Fall 2021 - Week 3 - vs Eastern Washington
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 9:26 am
VS
Date/Time: Saturday, September 18 at 3 PM
Location: Hanson Field, Macomb, IL
Weather Forecast at Kickoff (as of 9/14): 83 and clear, 0% chance of rain, ~7 mph wind
WIU Radio: Mixlr, Q98.1 (Cuba, IL), I also heard a promo on Classic 103 (102.7 in Macomb) saying they were the home of Leatherneck Football, so I wonder if that means they'll be on there now too
EWU Radio: 700AM/105.3FM ESPN Radio (Spokane, WA)
TV/Video Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://goleathernecks.com/sidearmstats ... ll/summary
Game Notes: Western Illinois, Eastern Washington
Gameday Protocols
Well, our first Big Sky matchup this year was not what we had hoped, but hopefully we can end up with a better result this time around. Two games into the season, our offense is averaging 294 yards per game (79th in the FCS) with 239 ypg through the air (32nd) and 55 ypg on the ground (105 of 114 FCS teams). We held the ball for 29:13 in the game against Montana, putting our average on the season at 30:08 (58th in the FCS). Defensively, we allowed 242 yards and 1 TD on the ground and 276 yards and 5 TDs through the air for a total of 518 yards. We're sitting at 28th in the FCS in turnover margin, with a net of +1 per game. Other stats we're doing well in are intercepted passes, where we're 15th in the FCS with 3 so far including one for TD against Montana. In last weekend's game, we had 8 penalties for 85 yards.
Individually, DB Michael Lawson is #3 in the FCS in solo tackles with 8.5/game, and WR Dennis Houston is 3rd in receiving yards with 280 and 10th in receiving TDs with 2.
You can view our full ranking summary here.
Eastern Washington is currently 2-0 on the season, having won their opener at FBS UNLV, 35-33 in 2 OT, then hosting DII Central Washington and rolling them 63-14. They are currently ranked #7 in the STATS FCS poll and #6 in the AnyGivenSaturday.com Poll. Like us, EWU has a strong passing offense, putting up 348 ypg (7th in the FCS) through the air, but they also have a solid ground game, tallying 210 ypg so far (18th). QB Eric Barriere (pronounced Bare-E-A"...like Perrier) has practically lived on the Walter Payton Watch List over the last 3-4 years and is included on the preseason watch list again this year (he finished second last year). He averages 319 yards per game passing with 6 TDs (both put him at 6th in the FCS currently) and overall they have the 5th best scoring offense, putting up 49 points per game. Obviously some of that is skewed by playing a DII team, but the last full season they played (2019) they put up over 40 points per game, so that number is not out of the "norm" for EWU lately. In general, it looks like he spreads things out quite a bit, with the top receiver averaging 80 ypg and 5 different receivers all getting over 30 ypg. On defense, the Eagles allow 23.5 ppg (41st in FCS) and 286.5 ypg (20th) and are led by Senior LB Ty Graham, who has 20 tackles this season (10 solo) including 3.5 for loss and 1 interception. DL Joshua Jerome is another one to watch, with 8 tackles including 4 for loss (2 sacks) and a forced fumble.
The full stat rankings for Eastern Washington is here.
This game will probably be a bit more of an offensive shootout than the Montana game. EWU has a decent defense that is fairly strong against the pass, but they're not like Montana's defense. I don't have a lot of hope that we'll be able to slow down the Eagles air attack, but maybe finally getting a chance to play at home will make a bit of difference. Our best hope in this game is that our offense is able to put together a huge game themselves and we can keep pace with Barriere and his receivers. Either way, this is the longest I've gone without going to a WIU football game since before 1996, so it'll be nice to be back to in-person football again.
Predictions:
Massey Ratings gives us a 39% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 33-28. This is actually a higher chance of victory than we currently have against anyone else we play this year except Indiana State and Illinois State.
Jeff Sagarin Ratings lists us as the 180th best DI team and Eastern Washington sits at 118th.
