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

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?

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 claims FCS crown

Brandon and I are still on cloud 9 this morning. The Eastern Washington University Eagles are National Champions! And after trailing by 19 points they rallied late in the 3rd to win their first National Championship.

Congrats to Beau Baldwin and the Eastern Washington University football team!

Friday is Eastern Washington University Eagles Day

Eastern Washington University will be playing in it's first Football Championship Subdivision National Championship game against Delaware on Friday, January 7th. In honor of this tremendous event Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire has declared Friday as Eastern Washington University Eagles Day in Washington.


This is pretty awesome news! I know that Brandon and I will be wearing our Eastern jerseys that day. Go Eagles!

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.

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.

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.

Eastern in the Key

Tonight the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team heads into Key Arena for a game against Seattle University.

And I'll be there. Oh yeah. (Even better is the fact that Linds will be wearing her retro Eagles Rodney Stuckey jersey)

This is the second time that the Eagles have played the Redhawks this season. The first game ended in a 100-97 overtime victory for EWU.

As for the overall standings, Eastern leads the series 9-4.

Tip-off is at 7:10 PM.

On the Eastside the game can be heard on 1510 AM.

On the Westside the game can be heard on 710 AM.

Oh, and this is how me and the rest of my posse will be rolling into the game:

GO EAGLES!!!

JustSON Numbers: Looking at Gonzaga's win and Eastern's loss

Okay perhaps nobody in Spokane really noticed that Eastern Washington was playing out in Cheney against old Big Sky opponent Boise State. It ended in a 82-69 loss for the Eags, largely because they got off to a cold start and pulled to within one in the second half after eventually succumbing to the Broncos.

How cold was their start? Well look at this...

TOTAL FG%
1st Half: 11-42 26.2%

Ick. Need to shoot better guys, and don't just try to jack up a bunch of threes all the time.

And now on to the Zag game that I'm sure you all missed. Good win for Gonzaga over a quality Wisconsin team, and it looked like they were in control for most of the game. I think that you have to credit it to the Zags ability to hold the Badgers to just 39 percent shooting as it seemed that they never got it going. Meanwhile, Matt Bouldin actually showed up in a game against a solid opponent, scoring 18 points. 

Lots of college basketball, who's happy we're in season now?

Best EWU Team Ever?

EWU defeated Northern Arizona yesterday, probably punching themselves a ticket to the FCS playoffs and capping a season that started off with no hope and now has plenty of possibilities. There's something about this team - they have IT - not sure what that is but they have that swagger about them.

Think about it, the Eag lose one of the most prolific scorers (Aaron Boyce) in the history of EWU and the team continues to roll even after refs screwed them out of a victory in Montana.

They have a hall-of-fame quarterback Matt Nichols who might go down as the best signal caller the Big Sky has seen. I thought I had seen the best QB in Eagle history with Erik Meyer, but I think Nichols probably holds that crown now but he'll have to cement his legacy with another post-season run.

They have an explosive running back in Taiwan Jones, who's a danger to score every time he touches the ball. A megatron tight end in Nathan Overbay.  Tony Davis, Nicholas Edwards, are just some of solid guys on offense.

I could go on and on, the depth of this team is amazing, the defense is jam-packed with playmakers like Matt Johnson and JC Sherrit. Head coach Beau Baldwin is doing well and has completely erased Paul Wulff in the mind of people at the school.

Best team ever at Eastern?

Northern Rangers: Eastern Eagles football

On October 24, 2009 the Northern Rangers headed out to Cheney, Washington to take in the Eastern Washington University homecoming game.

This is what a football gameday experience at Eastern Washington University is like.

Go Eagles!

Why I must root for Montana

This week the Eastern Washington football program found out that the NCAA had lifted the post season ban on the Eagles. That's great, but as of right now EWU sits in fourth place in the Big Sky Conference with a 4-2 conference record.

Those two losses came against Montana (thanks to the refs) and Weber State (thanks to EWU forgetting they had a game to play). And because of those loses the best Eastern can hope for is an at large bid into the 16 team FCS playoff.

Montana currently sits in first with a 4-0 conference record and has a firm grip on the Big Sky Championship.

