2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football
NCAA Division I Second Round, L 41–57, vs. Montana
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 4
FCS Coaches	No. 6
2021 record	10–3 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Aaron Best (5th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Ian Shoemaker (first nine games) (3rd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Pat McCann (interim season)
Defensive coordinator	Eti Ena (3rd season)
Home stadium	Roos Field (capacity: 8,600)
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 8 Sacramento State $^		8	–	0					9	–	3
No. 7 Montana State ^		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 4 Eastern Washington ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 5 Montana ^		6	–	2					10	–	3
No. 14 UC Davis ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Weber State		5	–	3					6	–	5
Northern Arizona		4	–	4					5	–	6
Portland State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Idaho		3	–	5					4	–	7
Northern Colorado		2	–	6					3	–	8
Cal Poly		1	–	7					2	–	9
Idaho State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Southern Utah		0	–	8					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant As of December 30, 2021; Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Aaron Best, the Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington.

Previous season[]

The Eagles finished the 2020–21 season with an overall record of 5–2 and a mark of 5–1 in conference play to place second in the Big Sky. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs, where they lost to North Dakota State in the first round.

Preseason[]

Polls[]

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Eagles were predicted to finish third in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team[]

The Eagles had four players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	7:00 p.m.	at UNLV*	No. 11	Allegiant Stadium Paradise, NV	Stadium	W 35–33 2OT	21,970
September 11	1:00 p.m.	Central Washington*	No. 7	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	W 63–14	4,523
September 18	1:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois*	No. 7	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	W 62–56	5,385
September 25	5:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah	No. 6	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ESPN+	W 50–21	7,096
October 2	7:30 p.m.	No. 4 Montana	No. 6	Roos Field Cheney, WA (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	ESPN2	W 34–28	7,944
October 9	12:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 4	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 63–17	5,413
October 16	1:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 2	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 71–21	5,380
October 23	1:00 p.m.	Weber State	No. 2	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	L 34–35	5,676
November 6	1:00 p.m.	No. 4 Montana State	No. 5	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	L 20–23	6,981
November 13	5:00 p.m.	at No. 6 UC Davis	No. 7	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	W 38–20	7,344
November 20	2:05 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 5	Hillsboro Stadium Portland, OR (The Dam Cup)	ESPN+	W 42–28	0
November 27	1:00 p.m.	Northern Iowa*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA (FCS Playoffs – First Round)	ESPN+	W 19–9	3,845
December 3	6:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Montana*	No. 4	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (FCS Playoffs – Second Round)	ESPN+	L 41–57	24,065
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

^[3]

Game summaries[]

at UNLV[]

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 11 Eagles	0	3	17	0	7	8	35
Rebels	0	6	0	14	7	6	33

Central Washington[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	0	7	14
No. 7 Eagles	18	28	10	7	63

at Western Illinois[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Eagles	28	27	7	0	62
Leathernecks	21	0	14	21	56

at Southern Utah[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Eagles	9	21	13	7	50
Thunderbirds	7	7	7	0	21

No. 4 Montana[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Grizzlies	7	7	7	7	28
No. 6 Eagles	7	3	0	24	34

at Northern Colorado[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	22	21	10	10	63
Bears	3	7	7	0	17

Idaho[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	0	7	21
No. 2 Eagles	29	14	14	14	71

Weber State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	13	7	15	35
No. 2 Eagles	7	7	7	13	34

No. 4 Montana State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	7	9	0	7	23
No. 5 Eagles	13	0	0	7	20

at No. 6 UC Davis[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Eagles	0	14	10	14	38
No. 6 Aggies	7	3	7	3	20

at Portland State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	7	7	21	7	42
Vikings	7	7	7	7	28

FCS Playoffs[]

Northern Iowa–First Round[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers					0
No. 4 Eagles					0

Ranking movements[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	11	7	7	6	6	4	2 (9)	2 (14)	7	5	7	5	4
Coaches	14	8	6	6	6	4 (2)	2 (1)	2 (2)	7	5	8	6	6

References[]