The Eagles enter the game 8-2 on the season and are fifth in The Sports Network NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 Poll after a bye week. In their most recent action, the Eagles held off No. 11 Montana 36-26 on Nov. 8 in Cheney, Wash.
After coming ominously close to getting upended by PSU the last two seasons, the Eagles are hoping the upset bug doesn't infect them this week. Entering this week's game that counts toward the "Dam Cup" rivalry, PSU is 3-8 overall and 2-5 in the league. The Vikings are coming off a 48-41 loss at Sacramento State.
Portland State knocked off EWU 43-26 in Cheney in the 2011 season, then the Eagles had to squeak by the Vikings 41-34 in Portland in 2012 and 42-41 last year in Cheney. Records can be thrown out the window in this one -- Eastern was a collective 29-11 overall and 20-4 in the Big Sky in those three seasons, while PSU was just 16-18 and 10-14.
In last year's game, Eastern scored with 31 seconds left on a 74-yard drive that started with a minute to play and preserve EWU's first-ever perfect 8-0 finish in the Big Sky standings. Two years ago, the Eagles scored the winning points with 1:24 left on a 94-yard drive.
"They are a very talented team," said Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin, whose team has had more rushes (71) than rushing yards (70) in the last three meetings versus the Vikings. "Their coaching staff has done a very good job schematically every time we've played them, and what they've done against us offensively and defensively has been challenging. You can't predict any kind of score based on records – it just doesn't work that way. And it definitely doesn't work that way in this conference and against Portland State."
