EWU, WSU resume long-time, limited rivalry
When Eastern Washington and Washington State last met in Pullman in 2012, the Cougars withstood a second-half comeback by the Eagles and won 24-20. Eastern had plenty of opportunities, and near misses, like this pass where Damante Hornton of WSU broke up a possible scoring play to EWU's Brandon Kaufman.
Just 90 miles separate Cheney and Pullman, but until 2012, the Washington State Cougars and Eastern Washington Eagles had faced each other just twice in football.
Those two meetings were thrashings, won by Washington State 46-0 in 1907 and 73-0 in 1908 and it took over a century to revisit.
That 2012 game was WSU head coach Mike Leach's debut in Pullman and he watched as the Cougars had to withstand an Eagles' rally for a 24-20 victory in front of a sell-out crowd of 33,598.
But underachieving against Big Sky Conference schools has not been anything new for the Cougars who opened the 2015 season with a shocking 24-17 loss at Martin Stadium to Portland State.
Leach is 0-4 in season opening games since landing in Pullman, but his Cougs rallied from the PSU loss and went on to finish 9-4 with a 20-14 Sun Bowl game win over Miami in El Paso, Texas. Eastern comes off a 6-5 season, missing the postseason for the first time since 2011.
The Eagles seek to repeat last year's PSU result, and there's no reason to doubt it can't be done. Eastern has delivered pretty much punch for punch with Pac-12 schools since head coach Beau Baldwin arrived in Cheney in 2008, losing at Colorado, 31-24 that year.
The last meeting with WSU came a year after a 30-27 loss at Washington in 2011 in which a pass to Brandon Kaufman was intercepted in the end zone with under 30 seconds to play. In 2012 versus the Cougars, a similar scenario to Kaufman's effort at Husky Stadium saw Kyle Padron's pass to him swatted away on the game's final play.
"We fought back and competed, and that's what I like to see," Baldwin said following his second meeting with Leach, who was the head man at Texas Tech and guided the Red Raiders to a 49-24 win in Baldwin's Eastern debut in 2008.
As was the case in their last meeting, Eastern has another talented pass catcher in All-American Cooper Kupp, who is bound to be a factor, just as he was in Eastern's loss last year at Oregon where he set Autzen Stadium records for receptions and yards in a 61-42 setback.
"We get excited about putting ourselves on that stage and in that challenging moment," Baldwin said. "It's a chance to do special things. It's going to be a challenge, but our program relishes that and will embrace it."
It was Kupp who burst on the scene in 2013's EWU 49-46 win at Oregon State, the Eagles' first-ever victory over a Pac-12 school.
As for WSU, things are a great deal different after five years under Leach in Baldwin's mind.
"They have (improved) in a lot of areas," Baldwin said. "There is a pretty long list where you can say 'they are better, they're better there and they do this better,' and you can see it.'"
No. 14 (FCS) Eastern Washington University versus Washington State University Saturday, Sept. 3, 5 p.m. Martin Stadium (35,117), Pullman, Washington. Radio: 700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir returns for his 26th season calling the play-by-play, with analysis handled by Paul Sorensen and Keith Osso providing sideline reports. Broadcasts begin one hour prior to kickoff and include an expanded post-game show. Television: The game is televised nationally on the Pac-12 Network.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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