2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

The 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Beau Baldwin, who was in his ninth season with Eastern Washington. 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 12–2, 8–0 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with North Dakota. They received the automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Arkansas and Richmond in the second round and quarterfinals, before losing to Youngstown State in the semifinals.

2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football
Big Sky co-champion
ConferenceBig Sky Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 4
FCS CoachesNo. 4
Record12–2 (8–0 Big Sky)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorAaron Best (16th season)
Offensive schemeMultiple
Defensive coordinatorJeff Schmedding (2nd season)
Base defense4–2–5
Home stadiumRoos Field
Seasons
← 2015
2017 →
2016 Big Sky Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 4 Eastern Washington +^   8 0     12 2  
No. 12 North Dakota +^   8 0     9 3  
No. 25 Weber State ^   6 2     7 5  
No. 24 Cal Poly ^   5 3     7 5  
Southern Utah   5 3     6 5  
Northern Colorado   4 4     6 5  
Northern Arizona   4 4     5 6  
Montana   3 5     6 5  
Montana State   2 6     4 7  
Portland State   2 6     3 8  
UC Davis   2 6     3 8  
Sacramento State   2 6     2 9  
Idaho State   1 7     2 9  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

On January 16, 2017, head coach Beau Baldwin resigned to become the offensive coordinator at California.[1] He finished at Eastern Washington with a nine year record of 85–32.

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 35:00 pmat Washington State*No. 14P12NW 45–4232,952
September 1012:30 pmat No. 1 North Dakota State*No. 8SWXL 44–50 OT18,906
September 174:05 pmNo. 10 Northern Iowa*No. 8SWXW 34–309,111
September 244:05 pmat Northern ArizonaNo. 4SWXW 50–3510,179
October 11:05 pmUC DavisNo. 4
  • Roos Field
  • Cheney, WA
RTNWW 63–3010,741
October 81:05 pmNorthern Colorado No. 4
  • Roos Field
  • Cheney, WA
SWXW 49–3110,924
October 2211:05 amat Montana StateNo. 3RTNWW 41–1718,087
October 2912:35 pmNo. 16 MontanaNo. 3
RTNWW 35–1610,931
November 56:05 pmat No. 14 Cal PolyNo. 3WBSW 42–219,722
November 123:35 pmIdaho StateNo. 3
  • Roos Field
  • Cheney, WA
SWXW 48–179,302
November 187:35 pmat Portland StateNo. 3RTNWW 35–285,669
December 31:00 pmNo. 14 Central Arkansas*No. 3
ESPN3W 31–146,085
December 101:00 pmNo. 12 Richmond*No. 3
  • Roos Field
  • Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)
ESPN3W 38–05,150
December 173:30 pmNo. 13 Youngstown State*No. 3
  • Roos Field
  • Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I Semifinal)
ESPNUL 38–405,233
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Pacific time

[2]

Roster

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2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos. # Name Class
QB 8 Gage Gubrud   So
QB 12 Reilly Hennessey   So
RB 28 Antoine Custer Jr. Fr
RB 30 Tamarick Pierce Fr
RB 2 Jabari Wilson   Sr
WR 10 Cooper Kupp   Sr
WR 11 Kendrick Bourne Sr
WR 1 Shaq Hill   Sr
WR 7 Nic Sblendorio   Jr
WR 81 Stu Stiles So
TE 9 Zach Wimberly   Sr
Defense
Pos. # Name Class
DL 3 Samson Ebukam Sr
DB 32 Zach Bruce   Sr
Special teams
Pos. # Name Class
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Roster

Game summaries

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At Washington State

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1 2 3 4 Total
#14 Eagles 7 17 14 7 45
Cougars 14 14 0 14 42

At North Dakota State

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1 2 3 4OT Total
#8 Eagles 0 14 10 200 44
#1 Bison 7 14 7 166 50

Northern Iowa

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1 2 3 4 Total
#10 Panthers 10 14 0 6 30
#8 Eagles 0 7 14 13 34

At Northern Arizona

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1 2 3 4 Total
#4 Eagles 12 10 14 14 50
Lumberjacks 7 14 7 7 35

UC Davis

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1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 0 23 7 0 30
#4 Eagles 14 0 35 14 63

Northern Colorado

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1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 7 10 7 7 31
#4 Eagles 3 11 21 14 49

At Montana State

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1 2 3 4 Total
#3 Eagles 14 10 7 10 41
Bobcats 14 3 0 0 17

Montana

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1 2 3 4 Total
#16 Grizzlies 7 3 6 0 16
#3 Eagles 7 14 14 0 35

At Cal Poly

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1 2 3 4 Total
#3 Eagles 14 7 14 7 42
#14 Mustangs 7 7 7 0 21

Idaho State

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1 2 3 4 Total
Bengals 3 7 7 0 17
#3 Eagles 7 13 14 14 48

At Portland State

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1 2 3 4 Total
#3 Eagles 7 0 14 14 35
Vikings 14 0 14 0 28

FCS playoffs

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Second round – Central Arkansas

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1 2 3 4 Total
#14 Bears 0 14 0 0 14
#3 Eagles 0 21 3 7 31

Quarterfinals–Richmond

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1 2 3 4 Total
#12 Spiders 0 0 0 0 0
#3 Eagles 7 14 10 7 38

Semifinals–Youngstown State

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1 2 3 4 Total
#13 Penguins 7 10 3 20 40
#3 Eagles 10 14 7 7 38

Ranking movements

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112Final
STATS148 (1)844443 (17)3 (18)3 (18)3 (19)3 (21)3 (14)4
Coaches178755553 (1)3 (1)3 (1)3 (1)3 (1)4 (1)4
FCS PlayoffsNot released322Not released

References

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  1. ^ "Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin hired as Cal's OC". January 17, 2017.
  2. ^ Schedule