Eastern Washington's Cooper Kupp snares one of his two touchdown catches last Saturday en route to setting a new EWU career record with his 49th, 50th and 51st scores.
It's back to the Mountain Time Zone for the second straight week, but this time a place that to many Eastern Washington University football players is a complete mystery.
The No. 7 ranked Eagles return to Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colo. Saturday for a Big Sky Conference for the first time since 2010, and play on old-fashioned grass. Not one member of the current EWU team has played the Bears before on the road.
Eastern is fresh off a 45-28 win at Idaho State last Saturday where for a change the Eagle defense had its day in the dome at Holt Arena. Eastern improved to 3-0 in conference play and 4-2 overall, having won four straight.
In that game Cooper Kupp scored three touchdowns, two on pass receptions and another on a 76-yard punt return. But Kupp also found another way to get into the statistical report by throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to his quarterback, Jordan West, on a trick play to tie the games at 7-7.
Kupp's 49th, 50th and 51st touchdowns set a new school record for a career.
Northern Colorado is riding high after a 56-27 home romp past UC Davis last week in a game UNC led 42-3 at halftime. That helped the Bears improve to 4-2 overall and 2-2 in the league.
"Obviously, they have a lot of momentum going," Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin said.
But it's the other Bears' win, 27-20 over Sacramento State that has Eastern heed coach Beau Baldwin concerned. Northern Colorado's victory came courtesy of two touchdowns from fumble returns, plus a 100-yard kickoff return.
"When you see teams starting to score in different ways like that it usually means their athleticism on their whole team is at a strong level," Baldwin said at Monday's EWU Coaches' Show.
They are going to be a test for us on all three facets of the game - offense, defense and special teams - he added.
But the Eagles also have a lot going for them and are leading the Football Championship Subdivision in passing (406.0 per game) and fifth in total offense (530.5) and have also been impressive elsewhere in recent games.
Senior rover Todd Raynes led a four-turnover effort by Eastern's defense with a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown that helped complete a 17-0 Eastern scoring run against Idaho State. Sophomore Jake Gall led the Eagles with eight solo and seven assisted tackles at ISU.
As for the grass field, "They're going to go out there and it's painted lines and they're going to play just like they do at the start of fall camp," Baldwin said.
Because of the Big Sky schedule Eastern and Northern Colorado do not play every year but the Bears visited Cheney in 2014 where they lost 26-18 but gave Eastern a scare with a second half rally that erased a 20-3 Eagle lead.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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