EWU taking positives from season-opening loss: 'A lot to be encouraged about'

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Sep. 3—When Aaron Best looked at the film of Eastern Washington's 34-27 loss Saturday at Northern Arizona, the Eagles' head coach saw a lot of good.

He saw it not just in the first half, either, when the Eagles built a 21-point lead.

"We did some good things in the second half, too," Best said to the media on Tuesday. "There were a ton of really good things, and we had a chance to win inside the 10-yard line."

That chance to win late ended in an incomplete pass, however, and so the Eagles (0-1, 0-1 Big Sky) head into this weekend's home opener looking for their first victory of the season when they host Northern Iowa (0-0), their first of three straight nonconference opponents, at 4 p.m. Saturday at Roos Field in Cheney.

"We obviously didn't win, but our offense was clicking pretty early," said EWU redshirt sophomore receiver Jaxon Branch, who finished with seven catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. "We've got to focus on continuing that. We looked dangerous out there."

The danger started with redshirt junior quarterback Nate Bell, who threw for a career-high 307 yards and completed 30 of 47 passes. It was a starkly different performance than Bell's showing 12 months ago in Cedar Falls, Iowa, when he ran for Eastern's only two touchdowns — both during a second-half comeback — in the Eagles' 17-14 loss to Northern Iowa. That was one of UNI's three victories last season.

In that game, Bell carried 14 times for 90 yards and completed 21 of 35 passes for 158 yards passing.

Saturday though, in Flagstaff, Bell stayed in the pocket much more and scrambled just six times for 18 yards and one touchdown.

"He probably scooted a few more times out of the pocket than we would have liked to, when he didn't need to, but that's the kind of playmaker he is," Best said of Bell. "He's one of those guys where sometimes he's got to be on the move to make things happen."

Best also complimented the offense's efficiency, especially considering it was Game 1.

"There was only one three-and-out, and unfortunately that was the ball we threw to the other team," Best said of Bell's only turnover, a second-quarter interception. "If you're going 75 plays and saying I wish I could have just this one back, that's a good-looking script."

Northern Iowa last came to Cheney in the 2021 playoffs, when it slowed Eastern's high-powered offense in a game the Eagles won 19-9. But Todd Stepsis, UNI's second-year head coach, was the head coach at Drake two years ago, when the Pioneer Football League program defeated Eastern at Roos Field, 35-32 in overtime.

"They are a coaching staff who has an identity to how they want to run offense from their time at Drake, and we see a lot of things there that are identity plays: Things they are always going to hang their hat on," EWU linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Caleb Padilla said.

But he also qualified that.

"We might see stuff that is completely new," Padilla said.

Complicating Eastern's preparation is that the Panthers haven't played yet this season. They did, however, simulate a game-like experience in their scrimmage last week, and they timed it up so they could watch Eastern's game against Northern Arizona live.

"When you watch just the coaches' copy, it's hard to see the flow of the game and the responses after plays," Stepsis said on Monday. "So, watching them march down the field, watching them get the three-and-out at the start of the game, it opened our guys' eyes."

"Even though last year went our way," Stepsis said, "it wasn't like it wasn't a tight game. Our guys know this is a really good team we're playing, and we've got to be at our best."

Kevin Allen III, now a redshirt sophomore for the Eagles, said the Eagles are a more mature team than they were when they faced UNI a year ago. The offensive line, in particular, is more comfortable and improved.

Saturday's performance, then, gave the running back Allen plenty of optimism that the Eagles will play well against the Panthers.

"It was not the final result that we wanted," Allen said, "but I think coming out of that game there is a lot for us to be encouraged about. Everything felt like it was clicking on offense for a while. Everything we wanted to do we could do."

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