Eagles denied FCS playoff birth

EWU now left to prepare for 2020

 

Last updated 11/27/2019 at 12:31pm



CHENEY — Unfortunately for the Eastern Washington University football team, a deep tradition in the postseason and overall in this decade didn’t translate to a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff when bids were handed out Sunday, Nov. 24.

Eastern finished 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky Conference to finish in a three-way tie for third with two other league schools who were selected among the top six seeds in the 24-team tourney.

Big Sky co-champions Weber State and Sacramento State earned the No. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively, after finishing 7-1 in the league, while fifth-seeded Montana State and No. 6 Montana joined EWU with 6-2 records in the league.

North Dakota, a team EWU defeated 35-20 on Sept. 28, received one of 14 at-large berths.

Eastern was 0-2 versus other teams who made the bracket (losses to Sacramento State and Montana).


Nevertheless, Eastern can take solace in that it finishes the regular season with the third-most wins in this decade (2010-19) with 97 victories, and its winning percentage of .735 (97-35) is fifth best among 124 schools currently in FCS.

Moreover, the Eagles still rank 12th overall in FCS playoff berths with 13, and at 19 currently have the ninth-most victories and the seventh-best percentage (.612, 19-12). Eastern has 10 playoff berths in the 16-year span between 2004 and 2019, ranking the Eagles as one of only six schools among 124 in FCS to accomplish that feat.

The Eagles started the season 1-3 and lost its first four road games.

However, the Eagles finished a perfect 5-0 at home to extend its at-home winning streak at Roos Field to 14 games.


Eastern won its last two road contests to finish the 2019 season with a four-game winning streak and its 13th-straight winning campaign.

The Eagles will likely finish the 2019 season with the best offense in FCS, finishing at 524.8 yards per game. Playoff automatic qualifier San Diego is second at 498.8 per game, and postseason games count in the rankings.

Eastern also ended the regular season fourth in scoring with 40.6 points, fourth in first downs with 290, fifth in passing with 317.1 and seventh in turnover margin at +0.92 per game.

The Eagles also ranked 21st in the rushing at 207.8 yards per game, and joined Prairie View as the only team in FCS to rank in the top 21 in total offense, rushing and passing.

Junior quarterback Eric Barriere is second in total offense with 355.8 yards (E.J. Perry of Brown is at 367.8), third in passing with 309.3 yards and fifth in points responsible for (20.2 per game).

Senior running back Antoine Custer Jr. is 16th in rushing (102.3), 10th in total rushing yards (1,228), sixth in passing TDs (31) and eighth in rushing touchdowns (16).

Junior Talolo Limu-Jones is presently second in average per reception at 24.04, trailing only Isaiah Weston of Northern Iowa, which is also participating in the playoffs.

Redshirt freshman Seth Harrison will end the season first in field goal percentage, with a perfect 12 of 12 performance. He is the only kicker in FCS with at least one field goal attempt per game to make all of his field goals this season.

Eastern’s football’s next game is scheduled for Sept. 5, 2020, at Florida.

 

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