It took overcoming a slew of mistakes and missed opportunities along with one of its stoutest defensive efforts of the season.
The rematch many around the Big Sky Conference desired is now set. Eastern Washington, the No. 4 team in the FCS this week, overcame an array of miscues and rode the momentum of a pair of goal line stops to post a 19-9 victory over unranked Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon in Cheney.
EWU will travel to Missoula to take on Montana. The sixth-seeded Grizzlies won four straight games, including a 29-10 win over No. 3 Montana State last weekend, to earn a first-round bye for the second season in a row.
Eastern handed Montana one of its two losses this season. Eric Barriere threw for 434 yards, Talolo Limu-Jones hauled in 11 passes for 231 yards and EWU outlasted the blitzing Griz 34-28 on October 3.
Limu-Jones was very vocal about EWU having to play in the first round against a UNI program making its 22nd playoff appearance. He said he felt that Montana State, who took the No. 8 seed and a bye, deserved a week off — MSU beat EWU 23-20 in Cheney, Washington the first Saturday of November — but that Montana did not.
The first-team All-Big Sky receiver finished with two catches for 18 yards on a Saturday in which EWU’s nationally renowned offense looked pedestrian.
EWU had a touchdown called off because of a penalty and came away scoreless on that first half possession. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs in the red-zone.
Freshman kicker Jackson Cleaver, who has been filling in intermittently for injured kicker Seth Harrison, missed a 27-yard field goal. He then missed an extra point after Nolan Ulm’s first career touchdown, a 25-yard scoring grab that proved to be the only trip to the end-zone of the first half for the hosts.
That got Cleaver pulled in favor of fellow freshman Wyatt Hawkins, who would go on to make a pair of field goals and a PAT that made up most of the final margin of victory.
The calamity was not exclusively pinned to the Eagles. Northern Iowa got stuffed on the one-yard line in the first quarter and less than five yards from the end-zone in the fourth quarter.
An Eastern Washington defense that came into game giving up nearly 26 points per game locked down a UNI team that struggled to find any rhythm even after switching quarterbacks in the second half.
UNI threw for 315 yards between starter Theo Day, a former Michigan State transfer, and Matt Morrissey. But it took 50 throws to get there. The two Northern Iowa quarterbacks finished 22-of-50 and threw three interceptions. The Panthers converted just 2-of-15 third downs and just twice in five fourth down tries, including neither of the fourth down tries inside the red-zone.
EWU came into the game averaging 45 points and 552 yards per game, both the top marks in the FCS. The Eagles managed just 19 first downs, averaged just 2.9 yards per rush and didn’t convert any of their three fourth down tries. But Eastern did enough to move to 15-13 all-time in the post-season, including 4-2 under fifth-year head coach Aaron Best.
The postseason rematch with Montana will mark the fifth time UM head coach Bobby Hauck will play a team his squad previously played in the regular-season. Hauck’s Griz lost to Sam Houston State in 2004 before beating the Bearkats in the semifinals of the FCS playoffs to advance to the first of three national title games under Hauck.
The 2008 Griz lost at Weber State only to defeat the Wildcats in the quarterfinals of the playoffs later that year. The 2005 Griz beat Cal Poly in the regular-season before losing to the Mustangs at home the first round of the playoffs.
In 2019, Montana defeated Weber State 35-14 in its final regular season home game before losing 17-10 to the Wildcats in Ogden in the quarterfinals less than a month later.
Eastern Washington has won six times at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, the most by any visitor to the venue. EWU’s last win in Missoula was a 48-41 thriller in comeback fashion under the lights. The last time Eastern played in Missoula, Montana posted a 34-17 win in 2019.
No. 11 South Dakota State 56, No. 14 UC Davis 24
The Aggies ran into a buzz saw in Brookings.
South Dakota State, a team that is in the playoffs for the 11th time since 2009 that played for the national title during the most recent spring season, piled up 446 rushing yards on just 42 carries to move into the second round for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
SDSU (9-3) will take on fourth-seeded Sacramento State. The Hornets won eight straight Big Sky Conference games to earn the outright league title for the first time in school history. In 2019, Sac shared the Big Sky title with Weber State and earned its first-ever playoff berth, securing a playoff seed and a first-round bye. But Sac got drilled 42-28 by Austin Peay in the first playoff game in program history.
Now the Hornets must take on a Jackrabbit squad that advanced to the semifinals in 2017 and 2018 before running to the title game in the spring. South Dakota State is 12-10 since making its first postseason berth in 2009.
UC Davis, which finishes its season 8-4 including three straight losses to finish Dan Hawkins’ third year at the helm, made the game competitive early. The Aggies struck first with a 1st quarter field goal. Then the visitors turned a muffed punt into a touchdown from Miles Hastings to C.J. Hutton touchdown to give Davis a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Then the onslaught began.
Isaiah Davis ripped off an 18-yard touchdown run to give SDSU a lead with 11:19 left in the first half. South Dakota State missed three kicks in the first half alone yet still entered the break with a 28-17 lead. The Aggies’ other first-half score came on a two-yard touchdown run from All-Big Sky running back Ulonzo Gilliam, who finished with 129 yards from scrimmage for a Davis offense that managed 403 total yards.
Big run after big run punctuated a second half that saw SDSU run away from a UCD team making its second playoff appearance in program history. Davis finished with 217 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries, including a long jaunt of 53 yards. Strong, one of the nation’s leading rushers, finished with 185 yards and a score on just 19 carries and scored a touchdown. He also threw a touchdown.
South Dakota State set a school record by snaring six interceptions to seal the win.
OTHER RESULTS
Tennessee Martin forced six turnovers and held on for a 32-31 victory over Missouri State. UTM will play at Montana State on Saturday.
The Skyhawks play in the Ohio Valley Conference, the same league that Austin Peay plays in. The Bobcats defeated AP 24-10 in the quarterfinals of the 2019 playoffs.
Other FCS finals include Incarnate Word earning a 35-28 overtime victory over Stephen F. Austin to earn the first crack at Sam Houston State, the top seed and the defending national champion after beating SDSU 23-21 in the spring national title game.
Kennesaw State posted a 48-21 victory over Davidson, meaning the Owls will play seventh-seeded East Tennessee State. Both KSU and ETSU started their football programs in 2015.