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#9 Eastern Washington Eagles 2-1 (1-0 BSC) at
#17 Montana State Bobcats 2-1 (0-0 BSC)

Saturday, September 25 • 12:05 p.m. Pacific
Bobcat Stadium (13,500/FieldTurf) • Bozeman, Mont.

Radio: http://www.espnnorthwest.com/patchin-wingmen/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
TV: Televised in Montana by Max Media
Webcast: http://b2tv.com/upcoming_events.asp?q=v&value=bigsky" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Series History
- EWU leads 25-8
- Last meeting EWU won 35-24 in Cheney in 2009

Eastern is coming off a successful debut on its new red synthetic Sprinturf surface last Saturday (Sept. 18) in Cheney, Wash., defeating rival Montana 36-27 in the first game at Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field). Eastern scored the go-ahead points with four seconds left on a 31-yard field goal by Mike Jarrett, then added a fumble return for a touchdown on the final play to create bedlam after a record crowd of 11,702 attended the game.

The celebration after the huge win over the 12-time defending league champions had Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin bringing up Montana State quickly and often following the game. He speaks from experience -- he was an assistant coach in 2005 when Eastern followed a 34-20 road victory over Montana with a 28-23 home loss to Weber State.

"We have to be careful not to have that hangover game," said Baldwin. "Next week there are a lot of distractions. One, when you're coming off a game like this you have to be careful. We're playing a Montana State team that is good -- really good."

Recent history is on the side of the Eagles in a series that has seen EWU come out on top in 25 of 33 meetings. Eastern has won the last seven meetings and 16 of the last 19. Since 1990, EWU's only losses to the Bobcats came in 1997 (17-7 in Bozeman), 2001 (48-38 in Spokane) and 2002 (25-14 in Bozeman).

That winning streak for the Eagles could have easily ended last season at home against the Bobcats in EWU's 35-24 win. The game featured scoring runs of 14 and 21 unanswered points by the Eagles, and a mid-game run of 18-straight points by the Bobcats.

Eastern fell behind 24-14 early in the fourth quarter, but scored the final 21 points, including a pair of touchdown passes from Matt Nichols to Taiwan Jones. Tyler Hart closed the scoring with a 4-yard run with 1:49 to play -- the first rushing touchdown surrendered by MSU all season.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Eastern was 0-of-9 on third-down conversions and had only 201 yards of offense, compared to 470 for the Bobcats. But Eastern converted its last three third downs in the last five minutes of the game and had 193 yards of offense in the final quarter to finish with 394. Montana State finished with 592 yards of offense.

Eastern has won the last three meetings in Bozeman, with MSU's last win coming by a 25-14 score in 2002. In fact, Eastern has not lost to Montana State in the last seven times they have met at Roos Field, dating back to a 28-25 double-overtime victory by the Bobcats in 1990.

Injury Report

MSU - OT Conrad Burbank, knee (indefinitely); OG Ben Tauanuu, leg (indefinitely); DE Brad Smith, shoulder (season).
EWU - Freshman DE Anthony Larry, who made his first career start against Central Washington but suffered a slight knee injury early in the game, is still questionable after missing the Montana game.

Also of note:

Montana State football coach Rob Ash has suspended defensive tackle Jason D’Alba for Saturday’s game against Eastern Washington because of a hit on Drake’s quarterback during MSU’s 48-21 win Saturday. D’Alba’s hit was ruled a personal foul on the field, and after reviewing game film on Sunday Ash decided to level the suspension. “We don’t teach that kind of hit in our program, and we don’t condone it,” Ash said. “I don’t believe Jason’s intent was to injure, but our players are accountable for their actions.” The Big Sky Conference office will review the play on Monday.

MSU Coach Ash on preparing for Taiwan
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on playing EWU early in the season
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on replacing D'Alba and Tauanuu
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3 big bodied starters out isn't great, but replacing D'Alba will be easier than replacing Tauanuu, as we are pretty deep on the DL, but not so much the OL. If Sampson (6' 250) somehow wins the RG spot over Jess Hoffman (who played the Drake game after Tauanuu went down, 6'5 290), then we could be real small along the line. Coach Mac is one of the best OL coaches in FCS, so I have faith whoever steps up will play fine.

MSU is ready for it's first signature win of the season, the Eagles will be suffering a let down together with retina burn from playing on that horrible rug last week.

Cats- 35
EWU- 31

Why do you always put up Game Thread's almost a week away from the game?

cats will win this pretty easily and they will shut down Jones. Their D Ends will not let him get outside all day and he will be forced back inside where he wont hold up too well. If the cats dont turn the ball over they win this easily.


cats 34
TJ - 17


This one wont be close because TJ is all EWU has and its not enough.

Cats 24
Mudhens 10

As far as replacing starters go. Burbank OG probably won't be back this week but will be back earlier than expected. Tauanuu is out for the season. Dennehy OG who replaces Burbank has been playing all season at G position including the Wazzu game. He is a converted RB who put on 50 lbs of muscle (or mostly muscle) and is pretty agile on pulling etc. At the other spot the competition will open up between 5th year senior (who has struggled to stay healthy) and a talented sophomore that is now 270lbs not 250.

As a side note I believe that EWU starts a true freshman at on their guard positions so it isn't like they are loaded with seniors across their offensive line. EWU probably has the best offensive line (now that MSU's is beat up) in the conference as a whole.

As far as DT being suspended we will be going from a 4 man rotation to 3 man rotation and barring further injury we will try not to burn redshirt of our 6-4" 290 freshman that plays with an attitude.

BigSkyBears wrote:Why do you always put up Game Thread's almost a week away from the game?

