Eagles named top 25 in preseason poll
Eastern Washington teammates Aiden Nellor (left) and Isaiah Howard (right) celebrate in EWU’s 63-17 win over Northern Colorado last season.
COURTESY PHOTO/EWU ATHLETICS
CHENEY - Eastern Washington University was ranked No. 15 in the 2022 Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25 Poll.
This is the second preseason poll that has the Eagles listed in the top-25, as they were ranked No. 18 by the HERO Sports Preseason Poll released on May 18.
EWU was among five Big Sky teams to be named in the Athlon poll. Montana and Montana State were ranked third and fourth respectively, followed by Sacramento State at No. 6, Weber State at No. 13 and the Eagles at No. 15.
The Eagles will have home matchups with Montana State and Sacramento State at Roos Field and will travel to both Weber State and Montana.
Filling out the remainder of the top five were North Dakota State at No. 1, South Dakota State at No. 2 and Missouri State at No. 5. The Big Sky was tied with the Missouri Valley Football Conference for the most selections in the Athlon poll, with both conferences having five teams represent them.
This makes four preseason top-15 teams that the Eagles will have to face off against in addition to traveling to two Football Bowl Subdivision teams, the University of Oregon on September 10 and the University of Florida on October 1.
The Eagles will have a bye week before they face Montana State on September 24. They’ll travel to Weber State on October 8, one week after their matchup against Florida, and return home to play Sacramento State on October 15 for homecoming. Nearly a month later, they will travel to Missoula, Montana for a matchup with the Grizzlies.
EWU finished 10-3 in 2021 and made its 15th appearance in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. They fell in the second round of the playoffs to Montana. They began the season with a program-best record of 7-0.
They finished the season ranked No. 7 in the Stats Perform and No. 9 in the American Football Coaches Association final polls.
Eastern will kick off its season on September 3 against Tennessee State at home. A start time has yet to be released.
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.