Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best likes to point out that a football team’s win-loss record is an imperfect tool in discerning just how well that team has played.
Cal Poly, the Eagles’ opponent at 2 p.m. Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif., would appear to be a team whose record (3-8, 1-6 Big Sky) is misleading.
“They’ve played some really good ball,” Best said Tuesday. “They took (UC) Davis to the wire. … They probably felt they should have stolen one at Missoula and at Flagstaff. They can put up points and put the ball in the air.”
As far as conference schedules go, Cal Poly’s has been the Big Sky’s most difficult. Including this matchup, the Mustangs will play the top seven teams in the conference standings, plus Portland State (1-10, 1-6). Cal Poly’s lone league win came in its opener, 32-24 over Sacramento State.
Just as the Eagles (5-6, 4-3) are motivated to end the year with a .500 record, the Mustangs are trying to win more than three games for the first time since the 2018 season. In nearly three full years with Paul Wulff as head coach, Cal Poly has a 9-24 overall record.
Wulff and Best, who coached together when Wulff was still at Eastern, remain friends.
“I know half the (Cal Poly) staff,” Best said. “There’s a lot of (familiarity) in knowing the folks there, a lot of respect and friendships. But those are the other 51 weeks of the year.”
Here are three aspects of Saturday’s game to keep an eye on:
1. Who plays quarterback for the Eagles? Best said Tuesday that Jake Schakel’s status was “not all good, not all bad” but that he would travel to California with the team. If he plays, the offense should look like it did the last couple games, and Cal Poly ranks 10th among the 12 Big Sky teams in pass defense.
But if it’s true freshman Kaden Rolfsness, the question becomes just how much he throws the ball. He attempted just one pass and ran eight times in relief last week against Northern Colorado. He would be the fourth player to start at quarterback this season for the Eagles.
“We have five (on the roster) for a reason, and now were down to No. 4 right now,” Best said. “If he ends up getting the keys to the car, drive that thing as fast and as furious as you can, but be coachable and don’t feel like you’ve got to make the perfect play at any point in the game. You’ve got 10 others around you.”
2. Is this the game an Eastern running back gets loose? The Eagles are still looking for a running back to clear 100 yards in a game this season (Nate Bell, the quarterback, has done so three times). The trio of redshirt junior Marceese Yetts, redshirt freshman Kevin Allen III and true freshman Wilson Medina has combined for 490 rushing yards all season, with none carrying for more than 79 in a single game.
Some of this is predicated on whether Schakel or Rolfsness plays, but the Eagles would surely like to see a running back find open space and gain some yards in chunks. Allen has one 50-yard rush this season, and Medina has a 56-yard dash. But the longest run of the season belongs to a wide receiver, Wesley Garrett (67 yards).
3. Interceptions, anyone? Coming off a game with five interceptions, the Eastern Washington defense now has 13 on the year, the second-most in the Big Sky behind Montana (18). Cal Poly has thrown 18 this season, second-most in the league. It’s a tantalizing combination for the Eagles defense.
Redshirt sophomore safety Jaylon Jenkins is tied with six other players for the FCS lead with five interceptions. Eastern’s single-season record is nine, held by Greg Kramer (1982) and Mike Richter (1974 and 1975). Kurt Schulz had seven in 1989, and five players have had six in a season, most recently Matt Johnson in 2009.
“(We’ve been) good at playing the ball in the air and punching out the ball when you have the chance,” Jenkins said on Monday. “But you can always execute better.”
