Eastern Washington Eagles (10-2) vs Illinois State Redbirds (9-3)
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012 • 3:00 p.m. Pacific
Roos Field (8,600) • Cheney, Wash.
Webcast: ESPN3
Radio: http://spokaneradio.com/player/kxlxam.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Series: ISU leads 1-0.
http://goeags.com/sports/m-footbl/2012- ... inoisState" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;The Redbirds will probably not be swayed by seeing lots of red at “The Inferno” this week in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
The Eastern Washington University football team puts its 6-0 record against the 6-0 road record of Illinois State this Saturday (Dec. 8) at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Kickoff on EWU’s red turf is 3:05 p.m. Pacific time in a game broadcast live on ESPN3.
While Eastern advanced in the playoffs with yet another come-from-behind performance – a 29-19 victory over Wagner last Saturday (Dec. 1) -- the Redbirds upset Appalachian State 38-37 in overtime in Boone, N.C. As a result, 9-3 ILS will get to travel West this time to face the 10-2 Eagles. The only losses this season for the Redbirds were home setbacks to Southern Illinois (17-0), Missouri State (24-17) and North Dakota State (38-20).
Eastern finished the regular season ranked fourth in the final regular season Sports Network Top-25 poll, and earned a the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. The Redbirds were ranked 16th in the poll, but were as high as ninth after starting the season 5-0 for the first time since 1967
The Eagles are 6-0 at Roos Field, and are 16-2 at The Inferno since 2010 when the red turf was installed and the stadium was renamed to Roos Field (formerly Woodward Field). Eastern was 8-0 at home during the debut year when EWU won the NCAA Division I title.
The Redbirds are from the Missouri Valley Conference, which includes top-ranked and No. 1 seed North Dakota State. Of their six road wins, three have come versus ranked foes – 35-28 over No. 8 Youngstown State on Oct. 13, 17-10 over No. 14 Indiana State on Nov. 3 and 38-37 versus seventh-seeded Appalachian State last week.
Eastern captured a share of the Big Sky Conference title and the league’s automatic playoff berth with a 7-1 league record. Of Eastern’s seven Big Sky wins this season, six came by a combined margin of 28 points – one by seven points, two six-point wins and a trio by just three points.
In all, Eastern has won six games this season when trailing in the third quarter (Montana, Montana State, Sacramento State, UC Davis, Portland State, Wagner). Since 2010, Eastern has won 11 games when they’ve trailed or been tied in the fourth quarter, including three this season (Montana, Montana State, UC Davis).
On the other side of the coin, the Eagles are only seven points from an unbeaten season, having last-possession chances to pull out wins in both of their losses. Baldwin is enjoying the team’s climb to get back to the NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas, it won in 2010.
“You don’t go to the bottom of Mount Rainier and say you are going to take it one step at a time – you go to climb to the top of it,” he said. “That’s my mindset -- I am going to climb to the top of the mountain, but the question is how are we going to get to the top? It’s the team that takes care of each step. You have your eye on that prize, but you have to understand the process. We talk about 180 minutes (left) and they know the process in those 180 minutes. The next 60 minutes are the most important.”
Eastern is 0-1 all-time against Illinois State, losing 31-14 at Spokane’s Albi Stadium in 1987. The Eagles are 2-8 all-time versus current members of the Missouri Valley Conference, including a 38-31 overtime victory over North Dakota State in Cheney in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Playoffs.
The Redbirds had the top passing offensive in the MVC, with a current average of 253.6 yards per game to rank 25th in FCS. Senior quarterback Matt Brown, who passed for 322 yards and five touchdowns versus Appalachian State, is 22nd nationally with an average of 249.8 yards per game. Illinois State’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach is Luke Huard, who is formerly from Puyallup, Wash., and played at North Carolina.
Eastern is ranked ninth in FCS in passing offense (301.2 per game), but Illinois State has the nation’s ninth-best defensive passing efficiency rating (105.7). The Redbirds have intercepted 16 passes to rank fourth nationally, including seven by senior free safety Ben Erickson to rank second in FCS (0.58 per game)
