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Prediction EWU 36 vs TSU 29 Week 1

L

luckyintheorder

Active member
:roll: Ha! The season has arrived. Happy Monday of game week.

I'd be lying if I said I know much about this week's opponent -- TSU. They have looked undersized on the video I've seen from last season and the 2 minutes of their spring game. They also have added about a third of their roster from D1 transfers from Ohio St, Memphis, W. Kentucy, GaTech etc... Would say Eddie George wants to run the ball but they did add several WR's via transfer in the off season and have transfer QB's from Auburn and Austin Peay. This is a team in transition and probably looking for answers. Am sure TSU scheduled this game to be "giant killers" and get on the map. It's a year too soon.

The Eag's are transitioning this year too but have a good base of talent at most positions especially at the RB group on offense and DB/DL on defense. Most would tag WR as a strength but I saw too much inconsistency from that segment aside from Efton and he will be getting extra attention this season from their opponents. I like the group of Efton, Ulm, Roberson and Ingram and Gobel at TE. Defensively, the LB's are a question mark but it looks like the TR's have added necessary depth. I do believe Copp will put them in the best position to succeed but having 1 or 2 step up will be necessary to get stops.

Assuming the coaching staff is more worried about wins than "balance" for balance sake; this should be a run heavy attack with outlet passes to the TE's pulling the LB's of TSU in to open the deep middle of the field for attack. I don't know if the Eagles WR's can run by the TSU secondary. Would love to see Miles and Green get on the field as true freshman. Expect the RB's to have the biggest impact if given the chance. Perreiah, Smith et. al. look like beasts. For the sake of posting a prediction, I'll just assume that Best can get out of his own way.

RB's combine for 235 yards, total offense 420 yards, defense gets 3 stops and 2 TO's (5 stops total), special teams coverage will be improved (whatever that means) and NO squib kicks ffs.

Eagles win this one on the ground 48 - 31.

giphy.gif
 
I don't make predictions, but let me say what we all know to be true... if Eastern loses this one at home, stick a fork in the season. If we can't beat Tennessee State, there probably aren't more than one or two other games on the schedule that would be winnable.

One thing to note... if Tennessee State scores 31 on our D, that would exceed the offensive output for any of their games against D1 opponents in 2021. TSU was held to 20 points or less in 7 games last Fall, and their high score total was 41 (against a bad D2 team) and 28 against a D1 team (Eastern Illinois).

This is the game where we need to show we can put the lock-down on an offense. If they score 31 (as your prediction indicated), then defense is likely a serious problem moving forward.
 
Dopa, I love the pessimism. You may be the reason this Eagle team has had so many consecutive winning seasons.
 
93bird said:
Dopa, I love the pessimism. You may be the reason this Eagle team has had so many consecutive winning seasons.
Click to expand...

While I’m definitely a pessimist when it comes to football (strangely, when it comes to damn near everything else in life, I’m an optimist), I’d say this is realism. Tennessee State is a team we should beat comfortably. I think any legitimate ranked FCS team can beat them without a lot of nervous moments. They *should* be a good fit for our historical model of scoring a lot of points while half-assing it on defense. Even a mediocre defense should put the screws to Tennessee State. If our defense is even mid-level for the Big Sky, 21 points surrendered should be almost a maximum.

I’d think the keys are grinding first downs and moving the ball, even if it doesn’t result in points, getting 3 and outs on at least 50% of possessions, and frankly just not making mistakes. A 2-TD lead on Tennessee State should hold up over the course of the game.
 
LDopaPDX said:
If they score 31 (as your prediction indicated), then defense is likely a serious problem moving forward.
Click to expand...

Too many unknowns. Don't know about the quality of the TR's and their probable impact for TSU. Expect them to be a completely different team than the undersized and outgunned DIII type team they appeared to be last season. TSU did beat Austin Peay once (they played twice) and AP impressed me against WKU last weekend with their size, ability and effort. Timely article on transfers from Hero Sports: https://herosports.com/fcs-football-teams-most-d1-transfers-bzbz/

I just weighted all the unknowns in TSU's favor and eliminated any advantages Eastern has. It's mud on the wall and I don't see it as an indicator of exactly how good or poor the defense will be throughout the season. Seeing how Copp adjusts, who makes plays, relative depth and overall effort will tells us a lot more soon.

If you want a prediction of how good the defense will be this season I'd say there are a lot of returning starters and contributors, Copp has another year getting his ideas in without Ena cock blocking him, that the players measure up with some of the best the BigSky has to offer and they should be marginally better than the past couple of years. If they can bring their top games like they did last season several times, Eastern will have a good year. Of course, field position, TO's and penalties played quite a role in a couple of losses that had less to do with the defense than with coaching and special teams execution IMO. I'm excited to see the defense attack more like the DL improved last season under Copp if that's any indication. :)
 
We are picked by both media and coached to finish 6th in BSC. Not sure how good dline is or a feel for how deep they are. Watched last Spring game and read everything Lucky and others have supplied since then and don't have a clue where we are. We have quite a few studs and a winning competitive/attitude as part of our makeup.
Not sure about this: https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/2fc7c181-92b5-5cb3-9d05-759f4b9a7270
Haven't seen any official betting lines yet so will predict now and bet later; EWU 34 vs TS 20
 
Also, going to predict Gunner has a great game. Have a good feeling last couple of days he will shine. GO GUNNER!!!