It's 4 days before the game, and I do so to allow people who have a vested interest in the outcome, to discuss it before it's played. Since you don't have a vested interest because your team is not playing either MSU or EWU, and your team won't be contending for a BSC title, I don't see why you should give a shit why I post a football game thread on a football forum. Now kindly go outside, and play hide and go fuck yourself.

I think MSU is probably playing the best football in the BSC right now. As nice as the Montana win was, it's obvious the Griz are down this year - this game will be much harder to win, especially in Bozeman. We'll need to put a complete game together to walk out of there with a win.

bpcats wrote:As far as replacing starters go. Burbank OG probably won't be back this week but will be back earlier than expected. Tauanuu is out for the season. Dennehy OG who replaces Burbank has been playing all season at G position including the Wazzu game. He is a converted RB who put on 50 lbs of muscle (or mostly muscle) and is pretty agile on pulling etc. At the other spot the competition will open up between 5th year senior (who has struggled to stay healthy) and a talented sophomore that is now 270lbs not 250.

As a side note I believe that EWU starts a true freshman at on their guard positions so it isn't like they are loaded with seniors across their offensive line. EWU probably has the best offensive line (now that MSU's is beat up) in the conference as a whole.

As far as DT being suspended we will be going from a 4 man rotation to 3 man rotation and barring further injury we will try not to burn redshirt of our 6-4" 290 freshman that plays with an attitude.

EWU better pray we don't unleash Zach Logan upon them. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Laidet a bit in the middle, with O'Connell, Schreibeis, Bignell, & Gale at DE. It doesn't give us much size in the middle though. We'll see. D'Alba is a very solid DT and while losing him for a game isn't huge, we certainly take a small step back without him.

ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:cats will win this pretty easily and they will shut down Jones. Their D Ends will not let him get outside all day and he will be forced back inside where he wont hold up too well. If the cats dont turn the ball over they win this easily.


cats 34
TJ - 17


This one wont be close because TJ is all EWU has and its not enough.

Exactly what you said prior to last week's game too. How'd that work out for ya? Seriously, do society a favor and jump off a bridge.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

BigSkyBears wrote:Why do you always put up Game Thread's almost a week away from the game?

It's 4 days before the game, and I do so to allow people who have a vested interest in the outcome, to discuss it before it's played. Since you don't have a vested interest because your team is not playing either MSU or EWU, and your team won't be contending for a BSC title, I don't see why you should give a shit why I post a football game thread on a football forum. Now kindly go outside, and play hide and go fuck yourself.

OMFG!

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

BigSkyBears wrote:Why do you always put up Game Thread's almost a week away from the game?

It's 4 days before the game, and I do so to allow people who have a vested interest in the outcome, to discuss it before it's played. Since you don't have a vested interest because your team is not playing either MSU or EWU, and your team won't be contending for a BSC title, I don't see why you should give a **** why I post a football game thread on a football forum. Now kindly go outside, and play hide and go **** yourself.

D1B is correct, you are the new Douche bag on the board. Congrats. However the last thing I'm going to worry about is what a 20 year old kid has to say. Don't you have a Justin Bieber album to listen to?

BigSkyBears wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:
It's 4 days before the game, and I do so to allow people who have a vested interest in the outcome, to discuss it before it's played. Since you don't have a vested interest because your team is not playing either MSU or EWU, and your team won't be contending for a BSC title, I don't see why you should give a **** why I post a football game thread on a football forum. Now kindly go outside, and play hide and go **** yourself.

D1B is correct, you are the new Douche bag on the board. Congrats. However the last thing I'm going to worry about is what a 20 year old kid has to say. Don't you have a Justin Bieber album to listen to?

Apology accepted.

its funny now that EWU merked Montana.. every GBWH wants to hate on EWU.. knowin damn well that MSU is not gonna beat Eastern. Sounds like alot of wishful thinking! (count it )

btw Check that sig ya filthy animals!

BigSkyBears wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:
It's 4 days before the game, and I do so to allow people who have a vested interest in the outcome, to discuss it before it's played. Since you don't have a vested interest because your team is not playing either MSU or EWU, and your team won't be contending for a BSC title, I don't see why you should give a **** why I post a football game thread on a football forum. Now kindly go outside, and play hide and go **** yourself.

D1B is correct, you are the new Douche bag on the board. Congrats. However the last thing I'm going to worry about is what a 20 year old kid has to say. Don't you have a Justin Bieber album to listen to?

He appropriately answered your fascist question with force...or what you'd consider douchebaggery.

22 hours until game-time. Good number.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:22 hours until game-time. Good number.

Bet you been waiting to post that

Are you coming to the game? If so let me know and I'll let you know where our tailgate is.

canyoncat wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:22 hours until game-time. Good number.

Bet you been waiting to post that

Are you coming to the game? If so let me know and I'll let you know where our tailgate is.

Actually I wasn't, I just wanted to bump the thread, then I noticed it was only 22 hours away.

Wish I could make it, but no wheels so no dice. I'll be watching from BStv and watching the OSU/BSU game on the flat-screen.

You msu idiots better hope Taiwan Jones doesnt put up 500 total All Purpose yards up on msu's head tomorrow.

Check that sweet lookin sig baby!

less than 3 hours till game time...heading there with my 4 year old. Good luck Eastern, there is no red turf here.

Is this available online through the Big Sky Network or will it be on something like channelsurfing, justintv, etc? Finally bought the HDMI cable to connect the laptop to the TV and I'm trying to see my boy Taiwan on the big screen, stomping a mud hole in some pussy.

JMU DJ wrote:Is this available online through the Big Sky Network or will it be on something like channelsurfing, justintv, etc? Finally bought the HDMI cable to connect the laptop to the TV and I'm trying to see my boy Taiwan on the big screen, stomping a mud hole in some pussy.

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