Montana recap

[clawman1]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

 

[LDopaPDX]

On the whole, the defense certainly outplayed my expectations. After that Western Illinois game, I was thinking "here we go again..." However, one little thing to balance that out is that Montana DEFINITELY wasn't as good offensively as I thought they were. Really, it's kind of the same Montana formula they've used for years... lots of really good, big, fast guys with very average skill position players on offense. Montana's top receivers wouldn't play much at Eastern; we're just quite a bit better at that position. It made our DB and LBs life a little easier knowing they weren't at any kind of disadvantage.

When you take the 3 long scoring drives out of the game, our defense pretty much stuffed them all game. Three bad drives, one which was just a penalty-fest, were all they really got.

Obviously, the big concern is our health. Limu-Jones is the REAL DEAL, but I know he's been struggling with some leg issues. Remember, we was knocked out at the end of the WIU game as well. Hopefully he doesn't miss time.

 

[Obzerver]

Well I agree with all the assesments. Bonus was the two kids running the length of the field..one shirtless. had a fat security guy chasing them..they ran by half a dozen cops and half dozen more yellow jacketed security guys just feet away that didnt do anything but watch. they both hopped the first shorter fence(allthough the shirtless guy fell over it catching his leg on the top). then got to the bigger fence where one guy managed to leap high enough to grab the top and crawl over while the shirtless guy had 10 try's without success by the time the fat guy finally got to him...while no cops/security lent a hand. the crowd was going nuts and laughing so very hard! Bonus action!!! *I can say fat because I am.

 

[FormerEag]

Well I agree with all the assesments. Bonus was the two kids running the length of the field..one shirtless. had a fat security guy chasing them..they ran by half a dozen cops and half dozen more yellow jacketed security guys just feet away that didnt do anything but watch. they both hopped the first shorter fence(allthough the shirtless guy fell over it catching his leg on the top). then got to the bigger fence where one guy managed to leap high enough to grab the top and crawl over while the shirtless guy had 10 try's without success by the time the fat guy finally got to him...while no cops/security lent a hand. the crowd was going nuts and laughing so very hard! Bonus action!!! *I can say fat because I am.

To follow up on this, I ran into those kids in Cheney after the game. They were released without charges. The guy that made it over the fence was cut up and bleeding but nothing his case of Busch couldn’t fix.

 

[EagerEagle]

Great game but we looks like we are getting hit hard with injuries.

Limu in the game Edwards, stell jr, and Roberson didn't suit up for the WR room
Also in game Micah Smith (Cb) Wyatt Hansen (OL) and one more I can't recall that did not return to action.
Lots of bumps and bruises for sure in this hard hitting, fast paced game. I was impressed by both teams and sure wouldn't want to play them again this year. That D gave us all sorts of problems.... Sure would be nice to have a bit of a bigger RB to run out there and pound some yards.

 

[Obzerver]

Well I agree with all the assesments. Bonus was the two kids running the length of the field..one shirtless. had a fat security guy chasing them..they ran by half a dozen cops and half dozen more yellow jacketed security guys just feet away that didnt do anything but watch. they both hopped the first shorter fence(allthough the shirtless guy fell over it catching his leg on the top). then got to the bigger fence where one guy managed to leap high enough to grab the top and crawl over while the shirtless guy had 10 try's without success by the time the fat guy finally got to him...while no cops/security lent a hand. the crowd was going nuts and laughing so very hard! Bonus action!!! *I can say fat because I am.

To follow up on this, I ran into those kids in Cheney after the game. They were released without charges. The guy that made it over the fence was cut up and bleeding but nothing his case of Busch couldn’t fix.

LOLOLOLOLOLO....toooo dang funny FormerEag

 

[Obzerver]

Great game but we looks like we are getting hit hard with injuries.

Limu in the game Edwards, stell jr, and Roberson didn't suit up for the WR room
Also in game Micah Smith (Cb) Wyatt Hansen (OL) and one more I can't recall that did not return to action.
Lots of bumps and bruises for sure in this hard hitting, fast paced game. I was impressed by both teams and sure wouldn't want to play them again this year. That D gave us all sorts of problems.... Sure would be nice to have a bit of a bigger RB to run out there and pound some yards.

