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

Final AP FBS Top 25

Today is a sad day. The college football season is over. But what a season it was. Especially for Eastern Washington University.

What a magical season for the Eagles. So magical in fact that during the final AP FBS Top 25 Poll, Eastern Washington received one vote.

Awesome!

Eastern Washington University football playoffs

It's playoff fever around Cheney, Washington today!

Eastern is the number one team in the nation and the number five seed into the FCS playoffs.

Check out this video that Brandon and I made about the Eastern gameday experience last year.

Go Eagles! Defend the Red Turf!

Southeast Missouri State getting ready for frozen Cheney

Eastern Washington University football and their playoff starts tomorrow on the Red Turf of Roos Field.

The first playoff game for the Inferno.

But despite the heat of the Inferno and the Red Turf, the snow is in Cheney.

And Southeast Missouri State players will be cold.

In an article from the Southeast Missourian talks about how the Redhawks are gearing up for the cold weather.

The red-hot Redhawks are set to play in a cold and snowy climate when they face off Saturday against Eastern Washington University in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. And Southeast Missouri State football players are getting some new equipment to survive the blustery Northwest conditions. It's the first playoff berth in the history of the football program, so it's the first time the Redhawks have played after Thanksgiving and in temperatures expected to dip into the low 20s.

First time playing football in the 20s?!?!Wow.

But that's not all. When they say the team is "gearing up" to play in the snow, they aren't joking. The University dropped over $20,000 on cold weather gear for the game. These include hooded capes, hats, gloves, hand warmers and other cold-weather gear.

And the best part is how the writer described Cheney.

Cheney is a cold, windy, wet place in winter, but this fall it has been especially snowy. The region set a snowfall record in November, and ground crews at Roos Field, where the Eastern Washington Eagles play, have spent the past few days clearing about a foot and a half of snow from the field and stands. Yep that pretty much sums it up.

Welcome to Cheney, Southeast Missouri State. Sorry you'll be heading home with a loss.

Football Championship Subdivision playoffs: Quarterfinals

Despite the fact that there was no Eastern Washington football today, the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs are still going on. And there was some crazy games.

Mainly the Appalachian State and Richmond game.

These two teams have won the last four FCS titles. Appalachian State claimed the crown in 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2008 the Richmond Spiders beat Montana.

Two powerhouses, only one could advance this year. And they didn't disappoint.

Richmond scored first with a touchdown. Appalachian State answered back with one of their own. Richmond eventually spread their lead to 24-14 in the early 4th quarter.

Appalachian State would come back with 14 unanswered to go up 28-24 with 4:27 remaining in the game.

But Richmond proved why they were the champs last year as they fought back to take the lead 31-28 with just 3:26 to go.

But sadly for the Spiders that was 3:16 too long.

The Mountaineers of Appalachian State stormed down the field and capped a 70 yard drive with a 4 yard touchdown pass from Armanti Edwards to Matt Cline. After an extra point, Appalachian State lead 35-31. And that's where the score remained. It was an amazing finish.

But this means that there will be no repeat champion this year. Someone new will emerge for the 2009 season. Here's the scores from the other three games:

Montana - 51
Stephen F. Austin - 0

William & Mary - 24
Southern Illinois - 3

Villanova - 46
New Hampshire -7

Needless to say, these other three games were less than close and were pretty much poundings. Nothing worth reporting other than they weren't even close.

Here's how the Semifinals shape up:

Appalachian State (11-2) at Montana (13-0)

William & Mary (11-2) at Villanova (12-1)

Football Championship Subdivision playoffs

Yes, the Eagles lost. And that was sad. Very sad.

And Montana won. That was even sadder.

Yet, since you can't find a lot of information on the FCS playoffs here's how the weekend panned out:

Montana over South Dakota State: 61-48

Stephen F. Austin over Eastern Washington: 44-33

Richmond over Elon: 16-13

Appalachian State over SC State: 20-13

Villanova over Holy Cross: 38-28

New Hampshire over McNeese State: 49-13

Southern Illinois over Eastern Illinois: 48-7

William and Mary over Weber State: 38-0

That means that the Quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs, on December 5th, look like this:

Stephen F. Austin at Montana

Appalachian State at Richmond

New Hampshire at Villanova

William and Mary at Southern Illinois

You can find a printable bracket here.