The last time there was a brand new football coach at Eastern Washington, it was Beau Baldwin and he visited Lubbock, Texas to play Texas Tech in his first game.
The Red Raiders, then coached by current Washington State University head coach Mike Leach, rolled to a 49-24 win over the Eagles. It may have been somewhat of an auspicious start, but Baldwin’s nine years in Cheney certainly ended with many high notes.
That 2008 Texas Tech team went on to tie for the Big 12 Conference South Division title. It was the ninth consecutive winning season for the Red Raiders. But things are a bit different in Lubbock now under fourth-year coach, former Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, whose team struggled through a 5-7 season and 3-6 in conference.
EWU’s Aaron Best follows a similar path to Baldwin in making his debut as a college head coach in Lubbock. But unlike in his predecessor’s time, this journey is not being done just to collect a check and jet home.
Lubbockonline.com touts the Eagles’ All-American record-setting quarterback Gage Gubrud as a key factor and warns readers that “This is no easy opener.”
Of course Eastern, 12-2 in 2016 with a trip to the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision playoff round, is no stranger to staging stunning upsets over Football Bowl Subdivision teams in their openers such as Oregon State in 2013 and of course Washington State last year.
While Kingsbury, 24-26 and starting his fifth season in Lubbock, has proven himself a great offensive coach, ranked among the top 25 in the country, their defense has been nothing short of abysmal the past three seasons at 114th, 124th and 125th.
That ought to bring a smile to Gubrud who threw for over 5,000 yards in his sophomore season. Even with losing targets like Cooper Kupp, Shaq Hill and Kendrick Bourne, there appears to be talent to at least plug those holes.
As for Tech, Athlon Sports reports senior Nic Shimonek, a 2014 transfer from Iowa, is the heir apparent to record-setting quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the Red Raiders. They also return three of their top four wide receivers from 2016, Keke Coutee, Dylan Cantrell and Cameron Batson. All caught at least 50 passes in 2016.
“Poor play on the offensive line and a limited run game are deficiencies that must be addressed in 2017,” the Athlon report also noted. And that plays right into another deficiency. In 2015 Tech ran for nearly 2,500 yards with 34 scores, well over five yards per carry, but that production fell by some 50 percent in 2016.
And that defense continues to be a sore spot for the team that was last in the nation in 2016 in both total defense and scoring defense.
A notable on that side of the ball is sophomore linebacker Jordyn Brooks who came up with a team-leading 86 tackles.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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