CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern is coming off a tough stretch of back-to-back losses by five points or fewer. The close ones are tougher to get past, according to Coach Best and the team, but they're focused just on Saturday's matchup with Nevada.
After an overtime loss to Drake that was impacted by penalties and a few costly turnovers, the Eagles were ready to flush that one. However, struggles to get the offense going in the second half and issues stopping the run led to a four-point loss to Southeastern Louisiana on the road.
"The biggest thing is just continuing to go to practice, go to work every day, trust your process, trust your rules, get back in the playbook, study the film, learn from it, and get back after it with your boys," Eagles offensive lineman Brenden Rivera said.
While the losses stick with them, they're learning from them too, and have a good idea of what needs to be fixed moving forward.
"There's a few mistakes that, at least in our D-line room, that we made that we shouldn't have," Eagles defensive lineman Justis La'ulu said. "I don't think it's the other teams, I really think it's us. Just executing our jobs better, I think we come out with those games."
Eastern has historically been good against FBS programs. They've won five of those matchups in the last 20 years, including a huge upset of #25 Oregon State in 2013. However, the level of the opponent never changes their approach.
"I don't think you play the game any harder whether it's played on Thursday or Saturday, FCS or FBS, in conference or out of conference," Eastern head football coach Aaron Best said. "If you're playing the game differently because of your opponent, I don't know that you're doing it the right way, the correct way. So, I think there's a little bit more juice and energy going into the game, but that's not going to define how you play in the game. How you play in the game is a testament to how you prepare, and we need to prepare to create in opportunistic situations."
Kickoff against the Nevada Wolfpack is at noon on Saturday.