Crunch Time
Photo by Paul Delaney It seems as though not only does Cooper Kupp contribute to the Eastern Eagles' in the stats reports, like this catch for his first touchdown last Saturday, but there's an intangible element that has helped his team to a 10-game winning streak and two solid performances away from the national title game in Frisco, Texas.
When Cooper Kupp announced just over a year ago that he would return to pursue his senior season at Eastern Washington, it may or may not have been a catalyst for teammates to also take their games to another level.
But it's certainly not been a one-man effort that has vaulted the Eagles to 10 consecutive wins since their 50-44 overtime setback on Sept. 10 in Fargo to five-time defending Football Championship Subdivision champion, North Dakota State in the middle of a "murderers row" start to their schedule.
Eastern once again sits two games away from the now yearly quest where Frisco, Texas and the FCS championship game is the only way to ever end a season.
Setting the bar high after the 2010 national title will easily increase expectations.
The 11-1 Eagles face the 10-3 Richmond Spiders from relatively balmy Virginia, who visit the likely cold and snowy red turf this Saturday at 1:05 p.m. The winner advances to the FCS's final four.
"Two hours to Frisco," was a euphemism heard in certain realms of the Roos Field tailgating fraternity following last Saturday's 31-14 Eastern win over Central Arkansas, referring to it taking two solid 60 minute efforts on "the red" to play Jan. 7 at Toyota Stadium's real green grass.
Despite football being an incredibly intricate team game where the parts need to mesh well for success, one cannot count out what effect Kupp brings that helps drive his team.
He did it last Saturday on the field in typical Kupp fashion, catching back-to-back Gage Gubrud touchdown passes that rallied Eastern from a 14-0 deficit and into the lead they would never lose.
Playing through the pain of a shoulder injury suffered in the Eagles' final regular season game at Portland State, Kupp's role last Saturday was one of those "game time decisions."
And whether it's catching balls in heavy traffic, or off his finger tips, there's just something magic or memorable when Kupp is on the field.
Tied at 14 in the final seconds of the first half and facing a fourth-and-seven at the Central Arkansas 24, the latest gutsy Beau Baldwin call dialed up another fake-field goal call - ala Sept. 17 versus Northern Iowa.
This time, rather than a game-winning touchdown, the pass from holder/quarterback Riley Hennessey to tight end Zach Wimberly nearly blew up. But Wimberly caught the ball, was able to break a tackle and rumble to the 16.
The next play was to Kupp to the 6-yard line where he was sandwiched in a brutal tackle that was so hard he spit out his mouth guard. He limped off the field, listing to the right and seemingly favoring the injured shoulder.
But two plays later, No. 10 was back. Kupp found the mouth guard on the ground that survived two plays - both incomplete passes - and promptly caught the next Gubrud pass with 14 seconds to play with defenders glued to him for what proved to be the winning points.
Kupp's misses are rare, but one that possibly haunts him just a bit - still - might be the ball thrown by Vernon Adams on fourth-and-two at the Towson University 29 with 1:40 to go. The toss glanced off Kupp's finger tips and helped hand the Tigers a 35-31 win in the 2013 FCS semifinals at foggy Roos Field.
The shadow of the possible departure of Baldwin to the University of Nevada is certain to cast some questions of how Eastern will stay focused versus Richmond.
The wild-card Spiders were the Colonial League's fourth-place finishers, and now apparent overachievers. They topped North Carolina A&T 39-10 in round one of the playoffs, Then they rallied from a 24-7 deficit at Grand Forks last Saturday to beat Big Sky co-champ University of North Dakota 27-24 on a field goal as time expired.
On paper, Richmond will have to deal with snow, cold, an Eastern offense that puts up enormous numbers and an Ebenezer Scrooge defense.
But if anything extra is needed it might be "The Kupp Effect," where present or not, his teammates dial it up to another level.
The "All-Everthing" record upon record-setting phenom from Yakima, told Goeags.com his decision to pass on the 2015 NFL draft came in large part because he wanted to have another shot at Frisco.
"I want to be the best teammate I can be, the best football player for these coaches, and the most productive for our team progressing towards our team goals of winning a national championship," Kupp said. "I think that's what's going to be most important."
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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