# 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

The 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Beau Baldwin, who was in his ninth season with Eastern Washington. The Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington and were a member of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 12–2, 8–0 in Big Sky play to share the conference championship with North Dakota. They received the automatic bid into the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Central Arkansas and Richmond in the second round and quarterfinals, before losing to Youngstown State in the semifinals.
On January 16, 2017, head coach Beau Baldwin resigned to become the offensive coordinator at California. He finished at Eastern Washington with a nine year record of 85–32.

## Preseason
### Big Sky polls

On July 19, 2016, the Big Sky Conference released its preseason coaches' and media polls. The Wildcats were predicted to finish fourth in the coaches' poll and third in the media poll.
Coaches' poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Northern Arizona | 132 (8) |
| 2 | Portland State | 121 (2) |
| 2 | Montana | 121 |
| 4 | Eastern Washington | 112 (2) |
| 5 | North Dakota | 105 (1) |
| 6 | Weber State | 83 |
| 7 | Southern Utah | 73 |
| 7 | Montana State | 73 |
| 9 | Cal Poly | 66 |
| 10 | Northern Colorado | 43 |
| 11 | Sacramento State | 30 |
| 12 | Idaho State | 24 |
| 13 | UC Davis | 23 |
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Northern Arizona | 287 (8) |
| 2 | Montana | 283 (7) |
| 3 | Eastern Washington | 269 (5) |
| 4 | North Dakota | 262 (2) |
| 5 | Portland State | 252 (3) |
| 6 | Weber State | 174 |
| 7 | Southern Utah | 162 |
| 8 | Montana State | 157 |
| 9 | Cal Poly | 153 |
| 10 | Northern Colorado | 111 |
| 11 | Idaho State | 58 |
| 12 | UC Davis | 56 |
| 13 | Sacramento State | 50 |

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 3 | 5:00 pm | at Washington State* | No. 14 | Martin StadiumPullman, WA | P12N | W 45–42 | 32,952 |
| September 10 | 12:30 pm | at No. 1 North Dakota State* | No. 8 | FargodomeFargo, ND | SWX | L 44–50 $^{OT}$ | 18,906 |
| September 17 | 4:05 pm | No. 10 Northern Iowa* | No. 8 | Roos FieldCheney, WA | SWX | W 34–30 | 9,111 |
| September 24 | 4:05 pm | at Northern Arizona | No. 4 | Walkup SkydomeFlagstaff, AZ | SWX | W 50–35 | 10,179 |
| October 1 | 1:05 pm | UC Davis | No. 4 | Roos FieldCheney, WA | RTNW | W 63–30 | 10,741 |
| October 8 | 1:05 pm | Northern Colorado | No. 4 | Roos FieldCheney, WA | SWX | W 49–31 | 10,924 |
| October 22 | 11:05 am | at Montana State | No. 3 | Bobcat StadiumBozeman, MT | RTNW | W 41–17 | 18,087 |
| October 29 | 12:35 pm | No. 16 Montana | No. 3 | Roos FieldCheney, WA (EWU–UM Governors Cup) | RTNW | W 35–16 | 10,931 |
| November 5 | 6:05 pm | at No. 14 Cal Poly | No. 3 | Alex G. Spanos StadiumSan Luis Obispo, CA | WBS | W 42–21 | 9,722 |
| November 12 | 3:35 pm | Idaho State | No. 3 | Roos FieldCheney, WA | SWX | W 48–17 | 9,302 |
| November 18 | 7:35 pm | at Portland State | No. 3 | Providence ParkPortland, OR (The Dam Cup) | RTNW | W 35–28 | 5,669 |
| December 3 | 1:00 pm | No. 14 Central Arkansas* | No. 3 | Roos FieldCheney, WA (NCAA Division I Second Round) | ESPN3 | W 31–14 | 6,085 |
| December 10 | 1:00 pm | No. 12 Richmond* | No. 3 | Roos FieldCheney, WA (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal) | ESPN3 | W 38–0 | 5,150 |
| December 17 | 3:30 pm | No. 13 Youngstown State* | No. 3 | Roos FieldCheney, WA (NCAA Division I Semifinal) | ESPNU | L 38–40 | 5,233 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Pacific time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### At Washington State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 14 Eagles | 7 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 45 |
| Cougars | 14 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 42 |

### At No. 1 North Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| No. 8 Eagles | 0 | 14 | 10 | 20 | 0 | 44 |
| No. 1 Bison | 7 | 14 | 7 | 16 | 6 | 50 |

### No. 10 Northern Iowa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 10 Panthers | 10 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 30 |
| No. 8 Eagles | 0 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 34 |

### At Northern Arizona

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 4 Eagles | 12 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 50 |
| Lumberjacks | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### UC Davis

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Aggies | 0 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 30 |
| No. 4 Eagles | 14 | 0 | 35 | 14 | 63 |

### Northern Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 31 |
| No. 4 Eagles | 3 | 11 | 21 | 14 | 49 |

### At Montana State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Eagles | 14 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 41 |
| Bobcats | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 |

### No. 16 Montana

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 16 Grizzlies | 7 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 16 |
| No. 3 Eagles | 7 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 35 |

### At No. 14 Cal Poly

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Eagles | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 42 |
| No. 14 Mustangs | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |

### Idaho State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bengals | 3 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 17 |
| No. 3 Eagles | 7 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 48 |

### At Portland State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 3 Eagles | 7 | 0 | 14 | 14 | 35 |
| Vikings | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 28 |

## FCS playoffs
### No. 14 Central Arkansas (Second Round)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 14 Bears | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| No. 3 Eagles | 0 | 21 | 3 | 7 | 31 |

### No. 12 Richmond (Quarterfinals)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 12 Spiders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 3 Eagles | 7 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 38 |

### No. 13 Youngstown State (Semifinals)

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 13 Penguins | 7 | 10 | 3 | 20 | 40 |
| No. 3 Eagles | 10 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 38 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS | 14 | 8 (1) | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 (17) | 3 (18) | 3 (18) | 3 (19) | 3 (21) | 3 (14) | 4 |
| Coaches | 17 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 (1) | 3 (1) | 3 (1) | 3 (1) | 3 (1) | 4 (1) | 4 |
| FCS Playoffs | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 3 | 2 | 2 | Not released | Not released |