The colors of EWU football success

As was illustrated in a story in the 2015 Cheney Free Press Homecoming special section for Eastern Washington University, what the early Eagles - or Savages way back when - wore on the field used to be pretty simple.

Red jerseys at home with white pants or all white -well as white as possible - with streaks of green grass stains.

That was then.

Now, there could be a bet and odds in Las Vegas (or Northern Quest) on what color combination the Eagles might wear on any given game day. There are 29 different uniforms listed in the 2018 press guide.

But EWU sports information director Dave Cook and his student assistant, Anthony Hartman, have taken the subject several steps further. While not quite rivaling baseball for its statistical depth, they have developed a fun look at that collection of helmets, jerseys and pants.

An avid statistical encyclopedia of all things Eastern sports, Cook joked via a text message, "I was jealous, that would have been a lot of fun to do." He praised Hartman for the effort to get details from road games where photos can be hard to come by.

"We had to ask help from our football team video guys," Cook said.

In research on uniform combinations since 2010, the all-red Eagles have a 14-1 won-lost record. That one blemish came in 2012 when Eastern dug itself into a 35-0 halftime hole to Sam Houston in the Football Championship Subdivision semifinal before falling 45-42.

The road game combination of red helmets, white jerseys and red pants has an almost equally impressive 11-3 record. Its most notable victories have come 49-46 at Oregon State in 2013 - EWU's first win over a Pac-12 team - and Washington State in 2016 when rookie quarterback Gage Gubrud engineered a stunning 45-42 shocker at Martin Stadium.

When Eastern wears all black they are 8-2. The color combination made its debut in classic fashion in 2012 with a 32-26 win over Montana at Roos Field. The Eagles scored two touchdowns in the final 2 minutes, 19 seconds to rally from a nine-point deficit against the Griz.

Forgettable to Eastern fans when their team is bathed in black was that 40-38 final seconds loss to Youngstown State in the 2016 FCS semifinals.

Eastern is a perfect 3-0 when they wear either red helmets, black jerseys with red trim and black pants or red helmets, red jerseys and black pants.

With a record of 78-27 in the past eight seasons it's difficult to find any wardrobe that is garishly gawd awful on the field. Only the red helmet, white jerseys and pants combination has a losing record of note at 5-6 for colors worn primarily on the road.

Notable with the look is Montana State's 30-7 thumping of Eastern in 2010 in Bozeman. It was a wakeup call for sure as the Eagles won their next 11 straight, including that 20-19 win over Delaware in the national championship game in Frisco, Texas.

By the way, in case it's forgotten, those Eagles were clad in red helmets, black jerseys with red trim and black pants.

Another uniform combination that head coach Aaron Best will not likely soon forget was the red helmet and all white look in his signature first Big Sky Conference win in 2017, a 48-41 win over Montana in Missoula.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].