2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football

NCAA Division I Second Round, L 41–57, vs. Montana
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 7
FCS Coaches	No. 9
Record	10–3 (6–2 Big Sky)
Head coach	Aaron Best (5th season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Ian Shoemaker (first nine games) (3rd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Pat McCann (interim season)
Defensive coordinator	Eti Ena (3rd season)
Home stadium	Roos Field
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 Big Sky Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Sacramento State $^	8	–	0	9	–	3
No. 2 Montana State ^	7	–	1	11	–	3
No. 7 Eastern Washington ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 6 Montana ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 17 UC Davis ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
Weber State	5	–	3	6	–	5
Northern Arizona	4	–	4	5	–	6
Portland State	4	–	4	5	–	6
Idaho	3	–	5	4	–	7
Northern Colorado	2	–	6	3	–	8
Cal Poly	1	–	7	2	–	9
Idaho State	1	–	7	1	–	10
Southern Utah	0	–	8	1	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2021 Eastern Washington Eagles football team represented Eastern Washington University as a member of the Big Sky Conference during the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by fifth-year head coach Aaron Best, the Eagles played their home games at Roos Field in Cheney, Washington.

Preseason

Polls

On July 26, 2021, during the virtual Big Sky Kickoff, the Eagles were predicted to finish third in the Big Sky by both the coaches and media.^[1]

Coaches poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(7)
2	Montana	(3)
3	Eastern Washington	(2)
4	Montana State	(1)
5	Sacramento State	(1)
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Cal Poly
13	Northern Colorado

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Weber State	(14)
2	Montana	(4)
3	Eastern Washington	(3)
4	Montana State	(3)
5	Sacramento State
6	UC Davis
7	Northern Arizona
8	Idaho
9	Idaho State
10	Portland State
11	Southern Utah
12	Northern Colorado
13	Cal Poly

Preseason All–Big Sky team

The Eagles had four players selected to the preseason all-Big Sky team.^[2]

Offense

Eric Barriere – QB

Talolo Limu-Jones – WR

Tristen Taylor – OT

Defense

Mitchell Johnson – DE

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	7:00 p.m.	at UNLV*	No. 11	Allegiant Stadium Paradise, NV	Stadium	W 35–33 ^2OT	21,970
September 11	1:00 p.m.	Central Washington*	No. 7	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	W 63–14	4,523
September 18	1:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois*	No. 7	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	W 62–56	5,385
September 25	5:00 p.m.	at Southern Utah	No. 6	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	ESPN+	W 50–21	7,096
October 2	7:30 p.m.	No. 4 Montana	No. 6	Roos Field Cheney, WA (EWU–UM Governors Cup)	ESPN2	W 34–28	7,944
October 9	12:00 p.m.	at Northern Colorado	No. 4	Nottingham Field Greeley, CO	ESPN+	W 63–17	5,413
October 16	1:00 p.m.	Idaho	No. 2	Roos Field Cheney, WA	RTNW	W 71–21	5,380
October 23	1:00 p.m.	Weber State	No. 2	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	L 34–35	5,676
November 6	1:00 p.m.	No. 4 Montana State	No. 5	Roos Field Cheney, WA	SWX/ESPN+	L 20–23	6,981
November 13	5:00 p.m.	at No. 6 UC Davis	No. 7	UC Davis Health Stadium Davis, CA	ESPN+	W 38–20	7,344
November 20	2:05 p.m.	at Portland State	No. 5	Hillsboro Stadium Portland, OR (The Dam Cup)	ESPN+	W 42–28	0
November 27	1:00 p.m.	Northern Iowa*	No. 4	Roos Field Cheney, WA (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN+	W 19–9	3,845
December 3	6:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Montana*	No. 4	Washington–Grizzly Stadium Missoula, MT (NCAA Division I Second Round)	ESPN+	L 41–57	24,065
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

At UNLV

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 11 Eagles	0	3	17	0	7	8	35
Rebels	0	6	0	14	7	6	33

Central Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	0	7	14
No. 7 Eagles	18	28	10	7	63

At Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Eagles	28	27	7	0	62
Leathernecks	21	0	14	21	56

At Southern Utah

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Eagles	9	21	13	7	50
Thunderbirds	7	7	7	0	21

No. 4 Montana

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Grizzlies	7	7	7	7	28
No. 6 Eagles	7	3	0	24	34

At Northern Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	22	21	10	10	63
Bears	3	7	7	0	17

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vandals	7	7	0	7	21
No. 2 Eagles	29	14	14	14	71

Weber State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	0	13	7	15	35
No. 2 Eagles	7	7	7	13	34

No. 4 Montana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Bobcats	7	9	0	7	23
No. 5 Eagles	13	0	0	7	20

At No. 6 UC Davis

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Eagles	0	14	10	14	38
No. 6 Aggies	7	3	7	3	20

At Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Eagles	7	7	21	7	42
Vikings	7	7	7	7	28

FCS Playoffs

Northern Iowa–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	7	0	2	9
No. 4 Eagles	6	3	7	3	19

At No. 5 Montana–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 4 Eagles	14	7	7	13	41
No. 5 Grizzlies	10	10	24	13	57

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	11	7	7	6	6	4	2 (9)	2 (14)	7	5	7	5	4	7
Coaches	14	8	6	6	6	4 (2)	2 (1)	2 (2)	7	5	8	6	6	9

References

^ "Eastern Washington Football Picked to Finish Third by both the Coaches and Media". July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
^ "Four Eagles Represent Eastern Washington on the Big Sky Preseason Team". goeags.com. July 26, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.

v t e Eastern Washington Eagles football
Venues	Roos Field (1967–present) Joe Albi Stadium (alternate)
Bowls & rivalries	Montana: EWU–UM Governors Cup Portland State: The Dam Cup
Culture & lore	Swoop The Inferno "Go, Eagles, Go"
People	Head coaches Award winners Retired jerseys NFL draftees
Seasons	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917–1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e 2021 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Davidson East Tennessee State Eastern Washington Florida A&M Holy Cross Incarnate Word James Madison Kennesaw State Missouri State Montana Montana State North Dakota State Northern Iowa Sacramento State Sacred Heart Sam Houston South Dakota South Dakota State Southeastern Louisiana Southern Illinois Stephen F. Austin UC Davis UT Martin Villanova
Champion – North Dakota State