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Wk 7 Prediction Thread Eagles HUGE 71-21 over Vandals

L

luckyintheorder

Active member
This will appear cavalier to some...

Watched most of the Idaho v PSU game and parts of the Idaho at UC Davis. What can be said about the strange amalgam that is the Idaho Vandals? They can run the ball, have a bowling ball back, a couple of QB's and a bunch of chubby slow guys... Maybe it's the odd colored uniforms. Specific's won't make them any better. Statistically, they are middle of the road at best. To sum up, the Vandals are HO HUM...

The Eagles will be able to move the ball at will, starting WR's, backups or all TE's. If I was disappointed at No. Colo. last week, it was in the fact the Eag's didn't run the ball particularly well and that was with TE's in most of the game. Off tackle, off tackle, off tackle.. If I had ruby slippers I'd be wearing them. Eastern will be able to run the ball if it wants too. No reason to make this game close. Could play a base 4-3 defense all game and adequately contain whatever Idaho will do. If Eag's get tricky running line stunts or crashing down instead of containing the edge, watch out. Fully expect Eastern to give up their average yards per game.

Guess I could see this as a close game, but don't. Defense gets 3 TO's, Merrit and Jackson go for 175+ on the ground and EB3 has another 350+ 4 TD day. Special teams needs to continue showing improvement especially in the return defense. WR's need to do their jobs better. Routes, blocking and catching the ball.

Eastern 48 - Idaho 24

SereneEnchantedBaboon-max-1mb.gif
 
From the Idaho board:

Put a spy on Eric Barrire?

Our success (vs. EWU) is when DC Breske gets really aggressive. Tre as a spy? The EWU QB has to face relentless pressure, I think.
Click to expand...

Guess this fan didn't watch the Montana game... Idaho is no Montana.
 
luckyintheorder said:
From the Idaho board:

Put a spy on Eric Barrire?

Our success (vs. EWU) is when DC Breske gets really aggressive. Tre as a spy? The EWU QB has to face relentless pressure, I think.
Click to expand...

Guess this fan didn't watch the Montana game... Idaho is no Montana.
Click to expand...

I was going to say, please, by all means, put a spy on Barriere. That would be committing suicide. We throw the ball all game long; you wanna take a guy out of coverage to sit and watch our QB? Whoever wrote this certainly doesn't have coaching on his resume. Maybe McCaffrey at UNC would hire him with great ideas like that.

Idaho is a bad fit for us because they play our antithesis style. They want to hold the ball and slow the game to a crawl... limiting possessions and shortening the game. We want to run 100 offensive plays, they'll want to run 50. We tend to lose our composure in games like that and the frustration shows. Get us frustrated, and we start making mistakes. Even great teams struggle when they can't focus on the task.

The problem Idaho faces is that their coaches can get it all they want, but they don't have great talent at too many positions. Eastern should win this game, and would have to lay an egg to keep Idaho around. But Idaho is good enough to be in the margin of error, meaning we can't play like dogshit like we did both times in the Spring. We need to get off the field on defense and make plays on offense. It's not rocket science, but we need to make plays to keep drives rolling and finish them off with points every time.

One thing that does impress me about Idaho is they really hit. We're starting to show some signs of wear and tear, so staying tough and playing through minor dings and scrapes is imperative. Idaho is hungry and they know the formula to beat us; that formula has been the same for a long while. You've got to drag the game out and wear us down physically. The Spring game in Cheney was exactly the right play; they brought in a running QB and basically just zone blocked every play while letting the QB hoof it up field. And we never stopped it. Rudimentary football 101.

This isn't a week to take off, so players need to be on the field and ready to go.
 
I agree with most of what Lucky and Dopa covered above. The most dismal game I have seen the EAGS play in a decade was two years ago in the Kibbie Dome. Idaho for whatever reason makes life difficult for the EAGS.

Lucky, I saw some highlights of the Idaho/PSU game and saw that pseudo-QB that ran all over the EAGS last year basically run the wildcat for a TD. We can't let this guy run wild on us like last spring. I also saw that running back that looks like a nose guard rumble in for a touchdown. The play took 20 seconds, but he did score.

