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Eastern Washington Football finds slot in 2009 FCS Playoff Bracket
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The 2009 FCS Playoff Brackets are out, and Eastern Washington will get the chance to play in the first round of the 2009 FCS Playoffs. Eastern finds themselves in a tough side of the bracket, with the potential to play against the undefeated Montana Grizzlies in the second round of the tournament. They have to get there first though, and that involves winning their FCS first round game first. That first game will be hosted by Stephen F. Austin in a game that could be quite a good match-up between the two teams. Eastern Washington comes into the game with an 8-3 record with Stephen F. Austin sitting at 9-2 so far.
The Eastern Washington Eagles had a very nice season on the whole, losing only three games during the 2009 campaign. They ended up finishing tied for second in the 2009 Big Sky Standings, behind an undefeated Montana team that only beat them by a single touchdown back on October 17th. One of those Eastern losses also came against California in the second week of the season in a game that Eastern didn't have to play, but garnered a lot of respect for putting on their schedule. Now Eastern will have the chance to really prove the merits of their team when they head to play Stephen F. Austin on November 28th. Those who don't know where Stephen F. Austin is located should know that the school is located in the eastern half of Texas state.
Senior quarterback Matt Nichols is looking to add to his extremely impressive career statistics when he takes the field in the 2009 FCS Playoffs. So far this season (through 11 games) he has 3,369 passing yards and 30 touchdowns to go with a quarterback rating of 164.13. In his career at Eastern Washington, he has 92 passing touchdowns and 12,155 yards, so with the playoffs he now has a chance to get past 100 total passing touchdowns on his career. With three straight games where Nichols threw for more than 380 yards and four touchdowns each game, he is coming into this match-up very hot.
On paper this is going to be a good match-up of great offenses, but SFA has a nice home field advantage (5-0 record) that could give them a little boost when hosting Eastern Washington. Eastern is in this thing to win it all though, and this could be the first step towards a great run towards the 2009 FCS Championship Game.
The 2009 FCS Playoffs:
South Dakota State (8-3) at (1) Montana (11-0)
Eastern Washington (8-3) at Stephen F. Austin (9-2)
Elon (9-2) at (4) Richmond (10-1)
South Carolina State (10-1) at Appalachian State (9-2)
Holy Cross (9-2) at (2) Villanova (10-1)
New Hampshire (9-2) at McNeese State (9-2)
Eastern Illinois (8-3) at (3) Southern Illinois (10-1)
Weber State (7-4) at William & Mary (9-2)
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- Ryan Gamble E-Mail: spokanex@gmail.com
