Choking the chicken...

[LDopaPDX]

If you're going to schedule yourself three straight road games coming off a national championship, you sure as **** better show up and win a couple of them. Or you lose all your momentum.

That was embarrassing on every level. We scheduled arrogantly to think we'd walk into South Dakota and win easy for no money whatsoever between big game, then we don't even bother to show up. Half of our damn starters had to be benched at times in this game. Our play on both lines was atrocious; our start DT was pulled multiple times in the 4th quarter. We can't tackle worth a shit on defense (Jeez, we must've missed 100 tackles over the course of the day). We can't play clutch on third down. And our QB (again) throws an interception for a TD. But how do you get too mad when he has no running game whatsoever? Bronson and Brown both got relegated to watching the game.

We're 0-2, probably not worht ranking in the top 25... and it's must win time at Montana. They took care of business against a much better Cal Poly team than we flopped against.

 

[EWURanger]

If you're going to schedule yourself three straight road games coming off a national championship, you sure as **** better show up and win a couple of them. Or you lose all your momentum.

That was embarrassing on every level. We scheduled arrogantly to think we'd walk into South Dakota and win easy for no money whatsoever between big game, then we don't even bother to show up. Half of our damn starters had to be benched at times in this game. Our play on both lines was atrocious; our start DT was pulled multiple times in the 4th quarter. We can't tackle worth a shit on defense (Jeez, we must've missed 100 tackles over the course of the day). We can't play clutch on third down. And our QB (again) throws an interception for a TD. But how do you get too mad when he has no running game whatsoever? Bronson and Brown both got relegated to watching the game.

We're 0-2, probably not worht ranking in the top 25... and it's must win time at Montana. They took care of business against a much better Cal Poly team than we flopped against.

Can't disagree with too much there. I said before the game that USD would be a good team. I hate to say it, but it looks like we either (A) overlooked these guys or (B) just not very good. I hope I'm wrong about at least one of those.

We played with all the intensity and passion against the Huskies and then barely show up the very next week. Now we are faced with the daunting task of having to win @ Missoula and then try to somehow win at home against MSU. Without some passion and some semblence of a running game we won't win either one of those. Montana's secondary is better than USD's by a long shot. We were able to beat them last year because they had to respect the running game with TJ which opened up some big plays for Kaufman. I'm not going to put this loss on Mitchell. When you have to pass the ball 70 times, of course you are going to get picked a couple times a game. Unfortunately, it seems that the only way we are going to move the ball at all is by throwing every down. Live by the pass, die by the pass. The defense looked confused a lot of the time out there, too.

The big question is: How will this team respond?

 

[eaglesfootball]

no one said it was going to be easy. The game next week will depend on whether or not we can finally run the ball some. even just 30% of the time with a little productivity there would help immensely. We will learn about how well this team responds to adversity next week

 

[EWURanger]

no one said it was going to be easy.

With big success comes big expectations. But I agree, not time to press the panic button. The season's still early. Didn't we pretty much have to win our last several games in 2007 AND 2009 to even make the playoffs. I think this was just one of those games, and I sort of don't think we'll see such an uninspired performance like that again. Let's go guys.........huge must-win game coming up Saturday.

 

[kalm]

Gut check time for senior leadership. We are about to go into a much more challenging environment, against a much better secondary, and another mobile QB.

 

[TRochon]

We're still in this thing, we just need to come out firing on all cylinders from here on out. Our secondary played decently, but once again we were shut down with the run and SD had a great 3rd down team. The amount of turnovers we're producing is making me want to throw up, but as stated by EWURanger, Bo Levi is throwing so many passes an interception or two is bound to happen. It's better to lose in the beginning of the season than the end and I very much have faith in Beau Baldwin to lead us to victory over Montana and MSU these coming weeks. I'm expecting the Eagles to slow down the pace of the game and focus on carrying the ball. We're relying on the air and not giving our running back good looks. The mentality wasn't there in the first half as I was hoping for, so as long as we can gain our composure back we will see those National Champions back on the field shortly. Montana and MSU are make it or break it games and now that the pressure is on us, we will start to play Eagle football.

Edit* Also we need to find our big play. Kaufman was our secret weapon last year, but we need to find that go to play for the big yards. Defense needs to start playing more aggressively and cause the turnovers they produced last year.

