kalm
November 8th, 2007, 11:28 AM
We'll settle this one the old fashioned way...in the blogospherexthumbsupx
This should be a great game. The teams appear very evenly matched right down to each averaging exactly 29.8 pts/game. Both offenses are potent, the Eagles getting they're yards through the air while Jacks get it done on the ground.
On D, they each tend to give up some yards but are ranked #1 and #2 in BSC in takeaways. The Eagles have a slight edge in allowing 21.7 pts/game to the Jacks 25.3.
Matchups are interesting and might favor Eastern in that the Eagle's offensive strength - it's passing attack - goes against an NAU pass defense ranked near the bottom of the FCS, whereas NAU's strong rushing offense plays into Easterns much improved run D. But Eastern's pass D is even worse than NAU's. This leads me to think that whichever QB and secondary makes the most plays, wins. Nichols is still a sophomore and has had several games where he held the ball too long and looked frozen. A key for NAU might be to get to Nichols early and rattle him.
Injuries for EWU: WR Tony Davis (who might even be better than Boyce) should be back for this one, but RB Alexis Alexander (who's important in pass protection) and G Rocky Hanni are both questionable.
Being at home and altitude favors the Jacks. Having something left to play for favors the Eagles. This game is a total toss-up, I'm glad it's going to be televised up here.
Good luck Jacks.
This should be a great game. The teams appear very evenly matched right down to each averaging exactly 29.8 pts/game. Both offenses are potent, the Eagles getting they're yards through the air while Jacks get it done on the ground.
On D, they each tend to give up some yards but are ranked #1 and #2 in BSC in takeaways. The Eagles have a slight edge in allowing 21.7 pts/game to the Jacks 25.3.
Matchups are interesting and might favor Eastern in that the Eagle's offensive strength - it's passing attack - goes against an NAU pass defense ranked near the bottom of the FCS, whereas NAU's strong rushing offense plays into Easterns much improved run D. But Eastern's pass D is even worse than NAU's. This leads me to think that whichever QB and secondary makes the most plays, wins. Nichols is still a sophomore and has had several games where he held the ball too long and looked frozen. A key for NAU might be to get to Nichols early and rattle him.
Injuries for EWU: WR Tony Davis (who might even be better than Boyce) should be back for this one, but RB Alexis Alexander (who's important in pass protection) and G Rocky Hanni are both questionable.
Being at home and altitude favors the Jacks. Having something left to play for favors the Eagles. This game is a total toss-up, I'm glad it's going to be televised up here.
Good luck Jacks.