High expectations can have their downside with Eastern football

A Google search for quotes pertaining to “expectations” will deliver many thousands from which to pick.

The one attributed to Bill Watterson, the mind and hand behind the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” seemed to hit home.

“I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep my expectations,” Watterson said.

But for years, perhaps decades now, the expectations for Eastern Washington University football would never have been a good thing for Watterson.

Just when did that occur? It could be argued at any number of junctures. Pick one, any one.

Arguably, the target date of the bar being set at its highest level is easy to find, Jan. 7, 2011 when the Eagles wrapped up their first Football Championship Subdivision national championship, topping Delaware in that 20-19 nail-biter in Frisco, Texas.

That trip was so much fun it’s now a yearly goal of both players and fans. And anything short leaves something of an empty feeling in everyone associated with the team.

But that is particularly more so for players who invest much more than emotion into a season, which for them, is a 365-day a year deal.

The fans and followers have other things to divert their minds.

The feeling existed once again, and seemed to be hastened as the mercury continued to fall in the minutes following Eastern’s last second 40-38 loss Dec. 17 to Youngstown State.

Post game parties seemed quite subdued.

The final-second play that will live in relative infamy — not the real Pearl Harbor kind — delivered the latest dose of playoff disappointment to both Eastern athletes and coaches, as well as the Eagle Nation, derailed those Frisco plans once again.

“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack,” author Brandon Sanderson said.

It’s been said and written that a year, five, 10 or 25 years from now all that will be remembered is EWU’s own version of “The Catch.”

Easily forgotten will be that it was Penguins’ tight end Kevin Rader’s five-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Hunter Wells, with the help of the back of Eagle defender Ketner Kupp, that now opens up that first week of January for other pursuits.

Until then the stars and planets appeared to be perfectly aligned in 2016.

Record-breaking receiver, Cooper Kupp, returned for his senior season, passing up potential big bucks in the NFL.

And similar to when it was wondered who would replace Matt Nichols for 2010 when Bo Levi Mitchell materialized, out of nowhere in 2016, a star quarterback emerged in Gage Gubrud.

The Jan. 7 date of the national championship game was the same as in 2011 when Eastern made what many found to be an improbable run to the title.

With 11 consecutive wins, and a signature 45-42 victory at Washington State Sept. 3, it certainly seemed Eastern was headed towards that rematch with North Dakota State. They would get a chance to turn the tables on the Bison who survived to topple the Eagles 50-44 in overtime back on Sept. 10 in the Fargodome.

But like the visiting Penguins did in Cheney, outscoring the No. 2-seeded Eagles 20-7 in the final 15 minutes, James Madison accomplished in Fargo with their 10-point fourth quarter that delivered the Dukes’ 27-17 win over the five-time defending FCS champs.

Just dial it back to the presidential election for a lesson in expectations and the sudden shock of reality crashes into you head-on.

We know head coach Beau Baldwin promises to be back with a new five-year contract in hand, safe for a while at least, from those schools that would love to poach his amazing football mind and high-road approach away from Cheney.

So it begins all over again in 2017 with the usual killer schedule and the reloaded roster likely able to face it. But what about taking the approach of yet another author, Julia Glass, towards her expectations.

“I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than fatally disappointed.”

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.