Bruce Barnum may not have received an official invitation to his alma mater’s Homecoming, but he’s taking the schedule maker’s decision to pit Eastern Washington against his Portland State football team at Roos Field on Saturday as something close to one.
“I should thank them, since I’m an alum,” Barnum, the 1987 EWU graduate said on Tuesday.
After a one-year hiatus – credit for that also goes to the Big Sky’s schedule makers – the Dam Cup matchup is back this year, set for a 4 p.m. kickoff in Cheney. This is the 46th matchup between PSU and EWU, who have a 22-22-1 all-time record against each other.
“The Dam Cup is important,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said during media availability on Tuesday. “Something’s got to give this week. Somebody’s got to have (win) No. 23.”
For as difficult a start as the Eagles have had (1-4 overall, 0-1 in the Big Sky), the Vikings have fared worse. They are 0-5, including last week’s 31-17 loss to Northern Arizona in their conference opener.
But that was by far their closest shot at a victory. It wasn’t until late in their ninth quarter of football this year that Portland State scored any points, and by then they had lost 42-0 to Tarleton State and 69-0 to BYU. The Vikings followed that with a 50-20 loss to North Dakota and a 23-3 loss to Hawaii.
There may not be much shame in those defeats: BYU and Hawaii are in the FBS, and each of the other three are ranked in the most recent FCS Stats Perform Top 25, with Tarleton State (5-0) at No. 3, Northern Arizona (4-1) at No. 13 and North Dakota (2-2) ranked 15th.
Best said that when he heard from Barnum this summer what the Vikings’ schedule was going to look like, he empathized.
“Man,” Best said he told Barnum. “That’s tough sledding.”
Barnum, for his part, takes the attitude that it is what it is. Playing multiple money games against FBS schools has become the norm for the Vikings, who last year played at Washington State and at Boise State in their nonconference schedule.
“We pay the bills,” Barnum said. “And we played some good teams.”
But, he said, his team is getting better.
“We’re playing hard. We’re improving. We’re not making the same mistakes,” Barnum said. “We’re doing things I like, but we’ve been outmatched in the majority of the games we’ve played. … But we need to make more plays. We need to tackle better. Probably everybody in America’s saying that.”
Best has said some of the same things this season. So have his players.
“We’re hungry, and we’re ready to go and play our game we know we can play,” redshirt freshman offensive tackle Gavin Allen said.
Best said the Eagles need to be ready for “anything and everything” against the Vikings, who are willing to deploy fake field goals, unique punt formations, flea flickers and Cover-0 defenses.
“(Barnum has) always been a risk taker,” Best said. “He’s always been an unorthodox coach and human being. He’s got a great big personality, and it shows in his team.”
And, he added, “they’re not coming here to show up and go back home.”
Portland State has won the last two games in the series, its first winning streak against the Eagles since a three-game run from 2006 to 2008. In the two most recent matchups, Eastern allowed a combined 830 rushing yards.
That’s been an area of improvement for the Eagles, who have shaved more than half a yard off their per-carry rushing defense this year (5.0, down from 5.6 in 2024). But the Eagles have also struggled on third downs defensively, allowing conversions on 46.8% of such plays, which ranks 10th in the conference.
Portland State’s third-down defense has been worse (49.2%), and in third-down offense the two teams rank 11th and 12th in the Big Sky: EWU’s rate of success is 27.4%; PSU’s is 29.5%.
“(We’ve got to) stay on the field and give our defense a break and play complementary football,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Nate Bell said. “In the games we have put up points, that’s been the case. We’ve sustained drives.”
Coming off a humbling defeat to Montana State, and with a winless team coming to Cheney, and considering the trouble they’ve had with the Vikings the last couple matchups, the Eagles are clear-eyed about their Homecoming task.
“When you’re playing a team that hasn’t won a game yet, (we know) they’re coming to beat us,” redshirt sophomore linebacker Samarai Anderson said. “They’ve played some very good teams in those five games, so we’re not taking them lightly.”