 

[kalm]

We're still in this thing, we just need to come out firing on all cylinders from here on out. Our secondary played decently, but once again we were shut down with the run and SD had a great 3rd down team. The amount of turnovers we're producing is making me want to throw up, but as stated by EWURanger, Bo Levi is throwing so many passes an interception or two is bound to happen. It's better to lose in the beginning of the season than the end and I very much have faith in Beau Baldwin to lead us to victory over Montana and MSU these coming weeks. I'm expecting the Eagles to slow down the pace of the game and focus on carrying the ball. We're relying on the air and not giving our running back good looks. The mentality wasn't there in the first half as I was hoping for, so as long as we can gain our composure back we will see those National Champions back on the field shortly. Montana and MSU are make it or break it games and now that the pressure is on us, we will start to play Eagle football.

Edit* Also we need to find our big play. Kaufman was our secret weapon last year, but we need to find that go to play for the big yards. Defense needs to start playing more aggressively and cause the turnovers they produced last year.

You keep waiting for defense to make a big play and get the ball back and we were close several times today.

 

[joemon]

Not sure why they are playing Mario, he looks like he's scared to death out there. We have a Pac-12 caliber running back who is a horse and he doesn't play much. if Eastern is to win a game they need to use a back who can power his way past the opposing DL because Eastern's OL does not seem capable of drive blocking. Luckily Eastern has a good quarterback and recievers but having to throw the ball every down isn't going to win many games.

Defense - Last week the DL did well. This week, ugh those big farm boys had a good day. Luckily we have good linebackers and DB's but kind of hard to stop the opposing team when the DT's are on roller skates or are driven into the ground.

EWU has a very good team but I think they realize they are not as good ( right now ) as the headlines say. The OL and DL needs to toughen up, if they do I don't see Eastern losing another game.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Not sure why they are playing Mario, he looks like he's scared to death out there. We have a Pac-12 caliber running back who is a horse and he doesn't play much. if Eastern is to win a game they need to use a back who can power his way past the opposing DL because Eastern's OL does not seem capable of drive blocking. Luckily Eastern has a good quarterback and recievers but having to throw the ball every down isn't going to win many games.

Defense - Last week the DL did well. This week, ugh those big farm boys had a good day. Luckily we have good linebackers and DB's but kind of hard to stop the opposing team when the DT's are on roller skates or are driven into the ground.

EWU has a very good team but I think they realize they are not as good ( right now ) as the headlines say. The OL and DL needs to toughen up, if they do I don't see Eastern losing another game.

Both RBs got benched today... we were down to playing Talley and Hecker at the end of the game.

Fair enough, I'll delete the rest. Let's just the say everyone on our roster played below themselves and leave it at that. No one could or should be halfway pleased with their performance. It was a team failure.

This was just soooooo disappointing. I have to imagine Baldwin and staff are just disgusted because this was a trap game all along and we may have scheduled ourself out of any chance of success. Coming into the UM game this down is just a worst-case scenario for early September.

 

[LDopaPDX]

This year may have some hallmarks of 2008 when we played two BCS teams close to open the season and went around thinking we would just outclass all the FCS teams we played. The fact is if you don't show up, you get beat. It happened in 2008 and it happened today.

The good news is we have one more Saturady next week to turn it all around. It just sucks to be in this position so early in the season.

 

[flyingnail]

Not sure why they are playing Mario, he looks like he's scared to death out there. We have a Pac-12 caliber running back who is a horse and he doesn't play much. if Eastern is to win a game they need to use a back who can power his way past the opposing DL because Eastern's OL does not seem capable of drive blocking. Luckily Eastern has a good quarterback and recievers but having to throw the ball every down isn't going to win many games.

Defense - Last week the DL did well. This week, ugh those big farm boys had a good day. Luckily we have good linebackers and DB's but kind of hard to stop the opposing team when the DT's are on roller skates or are driven into the ground.

EWU has a very good team but I think they realize they are not as good ( right now ) as the headlines say. The OL and DL needs to toughen up, if they do I don't see Eastern losing another game.

The OL wasnt the problem today, the whole damn team was the problem ! I've never seen so many missed tackles, no end containment and definetly no fire !! Looks like Baldwin wants to be a pure passing team with that said the OL gave Mitchell ample time to pass ! Tell me why when your firing on all cylinders for 8 to 10 yrds a pop, got them on there heels you decide to take a shot ? they did it last week and turned around and did it again today, If your gonna use the short pass as a run you need to stay with whats working. They had no answer for that as did the huskies. If they dont get this fixed this week you can say O for Sept. And yes ALL the seniors need to get there shit together and salvage this season NOW !!
Both RBs got benched today... we were down to playing Talley and Hecker at the end of the game.

