Sacramento State 3-3 (2-2 BSC) @ #8 Eastern Washington 5-2 (4-1 BSC)
Saturday, October 23 • 1:05 p.m. Pacific
Roos Field (8,600/Sprinturf) • Cheney, Wash.
HOMECOMING
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Webcast: http://b2tv.com/upcoming_events.asp?q=v&value=bigsky" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Series History:
EWU leads 14-4
2009: EWU 56-30 (Sac)
2008: SAC 15-13 (Cheney)
2007: EWU 38-30 (Sac)
2006: SAC 21-20 (Cheney)
What home-field advantage?
The eighth-ranked Eastern Washington University football team hosts Sacramento State this Saturday (Oct. 23) in the 19th game of a series in which the home team has won just four times previously. Kickoff at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash., is 1:05 p.m. in the 84th annual Homecoming game at EWU.
Making the task even more challenging for Eastern is that Sacramento State has one of its best teams this year -- if not the best -- since joining the Big Sky Conference in 1996. The Hornets are 3-3 this season and 2-2 in the league, and their losses -- namely three-point heartbreakers to Montana and Montana State -- are maybe even more impressive than their wins.
Now 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the league, Sac State had a bye last week and hasn't played since blasting Northern Colorado 42-7 on Sept. 9. One week earlier, the Hornets fell to Montana State 64-61 in overtime in a game in which they scored 35 points in the third quarter. That followed a narrow 28-25 road loss at Montana.
The Hornets also had a bye prior to playing the Eagles last year, but Eastern rolled up a 35-9 halftime lead and won 56-30 in Sacramento.
"I know what we're up against and it's going to be tough," said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin, whose team has squeaked out victories in their last two outings. "There are certain things that happened in the last two weeks that we won't get away with against Sac State. It's still a matter of coming together and fixing those heading into next week. We're just trying to find a way to get to 5-1 in the league next week -- that's our goal."
Eastern's defense has been the driving force behind EWU's 5-2 record overall thus far -- its best start since winning the Big Sky Conference title in 1997 as the Eagles were the last team other than Montana to win the league title outright. Eastern's 4-1 league mark is its best five-game start since 2004. Eastern finished the 1997 regular season 10-1 overall and 7-1 in the league, and in 2004 EWU was 6-1 in the league and 8-3 in the regular season.
But they face a huge test against a Sac State team currently ranked 15th in FCS in scoring offense (33.3 per game) and 31st in total offense (382.3). Eastern has the 48th-best rushing defense at 139.7 per game and is 36th in scoring defense (27.6 points per game). Interestingly, only two of the 117 FCS schools are worse than the Eagles and Hornets in passing yards allowed per game -- Eastern is 114th (271.3) and Sac State is 115th (278.2).
Poor fella.
