The Bobcats and the Eagles have engaged in some instant classics in recent years. For a good portion of the 2010s, one of the only offenses who could rival Eastern Washington’s in terms of prolific explosiveness was Montana State’s.
Among the best examples came in the unforgettable shootouts the two Big Sky Conference powers engaged in during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. EWU came out on top each time, winning 52-51 in Bozeman before racing to a 55-50 win over Montana State in Cheney the following season.
On Saturday, the two teams square off with each ranked in the top 10 for the seventh time during the all-time series. MSU comes into the game on a seven-game winning streak and with a No. 4 national ranking in Brent Vigen’s first season at the helm. Eastern Washington, led by fifth-year head coach Aaron Best, has won seven in a row to begin the season before stumbling in a 35-34 loss to Weber State two weeks ago.
Both squads are coming off byes. Montana State and Sacramento State are the only two teams in the 13-team BSC that do not have conference losses.
Saturday’s showdown features an Eastern Washington offense that is as prolific as ever against a Bobcat team that has remade its identity to center upon a bruising run game and a lights out defense.
Led by All-American quarterback Eric Barriere, EWU enters the game leading the country in scoring offense (51.5 points per game) and total offense (602 yards per contest). Montana State is giving up 10.2 points per game, the second-best mark in the country, along with 276 yards per game, the ninth-best total in the FCS.
Barriere lead the nation by throwing for 412 yards per game along with an FCS-best 30 touchdowns. Montana State defensive end Daniel Hardy is among the national leaders in sacks with 8.5. The Bobcats also lead the country in turnover margin at +12.
Montana State’s young cornerbacks have been pleasantly surprising all season and MSU is third in the country in passing defense, allowing 154 yards per contest. Barriere has shredded everyone.
MSU’s 220 rushing yards per game is the top mark in the conference and the ninth-best in the country. Isaiah Ifanse has nearly 1,000 yards already, leading the Big Sky and ranking fifth in the FCS. EWU had been vulnerable to power run games.
All of that is to say that Saturday’s renewal of a rivalry — MSU and EWU have not played since September of 2018 — will have ramifications within the league and within the national playoff picture.
“As we looked at the schedules, we are both in spots we hoped to be, rankings aside,” Vigen said. ” It’s a chance to play a really good team with a lot on the line. That’s what you want in November. You want these games to matter.
“Eastern is as explosive as offensive as there is in all the FCS and we’re gonna have to play really well. They’ve come a long ways, I think on defense over the years, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us. But I think our guys are prepared and ready to take it on.”
QUICK HITS
Location: Cheney, Washington
Nickname: Eagles
Founded: 1882. Eastern Washington is a public university which is academically divided into four colleges: Arts and Letters; Business and Public Administration; Science, Health and Engineering; and Social & Behavioral Sciences and Social Work.
Enrollment: The school has 12,350 total students and a $25.3 million endowment.
Stadium: Roos Field holds 8,700 fans. Complete with its trademark red turf, the stadium is named after Michael Roos, an All-Big Sky offensive lineman who then went on to be a Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans. He donated half a million dollars for the one-of-a-kind “Inferno” turf.
THE COACH
AARON BEST, FIFTH SEASON AT EASTERN WASHINGTON (33-14)
Best has been coaching at Eastern Washington, his alma mater, for all but one year since he exhausted his playing eligibility in 1999. That one year was 2007, when he went north of the border to work as the offensive line coach for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.
Other than that, Best has been in Cheney, first as a graduate assistant, then as offensive line coach, then as offensive coordinator and now as the head coach.
Best, Montana head coach Bobby Hauck and UC Davis head coach Dan Hawkins are the three head coaches in the Big Sky Conference who are currently leading their alma maters.
He was promoted to interim co-head coach shortly after Baldwin left to take the offensive coordinator job at Cal in early 2017, and officially named the head coach on Jan. 21, 2017.
The Eagles haven’t won fewer than seven games in each of his three full seasons, which included a 12-3 year with a share of the Big Sky title and a 38-24 national title game loss to North Dakota State in 2018.
Best was a first-team all-Big Sky selection as a center during his four-year playing career at Eastern Washington.
THE OFFENSE — PLAYERS TO WATCH
ERIC BARRIERE, QUARTERBACK, 6-1, 210, REDSHIRT SENIOR
Barriere is certainly the best quarterback, probably the best offensive player, and quite possibly the best overall player in the Big Sky. Best makes sure to emphasize the point each and every week.