Not sure where Tyler Washburn was all day? He didn't make a single play I can remember. Jeff Minnerly has almost been non-existent all season thus far. The loss of Pulu is rearing it's ugly head, because none of our DTs in rotation did squat., this was compounded by the fact we lost containment on the outside about every other play.

Lastly, time to callout Chris Powers and Gabe Jackson... these two guys are pre-season All Americans and got dominated today. There were a lot of plays in which they looked like matadors letting the DL run past them.

This was just soooooo disappointing. I have to imagine Baldwin and staff are just disgusted because this was a trap game all along and we may have scheduled ourself out of any chance of success. Coming into the UM game this down is just a worst-case scenario for early September.

 

[kalm]

Of all that went wrong, I thought Talley was a bit of a bright spot.

BTW, Dopa, you predicted this pickle in regards to scheduling, so kudos'. But I still say we played our way into this mess...

 

[FormerEag]

I personally don't believe in calling out individuals, especially players. And if you listened to the post game show, neither does Coach Baldwin. That's Wulff shit...

We got beat today, in all three phases, FACT. That falls on every player and every coach. There's no need for fans and parents to be grading and singling out people in this club. BSC play starts Saturday- prep starts Monday. We have a week to get right and go to Missoula to start 1-0 in conference, and conference ball is what really matters in FCS.

 

[Vic E. Wallace]

To All,
The team got back about 10:30pm. They were all happy to see myself and daughter.They all seemed disappointed, and pissed,which they should be. I told them to now get ready for the BSC. I know they will bounce back. I was how they got manhandled today. Hope we didn't underestemate South Dakota. We couldn't get anything going until almost the end of the 2nd qtr, for those of you that didn't listen or watch the game.

I know our team is better than that, we now have to come out and prove how good we are. Hope it will start against Montana. :thumb: :thumb: Some of the players were very sore when they got off of the Aircraft. Busses were late getting there, players and Coaches had to wait until the buses arrived.
Get ready for BSC. Go Eagles!!!!! Vic Wallace

 

[EWOOfan73]

I am disappointed in some of the comments I am reading on this page. And I certainly hope the players aren't reading this stuff because I agree with Formereag I don't believe in calling out players. The players know better than anyone else that they did not play well. I will agree with everyone else though that the intensity level did not seem to be there. I am hoping we fix that this week because Montana will be throwing everything they've got at us.

 

[kalm]

Step one in the grieving process:

Wait for one of Vic's posts. No looking back, always positive. :thumb:

Step two is to consider that:

No one has more talent on either side of the ball

No one has more speed on either side of the ball

We are one bad bounce away from a probable win against the UW. USD had two fumbles yesterday, one of which bounced right back into the hands of the QB and the other...well who knows what the he'll happened on that bad snap. Point being, we are due for some luck.

Looking forward, we still control our own destiny in regards to conference championships, and home field advantage in the playoffs. The entire season is ahead of us. In '07, 08, and '09 we finished the regular season with 4,3, and 5 game winning streaks beating playoff teams along the way and boat racing a #2 seed on the road once we got in. We were 2-2 after the MSU game last year. Nova last year finished 7-4 and still had a chance to go to Frisco late into the semifinal game.

 

[EWURanger]

Step one in the grieving process:

Wait for one of Vic's posts. No looking back, always positive. :thumb:

Step two is to consider that:

No one has more talent on either side of the ball

No one has more speed on either side of the ball

We are one bad bounce away from a probable win against the UW. USD had two fumbles yesterday, one of which bounced right back into the hands of the QB and the other...well who knows what the he'll happened on that bad snap. Point being, we are due for some luck.

Looking forward, we still control our own destiny in regards to conference championships, and home field advantage in the playoffs. The entire season is ahead of us. In '07, 08, and '09 we finished the regular season with 4,3, and 5 game winning streaks beating playoff teams along the way and boat racing a #2 seed on the road once we got in. We were 2-2 after the MSU game last year. Nova last year finished 7-4 and still had a chance to go to Frisco late into the semifinal game.

Great points Kalm. As devastating a loss as this was, there's no reason to believe that the season is somehow over before Conference play has even begun. If you just look at last season, there are some parallels there between where we were at this point of the season. We started out with a loss at Nevada, and then played a close game against CWU, which ultimately was a non-counter because of the fact they're Division II. We went into the Montana game last season generally not playing that well prior to that game and without a Division I win. The main difference, of course, was that we had TJ but the position we find ourselves in is not that much different than where we were last season at this exact point.

