The annual showdown between Montana State and Eastern Washington has produced some of the most entertaining football games in all of the FCS this decade. In 2012, MSU’s defensive line did its best to behead EWU All-American quarterback Vernon Adams before the Eagles emerged with a 27-24 win in Bozeman, the lone Big Sky loss of the season for the Bobcats.
In 2013, the only thing that stopped the Eagles was the goal line in a 54-29 victory in which EWU did not punt a single time nor did Montana State register a single defensive stop of any sort. That game sparked a trend of shootouts, including the 52-51 victory by Eastern in Bozeman. In 2015, Montana State rolled up 706 yards of total offense but lost 55-50, the first in a string of porous defensive performances that led to Rob Ash’s firing and Jeff Choate’s hiring.
In Choate’s first season, the Bobcats swung toe to toe with the national-championship contending Eagles for a half. But a pair of third-quarter turnovers combined with Gage Gubrud’s record-setting day — the quarterback set an EWU record with 520 passing yards — led the Eags to a 41-17 win.
Last season, three red-zone turnovers doomed the Bobcats in Cheney. MSU fell 31-19 despite a furious rally after digging itself an early hole.
On Saturday, No. 6 Eastern Washington visits Bobcat Stadium for a crucial Big Sky Conference tilt. EWU pounded Cal Poly 70-17 last week to move to 1-0 in league, 3-1 overall. Behind 211 rushing yards from quarterback Troy Andersen, MSU won at Portland State, 43-23, to enter Saturday’s game with an identical record as the visitors.
Eastern Washington quarterback Gage Gubrud (8) vs Montana State in 2017/by Blake Hempstead for Skyline Sports
“What winning on Saturday did was it made this game that much more meaningful and important,” Choate said. “I’m excited because we’ve worked really hard around here to have a game against a really good opponent in our place that is a meaningful game for us outside of maybe the Montana game, which has implications internally and statewide but not necessarily in the conference the last two years. We’ve got that. We’ve got a really good opponent coming to town and we’ve positioned ourselves early through our non-conference play and by getting out of the gate in conference play to make some noise. Now we will see how good we are.”
Eastern Washington has made the FCS playoffs nine times since 2004, advancing to the semifinals four times this decade and winning the 2010 national title, the last national championship claimed by a Big Sky Conference team. Montana State has qualified for the FCS playoffs seven times since 2002 but has not advanced to the postseason since 2014.
“We are ready to go measure ourselves against an excellent team in our league,” Choate said. “And then we will see. They are the class of the league. They were picked by the media and the coaches to win the league. They have a quarterback who is a legitimate Walter Payton Award candidate. They have nine of 11 starters back on offense, nine of 11 starters back on defense. That’s a good outfit. We can’t say that about ourselves right now. We just have to find out where we stack up against the best in this league.”
Location: Cheney, Washington
Nickname: Eagles
Enrollment: 12,607
Founded: EWU was founded in 1882 as a public university that is now divided into five colleges: Arts, Letters & Eduction; Business & Public Administration; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathamatics; Social Science & Behavioral Sciences and Social Work; and Heath Science and Public Health.
Stadium: Roos Field holds 8,600 patrons with a record attendance of 11,702 in September of 2010 when Eastern Washington debuted its infamous blood red turf. Formerly known as Woodward Field, the facility underwent its first massive rnovation in 2004. In 2010 thanks to a $500,000 donation from former EWU offensive lineman and NFL veteran Michael Roose, EWU replaced its natural grass playing surface with the red SprinTurf. The venue has the nickname of “The Inferno”.
Alumni: ESPN radio show host Colin Cowherd; former Florida head football coach Jim McElwain; New York Times best-selling author Jess Walter; a variety of NFL players, including Los Angeles Rams starting wide receiver Cooper Kupp and starting outside linebacker Samson Ebukam.
The Coach
Aaron Best (2nd year at EWU, 10-5 overall) — Although Best is in his second season as Eastern’s head coach, he has been a part of the EWU football program for more than half his life. The Tacoma, Washington native came to play for former head coach Mike Kramer in 1996. Best started 22 straight games to close his career, earning first-team All-Big Sky honors as a center in 1999.
After two years as a graduate assistant under Paul Wulff, Best took over as the offensive line coach at his alma mater in 2002. He served in that role until 2006 and spent the 2007 season coaching offensive line for the Toronto Argonauts in 2007. He returned to to Eastern in 2008 as a part of Beau Baldwin’s staff and served as the offensive line coach for all of Baldwin’s nine seasons at the helm. Following 2016’s run to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs, Baldwin left to take the offensive coordinator job at Cal on Justin Wilcox’s staff and Best took over as the head coach.
