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VS
#1 Eastern Washington Eagles (5-1, 4-0 BSC) vs. #30 Sacramento State Hornets (5-2, 3-1 BSC)

Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 • 4:05 p.m. Pacific
Roos Field (8,600) • Cheney, Wash.

* 2012 EWU HOMECOMING *

It’s Homecoming this Saturday (Oct. 20) for the top-ranked Eagles, but home-field advantage hasn’t meant a great deal as of late, as Sacramento State visits for a Big Sky Conference game in Cheney, Wash. Kickoff is 4:05 p.m. at Roos Field in Eastern’s 86th Annual Homecoming Game, with EWU owning a 50-32-3 record in its previous 85 Homecoming contests.

Eastern is coming off a 27-24 victory over second-ranked Montana State, giving the Eagles their first-ever 4-0 start in Big Sky Conference play. Thanks to losses to the top three teams in the Sports Network NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 poll, the win catapulted the 5-1 Eagles from sixth to the top spot. It’s the third-straight year Eastern has been ranked No. 1 at one point in the season. The lone loss for the Eagles this season was a narrow 24-20 setback at Washington State on Sept. 8.

The Hornets, who earlier this season knocked off a Pac-12 Conference foe for the second-straight year with a 30-28 victory at Colorado, are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Sky following last week’s 19-14 home victory over Weber State. Sac State is off to its best start in two decades, matching the 5-2 start of the 1992 squad.

In the previous 12 meetings between EWU and Sacramento State, the home team has won only twice (EWU 45-10 in 2004 and 28-24 in 2010). Eastern is 6-0 in Sacramento and 2-4 in Cheney in those 12 meetings. The Eagles are a perfect 11-0 against the Hornets in Sacramento, and lead the all-time series 16-4, including a 28-24 victory in Cheney in 2010.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05epJ2YYHwA[/youtube]

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:Updated with some articles. Few and far between so far this week. Goddamn Bee.

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:Updated with some articles. Few and far between so far this week. Goddamn Bee.

SuperHornet wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:Updated with some articles. Few and far between so far this week. Goddamn Bee.

Us Hornet fans have been complaining about that for years. They'll be the first to run a Sac scandal story, particularly if it involves football, but stories about the good things at CSUS are few and far between. Time was when they'd go overboard on UCD, even when they were still D-II, but now, I'm not so sure about that. Like many papers in our region, they're so lazy that they'd rather just run Cal/Stanford stories off the wire than actually do some legwork at the local school.

Sacramento State Hornets (5-2, 3-1 Big Sky) at No. 1 Eastern Washington Eagles (5-1, 4-0), 7:05 p.m.

Series record: Eastern Washington leads, 16-4

Last meeting: Eastern Washington 42, Sacramento State 35 (Oct. 22, 2011)

What to know: Eastern Washington is coming off a great week, to say the least. The Eagles defeated Montana State, 27-24, in Bozeman and are off to their first ever 4-0 start in conference play. With the win over previously second- ranked MSU, Eastern jumped to No. 1 in the FCS Top 25 and has now been ranked at the top spot for at least one week in three straight seasons.

When you look at its resume, EWU has nice wins over FBS Idaho, Montana and Montana State and controls its own destiny in the big picture of the Big Sky. Even though the high-octane offense totaled just 211 yards last week, it took big plays on special teams and a huge pick-six to steal a win on the road. This week, however, coach Beau Baldwin must have his squad focused and ready to move on.

Sacramento State is off to its best start in two decades, matching the 5-2 record of the 1992 squad. In the series, largely led by the Eagles, the last 12 meetings have seen the home team win just twice.

The Hornets aren't exactly accustomed to the limelight, but last week the defense played outstanding in a 19-14 win over Weber State. Three players reached double-digits in tackles, while the unit as a whole forced three turnovers and five sacks.

Sacramento State's defense in general is great against the run, allowing 111 yards per game, which will help because EWU struggled last week to find balance offensively, and really has for most of the season.

Quarterback Vernon Adams didn't have his best performance versus the Bobcats last week, but he has too many weapons spread out to play catch with. Don't overlook an EWU defense which leads the conference in scoring defense at 20 points per game. Plus, Eastern is now 19-1 in the last three years after Oct. 1.

Prediction: Eastern Washington 40, Sacramento State 30

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

SDHornet wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

Laugh all you want but that's worked 5 times this year.

Grizo406 wrote:I don't know if it means anything, but didn't the #33 ranked team beat the #1 ranked team last week?

uofmman1122 wrote:I feel avatarilly obligated to cheer for EWU now.

EWURanger wrote:I'm worried about a let-down game. Sac State has a good team and are capable of beating EWU if we play like we did offensively against MSU. Although, Sac's defense may not be as good as MSU's and we will be confident playing at home where we are difficult to beat. Road wins are hard to come by in the Big Sky.

Also, Sac State is kinda a tough one to figure out. The drubbing by NMSU and then the win at Colorado. The suspect loss to UND...hmmm.


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EWURanger wrote:I'm worried about a let-down game. Sac State has a good team and are capable of beating EWU if we play like we did offensively against MSU. Although, Sac's defense may not be as good as MSU's and we will be confident playing at home where we are difficult to beat. Road wins are hard to come by in the Big Sky.

Also, Sac State is kinda a tough one to figure out. The drubbing by NMSU and then the win at Colorado. The suspect loss to UND...hmmm.


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SDHornet wrote:

uofmman1122 wrote:I feel avatarilly obligated to cheer for EWU now.

You lose a bet?

uofmman1122 wrote:

SDHornet wrote: You lose a bet?

Yeah, I bet SE that the 49ers would beat Seattle by more than 7 points.