 

[flyingnail]

Its sometimes crazy how soon we forget this teams character, last year we won the NC with passing ! We ran through the playoffs on Mitchells hot hand not running the ball 30 times a game ! This team is built around finesse blocking and short passing. We use the pass to try and set up the run. When you have a team like that it all rides on the QB, good day most likely a win, bad day most likely a loss. If your going to play that style of game, which by the way we are very good at, you need to stay with that mindset. Taking a shot down the field now and then\ to stretch the defense is understandable ! Both games we owned the defense and had them on their heels when staying with that short passing game only to abandon it for a shot over the top and it killed the drive. don't forget all the close games we won last year because the ball bounced our way, or we got a turnover, you don't get those breaks and this team doesn't even make the playoffs ! It was a magical season and you cannot expect that to repeat itself. That being said, true its only 2 games and the only thing hurt here is our pride. The fix. go out and smoke the Griz and get this W, the rest will solve itself. Lose and the season might be over before school even starts ! The Griz will be waiting and the crowd will be hostile, can you say gut check ! GOEAGS

 

[RockTheRed]

Wow Dopa, you let the guys have it.

As far as calling out Chris Powers and Gabe Jackson - they held off the bigger, faster Huskies all game long last weekend. Our O Line has been fantastic for a long time running now, as we haven't lost for some time. BoLevi was never touched that game. So SD came out and they were equally as big as UW and more prepared for us. They lost big last weekend and came into the game ready to battle.

Then there's Jeff Minnerly, who had 5 tackles at UW - fourth most. And if you want to be technical, 3rd because Ronnie Hamlin and Zach Johnson both led with 8. Check out the stats, Dave Cook is very good about getting those up after the games. And correct me if I'm wrong - but I'm pretty sure he and Allen Brown shouldn't be leading tacklers.

As far as Tyler Washburn, I don't know. Did you travel to SD? Looks like he started, but perhaps he came out of the game with the flu or tweaked ankle? If you went and could actually see what was what - (because that feed was downright awful) fill us in.

This game is on the coaches, if something aint broke - don't fix it. If it is, fix it. They didn't do either of those things. And while Bo Levi was phenomenal against UW and had near as good numbers yesterday, we JUST CAN'T THROW 2 picks every game. If it sounds like a BLM call out, it's not. Play calling comes into play here.

It's fans like you that these kids don't need. One unexpected loss was all it took for you to single out players. Did you do a call out after the loss to UW? And what makes your post rididculous, and I usually find your posts worthy of reading, is that you say "all season long". Jesus dude, it's two games. Both of which we could have won AND are non-conference matchups. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you say last year when the schedule was released that we could start 0-2, or possibly 0-3? Baldwin himself said earlier we have to win the turnover battle in our games to win. Unfortunately thus far, we are giving the ball to the opponent for easy scores. That does tend to make it a little harder to win.

But I'll pull a "Dopa" now and call out Nick Edwards. Nicely done yesterday Nick. That kid came away, much like in the national championship, with some downright difficult catches. His will to win was there yesterday. As I'm sure it was for ALL OF THEM.

Dopa - got any eligibility left? Perhaps you could go show the kids who are working their butts off in 95 degree heat, traveling, late meetings, early lifts, etc how it's done.

 

[LBCoach]

The beauty of the FCS vs. the BCS is that neither of these games matter. FCS teams (unlike BSU v Georgia where their seasons are ruined if they loose the 1st game) have a chance to use these games to find a rhythm, get past injuries, try to work on timing, work new players in, or just find problems to work on like I think we have exposed and I know the coaches will fix.

I would much rather play tough competition early when it does not matter and find weaknesses or flaws then wait until later in the season when it will matter. As a HS coach, with far less knowledge then our staff, I learn way more about our team in losses then in wins. 2 years ago we had a fairly new team and we played a easy game to start the season that made us feel overconfident. Luckily we played a much larger school the next week before we started our season that exposed players and our scheme that we were able to correct. Long story short we went undefeated in league, made the playoffs and unfortunately lost to the State Champions, then followed that season up with a Undefeated State Champion Team. I credit that loss to the school with over 4 times our enrollment with our ability to do that.

Talking to coaches in my area ISU used their game with WSU to play many 2nd and 3rd team players so they could get them on film in a game as well as keeping 1st string players from getting hurt. May be just HS coaches B.S.'ing me but not a totally bad idea when you think that they made a good paycheck that helps the program and used the game to evaluate what they have before starting their season.

EWU is a great school, with a great football team and coaches, and I am proud to be associated with this school and team and win or loose I have picked my side and will stay here supporting it!