Very pivotal game...again. The Vikings gave both Montana schools all they wanted. Kind of beat themselves against the Bobcats partly because of lots of penalties. Vs the Griz a late int killed a drive that would have won it for them in Missoula. Not a sure win by any means, especially if we do not have Renard and TJ Lee. Our offense will have to continue to score lots of points.
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Portland State
- Thread starter clawman1
- Start date
grizzaholic
Active member
clawman said:
I would think playing Sac St. last week would help out some.
ewueagle2010
Active member
This is not a gimme game by any means, however I do believe EWU wins this game. This team continues to impress me week after week as they overcome injury after injury and still find a way to win! :notworthy: This will be a great game in front of another sell out crowd for Senior Day. I say EWU just is too much for PSU at home with all the momentum! GO EAGS!!!
EWU-34
PSU-24
EWU-34
PSU-24
eaglesfootball
Active member
Portland is no joke and I am sure they would love nothing better to come into our house and shove us around for some nw recruiting rights. Remember they lose a couple recruits to us last year!
Both teams seem to be pretty banged up, but EWU much more so. McCaffrey is out for the season, but it takes more than two hands to count the number of guys we have lost. I am almost thinking we should just stack the box and force their QB to beat us through the air. :?
marceagfan5
Active member
This should be a good game, but I think Eastern pulls away in this one.
PSU lost their best player, their running back Mccaffrey, for the season, he was one of the nations leading rushers. They run the pistol and have a mobile QB but I think we will stack the box and make them throw it. PSU can control possession because they run so much and their QB is a good player, but if we can get up early and force them to throw we could make it a really long day for them.
Even without Mccaffrey they are a good team, they have 3 losses to really good teams, but I don't think they can beat us at home and I think the offense rolls in this one.
This will be a great home send off for the seniors and a good win going into the MUCH NEEDED bye week...
Eastern 38
PSU 20
PSU lost their best player, their running back Mccaffrey, for the season, he was one of the nations leading rushers. They run the pistol and have a mobile QB but I think we will stack the box and make them throw it. PSU can control possession because they run so much and their QB is a good player, but if we can get up early and force them to throw we could make it a really long day for them.
Even without Mccaffrey they are a good team, they have 3 losses to really good teams, but I don't think they can beat us at home and I think the offense rolls in this one.
This will be a great home send off for the seniors and a good win going into the MUCH NEEDED bye week...
Eastern 38
PSU 20
flyingnail
Active member
The same story will hold steady in this game ! As BLM goes so goes the Eags ! We did get an All-American back on the O-line at Sac that might have something to do with all the time Mitchell had back there and the ability to pick up all their blitzing ! The line we have now will be the line we go into battle with the rest of the year ! The tackles are the same, we get our bigger center back again and the guards are doing much better now that they have a few games under their belt ! Should be NO reason we don't put up the points this weekend, now the question is can the defense learn how to tackle this week ? GOEAGS
flyingnail
Active member
kalm said:flyingnail said:
This. Our 98th ranked rushing defense goes up against the #4 and #6 ranked rushing O's in the nation over the next two games. Gotta find a way to plug some holes. Maybe that AA center can play two ways.
I asked him the same thing Kalm !!! See ya at the tailgate !! GOEAGS!
A couple thoughts here:
We need an early lead in this one, because I don't like the prospects of having to come from behind against a ball-control type team like Portland State. So every time the offense is on the field (may not be a hell of a lot) they are going to have to execute and drive down the field. With the disadvantage in TOP that I am thinking we may have, we have to make EVERY possession count. No dropped passes, missed blocks, etc. I do think we can move the ball on pretty much anyone when we are clicking. That trend has to continue.
Portland State is going to get their yards on the ground, so I think the key here is to try and get them in some 3rd down situations where we can get a few stops. The run defense just has to improve somewhat for us to have a chance at doing that. Get 'em in a few situations where they have to pass the ball and get some stops to put them in some punting situations. The ends and LB's need to play disciplined ball, because the pistol is designed to take advantage of an over-pursuing defense. Unfortunately, we have a ton of young guys out there and the learning curve is going to have to start flattening out a little this weekend.
We need an early lead in this one, because I don't like the prospects of having to come from behind against a ball-control type team like Portland State. So every time the offense is on the field (may not be a hell of a lot) they are going to have to execute and drive down the field. With the disadvantage in TOP that I am thinking we may have, we have to make EVERY possession count. No dropped passes, missed blocks, etc. I do think we can move the ball on pretty much anyone when we are clicking. That trend has to continue.
