vs. Idaho

[Obzerver]

Well the last few posts has given me more insight. Felt bad that my prediction gave UI the win...just bummed out we aren't very good. Thus, new prediction is EWU 36 vs UI 32

 

[E-Wu Tang Clan]

If this was Idaho's week 1 defense versus EWU week 1 defense, the Vandals would have an advantage. Idaho's defense isn't the same as the team that held Washington State to 13 points in Week 1. They lost Aaron Kinsey likely for the year and have been awful against the pass since then. Both teams struggle against the pass, the defensive passing efficiency ranking for EWU is 87th versus 95th for Idaho even with the solid performance versus Wazzu. Neither team is great at getting to the quarterback but EWU is better with 10 sacks versus 5 for Idaho. Idaho is tied for 115th in the nation for sacks, it is almost impossible to have a solid defense when you put as little pressure on the QB as Idaho does. Neither defense is good, Idaho had some decent performances early before falling off the cliff after Kinsey was injured. EWU has been bad all year. At this point in the year I would take the mediocre to bad Eag defense over the dumpster fire defense that Idaho has thrown out there the last few weeks. I do have concerns that our offense isn't really equiped to exploit the weaknesses in the Vandal defense, if Visperas was still here we would probably be a 10+ point favorite.

Vegas has the game as basically a tossup, that isn't because EWU is better than the past few years but due to how much worse Idaho is than they have were under Eck. EWU was able to keep the score close the last two years even when Idaho was much more talented. I share your view that there aren't a lot of winnable games left, I believe there is a chance this game is competitive.

Idk why its so hard for people to accept that Northern Colorado might have a good team. Montana definitely does, they have the 6th best offense in the FCS and the best in the Big Sky. Those were Idaho's last few games. I have Eastern losing to those teams too, for Montana by A LOT.

Eastern may have over performed against Idaho the past few season but they were still losses, it was still a L. Again, we barely beat a winless Portland State team at home LAST WEEK. If they were just a little more competent they would have won, Idaho is more competent.

WSU was a mess the first few weeks, they were still trying to decide on a starting QB. It definitely wasn't the team that almost beat Ole Miss last week.

Sacks are great and all and whatever defensive pass efficiency is but actual yardage and points win games. If you get a sack, then give up a 15-20 yard play, which Eastern often does, the next play it means fuck all. When I pick out those stats its cause I think they indicate whether a team will or or lose. I don't cherry pick stats because Eastern beats the other team in that category.

Idaho scores an average 26.3 ppg
Eastern scores an average 23.2 ppg

Idaho is giving up an average of 28.3 ppg
Eastern is giving up an average of 35.6 ppg

Man, this is coping so hard. I know you guys want to win I just don't see it though. I don't like to see Eastern lose either. I don't like clinging to for hope for a win against bad teams. I'm probably not going to do it much longer if they don't do something and just go be a UW or WSU fan. If this were the offense of any other year, even last year I might call it a W or even 50/50.