By Dan Thompson The Spokesman-Review
Still seeking its first road victory of the season, the Eastern Washington football team is headed to Ogden, Utah, to play the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday.
Stewart Stadium, where the Wildcats play, is a place the Eagles haven’t won since 2012, when a redshirt freshman named Vernon Adams took over at quarterback, led Eastern to a 32-26 victory and never really looked back.
Eastern has only been back to Stewart Stadium twice since, in 2018 and 2022, two seasons in which the Wildcats won 10 games and reached at least the second round of the FCS playoffs.
This year’s Wildcats (3-4, 1-2 BIg Sky) already have more victories than the 2-9 squad from 2012, but they certainly have fallen from their recent apex decade.
So, if the Eagles (3-4, 2-1) are going to get their first road win of the season, doing so in Ogden seems about as probable a place as anywhere.
“We don’t know what it’s like to win on the road,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said on Tuesday. “We know what it’s like to play well on the road, but not well enough.”
Best, for whom this will be his 100th game as Eastern’s head coach, said the Eagles cost themselves a chance to win at Northern Iowa earlier this year when a penalty called back a go-ahead touchdown in the final minute of the game.
“We know it was a self-inflicted wound,” Best said. “Or, we would have been staring at 4-3 now, not 3-4. That’s the truth of the matter.”
The Eagles were also competitive in a season-opening 31-21 loss at Incarnate Word. They were less so in losses at Boise State (51-14) and Montana State (57-3).
But back-to-back home victories over Portland State (35-27) and Idaho (21-14) have put the Eagles over .500 in conference play. Both those wins came despite the Eagles losing the turnover battle. The only game they’ve won the turnover battle was in the 17-14 loss at Northern Iowa.
“Our full intent is to carry the intensity and purpose we’ve had the last three weeks going into our second Big Sky road game,” Best said.
Weber State is playing at home for just the third time this season. It is coming off a 43-27 victory at Portland State, a bounce-back outcome after the Wildcats lost at home to Sacramento State (55-27) and on the road against UC Davis (34-12) in their first two Big Sky games.
Offensively, the Wildcats didn’t dominate the Vikings. They had just one more first down and were actually outgained offensively, 378-370. Junior quarterback Dijon Jennings completed 13 of 19 passes for 123 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, and he wasn’t a threat running the ball (just 11 yards on four carries).
But defensively, the Wildcats were ballhawks. They recovered one fumble and intercepted four passes. In their previous two games, the Wildcats had forced just one turnover.
Through three conference games, Weber State’s defense has been vulnerable, particularly against the run, with opponents averaging 5.3 yards per carry. That’s the third-most over that span in the Big Sky.
Eastern has relied heavily on its run game, led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Nate Bell, whose 95 rushes this season (for 619 yards) are the third-most among all Big Sky players.
Best said after the Idaho game that he’d like to see Bell run less than he has been, which suggests the Eagles could give the ball more to running backs Marceese Yetts (48 carries, 176 yards), Kevin Allen III (25 for 154) and Wilson Medina (five for 60). How much they mix in quarterback-turned-running-back Jared Taylor (39 for 137) remains to be seen.
“We’re probably not going to score 40 or 45 points a game,” Best said. “That’s not how this team is built. We’re built from up front on defense, we’re built to run the ball on offense and to be sound special teams-wise.”
“It doesn’t have to be the prettiest to be effective,” Best said.
After this week, Eastern returns home to face Sacramento State on Nov. 1, followed by a game at Montana – a place Eastern last won in 2017 – on Nov. 8.