I thought the defense was decent until they got worn down in the second half. We just couldn’t get a drive going and get them off the field.

It’s funny how a few plays can have a big impact. Stop them 3 and out, score a touchdown, and stop them again. Momentum and confidence. Fake punt that barely makes it, followed by a TD.

Almost INT, weird replay, followed by a TD.

If those turn our way, does it matter?

Very tough loss. We had some good points and bad. I wish we would have blitzed more. Maybe they were afraid EWU’s QB would tear us up on a blitz but he did that when having all day to throw. Couldn’t have hurt to try.

Well we need to rebound and beat Sac and have some momentum going into the playoffs and hope to get a better seeding/placement.

This one was beyond where a few plays or calls going our way would have made a difference.
Our offense consisted of occasional big plays squandered by not being able to follow up with a first down. O’keefe’s 35 yard reception to the 28, followed by four plays that can’t get 10 yards an example. The Trent Tompkins drive near end of third quarter where we had first and ten at the fifteen and went backwards. Our run plays were almost as likely to lose yardage as gain it. Looked like we were back in the non scholarship days playing a team that was physically better, only we didn’t have Bob Biggs playing QB.

Is their defense physically that much better?

I posted offensive numbers from the spring season showing a big drop off, especially if we subtract the SLO game. It wasn't well received.

On the lighter side, why isn't Pint working the Causeway Classic? We need one less creature giving up on the season with one week still to go.

I agree. You just wonder ‘what if’ that fake punt is stopped and we take over at 40. Get up 14-0? Of course they have the firepower to make that up in a hurry.

That was a ballsy call on their part. Maybe showed their feelings about how they could stop our offense.

he’s missed late season games before - some type of dog contest.

maybe Pint didn’t want to share his night with the seniors

We miss Lance Babb, a big time playmaker.

It looks like there's a Farmer's Market today in Davis where Babb will be selling his designs (clothing) ...

https://instagram.com/lancebabbii?utm_medium=copy_link

Statistical comparison of this year's offense - 2021 Regular - vs 2019 (5-7 team).

2021-Reg ::::::::::::::: 2019

PPG 30.90 /// 28.67 (+7.9%)
R/APC 4.5 /// 4.2
R/APG 185.2 /// 123.8 (+50%)

P/YPG 229.3 /// 309 (-26%)
A/YPG 414.5 /// 433 (-4.3%)

(LL a stud.)

You are probably right. I asked that question on their FB page and PInt will be there on Saturday.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/nov/13/eastern-washington-rallies-from-early-deficit-to-b/

The problem isn’t our season averages, it’s that we fell off in productivity as the season progressed.

We’ve recruited some sought after offensive linemen in the last few years, but they haven’t earned playing time. Our offensive linemen are light for this era of football. Most don’t put on weight after they get here. Nico Sarale is an example, had nine offers; came in at 6’4” 260 lbs. now four years later he’s at 269. That’s borderline for being an offensive tackle at this level.
I edited this post because Lamson did play, but not at right tackle. I think he was at left guard.

You're right. A deceptive year. We've won a number of close games over average teams or below average teams. (Dixie State has played a brutal schedule.) Congrats to Pat McCann.

There was a possible reviewable call in the second half, and it appears EWU ran a quick play, possibly to prevent review. If so, quick thinking on their part.

Post-game quotes from Hawkins and 'Bryce Rodgers:

“Our kids didn’t back down, we played great, battled, gave some blows, took some blows.” he said. “So that’s part of it. But, again, the season goes on. I told them, my speech, one way or another, whether we won or lost, was probably going to be pretty much the same. So we’ve got to get ready to go for next week.”

Rodgers said the plan coming into the game was to prevent Barriere from playing backyard football and being able to step up in the pocket. “They have a lot of weapons on their offense,” Rodgers said. “They got some good running backs, have a good running game, and got a good pass game, and they know what they got back there in No. 3. So they know that when in doubt, you gotta do the scramble drill, basically, and they’re just trying to get open. So they do that very well.”

“Hats off to those guys, they played great,” he said. “I’ve had either the unpleasant or pleasant experience of playing against a number of Heisman Trophy quarterbacks, or Heisman Trophy finalists, I would put Eric Barriere right up there with any of them. He’s super talented.”

Regarding EWU's offensive numbers:

"Eastern Washington’s numbers were eye-popping. The Eagles outgained Davis, 625-283, and ran 101 plays on offense to just 63 on defense. “Never have I been a part of a game like that in my 16 years of playing football. That’s crazy,” Rodgers, a senior, said. “I didn’t even know there was that many snaps taken. I think that just says something that we just need to work on getting off the field more, honestly.”

“They have a lot of weapons on their offense,” Rodgers said. “They got some good running backs, have a good running game, and got a good pass game, and they know what they got back there in No. 3. So they know that when in doubt, you gotta do the scramble drill, basically, and they’re just trying to get open. So they do that very well.”

Regarding the next game against Sac:

“I think that Sac State is a good team,” defensive lineman Bryce Rodgers said. “But in terms of how we look at it in the future, it’s the next game. We’re not really worried about the playoffs like that. We’re just worried about winning this next game.”

