From reading EWUs forum when Barriere first started they had him running Gubruds offense. They've changed it up since to tailor to his talents. Quick passes and read option. He's still dangerous.

we'll have to be really clever to come up with some looks to confuse his looks on the short passes, and be very sure tacklers. that was something we didn't go too well against NAU. we have numerous times where we had the QB and/or back for 2-3 yard losses, only to let them get away for decent gains. I think Porter's big run followed a near 10-yard sack.

Regarding run defense: Hard to say without talking to coaches (or rewatching every game in depth) and trying to speculate would be just that.... could be better teams? Better schemes? Could be be wearing down a little? (9th game vs 2nd—- players a little more knicked up).?

RiverAggie mentioned red zone d being 1st in conference & that’s a great point. UCD isn’t going to completely stop EWU, going to come down to a few key plays. Bend but don’t break is just fine in a game like this if you can’t completely shut them down. Anytime you can make them settle for 3 is huge. (0 is even better. Haha). I do look forward to what sort of looks they give the kid. Take away the run is half the battle. UCD 100% wants to put this game on Barriere arm to have to make plays.

Having a game like Montana in the rear view
Is big here imo. They have a lot to take away from that - dealing w adversity, penalties, noise, etc and still finding a way to come back and win. The inferno (11k) will be like a library compared to wash grizz stadium (25k). I kid, sort of...

Also, as I figured EWU opened a 5 Point favorite. I immediately bet UCD +5 as I made it a 3 Point game and that’s enough of an edge for me to bet. The line is down to a pick now but that will go back toward 3/4 as Saturday approaches.

Saturday feels so far away.

EWU has 27 or so seniors.

Very experienced team overall, just not at QB right now.

I'm not trying to jinx the Aggies, but if we lose to EWU could we fall into 3rd place in the Big Sky? Weber State beat Eastern Washington and if Eastern Washington beats us then all three schools could end up 7-1 and Weber should be first, EWU second. What would that do to a possible seeding in the playoffs?

The loss itself will matter more than our ultimate place in the Big Sky standings. And, I'm pretty sure that the tiebreakers are for determining who gets the autobid but not for anything else -- the three teams would be conference co-champions with all the same glory other than the autobid. The autobid is much more important for our basketball teams because only one Big West squad will get to the Big Dance ... in FCS football, we're in a power conference and finishing 9-2 is what the committee will care about more.

TLDR: I don't think losing to EWU would deny us the #1 spot in the standings (assuming we beat Sac State), but it would deny the autobid which doesn't matter for our qualification. But losing will of course still affect playoff placement.

I hope we consider ourselves underdogs on the road with little to lose and play loose, willing to take some chances. On offense “Basketball on grass” weather permitting.
Defense will do its thing, play lots of guys, forces turnovers, punts and failures in fourth down and win the fourth quarter like they’ve been doing.

Frankly, I have a real hard time assessing this match up. With NAU, it was easy. I can see almost anything happening, from a close win by either team, to a blow out by either team. Last year at home, EWU squeaked out a close win with a loaded (with Gubrub) offense. We are better this year. I'm not so sure they are. Great times, talking about playoffs and the league championship. Go Ags.

Cheney Saturday - high of 43, little to no chance of precip.

yep, a pickem game. They have more to lose than us. Throw the kitchen sink at them

with NAU did you see us scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter?
That was impressive. Our team can be surprisingly good.

Yep, was at the game. Fun times, but we had some trouble containing that QB. Need to be better this week, Barriere is an impressive runner.

#3 RSo. QB Eric Barriere Stats for 2018 (6'-0", 195, Inglewood, CA, La Habra HS):



Link on EB3 from the Spokesman-Review: Link

Of note, Weber was most effective against EWU because they limited his rushing yards to about 1 yard per carry. Maybe force him into one dimension, his seemingly weaker dimension, and we'll have a better shot on he Fire Turf.

And then we can sometimes stumble / stagnate for a half.

if we were to lose, then alot would come down to the Idaho St - Weber game the following week (assuming we take care of business vs Sac). An ISU win, knocks Weber to 2 BSC losses. A Weber win, and we might be behind EWU and Weber in the seeding since they both would have top 10 (5) wins.

yes they aren’t perfect.
We aren’t equal to Weber on defense either.
We have been chasing mobile quarterbacks around the last few weeks. It’s pretty tough to catch wide receivers with defensive linemen and linebackers

Sounds like on top of being a fantastic scrambler and runner, Barriere can throw the ball a country mile...I'd reckon he'll take a few deep shots early, looking to strike a quick 6...we need to get to this guy and wrap him up.

I'm hoping that the defense can rattle him early. Get some early sacks and throw him off his game. Easier said than done, but if we can get in his head maybe his inexperience will show.

So, this game will only be on 1140 KHTK radio? See no PlutoTV listings on the Aggie website.

Arguably the biggest Big Sky game of the year, hmm.

The game is listed on the Big Sky TV schedule (scroll to November 10):

https://bigskyconf.com/sports/2015/11/19/WatchBigSky.aspx

I wouldn't worry about Pluto TV's coverage not being listed on UC Davis' web site. It's a safe bet that we will still get to watch the game against Eastern Washington through Pluto TV. SWX is available on Channel 6.2 in Spokane (the NBC affiliate's subchannel) and will be carrying the game locally. Viewers who are outside the Spokane area will still get to watch the game on Pluto TV utilizing SWX's feed.

The Grad / Plainfield Station / Santa Rosa place to show the game?

If it's online and not on cable, go to The Grad.

This seems to be a problem for our defense. Last week, NAU had no offensive game plan other than 18 running wild. He did so a bunch. If our offense can keep scoring and giving our D breaks on effective drives (few 3 and outs), I think we will be fine. If our D gets gassed, however, we may be in for a long day.

If it's online and not on cable, go to The Grad. — AggieFinn

If Pluto is not working, you might try downloading the SWX app and stream their broadcast. Search for "Watch SWX" at the app store nearest you.

I thought going into the Montana game, the Aggies would find out who they were as a team. They did.
The NAU game was dull - no students and the crowd was a let down. I think the defense got complacent playing against QB4.

Keying on the run and frustrating Barriere will be big.

I think the Ags regain their edge and are ready to play at Roos. Almost beat 'em last year, but this year the Aggies get the W.

Walk in there and put a rock on the gas pedal!

The crowd size and the lack of students must have been a big letdown for the team after coming off their huge win at Montana. They come into the stadium on a freakishly warm day for this time of the year and see 150 students and, except for the high school bands, essentially an empty east side.

Even after our fast start the crowd seemed tame to me. We were in section 124 and it filled up nicely as the game progressed but a lot of the fans just sit there and occasionally let their emotions get the better of themselves and clap a little. It's as if they just won't let themselves get into a real collegiate atmosphere...they just sit and observe and chat among their friends often paying little attention to the game. They won't even follow tradition and stand up for the kickoffs. I don't get it...

They come into the stadium on a freakishly warm day for this time of the year and see 150 students — BlueGoldAg

I asked one of my undergrad interns about this. His opinion is that it will take a winning tradition, like our D2 days, to get the students excited again about football. He also agreed with my comments on this board that with a later start time, students can study most of the day and then go to the game. With a noon or 1 pm start, if they get up at 10 am, eat something, there's no time left before the game.