EE, wonder if they are trying not to burn Tuna Altahir red shirt. He had a really good fall camp and at 6'2 230lbs and fast he could be a weapon?

 

[luckyintheorder]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

 

[clawman1]

Great game but we looks like we are getting hit hard with injuries.

Limu in the game Edwards, stell jr, and Roberson didn't suit up for the WR room
Also in game Micah Smith (Cb) Wyatt Hansen (OL) and one more I can't recall that did not return to action.
Lots of bumps and bruises for sure in this hard hitting, fast paced game. I was impressed by both teams and sure wouldn't want to play them again this year. That D gave us all sorts of problems.... Sure would be nice to have a bit of a bigger RB to run out there and pound some yards.

EE, wonder if they are trying not to burn Tuna Altahir red shirt. He had a really good fall camp and at 6'2 230lbs and fast he could be a weapon?

As you know now players can play up to 5 games without affecting their redshirt.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Does anyone else find it strange that Western Illinois took our defense behind the woodshed, and yet neither Southern Utah nor Montana actually ran any of the things that WIU did with so much success? I watched a bit of Portland State's win over Southern Utah yesterday. They are the one Big Sky offense that runs a very similar offense to Western Illinois... they run lots of counters and use a rolling quarterback in both directions. I'm shocked Montana didn't try those things to at least see if they could have the same results Western Illinois did. I feel like they were a little smug in thinking they could rewrite the script on our defense.

 

[ewusigep252]

Does anyone else find it strange that Western Illinois took our defense behind the woodshed, and yet neither Southern Utah nor Montana actually ran any of the things that WIU did with so much success? I watched a bit of Portland State's win over Southern Utah yesterday. They are the one Big Sky offense that runs a very similar offense to Western Illinois... they run lots of counters and use a rolling quarterback in both directions. I'm shocked Montana didn't try those things to at least see if they could have the same results Western Illinois did. I feel like they were a little smug in thinking they could rewrite the script on our defense.

I am of the belief that the only reason Western Illinois did as well as they did in the second half of their game with EWU was due to the Eagles succumbing to the humidity of the local area. Kind of like what happened with Jacksonville State in 2019. If the WIU-EWU game had been played in Cheney, I think that game ends completely different. After five games, that one is very much an outlier for this defense.

 

[ewueagle2010]

Does anyone else find it strange that Western Illinois took our defense behind the woodshed, and yet neither Southern Utah nor Montana actually ran any of the things that WIU did with so much success? I watched a bit of Portland State's win over Southern Utah yesterday. They are the one Big Sky offense that runs a very similar offense to Western Illinois... they run lots of counters and use a rolling quarterback in both directions. I'm shocked Montana didn't try those things to at least see if they could have the same results Western Illinois did. I feel like they were a little smug in thinking they could rewrite the script on our defense.

Honestly, I've felt as though many of us have been way to harsh on the D this season and clearly, many in the FCS world have only been looking at stats and scores.

The D held UNLV in check most of the game, had one bad drive against CWU, looked bad at WIU for 2 1/2 quarters and had one so so quarter against SUU. I thought they played well on Saturday night against Montana. They're not going to hold teams to 250 yards and less than 20 points but they're going to do enough to win most games. They will have to rely on getting some turnovers in key moments (like Saturday) but they'll be able to hold their own just fine. I would say they're a C+ to B- defense and that's really all you can ask for when you spend a majority of every game on the field. Our offense is scoring almost at will and usually in 2-3 minutes, or less.

