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Second game of the Season!!!

flyingnail

Active member
When did we pickup Univ. of South Dakota !!! Wow, lotsa travel the first 3 weeks, and only 4 home games for the season ???? Thats weird !!!!!! GOEAGS!
 
I take it back, per South Dakota's press release, we are playing them at their place.

4 home games all season long and no Montana game... not a very attractive home schedule for a team coming off a National Championship. We open the year with two road games and end with two road games.

Worse yet, the following year, we've currently got two FBS games scheduled and neither really represents a big money game.
 
I checked USD's website and we are playing at South Dakota. How do we play 7 road games and 4 home games a year after winning the National Championship? This is going to hurt season ticket sales, its cheaper to pay for 4 games individually then buy season tickets this year. Not sure why we want to start the season at Wash, as USD, and at Montana, then come home to host the Bobcats?

If we can survive our first 4 games, we should have another stellar season, but that is an awfully tough start.

Both our non-conf FCS games are on the road this year (cal poly and usd). I like the aggressive schedule but I'm a little frustrated we couldn't schedule another home game, I think we were just spoiled with 8 this year.
 
Although it does suck we have less home games, it is good though we have another FCS OOC game that's very winnable. Gives us more room for error in making the playoffs with an all D-I schedule, only one of which is FBS... and a perhaps slightly winnable one at that.
 
All I have to say is it better be a home and home deal, which I don't see how we'd agree to it if it weren't. Guess that means they're not coming to Cheney until at least 2013.
 
I like the fact that we scheduled another FCS team, but why on the road? I just don't get it, when our only other non-conf games are already on the road. Since we have 2 FBS games on the slate in 2012 and a bigger conference, we won't most likely see the return game until 2013.

Scheduling the added FCS game gives us another chance for the needed 7 FCS wins, but it makes a tough schedule a lot more difficult with the added road game.
 
I wouldn't want it every year but I will trade a fifth homer against Western Oregon for a very winnable fcs road game this year. Our schedule is brutal and getting to 8 wins was going to be tough. Now we don't have to. On the brighter side, this will also raise our sagarin which raises our GPI. So if we go 9-2 or better it raises the chances of getting seeded. By playing this one we might get 1,2, or 3 additional home games a little later in the season.

Come on peoples, isn't our motto "start something big"? :mrgreen:
 
Tough schedule!! Chaves knows what he is doing so if this is the best we could do I would defer to his experience at negotiating schedules, and agree with most of you, that if we make it through this schedule fairly unscathed we will be better for it in the playoffs.
But... it is a tough one!!
 
I have been told this is not a home and home, South Dakota is paying us to go out there. They must figure they're going to be able to sell out their stadium and charge a bootyton for tickets to see their school play the defending national champions. They went 4-7 last year (even if they did beat an FBS school) http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/greatwest/south_dakota/yearly_results.php?year=2010 so you have to figure this is very winable game for us, and we're getting paid. Not so bad I suppose...but it most certainly does not help sell season tickets!
 
kalm said:
I wouldn't want it every year but I will trade a fifth homer against Western Oregon for a very winnable fcs road game this year. Our schedule is brutal and getting to 8 wins was going to be tough. Now we don't have to. On the brighter side, this will also raise our sagarin which raises our GPI. So if we go 9-2 or better it raises the chances of getting seeded. By playing this one we might get 1,2, or 3 additional home games a little later in the season.

Come on peoples, isn't our motto "start something big"? :mrgreen:

I like the thinking...anyone...anywhere...anytime. If they can beat USD and Montana, Eastern will be in a nice position to earn a high seed in the playoffs. The Bobcat game will be a great home opener and a payback game.

I'm just frustrated with the amount of home games, I guess I will just have to visit Seattle and Missoula this September...
 
marceagfan5 said:
kalm said:
I wouldn't want it every year but I will trade a fifth homer against Western Oregon for a very winnable fcs road game this year. Our schedule is brutal and getting to 8 wins was going to be tough. Now we don't have to. On the brighter side, this will also raise our sagarin which raises our GPI. So if we go 9-2 or better it raises the chances of getting seeded. By playing this one we might get 1,2, or 3 additional home games a little later in the season.

Come on peoples, isn't our motto "start something big"? :mrgreen:

I like the thinking...anyone...anywhere...anytime. If they can beat USD and Montana, Eastern will be in a nice position to earn a high seed in the playoffs. The Bobcat game will be a great home opener and a payback game.

I'm just frustrated with the amount of home games, I guess I will just have to visit Seattle and Missoula this September...

