Happy Thanksgiving!

Just to let you know that this column is being written a bit early to meet the Thanksgiving deadline that all papers need to meet. So I'm going to try to bring some words of wisdom or maybe just some words that will hopefully be fun to read but there are no guarantees.

I attended the November 16th EWU football game in Cheney versus Idaho State. Last year the Bengals rallied from a couple of touchdown deficit late to beat the Eagles by one in Pocatello. This year Idaho State seemed to be playing good football and could easily stop a sometimes struggling Eagle squad. Eastern started quick and would go up 21-7 in the first quarter only to see Bengal Justice Jackson, a former Eagle run the kickoff back for a touchdown. A crazy game would most certainly be on the menu.

It was a wild and chilly afternoon and every TV timeout and play review made things miserable for us ardent fans. By halftime many folks headed home or for the tailgate to watch the rest of the game on TV. I was willing to stay for the rest of the game because it was senior day and a good fan stays until the end on senior day and I could only follow the game on the radio if I let early.

At halftime I was able to get a bite to eat and hang out near a heater. After halftime the crazy game continued. Eastern never punted this day and scored a TD on all eleven possessions for a total of 77 points. Idaho State punted once, was intercepted once and was stopped on a couple of its possessions. They would score 42 points. So if someone was a fan of great defense then I'm sure they went home greatly disappointed. I do enjoy good defense but you don't win if you don't score and Eastern did their share of scoring on the 16th. It is too bad that they couldn't take some of the excess points scored that day to cover some of the shortcomings in two or three other games. But that isn't how this works.

I must confess that I didn't stay for the whole game. I left with about a minute left because I was cold. I figured that Eastern would take a knee and run out the clock but since EWU had their reserves in the game I'm sure the Coach was happy to see them have a little success. But for this fan I had to wait for another TV timeout, kickoff and watch Idaho State run three or four plays before that clock would begrudgingly hit 0:00. I was out of the parking lot and on my way home by the time that happened. And since so many fans had already left I could turn south onto Washington Street instead of being detoured north by the State Patrol. I guess that was one good thing about this blowout.

I did get to see three running QBs combine for over 300 yards rushing without the use of the wishbone or triple option offense. Plus QB Kekoa Visperas was 14-14 passing with senior Efton Chism III catching 12 and one TD. The QBs combined for 8 of the rushing TDs. Eastern only threw one pass after halftime.

By the time you read this you will know if EWU finished on a three game winning streak or with a loss to Northern Arizona. Win or lose there will be a lot of questions that will need to answered in order for the Eagles to get back on track toward a playoff run.

I'll finish things up with a little story about my trip home. As I always do on Saturdays I listen to football broadcasts on the radio. I was listening to a game between New Mexico State and Texas A&M. After a minute or so I was wondering who had the football because the announcer kept saying the Aggies had the ball. Well the only problem with that is both teams' mascot is the Aggies. It would have been better if the announcer said either A&M ball or State ball instead of the confusing Aggie football. I'm sure the announcers were from Texas A&M but still. I didn't spend a lot of time listening to them.

There will be some good games to watch on Thanksgiving Day especially since Detroit is playing well. There will also be college basketball game to tune into and the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State, a true rivalry game.

Happy Thanksgiving and a fun sports day to you as well!