Eastern Washington is a real good looking football team. The defending FCS champions have a very good shot of repeating this season. They are the type of team that can come into Husky Stadium much like Nevada did a few years ago and lay an unlikely loss on Washington if the Huskies are not prepared to battle.
Eastern has 61 kids from the state of Washington on its roster. This is the game of the century for this program. Not to mention the game of a lifetime for every kid on this roster. Forget that big win over Delaware to win the FCS championship last season. A win over a BCS school like Washington would be the ultimate for this program and every kid on its roster.
So I guess you can say going in that Eastern isn't going to have a much of a problem getting up for this game. They are going to come out and hit Washington in the mouth immediately. They are going to take chances and they are going to go for broke and test the Washington secondary deep.
What will win this game for Washington is better overall talent and depth. Eastern is going to battle and keep it interesting early but Washington will wear these guys down and eventually roll. The only thing that can really prevent that from happening would be UW turnovers.
Bo Levi Mitchell is good looking quarterback who is going to get a long look at the next level. He is going to test the Huskies early while the defense adjusts to the Eagles four wide out sets. The Eagles also should sport a pretty good running game even though Taiwan Jones has left for the NFL.
Washington isn't going to look past Eastern Washington. The Huskies are as excited to play the Eagles as anyone else they will play on their schedule this season. The in state players know most of the in state players on the EWU roster. In many cases a lot of these kids have been competing against each other since ninth grade.
I think both sides are looking forward to this contest but in the end the Huskies will wear drown the scrappy Eagles in the second half. Bo Levi Mitchell is going to spend quite a bit of time on his back looking up into the sky once the Eag's fall behind and go one dimensional.
Mitchell needs to face the facts. Eastern played one D1 school, Nevada, and lost 49-24. They lost to Montana St. 30-7, and only beat Central Washington by 3 points. Most of their Big Sky games last year were close. In 2009 they lost to Cal, 59-7. Are they really a threat to upset a young Washington team that is on the rise...I don't think so...Huskies prevail 38-17!
Bulletin Board Material
"They are picking this game for a reason,'' Bo Levi Mitchell said of UW scheduling Eastern. "They want to come in and get an easy win to start the season out, and I know how that is coming from SMU and playing two (FCS) teams --- you just prepare differently. And we are going to take full advantage of that and just try to come out and smack them in the mouth.''
Well, it seemed EWU was going to be relatively healthy going into this game. We have known True Freshman Cody McCarthy, the 2011 Idaho State Player of the year, would be out with a hyper-extended knee, as well as a few other players, none of which were starters. It is unknown whether or not he will now RS, but it would have been doubtful McCarthy would have seen the field against UW except perhaps on Special Teams.
Unfortunately, starting right tackle Will Post, a 6-6 300 pound Junior will miss the game with an ankle sprain. Sophomore Caleb Worthington, a 6-7 295 pound sophomore will start in his stead. This will be Worthington's first career start, and he will have the daunting task of trying to block UW's big LE. He better be up to the task. The O-Line will of course be anchored by Senior All-American Chris Powers. Senior AA Gabe Jackson will protect Mitchell's blind-side. A big surprise at right guard, where Sophomore Ashton Miller has beaten out RS Freshman Jase Butorac for the starting spot. Butorac was the leader in spring ball to take over for the departed Nikalai Meyers.
No other changes to the starting line-up at this time. Mario Brown will get the start at RB, but expect 3 or 4 different running backs to get looks in this one - that is when we do attempt to try to run the ball, which I am thinking will be only to try and keep UW's LB's honest. Who knows, though, perhaps Sophomore Demitrius Bronson (UW transfer) will have a little extra motivation to show some people what he's got.
Go Eags!
Last edited by EWURanger on Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
DuckDuckGriz wrote:Washington fans seem to think EWU doesn't even belong in the same city.
And I say
GOOOOOOOOOOOO EAGS!!!!!!!
I am sure that UW and Wazzu fans are both sick of hearing about Ewoooos national chanpionship, betting that the Huskies are ready to go out and set the record straight, that all being said I am still cheering for Ewooooo.
bpcats wrote:Good luck today. Look forward to watching the matchup in the trenches. I expect a good battle. Your team is really experienced at key positions.
I'd obviously love to get a win, but I think it's going to take a UW melt-down (turnovers, broken coverages) for that to happen. FCS teams aren't doing too well so far, so to be honest I'd like us to make a good showing and come out of the game injury-free.....Something tells me UW is going to be gunning for us big-time, so it wouldn't surprise me if they try and run up the score. Just gotta weather the storm! I cannot imagine how completely pumped this team must be to play this game.....61 kids from the state of Washington, about 80% of which are from the west side. Lots of talk going on from both sides in this one. They've been playing a radio interview with Mitchell in the Seattle area which stated he thinks we will beat UW and trying to use it as some sort of motivation.......well WTF do people expect him to say? The UW fans may not be thinking much of this game, but it appears Sarkisian and company are taking it seriously.
At Husky Stadium on Saturday, only one set of fans will be wearing newly printed "National Champions" T-shirts.
And they won't be the guys in purple.
Eastern Washington University arrives on a roll for its first-ever football game against the University of Washington. The Eagles have a 2010 football championship, record enrollment and a national ranking as a best-value college.
Record enrollment
EWU's 2010 freshman class boosted enrollment to a record 10,750 (full-time students). About half of the incoming freshmen are the first in their families to attend college, said EWU spokesman David Meany.
Eastern expects a record freshman class this year. Demand this year was so high that EWU cut off enrollment in May, instead of the usual August deadline.
Alumni boast of small class sizes and home telephone calls from professors. But they also carry a chip on their collective shoulder.
"There's a general perception that once you go over the mountains, you hear nothing on the radio but the '80s. To a certain extent its true," said Chuck Dennis, a 1984 EWU alum and co-founder of the Bellevue wireless company Finsphere.
Lisa Poplawski, EWU's alumni director, lists off famous alumni: Todd McFarlane, creator of the animated TV show Spawn; Colin Cowherd, an ESPN radio host; and Thomas Hampson, an opera singer. She gracefully weathers jokes about Cheney, EWU's dot-on-a-map hometown. "It's a hands-on university," she said. "You are not a number."
That gives fans like Mike Vander Veer — aka "Screaming Eagle" on the EWU fan forum — hope. The fan forum invoked the miraculous win by Division I-AA Appalachian State over the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2007.
"At Eastern, we have the underdog mentality. Everyone, well, they don't disrespect us, but they don't respect us. We cherish the underdog role," said Vander Veer, a 2009 alum. He'll be meeting up with other EWU alumni before the game, including a Mercer Island native who planned to paint his face half red, half purple.
He'll be meeting up with other EWU alumni before the game, including a Mercer Island native who planned to paint his face half red, half purple.
If that dude is an EWU alum...punch the purple off the other side of his face.
There is little that bothers me more than someone who graduates from an FCS school but cheers for an instate rival.
From a post on PantherNation from a former UNI player about what he learned when he played against ISU
I care because on that day I learned one thing, when it comes to the Panthers you are with us, or against us. The choice is yours. Don't say it, live it, act it, breathe it.
The UW fans may not be thinking much of this game, but it appears Sarkisian and company are taking it seriously. 