“It’s no pressure,” said Hawkins. “Our standard is, amongst ourselves, to be the very best version of ourselves. Although we line up against other teams in other colors, in other venues in other places, it’s always to live up to the best version of ourselves, and I have 100% confidence in our guys that we’ll do that.”

Regarding Lan Larison:

“His foot’s been bothering him bad for quite a while,” Hawkins said. “And it’s still not 100%. But you’re not going to find anyone tougher than Lans Larison. ... He’s extremely explosive, as you saw. He’s extremely tough.”

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/article255802571.html#storylink=cpy

I suppose from the extracted quotes he had no comment on the offense besides Lan Larison?
Their offense had a good night, probably about average for them. The surprise was how their defense did. That’s the “news” out of this game. Larison’s heroics we’re mostly special teams

Quotes from Hawkins and Best from the Enterprise article:

“I’ve coached against some great quarterbacks, including Heisman Trophy winners, and what he did tonight is right up there with the best of them. He gives you a lot of problems,” Aggie coach Dan Hawkins said afterward.

“You have to tip your cap to them. They were coming off two losses and had to go on the road and came in here and played great and got the win.”

While offering praise to the winners, Hawkins noted “It’s never fun to lose, but it was a heck of a game and I’m proud of our guys. There were a lot of great plays in that game and they made more of them than we did. On the hero’s journey, you have to learn from your setbacks and we will.”

“Our players responded to two weeks of adversity and this week there was a ton more,” Best noted.

“Our players are resilient and they played with the most amount of guts I’ve ever seen coming down here and away from home for the first time in a month against a top-five outfit. From about the second quarter on, we controlled the game and especially did so late in the game when we needed it.”

Leading 24-20 early in the fourth quarter, Eastern scored on a 10-yard run by Isaiah Lewis and a 4-yard run by Tamaric Pierce.

“The opportunity to respond was here and we responded,” Best added. “That’s what a mature football team does.”

For his part, Best was thrilled to break an uncharacteristic two-game losing streak. And he, too, gave much of the credit to Barriere.

“He’s a legend,” said Best.

“He’s a present-day legend. He’s still writing his script, and every day he tries to get better and we found a way to win. A lot of the credit goes to the players up front protecting him while he’s staring down field.

“I thought we were physical and controlled the line of scrimmage for the better part of the day. Don’t forget about the defense, they played lights out. It was a fun game to watch if you could see it through the fog. I couldn’t be more proud, and the ride home will be very joyful.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/aggies-cant-keep-up-with-eagles/

How does EWU recruit all these top level players? Are they all being overlooked by the power conference teams or does Best just convince them to come to Cheney? I can easily see Barriere playing for a school like Oregon, which might have overlooked him, but how could USC and UCLA miss him.

They have a history of success. They find themselves in the playoffs most seasons and have won the national championship relatively recently. Players like playing for winners. I haven't looked this next part up, but I am going out on a limb and guessing that they don't have some of the academic requirement constraints that we might have. This isn't a dig at any specific player, but when you have a bigger pool of players to look at you will find some gems.

I would guess that there are a number of factors at play here in regards to EWU being able to recruit the talent that they seem to get each year. They have established the fact that they are consistently at the top of the FCS each year with a highly explosive offense that is attractive to recruits that want to be a part of a team that plays like that. I would also guess that they have much more relaxed academic requirements for their athletes than we do so the pool that they can select from is much larger.

We're getting better but we have not yet established that we can beat the top teams in the FCS and go deep into the playoffs and/or win a National Championship. EWU has earned those credentials and we haven't yet. We're getting into the conversation but we're not yet established at the top like they are.

Sounds like we have like minds, CA!

The defense kept us in the game. You cannot expect them to keep it up for 101! plays

Their OL size made a big difference last night:

LT 6'6 320 & 6'7 320
LG 6'5 305 & 6'6 300
C 6'3 300 & 6'3 300
RG 6'5 310 & 6'4 290
RT 6'4 290 & 6'6 300

If you have an average or less defensive line you will not beat EWU

I guess that the old football adage that "the game is won in the trenches" held true last night...

I specifically said earlier in the thread that the defense was doing what they could. While, objectively, allowing over 600 yards of offense isn't great, I was pretty clear I put most of this loss on the offense. Teams were playing in the same weather conditions, but we were only able to put up 1 offensive TD. That won't cut it even against poor teams.

I haven’t looked it up but I bet those guys added weight in their college careers.
The typical approach is to recruit big framed high school players and have them add weight in college. Not what we do.

This was the foggiest game I've ever been at since the playoff game against Lehigh at the Toom in 1977 with a 10 am kickoff. We were in the rowdy Aggie fan section of the north end zone and could not see the ball as it disappeared into the fog on the kickoff of that game. Last night was nearly as bad.



Great photo gallery of the EWU game here:

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article255809856.html

I want to focus on part of Toke's question. How did EWU get Barriere while FBS teams whiffed on him? That kid could certainly play at the highest level. This isn't about our recruiting hurdles. There are plenty of FBS teams that don't have to worry about standards like ours. How did they miss?

I think it’s just a reflection of high school scouting being imperfect combined with a tendency to undervalue short quarterbacks. Barriere was a 24/7 three star recruit and a two star on Rivals. USC probably wasn’t interested