Week 9: Eastern Washington
Halloween in Cheney, we are the game Eastern shows every recruit.
Protect the Red
Halloween in Cheney, we are the game Eastern shows every recruit.
The first football game ever played on the red turf in Cheney was against Montana. Eastern Washington kicked a field goal with four seconds left, and its fans ran onto the field before the game was done. The officials flagged Eastern for the celebration, which bought Montana one more snap from its own 40. Justin Roper, the backup, dropped back, got sacked, put the ball on the ground, and Renard Williams picked it up and ran it in. The fans stormed the field again. Eastern 36, Montana 27, and they've been showing that tape ever since.
Zach Bruce, their defensive coordinator, told the Spokesman this week what he does with that tape: "It's the last video I show every recruit who walks in our building." Saturday is the first time Montana and Eastern have ever played on Halloween, and Eastern plans to wear all black on a red field.
Every computer has us by eight to ten, and the book has us by more
Every figure is through Oct. 17; nobody has played since.
We win four of the five, and the tie is nothing to brag about
Connelly's five factors: efficiency is staying on schedule, explosiveness is how big the big plays get, field position is where your drives start, finishing drives is what you score after you get inside the 40, and turnovers are turnovers. The one we don't win is the success rate each defense allows. It's a dead heat because both defenses have struggled.
Bobby Alert
No Bob, no Bobby, no Robert, no Robb anywhere on Eastern's roster or staff. #8 Ambrose Marsh, their corner, played his high school ball for Dom Daste, who now coaches our running backs. Daste was an assistant for Bobby Hauck at Montana and again at UNLV, and Chad Germer was on both staffs with him. Germer now coaches Eastern's offensive line. He played for the Griz, class of '93, and also coached under Bob-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Per the bylaws that makes him a carrier. Level zero.
The Name Scout
#44 Kayden Stuit, tight end, which their own notes say rhymes with Tight. #52 Bennett Nield, long snapper, pronounced Kneeled, the one thing a snapper must never do. #24 CJ Bozeman, a running back who hasn't played this year, the only Bozeman that hasn't hurt them. #74 Nick Savage, offensive line. #11 Ben Voigtlaender. #26 Deuce Carr. #86 Will Hook, and on Halloween I'm not asking which hand.
Nate Bell is their offense, and their short-yardage run game
Their quarterback, #2 Nate Bell, takes the ball himself when the field gets short. Inside the 20, more than half of Eastern's runs are his. On third or fourth and short it's the same split, half the carries with the quarterback's name on them. The running backs are there mostly so somebody can carry out the fake. We just lost back-to-back games to quarterbacks who got outside the pocket on us, so the job is simple to say: fit the quarterback.
They throw first. Eastern runs the ball less often than six FCS teams in seven, and its first-down passing works 54 percent of the time, up from 36 last year. On second-and-long their runs work about one time in six, and that is where I want them living. Win first down and make Bell hand it off.
Nobody gets a fifth of their targets, and we're short our best corner
#13 Wesley Garrett gets the most looks, and that isn't saying much. #80 Drew Carlson and #83 Rylin Lang are next. Nobody on that roster draws a fifth of the throws. Bell throws to whoever is open, and Saturday that means our new guys.
Skyline listed Chris Johnson II and Elijah Brady as out indefinitely after the bye, and Montana's own projected two-deep this week leaves off both of them and Brock Beaner. Brady Beaner is listed at corner, with Tanner Huff and Braeden Orlandi at safety. Nine of the eleven defensive starters have been hurt at some point this year.
Johnson was the corner you didn't throw at. Quarterbacks who tried this year finished with a 30.5 passer rating against him, by PFN's charting, and a quarterback who spiked every pass into the turf would rate higher than that. This is the part of the game I like least, a passing offense built to spread the ball against a secondary with new names in it.
Tempo isn't what beat us
Eastern snaps it a lot faster than the typical FCS offense. Drake is the only team that has played that fast against us this year, and that was our best defensive game of the season.
Northern Arizona and Idaho came at a normal pace and scored anyway. Our guys can get lined up, hopefully.
The problem is ours, and the last two games say so
With the backups' snaps cut out, our defense allows success on 46.2 percent of plays. Four FCS defenses in five do better. Idaho succeeded on 60.3 percent of its snaps against us. Across the Northern Arizona and Idaho games, opponents scored touchdowns on 12 of 19 possessions.
Bobby 3.0, to NBC Montana: "I was really pissed the last three weeks." He kept Eric Sanders calling it, and NBC Montana reports we'll mix in some three-down looks. Good. I'd like the first Eastern drive of the day to end in a punt, just to remember what one of those looks like.
Colonel Mustard's cheat sheet, for a building he already knows
| What they do | What we do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bell keeps it inside the 20 and on short yardage | Fit the quarterback first, every time | More than half of those carries are his |
| Throw on first down | Play the pass on first-and-10 | Their first-down passing works 54 percent of the time |
| Run on second-and-long when they get behind | Get them there, then sit on the run | Those runs work 16.7 percent of the time |
| Hold the ball and take sacks | Keep him in the pocket and finish | Sacked once every 13 dropbacks |
| Spread it to whoever is open | Play the sticks, don't chase one guy | Nobody has more than 19.4 percent of the targets |
| Snap it fast | Get lined up and stay calm | Only Drake played and it was our best defensive game |
Run it until somebody in black proves they can stop it
With the sacks taken out, Eastern allows 7.00 yards a carry. Almost no defense in FCS is worse. Eli Gillman is at 7.1 a carry on his own, and our offense stays on schedule on about half its snaps, which almost nobody in FCS does more often. Put him on first down and leave him there. Lean on them. I want the first drive to be all Eli and nothing cute.
