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By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

Northern Iowa visits Roos for first time

 

Last updated 9/15/2016 at 11:46am



There’s nothing to the rumor that Eastern Washington University has moved from the Big Sky to the Missouri Valley Conference.

With the Eagles meeting North Dakota State last Saturday in Fargo, where they lost in overtime to the five-time defending Football Championship Subdivision champion Bison, 50-44, this Saturday’s home opener versus Northern Iowa, marks the second straight time EWU faces a foe from that far-reaching Midwest league.

“It’s exciting to play a tough schedule and put ourselves in some challenging situations,” EWU head coach Beau Baldwin said. “I always wonder if it can get any more challenging than whatever we did last year or the year before, but this one might be the topper.”

What is a rarity, however, is that the 10th-ranked Panthers venture into new territory. The game, with a 4:05 p.m. kickoff, marks the first time since play between the perennial playoff foes began in 1985 that NIU visits Cheney and Roos Field for Fan Red Out/Welcome Back/Family Day.

The No. 9 Eagles (1-1) are 0-6 all-time against the Panthers with every game being played in Cedar Falls, beginning with a gut-wrenching 17-14 playoff loss on Dec. 7, 1985.

Like the Eagles, who defeated Washington State 45-42 on Sept. 3 in Pullman, the Panthers earned an impressive season-opening win over a foe from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, beating Iowa State 25-20. The Panthers then fell 20-14 at home to Montana in the only victory by the Big Sky over the MVFC in four head-to-head matchups between the leagues last week.

The teams met in the first of a home-and-home series of games Sept. 12, 2015 in Cedar Falls where Eastern lost 38-35. Eastern quarterbacks Jordan West and Reilly Hennessey combined to complete 37 of 47 passes for a school-record 526 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Eastern played half of last year’s game minus Cooper Kupp, who, after making nine catches for 179 yards and a pair of touchdowns — one for 73 yards — left the game in the second half with a hip pointer. In Kupp’s absence, however, sophomore Nic Sblendorio had a career high 10 catches for 158 yards and junior Kendrick Bourne added eight catches for 84 yards and two scores.

The Panthers got 134 yards rushing and 91 passing from quarterback Aaron Bailey. He returns having racked up 329 yards passing and 12 rushing this season.

Generally, games between the two teams have had plenty of drama with four of the six previous meetings being decided by three points, 17-14 (1985 and 1992), 41-38 (2005) and 38-35 (2015).

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

Eagles vs. Panthers

FCS No. 8 Eastern Washington University Eagles versus No. 10 University of Northern Iowa Panthers. Saturday, Sept. 17, 4:05 p.m. Roos Field (8,600).

TV: SWX with Sam Adams and Bill Ames providing play-by-play and color commentary. Radio: 700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir returns for his 26th season calling the play-by-play, with analysis handled by Paul Sorensen. Broadcasts begin one hour prior to kickoff and include an expanded post-game show.

 

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