Portland State is going to get their yards on the ground, so I think the key here is to try and get them in some 3rd down situations where we can get a few stops. The run defense just has to improve somewhat for us to have a chance at doing that. Get 'em in a few situations where they have to pass the ball and get some stops to put them in some punting situations. The ends and LB's need to play disciplined ball, because the pistol is designed to take advantage of an over-pursuing defense. Unfortunately, we have a ton of young guys out there and the learning curve is going to have to start flattening out a little this weekend.
VikThunder
Active member
Pretty good analysis on this game. PSU losing McAffrey hurts the Viks. He was a game changer. Also, PSU's corners are a liability. I think EWU will burn us there.
Why is it that we can not come up with a consistent running game? I think we have capable RB's. It seems like our Oline is good enough that we could gain more than 100yrd per game. Is it the plays that are being called or the formation that they are called out of? Or, am I wrong and our Oline can't open any holes?
It seems like when we run, which is basically every 1st down, they know what we are doing and the defense stops them for loss or short gain. I am not capable enough to see it but it seems like the opposing defense is one up on us most running plays.
Sure would help our passing game and improve TOP if we could run a little.
It seems like when we run, which is basically every 1st down, they know what we are doing and the defense stops them for loss or short gain. I am not capable enough to see it but it seems like the opposing defense is one up on us most running plays.
Sure would help our passing game and improve TOP if we could run a little.
It'd be really easy to blame our lack of run blocking on the injuries we've sustained at guard. But even before we lost our starters we weren't real solid in run blocking in the UW or USD games. So it's hard to say. Probably has a lot to do with the backups we are playing now are not huge guys and we're just having a difficult time opening holes. That said, remember that Talley did have back to back 100+ yard games against UM and MSU. Forte had a good game against UNC. Our backs are good, all of them.
I will say that as poor as our run blocking has been at times, the O-line has been pretty damn good in pass protection. And right now it's our passing that's winning games for us. Helps that BLM has such a quick release as well. He doesn't allow much time for people to get to him. Hopefully we can take advantage of this some versus PSU.
I will say that as poor as our run blocking has been at times, the O-line has been pretty damn good in pass protection. And right now it's our passing that's winning games for us. Helps that BLM has such a quick release as well. He doesn't allow much time for people to get to him. Hopefully we can take advantage of this some versus PSU.
JoinTheEAA
Active member
Let's ask an All-American who started some 50 games in the not too distant past for us-FrontFive? Know you haven't made every game but you've been in Cheney and I saw you at the UW game. Thoughts? You don't have to reveal any trade secrets, just let us old guys know why we aren't as balanced as we've been in the past. Could just be lack of experience.
We have not been a running team for quite some time now. The label of a finesse team fits us quite nicely and I'm perfectly ok with that. And don't forget that we were down a starter in Will Post out of the gates this season. In any event, we have been in every loss late in the game and the running attack or lack there of is not the first place I'd lay the blame for those (the USD game possibly being the outlier here). Given all of the struggles, I've really enjoyed the fact that we have stayed committed to at least some semblance of a run threat. I think that has helped us get some wins.
eaglesfootball
Active member
we have definitely be more of a finesse type team the past several years. When you have great QB's like Mitchell and Nichols you have to play to your strengths. But I am interested in seeing how that trend continues next season. Are we going to have the QB to run this offense? I think we will have a slightly different look on offense next season which will focus more on what will be very experienced backs and Oline to take the pressure off of whats going to be a very inexperienced QB. Whoever that may be.
Don't disagree that we should "play to your strengths" but most any OC will say balance, balance, balance. Playing to your strenghts may be an extra 10-15% either way. Currently we are not even close to a balance on offense and it is not for Baldwin not trying. I'm afraid lack of a run game will be our downfall this year.eaglesfootball said:
The lack of a run game bit us again, although our pass O did a lot to make it close. We just let too many opportunities get by us early, because we really needed to score on just about every possession as our D was a seive.
I really thought our DTs would be a strength of this team, but turned into a complete liability late in the year. We were having to pinch an end into the play constantly because our DTs were so uncompetitive with their interior line. No pressure, missed tackles, just a whole big bag of yuckiness on D.
You could fault our offense for the South Dakota and Montana losses... but they got it together late in the season. I have no idea what the hell happened on D.
I really thought our DTs would be a strength of this team, but turned into a complete liability late in the year. We were having to pinch an end into the play constantly because our DTs were so uncompetitive with their interior line. No pressure, missed tackles, just a whole big bag of yuckiness on D.
You could fault our offense for the South Dakota and Montana losses... but they got it together late in the season. I have no idea what the hell happened on D.
