential starting in the NFL.

Pretty sweet for an Eastern star.

Skip to 2:15 for the Nichols part:

2010 Eastern Washington football schedule

The Eastern Washington University football schedule for the upcoming season was released today. Here is a look at it:

2010 EWU Schedule
9/2 - at Nevada
9/11 - Central Washington (site to be determined)
9/18 - Montana
9/25 - at Montana State
10/2 - at Weber State
10/9 - Northern Arizona
10/16 - at Northern Colorado
10/23 - Sacramento State
10/30 - at Portland State
11/6 - Open
11/13 - Southern Utah
11/20 - Idaho State

The post-Matt Nichols era will begin with a big game in Nevada. Should start the season off on the right foot.

The reason that the game against Central is listed as "site to be determined" is that the two schools are trying to work out the game to be played in Qwest Field. Last season the Eagles took on Portland State in Qwest and it was an AWESOME game.

Now the big note is that the game against Montana is on September 18. That game will be HUGE! Not only is this always a huge game, but it also is Welcome Back Weekend with all the students returning to campus.

Oh, and it would be the first football game in history played on RED TURF. Pretty darn sweet. And you can bet your socks that the Northern Rangers will be out there.

Check out our video from last year about the Eastern gameday experience:



Man I wish football season was closer!

Video board at Eastern Washington University

As many of you readers know, Brandon and I both graduated from Eastern Washington University. Because of this we keep an eye on what is happening around the campus.

And the best source for keeping up-to-date on all the happenings at Eastern is of course The Easterner.

Now the paper comes out each Wednesday, but I missed reading in last week. So today while I was on the site I came across an interesting article by Senior Reporter Dustin Toms.

The article was about the improvements that Eastern is planning on making to Woodward Field after the red turf is installed. The main thing is the scoreboard.

EWU is looking at putting in a video board. The main reason stated in the article is the age of the current scoreboard and cost of finding parts for it.

One thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the cost for the video board will be around $400,000 and $500,000, depending on the specifics of the board and the location in the stadium. Where else would they put it?

The current location is the perfect spot for the score board. If you put it on the endzone you have the track in the way. If you put it on the pressbox only the visiting fans can see it. And if you put it above the visitor stands, then they can't see it. So where else would it go?

I think a video board would be awesome and really bump Eastern to the next level. Especially since more than half of the Big Sky Conference teams have a video scoreboard. Those teams are Weber State, Northern Arizona, Montana State, Idaho State and of course the dreaded Griz of Montana.

For a depiction of the new scoreboard, check out the pdf of last weeks Easterner, page 11.

Epic Video: EWU Red Turf promo

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

Epic Video: Coach Baldwin mic'd up

Eastern hasn't played a game in far too long. I miss EWU football.

Here's Coach Baldwin mic'd up over the 2009 season.

My favorite part is at 1:29 when he's just chatting with Nichols.