First down is when you take the shot
On first-and-10, teams average 11.3 yards a dropback against Eastern. Runs on that down go for 8.9. They give up an explosive play every eighth snap. Take the deep ball early in the series, while they're still worried about Eli, instead of on third-and-long when they aren't.
#34 JoJo Maxey-Johnson, their corner, has been thrown at 35 times without forcing an incompletion. Wherever he lines up, I'd throw at him on the first snap and see if he's still there on the second.
Their pass rush is one man, and he lines up inside
Eastern has nine sacks in eight games. Against Montana State, its edge rushers were charted for zero pressures. Through the Northern Arizona game, Keali'i Ah Yat got pressured on one dropback in six, the lowest rate in FCS.
#4 Isaiah Perez is the man to find before every snap. He's a defensive tackle with the second-best grade of any interior lineman in FCS and a team-high seven tackles for loss. The only way the pocket closes on Ah Yat is from the middle. Put the center and a guard on him. The edges didn't get home against Montana State.
Score sevens, because the goal line is the only place they hold
Opponents have run 69 goal-to-go snaps against Eastern and succeeded on a third of them. They give up yards between the 20s and get stingy at the goal line. We succeed on 62.5 percent of our goal-to-go snaps, and that's the one spot they've been good. Settling for three in Cheney is how we lose.
Coach Pease's cheat sheet: first down, then the end zone
| What they do | What we do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Give up the run | Eli on first down until they stop it | 7.00 a carry with sacks removed |
| Give up chunks on first-and-10 | Take the shot early in the series | 11.3 yards a dropback on first-and-10 |
| Get nothing off the edge | Double Perez inside | Zero edge pressures against Montana State |
| #34 can't get a hand on the ball | Throw at him | No forced incompletions on 35 targets |
| Stiffen at the goal line | Plan for seven, not three | Opponents succeed on a third of goal-to-go snaps |
Their kicker makes them from fifty, and ours hasn't tried one in the forties
#16 Soren McKee has made more field goals than anyone in Eastern history. This year he has made them from 50 and longer. Jo Silver hasn't attempted a kick in the 40s all season, and he missed a short one against Idaho. So in the stretch of field where their kicker is automatic and ours is untested, we should be going for it.
The Brother Index
Jaxon Bell is Nate's brother, and KXLY calls him "Baby Bell," which is a cheese that comes wrapped in red. #31 Jaylon Jenkins, their safety, and Maxey-Johnson are stepbrothers, and both of them start in the secondary. A stepbrother counts in full if he shares a secondary. I assume there are bunk beds. Week 9 Brother Index: Eastern Washington 2 confirmed. Advantage Griz.
Portal target of the week
#72 Jackson Ritchie, offensive lineman, sophomore, Billings Central Catholic, the only Montanan on Eastern's roster. He hasn't played a snap this season. Three of Eastern's old coaches have already made the move to our sideline, and his teammate Jenkins told the Spokesman this game is a chance "to prove ourselves to the coaches that left." Jackson, the coaches that left say hi. There's room in the car.
The case for Eastern Washington
Bell threw for 413 at UC Davis. Our secondary is missing its best corner, and we have looked abysmal on defense the last two games.
Montana has won once on the red in seven tries. Eastern wins about three of every four games played on it. Jenkins says the field is the advantage: "It's not easy to cut on the field. It's hard. It's not the greatest turf, and I feel like that gives us an advantage because we get to play on it every day."
Eric Sanders was Eastern's defensive coordinator in 2024 and 2025. Jaylen Johnson, our defensive line coach, and Wes Nurse, who coaches our safeties, were on Eastern's staff last year too. Marc Anderson, their offensive coordinator, practiced against Sanders's defense all of last year. Nobody in Cheney has to guess what Colonel Mustard likes on third down. Hopefully he decides to listen to coach Baer and blitz six.
Then I look at their run defense
Eastern's running backs coach, Tamarick Pierce, told the Spokesman: "We've always prided ourselves on protecting the Red." Montana State ran for 242 on it.
All of that is about our defense. Their defense still has to stop Eli. Our offense is one of the best in the country. I'd rather have a hurt secondary than a run defense Montana State just ran through for 242. The one time we won on that turf it was 52-49, and a game that looks like that again is a game we win, because we have Eli and they don't.
Last Call
Eli Gillman has 71 career touchdowns. Cooper Kupp owns the Big Sky career record with 77. Eli needs six to tie. He had four at Davis. In 1996 Brian Ah Yat threw for 560 yards in Cheney, still Montana's single-game record. His son takes the snaps there Saturday.
I'm laying the points. We can't look that bad three weeks in a row. Right?
Good Guys 50, Eagles 38.
Go Griz.