Date/Time: Saturday, September 18 at 3 PM
Location: Hanson Field, Macomb, IL
Weather Forecast at Kickoff (as of 9/14): 83 and clear, 0% chance of rain, ~7 mph wind
WIU Radio: Mixlr, Q98.1 (Cuba, IL), I also heard a promo on Classic 103 (102.7 in Macomb) saying they were the home of Leatherneck Football, so I wonder if that means they'll be on there now too
EWU Radio: 700AM/105.3FM ESPN Radio (Spokane, WA)
TV/Video Stream: ESPN+
Live Stats: https://goleathernecks.com/sidearmstats ... ll/summary
Game Notes: Western Illinois, Eastern Washington
Gameday Protocols
Well, our first Big Sky matchup this year was not what we had hoped, but hopefully we can end up with a better result this time around. Two games into the season, our offense is averaging 294 yards per game (79th in the FCS) with 239 ypg through the air (32nd) and 55 ypg on the ground (105 of 114 FCS teams). We held the ball for 29:13 in the game against Montana, putting our average on the season at 30:08 (58th in the FCS). Defensively, we allowed 242 yards and 1 TD on the ground and 276 yards and 5 TDs through the air for a total of 518 yards. We're sitting at 28th in the FCS in turnover margin, with a net of +1 per game. Other stats we're doing well in are intercepted passes, where we're 15th in the FCS with 3 so far including one for TD against Montana. In last weekend's game, we had 8 penalties for 85 yards.
Individually, DB Michael Lawson is #3 in the FCS in solo tackles with 8.5/game, and WR Dennis Houston is 3rd in receiving yards with 280 and 10th in receiving TDs with 2.
You can view our full ranking summary here.
Eastern Washington is currently 2-0 on the season, having won their opener at FBS UNLV, 35-33 in 2 OT, then hosting DII Central Washington and rolling them 63-14. They are currently ranked #7 in the STATS FCS poll and #6 in the AnyGivenSaturday.com Poll. Like us, EWU has a strong passing offense, putting up 348 ypg (7th in the FCS) through the air, but they also have a solid ground game, tallying 210 ypg so far (18th). QB Eric Barriere (pronounced Bare-E-A"...like Perrier) has practically lived on the Walter Payton Watch List over the last 3-4 years and is included on the preseason watch list again this year (he finished second last year). He averages 319 yards per game passing with 6 TDs (both put him at 6th in the FCS currently) and overall they have the 5th best scoring offense, putting up 49 points per game. Obviously some of that is skewed by playing a DII team, but the last full season they played (2019) they put up over 40 points per game, so that number is not out of the "norm" for EWU lately. In general, it looks like he spreads things out quite a bit, with the top receiver averaging 80 ypg and 5 different receivers all getting over 30 ypg. On defense, the Eagles allow 23.5 ppg (41st in FCS) and 286.5 ypg (20th) and are led by Senior LB Ty Graham, who has 20 tackles this season (10 solo) including 3.5 for loss and 1 interception. DL Joshua Jerome is another one to watch, with 8 tackles including 4 for loss (2 sacks) and a forced fumble.
The full stat rankings for Eastern Washington is here.
This game will probably be a bit more of an offensive shootout than the Montana game. EWU has a decent defense that is fairly strong against the pass, but they're not like Montana's defense. I don't have a lot of hope that we'll be able to slow down the Eagles air attack, but maybe finally getting a chance to play at home will make a bit of difference. Our best hope in this game is that our offense is able to put together a huge game themselves and we can keep pace with Barriere and his receivers. Either way, this is the longest I've gone without going to a WIU football game since before 1996, so it'll be nice to be back to in-person football again.
Predictions:
Massey Ratings gives us a 39% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 33-28. This is actually a higher chance of victory than we currently have against anyone else we play this year except Indiana State and Illinois State.
Jeff Sagarin Ratings lists us as the 180th best DI team and Eastern Washington sits at 118th.