Eastern Washington brings young team to face an old rival

Bill Oram
GameDay Kaimin

The Montana football team learned last week that being ranked No. 1 nationally doesn’t give it a free pass through Big Sky Conference play.
The undefeated Grizzlies narrowly topped Weber State 18-10 last weekend, but will face an even more formidable opponent today, with the 3-1 Eastern Washington Eagles in town.
Eastern fell out of the rankings after losing 28-21 to Portland State. It had risen to 21st before the defeat.
Eastern Washington has a record of playing well in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. Their four wins are the most of any team since the stadium opened in 1986.
“Eastern’s always played the Montana Grizzlies tough, forever,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said.
The last time the Eagles were in Missoula, in 2005, they rolled behind standout quarterback Erik Meyer.
But Meyer and much of that team is gone. In their places, the roster is loaded with sophomores. However, according to Eastern coach Paul Wulff, it’s an experienced group of youngsters.
“We have some experience on offense; and defense, there’s some experience there,” he said. “We’re youthful from an age standpoint.”
When the Eagles won in 2005, the Griz were led by a freshman quarterback named Cole Bergquist, who was filling in for the injured Jason Washington.
This season, Bergquist is again the starter for Montana, and has averaged just over 195 passing yards and 39 rushing yards in the team’s four wins.
“He’s developed a lot,” Wulff said this week. “He’s a lot more confident in what he does, a lot more accurate in throwing the ball. He’s a tough guy to defend because he runs the ball so well.”
Bergquist said Eastern Washington’s defense appeared on film to be stifling.
“They look like an Eastern defense that I’ve seen for the past three years that I’ve been here,” Bergquist said. “They play aggressive, their secondary (has) got an attitude, they want to play hard. You can tell that they don’t fear many teams. They’re always swarming to the ball.”
Both teams are coming off games in which injuries played a key role. A spate of Griz players had to be helped off the field against Weber State, though none of the injuries will likely keep any Grizzlies out of today’s game.
Eastern Washington, on the other hand, has already lost nine players for the season, Wulff said. Star receiver Tony Davis left the Portland State game with a shoulder injury and center Chris Carlsen left with a knee injury. Wulff said neither would play against Montana.
Both Montana and Eastern Washington have been successful this season by putting lots of points on the board, but Eagles coach Paul Wulff said he would rather have less scoring.
“Anybody would want a lower scoring game,” he said. “I don’t want it to be a shootout.”
Giving Montana, a team that leads the nation in scoring defense, lots of scoring opportunities could be fatal for Eastern Washington.
However, if Montana can eliminate its own mistakes, it should be fine, Bergquist said.
“I think we’re well aware that Eastern’s a good team. They’ve shown that they can put up a lot of points,” he said. “We need to put together a full game, which we haven’t quite done yet, I don’t feel, as an offensive unit.”