2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

The 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team was coached by second 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 12–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for the Big Sky championship with UC Davis and Weber State. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs, where they defeated Nicholls, UC Davis, and Maine to advance to the National Championship Game, where they lost to North Dakota State.

2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football
Big Sky co-champion
FCS Championship Game, L 24–38 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 2
FCS Coaches	No. 2
2018 record	12–3 (7–1 Big Sky)
Head coach	Aaron Best (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Bodie Reeder (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Jeff Schmedding (4th season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Roos Field (Capacity: 8,600)

2018 Big Sky Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 6 Weber State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 2 Eastern Washington +^		7	–	1					12	–	3
No. 7 UC Davis +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 17 Montana State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Idaho State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Montana		4	–	4					6	–	5
Cal Poly		4	–	4					5	–	6
Northern Arizona		3	–	4					4	–	6
Portland State		3	–	5					4	–	7
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					2	–	9
Southern Utah		1	–	7					1	–	10
Sacramento State		0	–	7					2	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – 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

Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2017 season 7–4, 6–2 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. Despite being ranked in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, they were not selected to participate in the FCS Playoffs.

Preseason

Polls

On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington, the Eagles were predicted to win the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	134 (6)
2	Weber State	124 (3)
3	Northern Arizona	121 (3)
4	Idaho	101 (1)
5	Sacramento State	94
6	Southern Utah	91
7	Montana	82
8	Montana State	76
9	UC Davis	64
10	Cal Poly	40
11	Northern Colorado	30
12	Idaho State	29
13	Portland State	21

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Eastern Washington	651 (27)
2	Weber State	636 (19)
3	Northern Arizona	535 (1)
4	Montana	496 (2)
5	Idaho	483 (3)
6	Southern Utah	449 (1)
7	Sacramento State	415
8	Montana State	391 (1)
9	UC Davis	331 (1)
10	Idaho State	170
11	Cal Poly	169
12	Northern Colorado	166
13	Portland State	103

Preseason All-Conference Team

The Eagles had three players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]

Gage Gubrud – Sr. QB

Antoine Custer – Jr. RB

Jay-Tee Tiuli – Sr. DT

Award watch lists

Award	Player	Position	Year
Walter Payton Award[3]	Gage Gubrud	QB	SR

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	1:05 p.m.	Central Washington*	No. 9	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 58–13	8,658
September 8	3:05 p.m.	at No. 18 Northern Arizona*	No. 6	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	SWX	W 31–26	8,938
September 15	5:05 p.m.	at Washington State*	No. 6	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	L 24–59	32,952
September 22	1:05 p.m.	Cal Poly	No. 6	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 70–17	9,156
September 29	1:05 p.m.	at Montana State	No. 5	Bobcat Stadium Bozeman, MT	RTNW	W 34–17	18,667
October 6	12:05 p.m.	Southern Utah	No. 5	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 55–17	8,887
October 13	3:05 p.m.	at No. 13 Weber State	No. 4	Stewart Stadium Ogden, Utah	ELVN	L 6–14	8,211
October 27	12:05 p.m.	Idaho	No. 5	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 38–14	10,023
November 3	11:05 a.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 5	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	Pluto TV 241	W 48–13	3,274
November 10	1:05 p.m.	No. 4 UC Davis	No. 5	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX	W 59–20	8,789
November 16	7:05 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 4	Hillsboro Stadium Hillsboro, OR (The Dam Cup)	Pluto TV 232	W 74–23	4,205
December 1	2:00 p.m.	No. 14 Nicholls*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 42–21	5,250
December 8	1:00 p.m.	No. 7 UC Davis*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN3	W 34–29	5,503
December 15	11:00 a.m.	No. 12 Maine*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA (FCS Playoffs Semifinals)	ESPN2	W 50–19	7,529
January 5	9:00 a.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 4	Toyota Stadium Frisco, TX (FCS National Championship)	ESPN2	L 24–38	17,802
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

• Source: Schedule

Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Northern Arizona was counted as a non-conference game and had no effect on the Big Sky standings.

Game summaries

Central Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	13	0	0	13
No. 9 Eagles	20	14	10	14	58

See also: Central Washington Wildcats football

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
34–30–4	2010	EWU, 35–32

at Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Eagles	14	7	7	3	31
No. 18 Lumberjacks	0	10	3	13	26

See also: 2018 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–12	2016	EWU, 50–35

at Washington State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Eagles	0	10	14	0	24
Cougars	14	14	7	24	59

See also: 2018 Washington State Cougars football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–3	2016	EWU, 45–42

Cal Poly

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mustangs	3	7	7	0	17
No. 6 Eagles	14	21	14	21	70

See also: 2018 Cal Poly Mustangs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–2	2016	EWU, 42–21

at Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	14	10	3	7	34
Bobcats	10	0	0	7	17

See also: 2018 Montana State Bobcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
31–10	2017	EWU, 31–19

Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thunderbirds	3	7	7	0	17
No. 5 Eagles	14	20	21	0	55

See also: 2018 Southern Utah Thunderbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–3	2017	SUU, 46–28

at Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	0	3	3	0	6
No. 13 Wildcats	14	0	0	0	14

See also: 2018 Weber State Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–15	2017	WSU, 28–20

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	0	0	7	7	14
No. 5 Eagles	14	17	7	0	38

See also: 2018 Idaho Vandals football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–15	2012	EWU, 20–3

at Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	13	7	14	14	48
Bears	0	0	13	0	13

See also: 2018 Northern Colorado Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–1	2016	EWU, 49–31

UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Aggies	10	7	3	0	20
No. 5 Eagles	7	14	14	24	59

See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–0	2017	EWU, 41–38

at Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	14	13	27	20	74
Vikings	0	14	7	2	23

See also: 2018 Portland State Vikings football team and The Dam Cup

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
19–20–1	2017	EWU, 59–33

FCS Playoffs

Nicholls–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Colonels	7	7	0	7	21
No. 4 Eagles	3	7	10	22	42

See also: 2018 Nicholls Colonels football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–1	2004	NSU, 37–14

UC Davis–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Aggies	0	14	7	8	29
No. 4 Eagles	7	7	0	20	34

See also: 2018 UC Davis Aggies football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–0	11/10/18	EWU, 59–20

Maine–Semifinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Black Bears	0	0	19	0	19
No. 4 Eagles	21	7	15	7	50

See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

North Dakota State–Championship

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	0	10	7	7	24
No. 1 Bison	10	7	14	7	38

See also: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team and 2019 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–2	2017	NDSU, 40–13

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	9	6	6	6	5	5	4	9	5	5	5	4	4	2
Coaches	7	5	5	6–T	5	4–T	3	8	4	4	3	3	3	2

References

1. https://www.bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/football-eastern-washington-picked-to-win-the-big-sky.aspx
2. http://bigskyconf.com/news/2018/7/16/doss-buss-headline-big-sky-football-preseason-all-conference-team.aspx
3. "FCS football: 2018 Walter Payton Award watch list". August 1, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.