Eastern football certainly 'left no doubt'

Eastern Washington will take its second trip to Frisco, Texas and the Football Championship Subdivision championship game in nine seasons when they face North Dakota State Jan. 5.

The Bison are not only defending FCS champions but are the only team besides EWU in 2010 and James Madison in 2016 to win titles since the game moved from Chattanooga, Tenn. following the 2009 contest.

The Eagles' journey from being snubbed in the selection for the 2017 field to running -yes running - and passing their way to a string of impressive victories a 12-2 record and a share of the Big Sky Conference championship was a top story in 2018 for the Cheney Free Press.

Coupled with their crushing last-second loss to Youngstown State in 2016 in the semifinals of the playoffs, Eastern's squad, composed of 24 seniors with that memory dogging some played with abandon under the slogan, "Leave no doubt."

"That's a special bunch," second-year head coach Aaron Best said of his team. "I don't want this season to end because they are so precious, they are so important and they are so fun to hang around every day."

Not only has 2018 been quite magical with Eastern recovering from their only Big Sky loss, 14-6 at Weber State on Oct. 13, but they have reached the championship game following the loss of All-American quarterback Gage Gubrud to a season-ending toe injury Sept. 29 at Montana State.

But redshirt sophomore Eric Barriere proved the worth of Eastern's "next man up" philosophy and has guided the Eagles to seven wins in a row while averaging a shade over 49 points in those games. He's passed for 2,252 yards, connecting on 177 of 286 attempts, a 62 percent average with 24 touchdowns. He's also rushed for 603 more yards and seven scores.

And the second part of that offensive punch has been the team's leading rusher, senior Sam McPherson who now has 1,352 yards this season and 12 touchdowns.

But it has been Eastern's defense which has also played an enormous part.

One has to go back more than 20 years to find a defense that has been stingier than this year's team. A year after allowing 33.4 points per game, the Eagles are allowing just 21.6 for the team's best performance since 1997. And that includes a 59-24 loss at Pac-12 Washington State.

The Eagles lead the FCS with six defensive touchdowns as part of its 44.5 per game pace.

The Bison opened as 13-point favorites in Las Vegas, but The Eagles have allowed little - let alone sportsbook number crunchers - get in their way in 2018.

"We're facing a more than a formidable opponent in North Dakota State," Best said. "They've been there, they've done that, they've walked the roads, they know what they're doing."

But as successful as the Bison have been in their part of the football world, the Eagles have largely owned the Big Sky in six of the past nine seasons with either outright or shared conference crowns.

And what for the difference of a mere 18 seconds and, perhaps, there would be another couple trips to Texas?

Few will forget that truly last-second loss to Youngstown State, 40-38 in 2016, nor Towson's 35-31 rally from 10 points down in the final 5 minutes to win 35-31 with 17 seconds to play in 2013.

"In terms of this, we've been on the cusp of this for a few years and just couldn't finish the deal at home on our home field, a few of those semifinals that I was a part of as an assistant coach," Best said in a Dec. 27 press conference.

For NDSU head coach Chris Klieman, Frisco is old hat, having had his team there three out of the last four years, and three before that as an assistant to Craig Bohl who left Fargo in 2013 for a job at the University of Wyoming.

"We're excited about going back to Frisco and playing in another National Championship game," Klieman said, adding that his team is far from on auto pilot. "We don't take these for granted."

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