When No. 13 Washington opens its season Saturday, the Huskies won’t be the highest-ranked team on the field.
That honor will go to visiting Eastern Washington, which is ranked No. 3 in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches’ poll.
The Eagles reached the FCS title game last season, falling to North Dakota State 38-24. The Bison have won seven of the past eight titles since EWU won the championship in 2010.
“I think everybody in this country’s got a lot of respect for Eastern Washington. Just the program itself, when Beau (Baldwin) was there and now Aaron Best has taken over, and they haven’t missed a beat,” Huskies coach Chris Petersen said.
“I think you look at their track record playing Pac-12 schools — what they do, how they battle, how hard they play — and you look at them in the conference and all the conference championships they’ve won, playing for national championships, all those things. This is not an ideal opener coming in here.
“When you watch the tape and what they do, there’s just a lot of respect. Then you factor that with, a lot of these kids on that team, we know they’re Washington kids. Those guys always bring a lot of pride coming into this stadium, playing hard.”
The Eagles have won three of their past nine meetings against Football Bowl Subdivision teams, including a 49-46 upset of 25th-ranked Oregon State in 2013 and a 45-42 win over Washington State in 2016.
And EWU has played the Huskies tough in two previous meetings at Husky Stadium.
Washington won the first game 30-27 in 2011, intercepting a Bo Levi Mitchell pass in the end zone in the final 30 seconds. In 2014, EWU rallied from a 21-point deficit to twice take the lead in the second half before falling 59-52.
The Eagles have 10 starters back on offense but will have to break in four new starters on defense, including both cornerback spots.
“We still have to mature as a football team,” Best said. “We will be in adverse situations against Washington — I can guarantee you that. Hopefully, we have taken a step forward to be ready for those adverse situations, and to come out of those situations knowing we can make a positive out of a negative.”
EWU is led by quarterback Eric Barriere, who is on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the best offensive player in the FCS.
Despite not starting until Week 6 last season when Gage Gubrud, now at Washington State, suffered a toe injury, Barriere still threw for 2,450 yards and 24 touchdowns, also rushing for 613 yards and eight scores.
The Huskies will turn to transfer quarterback Jacob Eason after the graduation of four-year starter Jake Browning.
Eason, from Lake Stevens, Wash., won the starting job as a true freshman at Georgia in 2016, when he passed for 2,430 yards and 16 touchdowns. But he suffered a knee injury in the 2017 opener and was supplanted by freshman Jake Fromm.
Eason won a battle with Jake Haener for the UW’s starting job, with Haener deciding to enter the NCAA transfer portal the next day.
Peterson said that might keep Eason from looking over his shoulder.
“I think it certainly can help the whole dynamics,” Petersen said. “Things are a little bit more clear-cut, in terms of you’ve got a pecking order going forward.”
