Washington State GameDay Huddle: Eastern Washington Eagles

Opening day for the New Martin Stadium has reinvigorated the Cougar fan base after the face-flop of last week. Eastern is a whole different ballgame and I think as mad as Coug fans have been all week, they are looking for a blowout here to revive the spirits on the Palouse. Not only that, but I think it’s a bonus that this game is early in the day (noon local time) because fans will be ready to cheer from kickoff to the final whistle. Sometimes in later games you don’t get the energy against smaller teams, but I think the energy will be through the roof today. By the way, the first sellout at Martin Stadium since 2007 against Arizona State.

Here’s a nice video showing off the snazzy new Cougar digs:

Looking at some other links to get you rolling into the game, the Seattle Times looks at the first Cougar home game vs EWU “at a glance”. CougCenter gives us a preview of the EWU Offense, and also a preview of the Eagles D that we will be facing today.

Final note and link, if you’re a DISH Network user and Pac-12 fan, you can breathe easy. The Pac-12 and DISH just inked a deal and you should be getting the Network TODAY! C’mon DTV!

Far as my game thoughts: I was terrified of this game coming out of Beasley after watching the Cougs loss last week, combined with hearing of Eastern’s convincing thrashing of Idaho. Now, I am not worried in the least. After watching some highlights and video from that Eastern/Idaho matchup, I see that Idaho is just terrible in all phases of the game. I can see EWU’s qb (formerly of SMU) Kyle Padron winging it all over the place, but he only connected on 13-33 attempts last week. The fact is that Idaho didn’t have any coverage people who could attempt to matchup with that group whatsoever, and WSU does. The EWU receivers are very good, for their level, but I don’t see them as major threats for some reason. Most of Padron’s completions were passes he rainbowed from his back foot and D-1 caliber corners and safeties will eat that up.

The thing that could untrack us could be the running game of Eastern, because it’s an unorthodoxed attack. Overall though, I think Tuel and his receivers will own the air and rule the day. I would be very surprised if by the time it’s over, WSU hasn’t racked up 38+ points and completely run the Eagles out of the building. Should be emotional with the crowd packed like it will be. Can’t wait!

Go Cougs!