EWU, Portland State clash in Dam Cup with both teams seeking first win

Bruce Barnum didn't get a formal invitation to his old school's Homecoming, but he's treating Saturday's trip to Roos Field as close enough. The Portland State football coach graduated from Eastern Washington in 1987, and when the Big Sky's schedule makers arranged for his winless Vikings to visit the Eagles on Homecoming weekend, Barnum saw the irony and the opportunity in one move. "I should thank them, since I'm an alum," he said Tuesday.

The Dam Cup matchup—the 46th between these two programs, who sit at 22-22-1 all-time—returns this year after a one-year absence. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. in Cheney. Both teams arrive desperate. Eastern Washington is 1-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. Portland State is 0-5, having lost its Big Sky opener to Northern Arizona 31-17 last week. That loss, though, represented something like progress: it was the first time all season the Vikings had scored before the ninth quarter of football. Their previous four games had been catastrophic. They lost 42-0 to Tarleton State, 69-0 to BYU, 50-20 to North Dakota, and 23-3 to Hawaii. The opponents weren't all mismatches—BYU and Hawaii play at the FBS level—but Tarleton State, Northern Arizona, and North Dakota are all ranked in the FCS Stats Perform Top 25, with Tarleton at No. 3, Northern Arizona at No. 13, and North Dakota at No. 15.

When Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best learned what Portland State's nonconference schedule looked like, he understood the weight of it. "Man," he told Barnum over the summer. "That's tough sledding." Barnum doesn't dispute the difficulty. Portland State has made a practice of playing money games against major programs—last year they went to Washington State and Boise State—to help pay the bills. But he insists his team is improving, making fewer mistakes, and playing harder. "We're doing things I like, but we've been outmatched in the majority of the games we've played," Barnum said. "But we need to make more plays. We need to tackle better."

Best has echoed similar themes with his own team. Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Gavin Allen said the Eagles are "hungry, and we're ready to go and play our game we know we can play." But Best is wary of what Portland State will bring. Barnum is known for unconventional play-calling—fake field goals, unusual punt formations, flea flickers, Cover-0 defenses. "He's always been a risk taker," Best said. "He's always been an unorthodox coach and human being. He's got a great big personality, and it shows in his team. And they're not coming here to show up and go back home."

Portland State has won the last two Dam Cup games, the first winning streak the Vikings have managed against Eastern since 2006-2008. In those two recent victories, Eastern allowed a combined 830 rushing yards. That statistic looms large for the Eagles, though they have made defensive strides this season, reducing their per-carry rushing defense from 5.6 yards last year to 5.0 this year. Where they've struggled is on third down, allowing conversions 46.8% of the time—10th worst in the Big Sky. Portland State's third-down defense is even worse at 49.2%, and both teams rank near the bottom of the conference in third-down offensive efficiency: Eastern at 27.4%, Portland State at 29.5%.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nate Bell emphasized the importance of sustaining drives. "Stay on the field and give our defense a break and play complementary football," he said. "In the games we have put up points, that's been the case." Coming off a loss to Montana State and facing a winless opponent on Homecoming, the Eagles are clear-eyed about the danger. Redshirt sophomore linebacker Samarai Anderson said the team knows Portland State has played elite competition. "When you're playing a team that hasn't won a game yet, they're coming to beat us," Anderson said. "They've played some very good teams in those five games, so we're not taking them lightly." For both programs, this is the game where someone finally gets to 1-0 in conference play.