EWU must capitalize going in and out of halftime against Northern Colorado | Things to watch

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Oct. 9—Attending three different homecomings during one football season might be seen as a flex for a high school student.

Not so much for a college football program.

But that's been the fall for the Northern Colorado football team (2-4, 1-2 Big Sky), which on Saturday will be playing in its third consecutive homecoming game. This time their date is the Eastern Washington Eagles (1-5, 0-3). Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Roos Field.

"It is a little indication of where teams think you are," Northern Colorado head coach Ed Lamb said during his Wednesday news conference, noting that this is the time in the calendar when homecoming games tend to be scheduled.

On Sept. 26, the Bears won their own homecoming game over still-winless Utah Tech, 37-13. Last week, they were the homecoming guests in Missoula, where they lost 36-14 to the Montana Grizzlies.

"I think there is something to take from that," Lamb said. "I also don't think there are any players or coaches out there disrespecting the Bears. Any disrespect that we are getting, we can own. We have not beaten the Eagles in the history of UNC football. They're feeling like it's a pretty good bet to win their Homecoming game based on history."

The Bears do have one victory against the Eagles, but that came in 1981 when both were still Division II programs. Since then, the Eagles are 16-0 in the series, including victories of at least 18 points in each of the previous seven matchups.

Eastern — which lost as a homecoming guest last week at UC Davis, 49-38 — is looking to avoid falling to 1-6 for the first time since 1983. That was four years before it became a Division I program and joined the Big Sky Conference.

"With the adversity (of losing), it's a positive to see we are not turning around and pointing fingers at each other," EWU redshirt senior defensive end Dishawn Misa said Tuesday. "We're digging in and trying to find ways to get a better result."

Here are three things to look for as Eastern tries to do just that:

1. Maximizing drives. Northern Colorado ranks second in the Big Sky in time of possession, holding the ball for an average of 32 minutes, 34 seconds per game.

EWU head coach Aaron Best read that as a reminder that the Eagles will need to make the most of each possession.

"They want to make you earn your yards and make you go 14,15 plays (on offense)," Best said. "It's probably going to be a nine- or 10-possession game for each team."

Last week, the Eagles had 14 drives against the Aggies. They had 11 in a 27-7 victory over the Bears at Roos Field last season.

2. The middle eight minutes. The most glaring example of the importance of this stretch came in Eastern's season opener. That was when a 24-3 Eagles' lead over the Lumberjacks became a 24-17 lead thanks to a kickoff return touchdown, an interception and then another score for NAU.

"The last four of the second quarter and the first four of the third quarter," redshirt senior linebacker Myles Mayovsky said. "I think that's going to play a big part for us Saturday and for the rest of the season."

That NAU game was also the only one this year in which the Eagles led at halftime.

Last week, UC Davis scored on its final drive of the first half and its first drive of the second half, sandwiched around an EWU field goal by Soren McKee.

3. Nate Bell and the running game. Eastern Washington did not include grad senior Malik Dotson on this week's depth chart, instead listing redshirt sophomore Kevin Allen III and freshman Jaxon Bell, with an "or" between them, in the spot for starting running back.

Bell has the best yards-per-carry (4.3) of the three, ahead of Allen (3.5) and Dotson (3.4). Without redshirt junior quarterback Nate Bell's contributions, Eastern's run game would easily rank last in the Big Sky. Including Nate Bell, the Eagles rank 10th with 133.7 rushing yards per game.

The Eagles have struggled to run the ball all season, and the Bears rank in the upper half of the Big Sky's rushing defenses.

Last week the Bears became the first FCS team this season to hold Montana running back Eli Gillman without a rushing score, though he did catch one out of the backfield. Gillman, who ranks third nationally in rushing yards (783), finished with 13 carries for 99 yards against Northern Colorado.

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