EASTERN 2016 FOOTBALL FCS Playoffs 1985•1992•1997•2004•2005•2007•2009•2010•2012•2013•2014
2015 RECAP: Eagles Lead FCS in Passing Offense With record-breaking Cooper Kupp leading the way, EWU finishes with its 18th winning season in the last 20 years
long legacy of Eagles to win the award. Eastern players have now won the honor 11 times in the last 15 seasons, and 12 times overall. A 2012 graduate of Davis High School in Yakima, Wash., Kupp’s spectacular 2015 season included 114 receptions. That broke the previous league record of 112 and ranks eighth all-time in FCS history.
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or a program that has made deep playoff runs in recent years and was looking for a Big Sky Conference championship “fourpeat,” a winning record wasn’t exactly what the Eastern Washington University football team expected in 2015. But a hunger to return to national and league prominence in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision will be the off-season quest for the Eagles after they finished 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the league.
In 2015, Kupp led FCS in five categories – receptions, receptions per game (10.4), recep-
There were many positives, though, that other schools would hunger for – Eastern led FCS in passing offense with an average of 353.3 yards per game, and were eighth in total offense (478.5). In the last 12 seasons (2004-15), EWU has now ranked in the top 10 in passing 10 times and in total offense on eight occasions. The Eagles also finished with the school’s 18th winning season in the last 20 years (1996-2015). That includes a current string of nine-straight (2007-15) and another stretch of seven straight (1999-2005), feats that hadn’t been accomplished since the Red Reese era when Eastern had a string of 11-straight winning seasons from 1931-1941. After falling to 0-2 on the season with road losses to Oregon and Northern Iowa, the Eagles had their six-game winning streak and 5-0 league start stopped Nov. 7 in a rare home loss, falling 52-30 to surging Northern Arizona. At the time, Eastern was ranked a season-high fourth in FCS in the STATS Top 25 poll. The Eagles ended the regular season ranked 23rd – the 57th-consecutive time the Eagles have been ranked.
Third Team All-Big Sky Conference Safety TODD RAYNES
Todd Raynes was the lone senior starter on defense and earned third team All-Big Sky honors. Defensive end Samson Ebukam received second team All-Big Sky honors in both 2014 and 2015, and nose guard Matthew Sommer earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors both of those seasons. Linebacker Jake Gall received honorable mention in 2015 as an outside linebacker, but is not back 2015 Big Sky Conference Football Standings in 2016. Three senior offensive linemen were also honored on the Big Sky Conference All Games All-Big Sky team – Clay DeBord (first team), Aaron Neary (first Team W L PCT PF PA W L PCT PF PA Southern Utah 7 1 .875 312 134 8 4 .667 425 250 team) and Thomas Gomez (honorable mention). Other returning all-league selections include Cooper Kupp, a three-time first team selection, and Kendrick Bourne, a second team choice in 2015 and honorable mention in 2014. Shaq Hill has been honored three times previously – third team wide receiver in 2014, honorable mention wide receiver in 2013 and honorable mention return specialist in 2012 when he also earned Freshman All-America honors.
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Kupp capped his 2015 season by being selected as the FCS Offensive Player of the Year by both STATS and the FCS Athletic Director’s Association, and he was also presented the 2015 Walter Payton Award as selected by Mickey Charles LLC. Kupp became only the second wide receiver in 42 years to win the Big Sky Conference Offensive MVP Award, and continued a
Portland State Montana Northern Arizona North Dakota Eastern Washington Weber State Northern Colorado Montana State Cal Poly UC Davis Idaho State Sacramento State
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BIG SKY IN THE FCS PLAYOFFS – First Round - Saturday, Nov. 28: Sam Houston State 42, Southern Utah 39; Second Round - Saturday, Dec. 5: North Dakota State 37, Montana 6; Northern Iowa 29, Portland State 17.