I did see a stat this weekend that our defense is currently allowing less yards per game than they have in any season since 2010. We'll have to see if that continues but that doesn't scream "swiss cheese" like many assumed our D was coming into this game.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Does anyone else find it strange that Western Illinois took our defense behind the woodshed, and yet neither Southern Utah nor Montana actually ran any of the things that WIU did with so much success? I watched a bit of Portland State's win over Southern Utah yesterday. They are the one Big Sky offense that runs a very similar offense to Western Illinois... they run lots of counters and use a rolling quarterback in both directions. I'm shocked Montana didn't try those things to at least see if they could have the same results Western Illinois did. I feel like they were a little smug in thinking they could rewrite the script on our defense.

I am of the belief that the only reason Western Illinois did as well as they did in the second half of their game with EWU was due to the Eagles succumbing to the humidity of the local area. Kind of like what happened with Jacksonville State in 2019. If the WIU-EWU game had been played in Cheney, I think that game ends completely different. After five games, that one is very much an outlier for this defense.

There's probably some truth to this, but also remember Western Illinois scored TDs on every one of their first 3 possessions. I think Eastern is pretty good against direct offenses, but a team that shows a lot of motion and counter-action, whether running or throwing, is a problem for us. Now maybe we've sorted that out, but it's hard to know since no one has tried to use the same stuff Western Illinois did.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

I also noticed some Montana defenders cramping up, etc. and the game stopping towards the end. I won’t say this was intentional but it was obvious that they were really gassed and wanted that game to end.

The defense also outperformed my expectations, creating a couple of timely INT’s and overall they played really hard. The blocked FG attempt for the special teams was a nice surprise and seemed like the spark that ignited the comeback going into the 4th. We also seemed to adjust our coverage towards the end of the game by leaving the RB in the backfield to pass protect. That seemed to help counter the blitz some.

Also noticed our DB’s playing much closer to the line of scrimmage in this game.

 

[Obzerver]

What slowed things down was the too many-too long ESPN timeouts. Man those were excruciating especially being past my bedtime. I noticed some of those Montana injury's were oddly timed during our hurry up offense possession. Yes, hard hitting game and injury riddled but I did have my binocs and followed players who went down at key times back over to the other side and monitored the extent of injury of their stoppage of play...some legit...some as an ex soccer official... I would have:

 

[luckyintheorder]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

I also noticed some Montana defenders cramping up, etc. and the game stopping towards the end. I won’t say this was intentional but it was obvious that they were really gassed and wanted that game to end.

The defense also outperformed my expectations, creating a couple of timely INT’s and overall they played really hard. The blocked FG attempt for the special teams was a nice surprise and seemed like the spark that ignited the comeback going into the 4th. We also seemed to adjust our coverage towards the end of the game by leaving the RB in the backfield to pass protect. That seemed to help counter the blitz some.

Also noticed our DB’s playing much closer to the line of scrimmage in this game.

Have enjoyed the aggressiveness of the DL all season and the safety play. Thought the LB's really stepped up in this game. It's hard to see everything going on during a play watching on TV. The corners did an outstanding job and many of the completed passes were thrown very accurately or else wouldn't have been completions. Kudo's to defense for playing a complete game :thumb:

Saw Obzervers take on the "cramps" too and had wondered how often they were back on the field a play later. Expect to possibly see more of this from other teams. Those timeouts were seriously long and I got to bed after 3 a.m. It was worth it

 

[MLEagle]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

We scored 24 points in the 4th quarter compared to 10 in the first 3 so I wouldn’t question the play calling late too much.

 

[chicagoeag]

Any work how long he'll be out.

Concerned the Saturday is a trap game for EWU.

UNC hasn't shown much ability to move the ball but neither did Western Illinois.

 

[luckyintheorder]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

We scored 24 points in the 4th quarter compared to 10 in the first 3 so I wouldn’t question the play calling late too much.

Thanks for your input. That's logic and reason in full force alright. Let's just go with your statement and forget about the other 51 minutes of the game. Hope this sort of unicorn magic keeps working for the team as they face more adversity than any other big sky team the remainder of this season. :thumb:

Not saying I can't understand your point although I question it's sacrosanct validity. Shoemaker can run an offense, but too often changes what's working for no apparent reason. I saw it when he coached CWU and a couple of times here at Eastern at least. The last nine minutes looked like some of those lesser moments. Thank goodness EB3 bailed the offense out with his legs. He got lucky evading the rush. This isn't eGriz, so not calling for his head in a mindless rant but wary of the things to come when so many on the team have worked for 6 years to get here, like EB3, Merritt etc... Just don't think Shoemaker is a pressure player.. Here's hoping I'm wrong should Eastern find it's way to the big game in Frisco.

