This Saturday, the 2010 NCAA Division I FCS champions — the Eastern Washington Eagles — travel to the Walkup Skydome to face the Lumberjacks. The Jacks (2–2) are coming off their bye week, giving them an extra week of rest and practice for the upcoming match up against the Eagles this weekend.
The Jacks went into the bye week after defeating Idaho State (ISU) 20–3.
“It feels good to go into a bye with a win,” said head football coach Jerome Souers after the ISU game. “We’re going to take this opportunity to rest up and tweak some things we need to work on.”
The Eagles (1–4) pulled out their first victory of the season last week, beating Weber State 27–21 despite losing eight starters to injuries this season.
In last year’s match-up, the Lumberjacks lost to the Eagles 21–14. The Lumberjacks’ 2010 quarterback, Michael Herrick, was injured at the end of the first half and did not return. Last year the name of the game was passing, but this season’s match is sure to be different.
The Jacks’ running game has been incredible this season, with 751 rushing yards in four games. NAU rushed for 336 yards against the Bengals in their last game, with sophomore running back Zach Bauman taking credit for 219 of those yards. Junior quarterback Cary Grossart got in on the action himself with a few gutsy runs that had Lumberjacks fans watching between their fingers. None of that would be possible without the offensive line giving them the holes they need.
“The offensive line is really why I can do the things I do,” Bauman said. “They’ve been great you know, they open up the field for me and that’s how I find those routes and make those runs.”
The Eagles All-America honored quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell, is in sharp contrast to Grossart. Mitchell relies much more heavily on his passing game with 1623 passing yards this season and only 367 rushing. The team rushed for only 11 yards in their game against South Dakota, but their passing game is what defeated the Lumberjack’s last year. Mitchell threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, completing 20 of 26 passes.
The Lumberjacks will have to keep down the Eagles’ passing game and keep up their own running to grab the W from Eastern Washington. The NAU defense faced another high passing offense against ISU and successfully kept them to 171 passing yards, compared to the Bengals average of 394.3 passing before the game.
“You just have to rush the passer,” said senior defensive lineman Issac Bond. “We’ve worked and worked at it and I think you can tell.”
These two teams will be coming to the Skydome from very different weeks and with very different strengths. The matchup will be at the NAU Walkup Skydome on Oct. 8 at 3:05 p.m. local time.
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