Eastern Washington at No. 4 Montana State - Skyline Sports

[Colter_Nuanez]

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[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[wbtfg]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

[Bobcat Sig]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

[Colter_Nuanez]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

[catatac]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

They didn't look terrible against Western Illinois. I think people are just a bit gun shy after watching how the Cat's game unfolded Saturday. I think if the Cats would have thumped MH by 40, we'd all be saying ya, Cats beat Eastern by 30. But we didn't so...

Personally I think the Cats come out and play a much better game on Saturday (like they did vs SDSU and SD) and beat the Eagles handily.

[ZebraCat]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

They didn't look terrible against Western Illinois. I think people are just a bit gun shy after watching how the Cat's game unfolded Saturday. I think if the Cats would have thumped MH by 40, we'd all be saying ya, Cats beat Eastern by 30. But we didn't so...

Personally I think the Cats come out and play a much better game on Saturday (like they did vs SDSU and SD) and beat the Eagles handily.

Western Illinois has won 3 games against FCS teams in the last 3 season. We should be surprised if the Cats don't cover (and then some) on Saturday.

[coloradocat]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

Nowhere close to the same situation....although Cheney is no paradise and not some destination, Eastern has a real stadium with real fans. Portland State plays at a high school stadium and has about 1,000 on-lookers that I wouldn't even consider fans. There's a few prominent EWU alums, former players and otherwise, who could stroke a check. I'm not sure Portland State has a single booster.

Portland State has made the playoffs twice, never won a playoff game, never won a conference title and until last year, spent the last 8-10 years bussing to EVERY SINGLE GAME.

EWU has 10 conference titles, 16 playoff appearances, 20 playoff wins and a national championship.

The EWU AD is very impressive and came highly regarded when he arrived in Cheney. So it's very perplexing that they are standing by a coach that's won no more than 3 Big Sky games since Barriere walked out the door following the 2021 season.

Alot of times when you see a program fall apart, so much of it is abrupt and disruptive and spurred on by dysfunction. EWU has been a gradual decline. Literally, their players and their coaches have gotten one notch worse each year as they've gone from top program in the conference to top 4 to top half to bottom half to bottom 4. It's one of the wildest things I've ever seen covering the Big Sky....

[Prodigal Cat]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

Nowhere close to the same situation....although Cheney is no paradise and not some destination, Eastern has a real stadium with real fans. Portland State plays at a high school stadium and has about 1,000 on-lookers that I wouldn't even consider fans. There's a few prominent EWU alums, former players and otherwise, who could stroke a check. I'm not sure Portland State has a single booster.

Portland State has made the playoffs twice, never won a playoff game, never won a conference title and until last year, spent the last 8-10 years bussing to EVERY SINGLE GAME.

EWU has 10 conference titles, 16 playoff appearances, 20 playoff wins and a national championship.

The EWU AD is very impressive and came highly regarded when he arrived in Cheney. So it's very perplexing that they are standing by a coach that's won no more than 3 Big Sky games since Barriere walked out the door following the 2021 season.

Alot of times when you see a program fall apart, so much of it is abrupt and disruptive and spurred on by dysfunction. EWU has been a gradual decline. Literally, their players and their coaches have gotten one notch worse each year as they've gone from top program in the conference to top 4 to top half to bottom half to bottom 4. It's one of the wildest things I've ever seen covering the Big Sky....

More like Idaho sitting with Petrino for so many years. Best is probably a great guy but its undeniable that he is slowly dragging that program down.
I could be wrong but I think I read somewhere that he had a 4 year contract that had some clause that it was renewed automatically every year unless the school opted out and last year was the first year they finally opted out. So depending how it reads but he still has 2 or 3 years left and it would take a pretty big check (for EWU anyway) to buy it out.

[coloradocat]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

Nowhere close to the same situation....although Cheney is no paradise and not some destination, Eastern has a real stadium with real fans. Portland State plays at a high school stadium and has about 1,000 on-lookers that I wouldn't even consider fans. There's a few prominent EWU alums, former players and otherwise, who could stroke a check. I'm not sure Portland State has a single booster.

Portland State has made the playoffs twice, never won a playoff game, never won a conference title and until last year, spent the last 8-10 years bussing to EVERY SINGLE GAME.

EWU has 10 conference titles, 16 playoff appearances, 20 playoff wins and a national championship.

The EWU AD is very impressive and came highly regarded when he arrived in Cheney. So it's very perplexing that they are standing by a coach that's won no more than 3 Big Sky games since Barriere walked out the door following the 2021 season.

Alot of times when you see a program fall apart, so much of it is abrupt and disruptive and spurred on by dysfunction. EWU has been a gradual decline. Literally, their players and their coaches have gotten one notch worse each year as they've gone from top program in the conference to top 4 to top half to bottom half to bottom 4. It's one of the wildest things I've ever seen covering the Big Sky....

