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#4 Montana State Bobcats (7-2, 5-0 BSC) at #3 Eastern Washington Eagles (7-2, 5-0 BSC)

Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013 • 12:10 p.m. Pacific
Roos Field (8,600) • Cheney, Wash.

Roos Field has yet another date with destiny this week.

The Eastern Washington University football team will try to secure the 500th win in school history when fourth-ranked Montana State visits the third-ranked Eagles in an epic showdown in the Big Sky Conference. Kickoff Saturday (Nov. 9) at Roos Field in 12:10 p.m. Pacific time in a battle between a pair of 5-0 league teams.

The sold-out game will be televised live on ROOT Sports, as the Eagles will end the regular season with three-straight games on the regional network. The Eagles and Bobcats are each 7-2 on the season, and this is the first matchup between Big Sky teams ranked in the top five in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision since 1994 when No. 1 Montana hosted No. 3 Idaho and won 45-21.

“It’s definitely a huge game,” said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin. “It doesn’t matter who it is, it would be a huge game. We’re both undefeated coming into it so it makes it that much bigger.”

Both teams are on a roll, with EWU entering with a five-game winning streak after last week’s 55-34 victory over Idaho State. The Bobcats, meanwhile, knocked off Northern Colorado 35-28 and has also won five-in-a-row. In fact, the last losses for both schools came more than a month ago at the hands of Southland Conference schools – EWU 49-34 at Sam Houston State on Sept. 28 and MSU seven days earlier by a 52-38 score to Stephen F. Austin. Eastern’s other loss was 33-21 to NCAA Football Championship Subdivision foe Toledo, and MSU’s other loss was 31-30 at SMU, another FBS foe.

Thus far in the Big Sky Conference games, MSU has out-scored opponents 202-88, or an average score of 40-17. Eastern has defeated its five BSC foes by a 207-114 margin – a 41-22 average score.

“Once you get down to a game on that particular day, it’s its own game,” Baldwin said. “No matter what happened in the weeks prior to it, it can go a lot of different directions just on a few plays early.”

In last year’s meeting, the Eagles scored only one offensive touchdown and kicked two field goals in a 27-24 victory over the second-ranked Bobcats. Eastern, ranked sixth at the time, scored on a blocked punt by Dylan Zylstra that was recovered for a touchdown by Evan Day, and then Jordan Tonani returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown to rally EWU from a 17-13 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

Tonani, who is redshirting this season after surgery to both hips, was just the first of a recent epidemic of injuries at safety. Most recently, free safety Tevin McDonald was lost with a broken fibula, leaving a converted cornerback (Miles Weatheroy) and a walk-on redshirt freshman (Zach Bruce) to take over those positions.

“We have to keep getting the next player up and ready to go,” said Baldwin. “We are definitely in a spot right now where we will be playing some young players and some guys might be moving position-wise. But that’s football. Certain years you have certain positions that get hit a lot harder by injuries. Other players have to step up and find a way. We’ll be fine.”

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:The Eagles and Bobcats are each 7-2 on the season, and this is the first matchup between Big Sky teams ranked in the top five in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision since 1994 when No. 1 Montana hosted No. 3 Idaho and won 45-21.

BlackFalkin wrote:

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:The Eagles and Bobcats are each 7-2 on the season, and this is the first matchup between Big Sky teams ranked in the top five in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision since 1994 when No. 1 Montana hosted No. 3 Idaho and won 45-21.

Easily the game of the year. I think Eastern gets out ahead early and the bobcats can't catch up.

SACCAT wrote:Should be a great game. the way the stats look, it is pretty even. I will take the Cats by 7 because

1. Cody Kirk is healthy
2. There is no way our defense can play that bad 2 weeks in a row
3. I am a Cat fan

AZGrizFan wrote:What's the line on this game?

profisme wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:What's the line on this game?

I would bet it will be EWU @-3 to start with. The o/u for that line is about 7 though,

GrizMadman wrote:One unsung hero for the Eagles is Cooper Kupp. He's a difference maker in a game. He was vs. the Griz.

TheHerd wrote:Hey Eagle fans, just curious what is your guys percentage of pass to run....60/40??

uofmman1122 wrote:Cody Kirk isn't enough to beat Eastern.

MSU needs McGhee to throw at least 4 TDs to keep it close, IMO.

CatBlitz22 wrote:

uofmman1122 wrote:Cody Kirk isn't enough to beat Eastern.

MSU needs McGhee to throw at least 4 TDs to keep it close, IMO.

That's why we have Johnson too.

kalm wrote:

TheHerd wrote:Hey Eagle fans, just curious what is your guys percentage of pass to run....60/40??

Probably a little more even than that. We threw it a ton against OSU and Montana because it was there all day. By the same token, we ran it for 311 against ISU.

TheHerd wrote:Hey Eagle fans, just curious what is your guys percentage of pass to run....60/40??

Screamin_Eagle174 wrote:

kalm wrote:
Probably a little more even than that. We threw it a ton against OSU and Montana because it was there all day. By the same token, we ran it for 311 against ISU.

I guess you'll both be surprised to know that EWU has ran the ball slightly more than passed. Think it was 319 rush, 310 pass on the year.

http://bobcatnation.com/node/603" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

uofmman1122 wrote:

CatBlitz22 wrote:
That's why we have Johnson too.

I'll eat serious crow if I'm wrong, but you won't beat EWU rushing the ball.

AZGrizFan wrote:

profisme wrote:
I would bet it will be EWU @-3 to start with. The o/u for that line is about 7 though,

Well, THAT really narrows it down, doesn't it?