 

[MLEagle]

If you watched on TV or in person I'm sure you've formed an opinion of the results.
Here's mine:
WE WON!!! how can that be a bad thing in fact thats awesome.
O-line is VERY impressive. The Griz blitzed the majority of the plays, not a slight majority, but most of the time. It was generally an all out blitz and the O-line did an awesome job of slowing or completely picking up. A couple of the sacks were actually on EB because he didn't just get rid of the ball when he could have.
EB3- My guess is the MT coaching staff said we are not going to let Eric Barriere beat us, based on the strategy to keep constant pressure on him.

.....................More than any other single player EB3 beat the Griz :nod: .................

Wide receivers still have drops that cost us a TD then a two point conversion and another drive stopper. hno:
Linebackers- The experience and maturity of Graham and Sendelbach (12 tackles each) really shore up everything off the line of scrimmage. :thumb:
DB's A couple of outstanding picks that changed the momentum of the game, and coverage that really shut down their highly vaunted receiving corps
Penalties- It just gets worse!! 11 for 79 yds this week. IMO the drive killers are more impactful than the lost yardage. Some of the first downs were even more impressive because we had to get 15-20 yards because a stupid penalty.
Play calling- I am sure there is a good reason for calling run plays between the tackles when the odds of a 7 man rush are pretty good. How is that supposed to work? To give credit I was glad to see the reverse called albeit quite late in the game, and finally called running plays off tackle. That really opened up the offense.
All in all a good test and the Eagles were up to the challenge.
Proud to be an Eagle!
What is your opinion??

This pretty much sums up the experience clawman. Imagine the feeling in the stands must have been very similar to the 2010 championship game. What a game! Going to enjoy this one for a couple of days surely ;-) Proud of the team.

The last 9 minutes of offensive play calling and execution on special teams was disconcerting and kept the contest a question mark until the clock hit 0:00. It's a problem and we will likely see it again with mixed results given the difficulty of the upcoming schedule. As you say, EB3 put this team on his back offensively and lead the Eag's to victory. Lots of credit to go around but Eric was special.

Was it part of Montana's game plan to slow Eastern down late in the game with all the guys going down with cramps? Very reminiscent of the Chip Kelly Oregon days. Not saying there weren't a couple of legitimate injuries, but the Eags had Montana gassed in the 4th quarter and those injury timeouts really helped Montana stay in it IMO.

We scored 24 points in the 4th quarter compared to 10 in the first 3 so I wouldn’t question the play calling late too much.

Thanks for your input. That's logic and reason in full force alright. Let's just go with your statement and forget about the other 51 minutes of the game. Hope this sort of unicorn magic keeps working for the team as they face more adversity than any other big sky team the remainder of this season. :thumb:

Not saying I can't understand your point although I question it's sacrosanct validity. Shoemaker can run an offense, but too often changes what's working for no apparent reason. I saw it when he coached CWU and a couple of times here at Eastern at least. The last nine minutes looked like some of those lesser moments. Thank goodness EB3 bailed the offense out with his legs. He got lucky evading the rush. This isn't eGriz, so not calling for his head in a mindless rant but wary of the things to come when so many on the team have worked for 6 years to get here, like EB3, Merritt etc... Just don't think Shoemaker is a pressure player.. Here's hoping I'm wrong should Eastern find it's way to the big game in Frisco.

I agree with you largely on Shoemaker overall, but it was the 4th quarter that it seemed like he finally started getting a little more diversified on offense. He started running outside more, called the reverse, ran EB3 on some designed runs, etc. I personally see current OC as a downgrade to anything since the Paul Wulff era.