After a heart-pounding win to open the season, a heart-breaking loss at Washington and a heart-stopping victory at Montana State, this week the Eastern Washington University football team heads to foreign territory.
The second-ranked Eagles open their 2014 Big Sky Conference schedule when EWU plays its first-ever game at UC Davis this Saturday (Sept. 27) at Aggie Stadium in Davis, Calif. Kickoff is 6:05 p.m. Pacific time in a game carried live on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at http://www.700espn.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, with pre-game coverage starting 1 1/2 hours prior to kickoff.
The Eagles put their 10-game league winning streak on the line this week, having not lost since falling 30-27 at Southern Utah on Oct. 27, 2012. The Eagles are 20-2 in their last 22 Big Sky games dating back to a 0-2 start in 2011.
This is only the fourth time the Eagles and Aggies have met, but the first time in California. Eastern has won the three meetings – non-league games in 2005 (24-7) and 2007 (41-31), and the first-ever Big Sky Conference match-up in 2012 (31-28). The Eagles will need plenty of heart again this week to open the league season with a win – two years ago EWU needed a blocked field goal to preserve the slim, three-point victory at home.
"We didn't play them last year, but we saw a lot of crossover video and I was very impressed with their style on offense," said Baldwin of the Aggies, who feature a talented running back in senior Gabe Manzanares. They are very disciplined and physical, and they understand who they are. And they believe in it, and it shows up. On the other side of the ball, I think they are going to be one of the best defenses we see all year. They play as a group, and you can tell they practice being physical because of the style of offense they face every day. I've been impressed."
The Aggies had a bye last week, and are 1-2 with a pair of losses to FBS teams. UC Davis fell to Stanford 45-0, beat Fort Lewis 52-17 and then fell 49-21 to Colorado State, whose head coach is former EWU player and assistant coach Jim McElwain.