WeirdImmaterialArkshell-size_restricted.gif
 
EASTERN WASHINGTON FOOTBALL IS BAAAAAAAAACK!
I hope we don’t get smoked on the RED TURF baby. Gunner better step up and show his gratitude to this great program and tear shiit up this season. Great home, OOC game to open the season and Gunner better come up big! :nod:
Go EAGS!
 
HeavyIsTheCrown said:
EASTERN WASHINGTON FOOTBALL IS BAAAAAAAAACK!
I hope we don’t get smoked on the RED TURF baby. Gunner better step up and show his gratitude to this great program and tear shiit up this season. Great home, OOC game to open the season and Gunner better come up big! :nod:
Go EAGS!
Click to expand...

or else? :D

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFbaZkpue0Y[/media]
 
luckyintheorder said:
HeavyIsTheCrown said:
EASTERN WASHINGTON FOOTBALL IS BAAAAAAAAACK!
I hope we don’t get smoked on the RED TURF baby. Gunner better step up and show his gratitude to this great program and tear shiit up this season. Great home, OOC game to open the season and Gunner better come up big! :nod:
Go EAGS!
Click to expand...

or else? :D

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFbaZkpue0Y[/media]
Click to expand...

Or else I'm gonna be sad, and angry. :)
 
luckyintheorder said:
Ha! The season has arrived. Happy Monday of game week.

I'd be lying if I said I know much about this week's opponent -- TSU. They have looked undersized on the video I've seen from last season and the 2 minutes of their spring game. They also have added about a third of their roster from D1 transfers from Ohio St, Memphis, W. Kentucy, GaTech etc... Would say Eddie George wants to run the ball but they did add several WR's via transfer in the off season and have transfer QB's from Auburn and Austin Peay. This is a team in transition and probably looking for answers. Am sure TSU scheduled this game to be "giant killers" and get on the map. It's a year too soon.

The Eag's are transitioning this year too but have a good base of talent at most positions especially at the RB group on offense and DB/DL on defense. Most would tag WR as a strength but I saw too much inconsistency from that segment aside from Efton and he will be getting extra attention this season from their opponents. I like the group of Efton, Ulm, Roberson and Ingram and Gobel at TE. Defensively, the LB's are a question mark but it looks like the TR's have added necessary depth. I do believe Copp will put them in the best position to succeed but having 1 or 2 step up will be necessary to get stops.

Assuming the coaching staff is more worried about wins than "balance" for balance sake; this should be a run heavy attack with outlet passes to the TE's pulling the LB's of TSU in to open the deep middle of the field for attack. I don't know if the Eagles WR's can run by the TSU secondary. Would love to see Miles and Green get on the field as true freshman. Expect the RB's to have the biggest impact if given the chance. Perreiah, Smith et. al. look like beasts. For the sake of posting a prediction, I'll just assume that Best can get out of his own way.

RB's combine for 235 yards, total offense 420 yards, defense gets 3 stops and 2 TO's (5 stops total), special teams coverage will be improved (whatever that means) and NO squib kicks ffs.

Eagles win this one on the ground 48 - 31.
Click to expand...
Haven't seen anything this week to change this prediction. Like Dopa, would love to see an absolutely dominate defensive game where TSU scores ZERO points and gains about 89 total yards. Fingers crossed on that. It may have been noted I'm not a fan of the coaching selection for starter; not saying I don't understand the sentiment. Given a dominate defensive effort, I would expect the offense to score over 50 easily and work in the backups.

Honestly geeked to see the RB's stomp all over every opponent this year. It just feels right. Hope many here can make the game despite it being the 2nd most expensive ticket in the FCS this week. Most prices were in the teen's...
 
Hero Sports who has great stuff FCS has:

Tennessee State at Eastern Washington (Saturday)

Tennessee State looks to be building something under Eddie George. The Tigers have brought in great talent this offseason with nine FBS transfers and four FCS transfers, including QB Draylen Ellis and DL Terrell Allen from Austin Peay, who were 2021 HERO Sports Sophomore All-Americans. Can they go to EWU and give the Eagles a game?

A lot of focus on EWU this preseason is its brutal schedule and losing an all-time great FCS quarterback in Eric Barriere. But the defense has good experience, the OL will always play well under Aaron Best, and new starting QB Gunner Talkington has two phenomenal WRs Freddie Roberson and Efton Chism III. EWU should get a home win before consecutive games against Oregon, Montana State, Florida, Weber State, and Sac State

Prediction: EWU 38-21
 
Football is back at last.

So, this is a game we should win at home probably 8 out of 10 times in a normal season…but there’s just a lot of unknowns with this team and on paper, at least, it looks to be a rebuilding year.

I hope the defense is better than what I am expecting bexause I don’t see us consistently putting up 35-45 points a game. Big unknowns at QB and we don’t have the usual depth at the WR position so I hope the running game is a little improved.

All that said, an early win at home can provide a little confidence going into the Oregon game. Hopefully we’re 1-1 going to MSU and playing something.

I will go with Eags 28, TSU 21.
 
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