American college football season
The 2018 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season . The team was coached by second year head coach Aaron Best . The Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington and were a member of the Big Sky Conference . They finished the season 12–3, 7–1 in Big Sky play to finish in a three-way tie for the Big Sky championship with UC Davis and Weber State . They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs, where they defeated Nicholls , UC Davis, and Maine to advance to the National Championship Game, where they lost to North Dakota State .
Preseason [ edit ] On July 16, 2018 during the Big Sky Kickoff in Spokane, Washington , the Eagles were predicted to win the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.[1]
Coaches poll Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 Eastern Washington 134 (6) 2 Weber State 124 (3) 3 Northern Arizona 121 (3) 4 Idaho 101 (1) 5 Sacramento State 94 6 Southern Utah 91 7 Montana 82 8 Montana State 76 9 UC Davis 64 10 Cal Poly 40 11 Northern Colorado 30 12 Idaho State 29 13 Portland State 21
Media poll Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 Eastern Washington 651 (27) 2 Weber State 636 (19) 3 Northern Arizona 535 (1) 4 Montana 496 (2) 5 Idaho 483 (3) 6 Southern Utah 449 (1) 7 Sacramento State 415 8 Montana State 391 (1) 9 UC Davis 331 (1) 10 Idaho State 170 11 Cal Poly 169 12 Northern Colorado 166 13 Portland State 103
Preseason All-Conference Team [ edit ] The Eagles had three players selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team.[2]
Gage Gubrud – Sr. QB
Antoine Custer – Jr. RB
Jay-Tee Tiuli – Sr. DT
Award watch lists [ edit ] Schedule [ edit ] Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance September 1 1:05 p.m. Central Washington * No. 9 SWX W 58–138,658 September 8 3:05 p.m. at No. 18 Northern Arizona * No. 6 SWX W 31–268,938 September 15 5:05 p.m. at Washington State * No. 6 P12N L 24–5932,952 September 22 1:05 p.m. Cal Poly No. 6 SWX W 70–179,156 September 29 1:05 p.m. at Montana State No. 5 RTNW W 34–1718,667 October 6 12:05 p.m. Southern Utah No. 5 RTNW W 55–178,887 October 13 3:05 p.m. at No. 13 Weber State No. 4 ELVN L 6–148,211 October 27 12:05 p.m. Idaho No. 5 RTNW W 38–1410,023 November 3 11:05 a.m. at Northern Colorado No. 5 Pluto TV 241W 48–133,274 November 10 1:05 p.m. No. 4 UC Davis No. 5 SWX W 59–208,789 November 16 7:05 p.m. at Portland State No. 4 Pluto TV 232 W 74–234,205 December 1 2:00 p.m. No. 14 Nicholls * No. 4 ESPN3 W 42–215,250 December 8 1:00 p.m. No. 7 UC Davis* No. 4 Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) ESPN3 W 34–295,503 December 15 11:00 a.m. No. 12 Maine * No. 4 Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Semifinal) ESPN2 W 50–197,529 January 5 9:00 a.m. vs. No. 1 North Dakota State * No. 4 ESPN2 L 24–3817,802 *Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time
[4]
Despite also being a member of the Big Sky, the game vs. Northern Arizona was counted as a non-conference game and had no effect on the Big Sky standings.
Game summaries [ edit ] Central Washington [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Wildcats 0 13 0 0 13 No. 9 Eagles 20 14 10 14 58
At Northern Arizona [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 6 Eagles 14 7 7 3 31 No. 18 Lumberjacks 0 10 3 13 26
At Washington State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 6 Eagles 0 10 14 0 24 Cougars 14 14 7 24 59
Cal Poly [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Mustangs 3 7 7 0 17 No. 6 Eagles 14 21 14 21 70
At Montana State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 5 Eagles 14 10 3 7 34 Bobcats 10 0 0 7 17
Southern Utah [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total Thunderbirds 3 7 7 0 17 No. 5 Eagles 14 20 21 0 55
At Weber State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 4 Eagles 0 3 3 0 6 No. 13 Wildcats 14 0 0 0 14
1 2 3 4 Total Vandals 0 0 7 7 14 No. 5 Eagles 14 17 7 0 38
At Northern Colorado [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 5 Eagles 13 7 14 14 48 Bears 0 0 13 0 13
UC Davis [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 4 Aggies 10 7 3 0 20 No. 5 Eagles 7 14 14 24 59
At Portland State [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 4 Eagles 14 13 27 20 74 Vikings 0 14 7 2 23
FCS Playoffs [ edit ] Nicholls–Second Round [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 14 Colonels 7 7 0 7 21 No. 4 Eagles 3 7 10 22 42
UC Davis–Quarterfinals [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 7 Aggies 0 14 7 8 29 No. 4 Eagles 7 7 0 20 34
Maine–Semifinals [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 12 Black Bears 0 0 19 0 19 No. 4 Eagles 21 7 15 7 50
North Dakota State–Championship [ edit ] 1 2 3 4 Total No. 4 Eagles 0 10 7 7 24 No. 1 Bison 10 7 14 7 38
Ranking movements [ edit ] Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking т = Tied with team above or below Week Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final STATS 9 6 6 6 5 5 4 9 5 5 5 4 4 2 Coaches 7 5 5 6–T 5 4–T 3 8 4 4 3 3 3 2
References [ edit ]
Venues Bowls & rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
College Division / Division II I-AA/FCS Northern Arizona (1978) Montana State (1979) Boise State (1980) Idaho State (1981) Montana , Idaho , & Montana State (1982) Nevada (1983) Montana State (1984) Idaho (1985) Nevada (1986) Idaho (1987) Idaho (1988) Idaho (1989) Nevada (1990) Nevada (1991) Idaho & Eastern Washington (1992) Montana (1993) Boise State (1994) Montana (1995) Montana (1996) Eastern Washington (1997) Montana (1998) Montana (1999) Montana (2000) Montana (2001) Montana , Montana State , & Idaho State (2002) Montana State , Montana , & Northern Arizona (2003) Montana & Eastern Washington (2004) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Montana (2005) Montana (2006) Montana (2007) Weber State & Montana (2008) Montana (2009) Montana State & Eastern Washington (2010) Montana State & Montana (2011) Eastern Washington , Montana State , & Cal Poly (2012) Eastern Washington (2013) Eastern Washington (2014) Southern Utah (2015) Eastern Washington & North Dakota (2016) Southern Utah & Weber State (2017) Eastern Washington , UC Davis , & Weber State (2018) Sacramento State & Weber State (2019) Weber State (2020) Sacramento State (2021) Montana State & Sacramento State (2022) Montana (2023) National championships in bold