Eastern Washington's Nsimba Webster settles under this throw from Eric Barriere for a touchdown catch in the Eagles' 55-17 Big Sky Conference football win over Southern Utah at Roos Field. The Eagles travel to meet Weber State Saturday.
The Eastern Washington University football team ventures into unfamiliar territory for its players - Ogden, Utah.
Because of scheduling wrinkles across the broad footprint of the Big Sky Conference, this is the first game at Weber since 2012. Kickoff this Saturday is 3:05 p.m. in the second of two-straight Big Sky Conference games against opponents EWU lost to last season.
Eastern checked off its first payback last Saturday with a 55-17 win at Roos Field over 2017 co-champion Southern Utah. They hope for another Saturday. It was the Wildcats' 28-20 win at Roos that effectively knocked the Eagles out of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs last year.
Unless Eastern players had ventured to the city just north of Salt Lake City on their own for some reason, none of the current Eagles have seen the field at Stewart Stadium, but head coach Aaron Best said they will certainly remember it.
"This a physical outfit in all caps," Best said on the Oct. 8 EWU Coaches Show, referencing text messages that want to emphasize a point. "When it comes back all caps, that's how Weber State's defense is, they are physical."
To further drive home his point, "You are going to know you played a game against Weber State, not on Sunday, but on Saturday night after the game," Best said.
There's added urgency for Weber State following its 28-24 loss in Flagstaff to Northern Arizona last Saturday which saw their conference record evened at 1-1 and 3-2 overall. Five turnovers plagued the Wildcats, one of the preseason favorites to defend the title it shared with Southern Utah.
Eastern's win over SUU kept their conference record perfect at 3-0 and 5-1 overall, pushing them to as high as No. 3 in the FCS coaches' poll.
"They do have a lot of talent," Best said. "They are a very physical team on defense and they fly around and have playmakers at all three levels."
The game will be a classic match-up of the Big Sky's top offense versus the league's top defense. Eastern ranks third in FCS in total offense, racking up just over 570 yards per game. Weber State, however, is 41st nationally at 374.0 per game. The Eagles are scoring at a league-best 45.3 clip per game (sixth in FCS), while the Wildcats join EWU as the top defense in the league, allowing an average of 24.8 points per game.
While defense seems to be what the Wildcats hang their helmets on, there's a name on the other side of the ball on both offense and special teams - Rashid Shaheen - that demands the Eagles' attention. The talented wide receiver doubles as a return guy averaging 40 yards per return.
"Numbers aren't going to win games - execution will," Best said. "We have to bring our A-game to Ogden and be prepared for a dogfight on offense and defense. And the tipping point could be on special teams - they are highly-regarded in that area."
Eastern found it did not skip as much as a beat last Saturday when quarterback Gage Gubrud was sidelined with a boot around his right foot following an injury suffered in the Montana State game Sept. 29. Backup Eric Barriere responded in only his second start by scoring a pair of touchdowns, one a record for EWU quarterbacks of 85 yards, and throwing for another among his 233 yards passing.
After the Weber trip, Eastern has its bye week before returning to face the University of Idaho for Homecoming on Oct. 27.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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