EWU went 7-4 in Best’s first season at the helm, including 6-2 in Big Sky play. As a player, Best helped Eastern to the FCS semifinals in 1997. As a coach, the Eagles have qualified for the playoffs nine times, advancing to the semifinals four times this decade and winning the 2010 national championship.
Offense-Players to Watch
Eastern Washington quarterback Gabe Gubrud (8) vs Montana State in 2016/by Brooks Nuanez
Gage Gubrud, quarterback, 6-2, 205, senior — The two-time Walter Payton Award finalist and 2016 Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year enters Saturday’s showdown with 10,681 yards of total offense in 28 career starts. The mobile, strong-armed former walk-on from McMinnville, Oregon is one of the most electric players in college football.
“It’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall,” Montana State head coach Jeff Choate said when asked what it’s like to game plan for the Payton hopeful. “But if you get too carried way in that regard, you are not going to fit anything right.
“He’s got the ability to run the ball like a (former MSU quarterback) Chris Murray or a (Montana quarterback) Dalton Sneed but he can throw the ball at such a high level, too, so it’s pick your poison.”
As a sophomore, Gubrud set FCS records with 5,766 yards of total offense and 5,160 yards passing. He threw 48 touchdowns that year as an offense that also featured current NFL starting wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Kendrick Bourne. Last year, Gubrud was the lynchpin as the offense rebuilt due to the departure of those receivers plus Shaq Hill to the NFL, Baldwin’s exodus to the Pac 12 and offensive coordinator Troy Taylor leaving for Utah. Gubrud still led the league with 26 touchdown passes to go with 3,578 passing yards.
So far this season, Gubrud has nearly twice as many touchdown passes as anyone in the league with 13. His 1,105 yards passing are second to UC Davis’ Jake Maier. EWU is averaging nearly 46 points per game thanks to an attack churning out a league-leading 570 yards per game. Thanks in part to last week’s 441-yard rushing effort in a 70-17 win over Cal Poly, EWU also leads the league with 291 rushing yards per contest.
Antoine Custer Jr., running back, 5-9, 190, junior — Claiming internal offensive MVP honors at EWU over the last two decades basically stamps All-American status. For Custer last season, it did just that.
As a sophomore, Custer rushed for 776 yards and 10 touchdowns while catching 21 passes for 276 yards and two more scores to earn EWU’s Offensive MVP. He was a second-team All-Big Sky selection and an honorable mention FCS Sophomore All-American pick after averaging 107 all-purpose yards per game. His best day came against Montana State,a 147-yard effort that included two touchdowns.
Custer was banged up early this season but returned to the rotation with a bang last week. He rushed for 133 yards on just eight carries, including a 62-yard touchdown run with less than a minute to play in the first quarter to stake the Eagles to a 14-3 lead. Cal Poly cut the advantage to 35-17 in the third quarter before Custer ripped off a 43-yard score.
Defense-Players to Watch
Kurt Calhoun, linebacker, 6-2, 235, senior — In his second year as a starter, Calhoun is excelling in his final season as a Eagle. The former small-school star from Zillah had 73 tackles and four tackles for loss, including two sacks during his first season as a starter last fall.
This year, the inside linebacker leads Eastern with 29 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Last week against Cal Poly, he hit Mustangs’ quarterback Khaleel Jenkins, forcing a fumble that Curt Karstetter scooped and returned for a 38-yard touchdown to give Eastern an early 7-3 lead. Calhoun finished the game with 11 tackles.
Mitchell Johnson, defensive line, 6-3, 225, redshirt freshman — Senior safety Mitch Fettig is a two-time All-Big Sky selection. Senior inside linebacker Kentner Kupp is an established and well-respected leader. But Johnson has been the flash player of Eastern Washington’s defense so far this season.
The lanky redshirt freshman from West Linn, Oregon was a 6A first-team All-State selection by the Oregonian newspaper after a senior year that saw him pile up 170 tackles in leading the Lions on an undefeated run to the state championship game.
Last fall, Johnson earned EWU Scout Team Defensive Player of the Year. In his first year in the rotation this fall, he’s already stacked up a collection of plays, including notching a pair of sacks in Eastern’s lone loss, a 59-24 defeat at Washington State two weeks ago. Johnson has team highs of four sacks and seven tackles for loss among his 13 total tackles. He also forced a fumble last week against Cal Poly that Jim Townsend picked up and raced 62 yards for a touchdown.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or contributed. All Rights Reserved.