Your last two paragraphs is kind of where my question came from. EWU has a great fairly recent history, especially compared to PSU, but they seem to be going in the wrong direction with no signs of turning around.

If the AD could just find a new coach and convince Cooper Kupp to fund their NIL it seems like they'd be able to climb back up to being competitive. Has Kupp ever even given the team any notable money? He was the spokesman for a $2M fundraising effort 5 years ago (when he probably could have easily funded the whole thing himself if he wanted to) and he's involved in a scholarship program that hints at his financial support but I haven't found any articles on him actually giving them money. He obviously doesn't have to do anything, publicly or privately, but he's probably made more money than any other former BSC player ever. I don't know about any other former players that made it to the NFL donating either.

[Colter_Nuanez]

[onceacat]

I would have to imagine that EWU has a hard time competing for talent. Pre-NIL they had some advantages because Washington was super under recruited, so plenty of good talent fell through the cracks & was really cheap for the program.

As others point out, QB recruiting and/or development has fallen off a cliff.

There’s no NIL money to offer dudes to move to a town that’s pretty depressing.

Best could be part of the problem, but I don’t think there’s money to go after a coach like Vigen or Choate, so their hands might be a little tied.

It’s too bad, because it would be nice to see a more competitive BSC.

[Colter_Nuanez]

Another factor worth mentioning: EWU got a ton of guys from in state and part of their ability to do was that Washington was down, Washington State was god awful and Bobby Hauck wasn’t coaching the Griz so wasn’t recruiting the eastern part of Washington like the Griz have done in both his tenures. Montana State also hardly recruited Washington under Rob Ash compared to California and Texas.

Also worth noting that it could just be as simple as the Big Sky has room for 4-5 good teams and if the structure of the league in terms of resources stratifies properly, three of those teams should be Montana State, Montana and Idaho year in and year out. EWU has basically been replaced by Idaho.

[Bobcat Sig]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

Nowhere close to the same situation....although Cheney is no paradise and not some destination, Eastern has a real stadium with real fans. Portland State plays at a high school stadium and has about 1,000 on-lookers that I wouldn't even consider fans. There's a few prominent EWU alums, former players and otherwise, who could stroke a check. I'm not sure Portland State has a single booster.

Whoa, let's not get crazy there with all that real stadium talk in Cheney. Sure, when compared to the stadium that PSU plays in, which faces a damn freeway, or whatever UNCU has these days - then yes, Eastern could be construed as having a stadium. It wasn't until last year or the year prior that those rickety, high school, aluminum bleachers were replaced with slightly more robust aluminum seating. Eastern's stadium is still about a click and a half above a high school stadium.

[Colter_Nuanez]

[Colter_Nuanez]

[TomCat88]

Cats favored by 18.5 against EWU. That seems like a massive number.

It sure does. I caught a -19.5 line yesterday. A point isn't much. Based on our season thus far, I'm taking the under. Unless of course ewooo is extra terrible this year...

EWU comes to Bozeman playing Nate Bell at QB. He's basically a wildcat QB converted to full time starter because wildcat QB converted to full time starter Jared Taylor is hurt.

It's just the most bizarre thing in the world to me that EWU went from Josh Blankenship to Matt Nichols to Erik Meyer to Bo Levi Mitchell to Vernon Adams to Gage Gubrud to Eric Barriere.....to nobody. Every guy I named won Big Sky MVP and several of them won the Payton. And then they stopped recruiting QBs. And they've gone 12-27 since Barriere walked out the door. Mind bending.

Is EWU in the same quagmire as PSU now? Stuck with a coach that isn't very good and a team that isn't going anywhere and can't attract recruits but they can't get rid of him because it's a terrible situation all around and nobody worthwhile is going to want the job. At least people seem to like Barney. I don't think Best even has that going for him.

Nowhere close to the same situation....although Cheney is no paradise and not some destination, Eastern has a real stadium with real fans. Portland State plays at a high school stadium and has about 1,000 on-lookers that I wouldn't even consider fans. There's a few prominent EWU alums, former players and otherwise, who could stroke a check. I'm not sure Portland State has a single booster.

Whoa, let's not get crazy there with all that real stadium talk in Cheney. Sure, when compared to the stadium that PSU plays in, which faces a damn freeway, or whatever UNCU has these days - then yes, Eastern could be construed as having a stadium. It wasn't until last year or the year prior that those rickety, high school, aluminum bleachers were replaced with slightly more robust aluminum seating. Eastern's stadium is still about a click and a half above a high school stadium.

I like the wide variety of stadiums around the BSC. Reminds me of the NFL back in the 60s and 70s. I like Class C and B basketball courts. I like dive bars. I like old cars that aren't all fixed up. Patina, a few dents, pitted windshield.

[iaafan]

Colter said MSU got Mercyhurst in a 4th and 42 with penalties. MSU had a tfl and sack also.