So, I will not give a numeric prediction as I am cursed. However, I will predict the EAGS will open up in a 7-1-3 defense, specifically designed to stop the 1890's offense the vandals run.

I also predict the EAGS will score many times.
 
GoldenEagle said:
The most dismal game I have seen the EAGS play in a decade was two years ago in the Kibbie Dome. Idaho for whatever reason makes life difficult for the EAGS.

Lucky, I saw some highlights of the Idaho/PSU game and saw that pseudo-QB that ran all over the EAGS last year basically run the wildcat for a TD. We can't let this guy run wild on us like last spring. I also saw that running back that looks like a nose guard rumble in for a touchdown. The play took 20 seconds, but he did score.

So, I will not give a numeric prediction as I am cursed. However, I will predict the EAGS will open up in a 7-1-3 defense, specifically designed to stop the 1890's offense the vandals run. :rofl:

I also predict the EAGS will score many times.
Click to expand...

Dopa and you make a lot of sense. It's uncanny how Idaho has made the Eag's look pedestrian. I do like their running game and as Dopa pointed out Idaho has "physicality" and is the "antithesis" of the Eagles. That bowling ball back is difficult to tackle. Why the Eagles big? I didn't see how Idaho can slow down Eastern's offense and can see how with the improved DL play Eastern will get some stops and potentially disrupt Idaho enough to create some TO's. Didn't factor in Eli Doyle possibly missing the first half due to the targeting last week (not sure if he's out) but do know Criner is playing well and he and Doyle are rubbing off on the rest of the DB's.

TOP is about even for Idaho and Eastern this season at 28 minutes. Idaho did play Oregon State and Indiana so that may have skewed some of the stats. The Beavers are playing well this year and held Idaho to 0 points. Despite running the ball for 190 yards per game, they don't have a single stand out back but spread it around, RB and QB by committee.

Lastly, I could be chewing my nails over this game because of the past few outings but I think the team leadership has been outstanding and EB3 and crew want to erase any residual "bad taste" and will do so in resounding fashion. Eag's aren't looking past this one as Dopa pointed out somewhere, they are taking it one game at a time and want to be 1-0 after the contest.
 
Eags should win this game as neither of these teams have won on the road in this game since Idaho returned to sky in 2018.

That said every but the 2018 game. But even then honestly looking how teams finished (you all in ship and Idaho in 10th) 24 points was maybe actually a "good showing' for Vandies.

But I feel this game doesn't go any higher then 14 point margin of victory for EWU. our 3-4 defense with tall, athletic, standup rushers seem to have done the best (other than NDSU) at keeping EB3 in pocket and the linebackers have been able to clean up anything else. That said Eastern still gets its yards and points. I picked Eastern 30- Idaho 24.

May the worst team win... for my sake
 
Doing a little board surfing over Vandals way... Most predict an Eastern win but give all the credit to their HC. :-) I'm OK with that, though I believe the Eagles will have something to do with the outcome. Another interesting notion is that Eastern fans on our board are arrogant because we're picking our team to win... OK, that's a new one to me.

Eastern has only beaten a single good team and five bad ones, so our arrogance smells like flatulence. It's definitely one more good team than Idaho's beaten. Honestly, every time I go to the opponents boards, I feel so lucky to be an Eastern Eagle fan. Thank you one and all..
 
luckyintheorder said:
Doing a little board surfing over Vandals way... Most predict an Eastern win but give all the credit to their HC. :-) I'm OK with that, though I believe the Eagles will have something to do with the outcome. Another interesting notion is that Eastern fans on our board are arrogant because we're picking our team to win... OK, that's a new one to me.

Eastern has only beaten a single good team and five bad ones, so our arrogance smells like flatulence. It's definitely one more good team than Idaho's beaten. Honestly, every time I go to the opponents boards, I feel so lucky to be an Eastern Eagle fan. Thank you one and all..
Click to expand...

