Preseason college football magazines Sporting News and Lindy’s have both picked the Eastern Washington University football team in the top 10 the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in a pair of rankings full of Big Sky Conference teams.
Sporting News ranks EWU ninth while Lindy’s has the Eagles slotted for 10th. Last month, Athlon Sports announced the Eagles were 12th in its preseason rankings.
Two of Eastern’s pre-season opponents – North Dakota State and Northern Iowa -- were ranked first and fourth, respectively, in both sets of rankings. Eastern plays at the five-time defending FCS champion Bison on Sept. 10, then the Eagles play their home opener versus UNI on Sept. 17.
The official Big Sky Conference preseason predictions will be announced next Tuesday when the league’s annual Football Kickoff event takes place July 17-19, at the Park City Marriott, in Park City, Utah. Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin and reigning FCS Player of the Year Cooper Kupp will represent EWU at the gathering of media, coaches, players and administrators.
The Eagles are the highest-ranked Big Sky team by the Sporting News at No. 9, followed by Northern Arizona (#13), Montana (#15), Portland State (#17), North Dakota (#20) and Weber State (#23). The Lumberjacks, Grizzlies and Vikings combined to hand EWU a three-game losing streak to end the 2015 season and cost EWU a chance at a Big Sky title “four-peat.”
In the Lindy’s poll, Eastern is ranked No. 10, two spots behind eight-ranked Montana. Also ranked from the Big Sky are Northern Arizona (#15) and North Dakota (#19).
Eastern plays five home games this season at Roos Field, highlighted by the annual showdown with Montana on Oct. 29. The Grizzlies are ranked 16th in the Athlon poll. Eastern’s home schedule begins on Sept. 17 versus Northern Iowa, which is picked third by Athlon. The Eagles also host UC Davis (Oct. 1), Northern Colorado (Oct. 8) and Idaho State (Nov. 12).
Eastern returns 54 letterwinners and 14 returning starters to the 2016 squad after a 2015 season that ended with a 6-5 record overall. The Eagles failed to qualify for the FCS Playoffs.
Further information is available by visiting goeags.com.
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