The redshirt senior from Inglewood replaced injured All-American Gage Gubrud when the former Walter Payton Finalist suffered what amounted to a season-ending foot injury in a 34-17 win by EWU in Bozeman the last time the Eagles played the Bobcats.
That opened the door for the emergence of an unorthodox gunslinger who wears two gloves, throws the football with no laces and plays as fearlessly as any quarterback in college football. Barriere’s debut sparked a winning streak that led EWU all the way to the national title game, a run that fell short in Frisco, Texas, against a North Dakota State dynasty that won its third straight national title and seventh in a run of eight crowns in nine seasons.
Barriere finished fifth in voting for the Walter Payton Award in 2019, and second in the 2021 spring season. Best and Barriere have both stated that winning the Heisman of the FCS is a primary goal this season for the Eagles as an organization.
Barriere can run and throw, and EWU’s wide-open offense gives him plenty of room to do both. He set a new FCS record with 487 passing yards (and six touchdowns) in the first half against Western Illinois earlier this season. He threw for more than 600 yards and seven scores in a 71-21 rout of rival Idaho. He ripped off 518 yards and four touchdowns against Southern Utah earlier this season. He leads the country in passer efficiency, passing yards, passing touchdowns and most other statistical categories.
He’s been held under 300 total yards just twice in 11 games in 2021, in EWU’s playoff loss to North Dakota State in the spring and a blowout win over D-II Central Washington in the fall when he exited early.
Last week, the loss to Weber State was the first by EWU on its red turf in 20 games and the first home loss of Barriere’s career as a starter. Eastern Washington is 63-11 at home since the installation of the infamous “Inferno” at Roos Field.
DENNIS MERRITT, RUNNING BACK, 5-10, 180, REDSHIRT SENIOR
Eastern Washington has four receivers (Talolo Limu-Jones, Efton Chism III, Andrew Boston and Freddie Roberson) with at least 28 catches and at least 465 yards. Limo-Jones, a converted tight end that runs way better than you might expect out of a 6-foot-4, 225-pounder, is one of the nation’s leaders in receiving yards per game by averaging 104 per contest. He had 11 catches for 231 yards in EWU’s 34-28 win over Montana to begin October. Boston is averaging nearly 18 yards per catch and has caught five of Barriere’s 30 touchdown passes.
Instead, it’s the running back who has been the x-factor and the main point scorer for the Eagles’ offense. He’s been in Cheney since 2015 but didn’t make his first start until 2019 against Washington.
He suffered a season-ending injury the week after that, and couldn’t return until the 2021 spring season, when he started just one game but led the team with seven touchdowns.
This fall, he has emerged as an all-conference and All-American candidate. He has rushed for 663 yards and an FCS-best 13 touchdowns. He is approaching 1,000 yards from scrimmage because he’s caught 28 passes for 300 yards and three more scores.
TRISTEN TAYLOR, TACKLE, 6-6, 320, REDSHIRT SENIOR
Taylor, a hulking left tackle from Stockton, California, has started all 55 games he’s been available for since 2016, although he played just three games in 2018 before suffering a season-ending injury. Yet he still surpassed Clay DeBord for the most starts in program history.
He’s been all-conference each season he’s been healthy, with honorable mention selections in 2016 and 2017, a second-team spot in 2019, and a first-team berth in the 2021 spring season.
THE DEFENSE — PLAYERS TO WATCH
TY GRAHAM, LINEBACKER, 6-0, 210, REDSHIRT SENIOR
Graham had a roundabout route to Eastern Washington. He graduated from Cheney High School but originally went to Idaho, playing 27 games for the Vandals before transferring to EWU, where his father John was the defensive coordinator for eight years, in 2019.
So far in 2021, Ty Graham leads EWU with 74 tackles and is second with seven tackles for loss.
Graham also has three of Eastern’s 22 sacks and one of its 10 interceptions.
JOSHUA JEROME, DEFENSIVE TACKLE, 6-1, 280, RS SOPHOMORE
Jerome played in 10 games in 2019 but didn’t break out until the 2021 spring season, when he led the team with three sacks and was named honorable mention all-Big Sky.
The redshirt sophomore from Monroe, Washington, leads Eastern Washington with 11 tackles for loss, including five sacks.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