In fairness to Idaho fans, I'm sure they're a frustrated group. Their admin moved to FCS from FBS while selling the notion that they'd be competitive in this level. Yet they certainly oversold that, because Idaho hasn't been winning at much of anything since joining the Big Sky. They were part of the Sun Belt back when the Sun Belt was total garbage... if you weren't competitive in that conference, moving to the big Sky was never going to instantly make you competitive. Nowadays, the Sun Belt is a damn good football conference, but that's only a recent thing.

Given how bad we've played against Idaho the last 3 times, this game is very concerning to me. A one-off bad showing, maybe just an idiosyncrasy. Two in a row is a trend, but three awful performances in a row against a team that hasn't been .500 is downright scary.
 
ChrisBSPN said:
Eags should win this game as neither of these teams have won on the road in this game since Idaho returned to sky in 2018.

That said every but the 2018 game. But even then honestly looking how teams finished (you all in ship and Idaho in 10th) 24 points was maybe actually a "good showing' for Vandies.

But I feel this game doesn't go any higher then 14 point margin of victory for EWU. our 3-4 defense with tall, athletic, standup rushers seem to have done the best (other than NDSU) at keeping EB3 in pocket and the linebackers have been able to clean up anything else. That said Eastern still gets its yards and points. I picked Eastern 30- Idaho 24.

May the worst team win... for my sake
Click to expand...

This seems fair. I pretty much agree with all of this.
 
Has anyone seen this week's 2 Deep Roster? Any update on Lemu-Jones' rehab, availability? I'd like to see him getting the completion statistics he deserves.
 
EWURanger said:
ChrisBSPN said:
Eags should win this game as neither of these teams have won on the road in this game since Idaho returned to sky in 2018.

That said every but the 2018 game. But even then honestly looking how teams finished (you all in ship and Idaho in 10th) 24 points was maybe actually a "good showing' for Vandies.

But I feel this game doesn't go any higher then 14 point margin of victory for EWU. our 3-4 defense with tall, athletic, standup rushers seem to have done the best (other than NDSU) at keeping EB3 in pocket and the linebackers have been able to clean up anything else. That said Eastern still gets its yards and points. I picked Eastern 30- Idaho 24.

May the worst team win... for my sake
Click to expand...

This seems fair. I pretty much agree with all of this.
Click to expand...

Going soft on us Ranger? :ohno: Just ribbing. The PSU QB threw for over 400 yds...
Alexander was 32-of-48 passing for 424 yards.
Click to expand...
How is Idaho going to hold the Eagles down to 30 points or just 350ish yards of offense?

It's hard to compare stats when the sample of FCS v FCS is small, but Eastern shines on offense and defense in the comparison. Most of Eastern's games have been on the road.
https://stats.ncaa.org/rankings/ranking_summary
Choose Football
Choose FCS
Click Rank Summary
Choose BigSky (conference dropdown)

All will be revealed.

beautiful-winter-sunrise-mountain-village-36815290.jpg
 
luckyintheorder said:
EWURanger said:
ChrisBSPN said:
Eags should win this game as neither of these teams have won on the road in this game since Idaho returned to sky in 2018.

That said every but the 2018 game. But even then honestly looking how teams finished (you all in ship and Idaho in 10th) 24 points was maybe actually a "good showing' for Vandies.

But I feel this game doesn't go any higher then 14 point margin of victory for EWU. our 3-4 defense with tall, athletic, standup rushers seem to have done the best (other than NDSU) at keeping EB3 in pocket and the linebackers have been able to clean up anything else. That said Eastern still gets its yards and points. I picked Eastern 30- Idaho 24.

May the worst team win... for my sake
Click to expand...

This seems fair. I pretty much agree with all of this.
Click to expand...

Going soft on us Ranger?
Click to expand...

Not at all. I think it’s a game that we SHOULD win…especially when viewed through the lens of cumulative stats to this point. That said, for whatever reason, we’ve not played well against them the past couple of seasons. The first game last Spring you could maybe chalk up to 1st game jitters and a bad referee decision, but we didn’t play particularly well against them in our home win, either. No answer for the Wildcat Qb look and it almost cost us the game. We’re better defensively this year so maybe that mitigates the concern some…I dunno - just not a game I see us dominating in like some of the others this season. After watching them play a couple of times I think they’ll be a tough out. I could be wrong.
 
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