USD won't likely be as quality of a win as half the Big Sky teams and Washington but it will certainly be better than a DII.
 
I've got a hard time believing this is the best we could do to fill that final spot. Geez, we already had 6 away games scheduled. Obviously, the addition of a winnable FCS game to schedule is a bonus, but there should have been a home and home guarantee out of this, and the stipulation should have been for the first game in the series be at the Inferno. I have a hard time believing that whatever payout USD is providing is enough to make any sort of difference.

Bad for season ticket holders, definitely. But this could possiblyly boost our season per gam average because people probably won't pass on as many games when they've only for 4 times during the regular season to see the team.
 
Playing only 4 home games after we just won a national championship is horrible. We should be seizing this opportunity to get more fans out to Cheney, and only 4 home games eliminates opportunities.

We need to get a high seed so at least we have some home football games, but this schedule will be working completely against us. Losing TJ and then this schedule; repeating is going to be incredibly difficult.
 
I think the general consensus is that right now is the best time to capitalize on the momentum from winning the National Championship and bringing back a good portion of our starters. Playing the first 3 games on the road, and only 4 at home, when one of the 4 is not the Griz is going to hurt us in doing this. A lot of people who were going to buy season tickets will not anymore just for the fact that they are only buying into 4 games. I wonder if Troy can give us any kind of an update on ticket purchases to date for the upcoming year?

I agree that we will most likely see a boost in the attendance, especially our first 2 games, but our last 2 home games are against Northern Colorado and PSU, not really big draws, as they have been down the past couple years. We should see 8000+ (at least I hope) for the MSU game, as MSU draws well and it will be the home opener.

The positive about this schedule is it gives us more room for error by playing another FCS opponent, but I am still frustrated we didn't try to capitalize on the National Championship by playing only 4 home games. I can't imagine any other FCS school doing this following a national championship, but I'm sure there are some valid reasons we haven't heard.
 
marceagfan5 said:
I think the general consensus is that right now is the best time to capitalize on the momentum from winning the National Championship and bringing back a good portion of our starters. Playing the first 3 games on the road, and only 4 at home, when one of the 4 is not the Griz is going to hurt us in doing this. A lot of people who were going to buy season tickets will not anymore just for the fact that they are only buying into 4 games. I wonder if Troy can give us any kind of an update on ticket purchases to date for the upcoming year?

I agree that we will most likely see a boost in the attendance, especially our first 2 games, but our last 2 home games are against Northern Colorado and PSU, not really big draws, as they have been down the past couple years. We should see 8000+ (at least I hope) for the MSU game, as MSU draws well and it will be the home opener.

The positive about this schedule is it gives us more room for error by playing another FCS opponent, but I am still frustrated we didn't try to capitalize on the National Championship by playing only 4 home games. I can't imagine any other FCS school doing this following a national championship, but I'm sure there are some valid reasons we haven't heard.

I tentatively disagree. EWU football right now is definitely a hot commodity. So much exposure, national champions, 8-0 on the turf... people are going to want to see it. The fact there are only four home games this year makes it that much more of a hot ticket, which I think will boost our attendance. I wouldn't be surprised if we packed the stands for all four.
 
kalm said:
I wouldn't want it every year but I will trade a fifth homer against Western Oregon for a very winnable fcs road game this year. Our schedule is brutal and getting to 8 wins was going to be tough. Now we don't have to. On the brighter side, this will also raise our sagarin which raises our GPI. So if we go 9-2 or better it raises the chances of getting seeded. By playing this one we might get 1,2, or 3 additional home games a little later in the season.

Come on peoples, isn't our motto "start something big"? :mrgreen:

I think the fact that we won all three games in Cheney as a 5 seed and of course the National Championship, will help us a lot more in getting a higher seed next go round. I also love that we're 2-0 against the mighty CAA. If a high seed comes down to us or a CAA team, who they gonna give it to? :D
 
EWURanger said:
I've got a hard time believing this is the best we could do to fill that final spot. Geez, we already had 6 away games scheduled. Obviously, the addition of a winnable FCS game to schedule is a bonus, but there should have been a home and home guarantee out of this, and the stipulation should have been for the first game in the series be at the Inferno. I have a hard time believing that whatever payout USD is providing is enough to make any sort of difference.

Bad for season ticket holders, definitely. But this could possiblyly boost our season per gam average because people probably won't pass on as many games when they've only for 4 times during the regular season to see the team.

