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.

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.

Video Bites: Dirty Birds

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Eastern Washington Eagles football in FCS Playoffs:
http://goeags.com/sports/m-footbl/200...

FCS playoff bracket:
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/ts...

University of Montana tunnel pre-game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YlCEE...

Eastern Washington Eagle volleyball:
http://goeags.com/sports/w-volley/200...

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My life is ruined

Disappointment would be an understatement. Ever hear of the "Kiss of Death"? Yeah, the NCAA just kissed Eastern Washington University.

The Eastern Washington University football program has been put on three years probation and is banned from postseason due to what the NCAA calls “major violations.”

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions released the report on Wednesday.

The violations include impermissible participation by ineligible student-athletes in practice activities, the use of too many countable coaches, failure to monitor by former head coach Paul Wulff, now the head coach at Washington State, and a lack of institutional control and failure to monitor by the university.

Additional penalties include financial aid reductions, coaching limitations and recruiting restrictions.

According the NCAA, during the 2003-04 through the 2006-07 academic years, 13 football student-athletes were allowed to participate in practice activities even though they were non-qualifiers, they did not have their eligibility certified by the university or the NCAA, or did not meet transfer requirements.

.....

I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now. See you when baseball starts up again.

Eastern Washington Update: At least we dont have a baseball team

... and we never had this guy on our roster. As much as I would like to rake A-Roid over the coals, there's a couple things you have to consider.

1. He used to play for Seattle before winning the lottery and moving to Texas. Keep in mind too that there are some pretty suspicious players on the M's roster that (cough) Brett Boone (cough) probably juiced up.

2. The roids certainly didn't help him clutch situations.

3. He's definitely not the first, nor is he the minority in Major League Baseball when it comes to use.

4. NFL players are getting arrested for drug possessions, armed robberies, conspiracy theories, aiding the Communists in Indiana Jones 4, sampling high school parties and I'm pretty sure they have something to do with global warming. Yet it's baseball with the image problem. Sheesh.

Now on to the Eastern Washington University Update. The men's basketball team swept the weekend after disposing of NAU 54-50 in a thriller at Reese Court On Saturday. Their Thursday game was obviously a lot less exciting when they jumped out to a 41-9 lead AT HALFTIME against Sacramento State. Maybe if they were juicing, the Hornets could have made double digits.

But now interestingly enough, the Eagles have won two straight after losing six straight which puts them in sixth place in the conference at 5-7. Which means that if the season ended today they would go to the Big Sky Conference tournament. Wow.

The Eagles do have to go on the road to play first-place Weber State and seventh-place Idaho State this weekend. But what could work in their favor is the tendency for the first-place team in the conference to coast through the few final games of the season. This always happens, stone-cold lock. That's why college basketball is the anti-college football, a meaningful regular season? meh.

EWU SCHEDULE (Thanks Dave Cook, EWU SID, for making my life so much easier!)

Eastern Washington Update: Boy does Sacramento State ever stink

Eastern Washington had gone into their Thursday night game against the Hornets having lost six straight.

Then Sacramento State committed 14 turnovers an shot only 18 percent from the field as the Eagles opened up a 41-9 halftime lead.

Wow. And they only ended up winning the game 67-46.

Here's my copy-and-paste journalism at it's best. Everyone should thank SID Dave Cook for generally being a saint and bringer of good news:

Although out-scored 37-26 in the second half, Eastern was never threatened as EWU snapped a six-game losing streak. Eastern hosts Northern Arizona Saturday (Feb. 7) at Reese Court in another pivotal game that begins at 7:05 p.m. Pacific time.

Having fallen to eighth place in the BSC standings during their skid, the Eagles are back into seventh in the league at 4-7 with a 10-13 record overall. Ninth-place Sacramento State lost its 34th consecutive road game and is now 1-9 in the Big Sky and 2-21 overall. Northern Arizona, which fell at Portland State 78-66 on Thursday, is now in eighth in the league with a 3-7 record, and is 6-15 overall.

Five Eagles scored at least eight points, led by the 14 points and eight rebounds by 6-foot-9 junior center Brandon Moore. Senior forward Andy Genao added 13 points and nine rebounds as EWU had a commanding 39-21 advantage on the boards.

Eagles season leading scorer Benny Valentine had 11 points, but really what was important is that Brandon Moore had a good night. He takes the Eagles anywhere he goes, meaning that if he has a good evening, EWU usually has a good evening.

Now the question becomes can they turn things around? Certainly if teams in the Big Sky keep shooting 18 percent from the field they should be able to.