In second was is Weber State with a 5-1 conference record. That one loss came against Montana State.

Sitting in third place is Northern Arizona with a 4-1 conference record. Their loss came at the hands of non other than Montana.

Now comes the fun part and why I must go against every fiber of my being and root for the Montana Grizzlies.

If the Eagles and do their part and win out, then they would finish with a 6-2 conference record and an 8-3 overall record. Their other loss came from then ranked #10 California. But that won't be good enough for a Big Sky Championship. However, it would give Northern Arizona at least another conference loss.

However, this weekend Weber State meets Montana. And I will be rooting that Montana will take down the Wildcats. This would drop Weber State to 5-2.

And on November 14, Weber State and Northern Arizona will meet. Guaranteeing that one of these teams will get another conference loss. Which would mean that if everything above happened, Montana would win the Big Sky, and either Weber State or Northern Arizona would have three losses. The other team might only have two losses which would be what Eastern had as well.

If you aren't confused by all this, then what it means is that Eastern would be tied for 2nd in the Big Sky and if they were ranked high enough in the standings, they would get the "at large" bid for the playoffs.

So tomorrow, I will root for the Griz in a hope that they win the Big Sky and can get Weber State a loss.

Oh, and I will root that Eastern wins out. The Northern Rangers will be at Qwest Field tomorrow in our EWU jerseys and cheering louder than ever.

GO EAGLES!!!!

EWU vs. UM

As we at JustSON continue to provide you with pregame coverage of today's match-up between the Eastern Washington Eagles and the Montana Grizzlies, here's a look at each of these of schools and who wins head to head:

Mascots

UM: Monte - Yes, he has a bike. That is cool.


EWU: Swoop- But you want to know what is even cooler? Flying. Yeah, Swoop can fly.

EWU 1, UM 0

Campus

EWU: Located in Cheney, Washington, the campus is a pristine example of beauty.
UM: Located in Missoula, MT the campus is, well...just look.


EWU 2, UM 0

Fans

EWU: While it may be nontraditional, their nothing short of creative.

UM: It snows in Montana. Every month but August. There are two seasons there, summer and snow. Welcome to Montana.

EWU 3, UM 0

Logo

EWU: The Eagle incorporates the E-W-U of the school. It is classy and stylish.


UM: While searching for the Griz logo, I found this. Hilarious. A guy riding a bear.

EWU 4, UM 0


GOOGLE

EWU: Google Eastern Washington and this is the first photo. Beautiful!



UM: Google Montana. This is the 4th photo. Oh, I'm telling all my friends.

EWU 5, UM 0

Go Eagles!!!

EWU football destroys Idaho State. But what about the NCAA?

Today the Eastern Washington Eagles went into Pocatello, Idaho and left with a 38-3 victory over the Idaho State Bengals and a 3-0 start in Big Sky Conference play.

It was another big game for Taiwan Jones. He threaded the Bengals defense for 168 yards and three touchdowns on just 14 carries.

Quarterback Matt Nichols completed 27-of-38 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns.

Before the start of the game, EWU was ranked 17th in the Football Championship Subdivision. Which leads us here at JustSON asking, where does Eastern stand on their appeal of the NCAA playoff ban?

WE HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING IN TOO LONG!!!

From a letter to all Eagle fans in August 2009, Athletic Director Bill Chaves had this to say:

A number of you have asked me about the status of our appeal with the NCAA regarding the postseason play in football for the 2009 season. The Appeals Committee has invited us to Indianapolis on August 17th to hear our appeal. As for the process/decision timetable, we have yet to receive that information.

Well, even not knowing their future, the Eagles are still fighting.

The Eastern football team will try to start 4-0 in Big Sky play for the first time in school history when they host defending league co-champion Weber State next Saturday, Oct. 10. The Wildcats were ranked 11th before today's game, however, they were upset at home by Montana State 26-21 today.

Epic Photo: Eastern Jerseys

These are some jerseys that Brandon and I both agree are awesome. JustSON exclusives. These are real, twill sewn numbers jerseys.

Epic Photo: Eagles go with black jerseys

And they shutout Northern Colorado 16-0. Pretty good day for the Eags. Now, can anyone tell me how they heck I can get a black jersey?