I don't doubt it came down to playing USD on the road, or bringing in a D-II. Even with only four home games, I'd rather we do this and play another winnable FCS team on the road than play a non-counter at home. I'd imagine that after watching us go 8-0 on the Inferno that teams aren't really wanting to come to Cheney. 8-) I'd also assume that if USD is paying us, sure it might not be a FBS payout, but it's going to more than cover travel expenses.
 
Screamin_Eagle174 said:
marceagfan5 said:
I think the general consensus is that right now is the best time to capitalize on the momentum from winning the National Championship and bringing back a good portion of our starters. Playing the first 3 games on the road, and only 4 at home, when one of the 4 is not the Griz is going to hurt us in doing this. A lot of people who were going to buy season tickets will not anymore just for the fact that they are only buying into 4 games. I wonder if Troy can give us any kind of an update on ticket purchases to date for the upcoming year?

I agree that we will most likely see a boost in the attendance, especially our first 2 games, but our last 2 home games are against Northern Colorado and PSU, not really big draws, as they have been down the past couple years. We should see 8000+ (at least I hope) for the MSU game, as MSU draws well and it will be the home opener.

The positive about this schedule is it gives us more room for error by playing another FCS opponent, but I am still frustrated we didn't try to capitalize on the National Championship by playing only 4 home games. I can't imagine any other FCS school doing this following a national championship, but I'm sure there are some valid reasons we haven't heard.

I tentatively disagree. EWU football right now is definitely a hot commodity. So much exposure, national champions, 8-0 on the turf... people are going to want to see it. The fact there are only four home games this year makes it that much more of a hot ticket, which I think will boost our attendance. I wouldn't be surprised if we packed the stands for all four.

Screaming...I hope you are right and I agree that with only 4 home games, there will be more people in the stands as there will be less chance to see them. I think both the MSU and Weber games will be close to sold out. I'm not sure about the N. Col or PSU games, but I guess we will see, I hope you are right. N. Col is homecoming so it should bring in some good attendance and PSU is somewhat of a rivalry.

My frustration was with the lack of a 5th home game, but I've heard that they tried to schedule anything at home on 9/10, but nothing would fit. It's more difficult on the west coast to do so as our options are somewhat limited for FCS.

I have have full faith and trust in the program and the decisions being made, so i'm sure it will work out for the best.

Plus, I wouldn't care if we only had 1 home game in sept/october if we are able to get another 3 in December again.
 
http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfoot2/news/news.aspx?id=4375686
Cheney, WA (Sports Network) - Eastern Washington's defense of its FCS championship in 2011 will include only three games on campus.

The Eagles will play four home games, but one will occur at Qwest Field in Seattle against Portland State.

EWU's games on campus at Roos Field, where the Eagles debuted red artificial turf this past season en route to posting a 13-2 record and winning the national championship, are against Montana State (Sept. 24), Weber State (Oct. 1) and Northern Colorado (Oct. 15), which is Homecoming Day.

EWU will play seven other games, including three straight to open the season: Sept. 3 at Washington, Sept. 10 at South Dakota and Sept. 17 at Montana in its Big Sky Conference opener.

"We really like the composition of playing 10 FCS schools and one FBS game," EWU athletic director Bill Chaves said. "If there was one thing I wish could have happened was that we had five home games and not four, but sometimes that is just what occurs in the scheduling process - it is inexact science. It took some time to complete the schedule given the challenges in the west from an FCS standpoint."

Eastern's schedule includes just four home games for the first time since 1981.

2011 Eastern Washington Football Schedule

All Times Eastern

Saturday, Sept. 3 - at Washington - Seattle, Wash.

Saturday, Sept. 10 - at South Dakota - Vermillion, S.D.

Saturday, Sept. 17 - at *Montana - Missoula, Mont.

Saturday, Sept. 24 - *Montana State - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m. (tentative)

Saturday, Oct. 1 - *Weber State - Cheney, Wash. - 4:05 p.m. (tentative)

Saturday, Oct. 8 - at *Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, Ariz.

Saturday, Oct. 15 - * Northern Colorado - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m. (tentative)

Saturday, Oct. 22 - at *Sacramento State - Sacramento, Calif.

Saturday, Oct. 29 - *Portland State - Seattle, Wash. - 4:05 p.m. - (tentative)

Saturday, Nov. 12 - at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Saturday, Nov. 19 - at *Idaho State - Pocatello, Idaho

*-Big Sky Conference game

There is no reason to have the PSU game in Seattle. I know we're trying increase exposure and give alum from the West side of the state the chance to watch us, but we can't sacrifice a Cheney home game when we only have four. Chaves is gonna take some heat for this one. :x
 

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