It might be a fight, but EWU will (sadly) win

This weekend marks one of Idaho football’s best rivalries, with Eastern Washington coming to town.

First things first — this is not an attack on the Vandals. This is simply what I think will happen on Saturday and why.

I have much respect for the program and it will be a good game for plenty of fans to enjoy. So, don’t label me a hater.

Now with that out of the way, let’s look at why Idaho will pick up its third loss against the Eagles in the Kibbie Dome this weekend.

Defense

The defense for Idaho has a healthy mix of young and old players that makes for an interesting situation, with veterans in the secondary and young players like freshmen Jonah Kim and Noah Elliss at the defensive tackle positions.

But is the team ready to stop this Easter Washington offense?

OK, the stats don’t look great so far this year, but we can write that off to playing Penn State in that week one beat down.

They have been able to hang tough so far this season with Central Washington and Wyoming, but the thing to look at is that the Vandals haven’t had a complete game defensively yet.

Against CWU, Idaho only let up 114 rushing yards but had 245 passing yards, four touchdowns and an average of over 16 yards a completion to go along with no interceptions.

Now with the Cowboys last week, the Vandals faced a redshirt freshman quarterback who is not known for passing and only has 18 pass attempts in a game this year — no passing touchdowns, with his four in his career ending on the ground.

Idaho is not at the level yet to be able to stop teams through the air and on the ground, especially against this offense.

High-flying offense

The Eagles have established themselves as one of the best offensive teams in the FCS, taking themselves to the championship game last year against the champions of North Dakota State.

This team is going to test the Vandals on the ground and through the air.

Led by redshirt junior quarterback Eric Barriere who, despite the last two losses to Washington and Jacksonville State, has thrown for a combined 505 yards and six touchdowns to only two interceptions.

The duo at the wide receiver position with redshirt senior Dre Dorton and redshirt sophomore Andrew Boston will be a big test for Loyd Hightower and the Idaho secondary.

The Eagles sling the ball all over the field, but they can pick up yards on the ground too.

The main running back so far this season has been senior Antoine Custer Jr, who in their last game against Jacksonville State, ran for 184 yards and 34 yards receiving.

Once again, the defense is going to have an uphill battle all game long trying to get this offense off the field quickly and often.

Crowd (dis)advantage

One big thing Idaho should have on its side is that the game is in Moscow. But with the attendance still on the downturn, it might feel like another road game for the Vandals.

Eastern Washington fans have even rented out the sprint turf outside the Kibbie Dome for its own tailgate during the pregame.

If Idaho fans pack the dome, that will be great and give the Vandals a great home-field advantage — but that likely won’t be the case.

Fans would rather party outside in the tailgates than go inside and see their team play, which there is nothing wrong with that, but if fans don’t go to games due to low attendance, the only way to fix it is to go to the games.

If Idaho is able to pull out a win, that would be awesome, but the Eagles will fly out of Moscow with a win on Saturday.

Zack Kellogg can be reached at arg-sports@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @kellogg_zack.