2019 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

The 2019 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by third year head coach Aaron Best. The Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington and were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 7–5, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place.

2019 Eastern Washington Eagles football
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	7–5 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Aaron Best (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Ian Shoemaker (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Eti Ena (1st season)
Base defense	4-2-5
Home stadium	Roos Field

2019 Big Sky Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Weber State +^		7	–	1					11	–	4
No. 9 Sacramento State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 4 Montana State ^		6	–	2					11	–	4
No. 6 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	4
Eastern Washington		6	–	2					7	–	5
Idaho		3	–	5					5	–	7
Portland State		3	–	5					5	–	7
UC Davis		3	–	5					5	–	7
Northern Arizona		2	–	6					4	–	8
Cal Poly		2	–	6					3	–	8
Idaho State		2	–	6					3	–	9
Southern Utah		2	–	6					3	–	9
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Although North Dakota was classified as an independent, games against them still counted as Big Sky Conference games. Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason

Polls

On July 15, 2019 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Eagles were predicted to win the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	140 (10)
2	UC Davis	127 (2)
3	Weber State	124
4	Montana	104 (1)
5	Montana State	100
6	Northern Arizona	88
7	Idaho State	72
8	Idaho	65
9	Cal Poly	56
10	Portland State	42
11	Sacramento State	40
12	Southern Utah	38
13	Northern Colorado	19

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	536 (25)
2	UC Davis	510 (13)
3	Weber State	472 (4)
4	Montana State	417
5	Montana	396 (1)
6	Northern Arizona	302
7	Idaho State	285
8	Idaho	248
9	Cal Poly	196
10	Portland State	178
11	Southern Utah	160
12	Sacramento State	125
13	Northern Colorado	90

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Eagles had one player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.

Chris Schlichting – Sr. OT

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Walter Payton Award	Eric Barriere	QB	JR

Coaching and personnel changes

On January 18, defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding left to take a position as linebackers coach/co-special teams coordinator with Boise State. Defensive line coach Eti Ena was promoted to replace Schmedding on January 23, 2019.

On February 9, former starting quarterback Gage Gubrud was granted a medical redshirt year by the NCAA after suffering a season-ending foot injury in a game against Montana State on September 29, 2018. He transferred to Washington State for his final year of eligibility.

On February 12, offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder left to become the co-offensive coordinator at North Texas. On February 25, Central Washington head coach Ian Shoemaker was hired to replace him.

Schedule

EWU has scheduled 12 games in the 2019 season instead of the 11 normally allowed for FCS programs. Under a standard provision of NCAA rules, all FCS teams are allowed to schedule 12 regular-season games in years in which the period starting with Labor Day weekend and ending with the last Saturday of November contains 14 Saturdays.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	12:00 p.m.	at No. 13 (FBS) Washington*	No. 4	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	P12N	L 14–47	65,709
September 7	1:00 p.m.	Lindenwood*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 59–31	6,785
September 14	1:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Jacksonville State*	No. 4	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	L 45–49	20,901
September 21	12:00 p.m.	at Idaho*	No. 11	Kibbie Dome Moscow, ID	RTNW	L 27–35	6,567
September 28	2:05 p.m.	North Dakota	No. 21	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 35–20	8,726
October 5	6:05 p.m.	at Sacramento State	No. 22	Hornet Stadium Sacramento, CA	ELVN	L 27–48	9,640
October 12	1:05 p.m.	Northern Colorado		Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 54–21	9,091
October 26	11:05 a.m.	at No. 10 Montana		Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	RTNW	L 17–34	24,072
November 2	1:05 p.m.	Northern Arizona		Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 66–38	8,602
November 9	1:35 p.m.	at Idaho State		Holt Arena Pocatello, ID	Pluto TV	W 48–5	5,377
November 16	5:05 p.m.	at Cal Poly		Alex G. Spanos Stadium San Luis Obispo, CA	Pluto TV	W 42–41	6,582
November 23	1:05 p.m.	Portland State		Roos Field Cheney, WA (The Dam Cup)	SWX	W 53–46	8,629
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

• Source: Schedule Archived 2019-01-23 at the Wayback Machine

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Idaho will count as a non-conference game and will have no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Although North Dakota is classified as an FCS Independent, games against them still count as Big Sky conference games through the 2019 season.

Game summaries

At Washington

See also: 2019 Washington Huskies football team

Eastern Washington at Washington – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	0	7	0	7	14
No. 13 (FBS) Huskies	21	7	14	5	47

at Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA

• Date: August 31, 2019
• Game time: 12:00 p.m. PDT
• Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C) • Hazy • Wind @ 0 mph (0 km/h)
• Game attendance: 65,709
• Referee: Kevin Mar
• TV announcers (P12N): Ted Robinson, Yogi Roth, and Lewis Johnson

Game information
Top passers EWU – Eric Barriere: 21/35, 211 yards, one touchdown UW – Jacob Eason: 27/36, 349 yards, four touchdowns Top rushers EWU – Dennis Merritt: 5 attempts, 37 yards UW – Richard Newton: 12 attempts, 91 yards, one touchdown Top receiving EWU – Andrew Boston: 6 receptions, 112 yards, one touchdown UW – Andre Baccellia: 5 receptions, 84 yards, one touchdown

Lindenwood

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	17	14	0	31
No. 4 Eagles	21	10	21	7	59

See also: Lindenwood Lions football

At Jacksonville State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	28	7	10	0	45
No. 17 Gamecocks	7	14	7	21	49

See also: 2019 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team

At Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Eagles	0	0	7	20	27
Vandals	14	14	0	7	35

See also: 2019 Idaho Vandals football team

North Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fighting Hawks	7	0	7	6	20
No. 21 Eagles	14	14	0	7	35

See also: 2019 North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team

At Sacramento State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Eagles	7	7	6	7	27
Hornets	21	6	7	14	48

See also: 2019 Sacramento State Hornets football team

Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	14	7	21
Eagles	10	30	14	0	54

See also: 2019 Northern Colorado Bears football team

At Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	14	3	0	17
No. 10 Grizzlies	3	7	10	14	34

See also: 2019 Montana Grizzlies football team and EWU–UM Governors Cup

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	14	10	7	7	38
Eagles	17	21	21	7	66

See also: 2019 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

At Idaho State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	17	21	7	48
Bengals	2	0	3	0	5

See also: 2019 Idaho State Bengals football team

At Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	14	14	7	7	42
Mustangs	0	14	14	13	41

See also: 2019 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	7	10	8	21	46
Eagles	17	13	15	8	53

See also: 2019 Portland State Vikings football team and The Dam Cup

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes ( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	4 (3)	4 (1)	4	11	21	22	RV	RV	RV	—	—	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	3 (2)	5	5	11	22	21	RV	RV	—	—	—	RV	RV	RV