Kupp earns national award

after Eastern win over WSU

With a record-breaking performance and stirring victory in his first game since deciding to return to Eastern Washington for his senior football season, Cooper Kupp was selected as the STATS National Offensive Player of the Week.

He earned the same honor from College Sports Madness, which also selected him as its Big Sky Conference player of the week as well.

In Eastern Washington’s 45-42 win over Washington State last Saturday, Kupp had 12 catches for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Kupp, a three-time All-American receiver, broke the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision record with a current total of 59 touchdown receptions. He also completed a pass for 22 yards against the Cougars, and rushed twice for 29 yards.

Eastern QB Gubrud receives Big Sky offensive honors

Sophomore Gage Gubrud was selected as the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week after accounting for six touchdowns in a 45-42 win on Sept. 3 over Washington State of the Pac-12 Conference in Pullman.

Gubrud was one of six Eagles — five on offense — making the first start of their careers, and completed 34-of-40 passes for 474 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 77 yards and another score. His 551 yards of total offense broke the previous school record of 518 set by Vernon Adams Jr. against Oregon State in 2013, when he passed for 411 and rushed for 107.

Gubrud’s passing total was the fourth-best in school history, ranking only behind Adams (475 vs. Washington on Sept. 6, 2015), Todd Bernett (486 vs. Montana on Sept. 17, 1994) and Gubrud’s Eastern teammate Jordan West (school-record 491 vs. Sacramento State on Sept. 26, 2015).

Eastern punter Dascalo nabs Sky special team honors

Junior Jordan Dascalo, who punted as a freshman in 2014 at Washington State, was selected as the Big Sky Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against his former school last Saturday in Pullman.

The Los Angeles native averaged 55.3 yards on three punts against Washington State, including one downed inside the Cougar 20-yard line. He also kicked a 48-yard field goal on the final play of the first half that started a decisive 17-0 scoring run by the Eagles in the 45-42 win. In addition, he had seven kickoffs for 57-yard average with one touchback.

Vandal men face challenging

nonconference schedule

MOSCOW — With the regular season just over two months away, the Idaho men’s basketball team and coach Don Verlin announced the 2016-17 schedule.

The Vandals host a pair of exhibitions to get the year going, beginning with Carroll College on Oct. 25. Preseason ends on Nov. 4 with a visit from Lewis-Clark State. The regular season begins at home on Nov. 12 when Corban University comes to Memorial Gym.

Next up is a tough stretch, beginning with road contests at Northern Illinois and Little Rock. Little Rock had a tremendous 2015-16 season, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Idaho comes home next to take on South Dakota State on Monday, Nov. 21. The Jackrabbits went dancing last season, but fell in a close opening round game to Maryland, 79-74. The Vandals will take on the Jackrabbits again nearly three weeks later in Brookings, S.D.

A trip to Sam Houston State on Nov. 25 is up next, followed by a pair of home games against San Jose State and UC Davis on Nov. 29 and Dec. 3, respectively. The Vandals saw success against both San Jose State and UC Davis last season, beating each handily on the road.

The Battle of the Palouse against Washington State is up next, taking place in Pullman on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The Vandals will be looking for their third straight win over Washington State in the longest continuous rivalry west of the Mississippi at 112 seasons.

Nonconference play closes with a home contest against Northwest Nazarene (Dec. 17) and a trip to Palo Alto to take on Stanford (Dec. 22).

Big Sky play begins on Friday, Dec. 30 at home against Eastern Washington. The Vandals will play their first three conference games at home, against EWU, Montana and Montana State. The Vandals begin the conference season against the other five teams that finished in the top-6 in the league standings a year ago.

The Big Sky Tournament begins on March 7 and will once again take place in Reno.

SWX to broadcast five

football games featuring EWU

Eastern Washington football fans throughout the region will have five opportunities to watch the Eagles on SWX this fall.

SWX, the sister station of KHQ in Spokane, will begin the year by taking feeds of EWU road games at North Dakota State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Pacific time and Northern Arizona on Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. The NDSU game is being televised by the NBC North Dakota statewide network and ESPN3, and the NAU game is being originated and televised regionally by Fox Sports Arizona.

The three home games being broadcast by SWX are on Sept. 17 at 4 p.m. against Northern Iowa, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. against Northern Colorado and Nov. 12 at 3:30 p.m. against Idaho State, All three of those games will be played at Roos Field in Cheney.

SWX reaches most of the Eastern Washington region, including digital 6.2 in Spokane/Cheney/Coeur d’Alene/Sandpoint/Lewiston, 23.3 in Yakima and 25.3 in the Tri-Cities; also via Comcast 306/112 (Spokane); Davis Cable 514/81.2/12 (Cheney); Time Warner 1245 (Coeur d’Alene & Pullman/Moscow); Charter 183 (Tri-Cities/Yakima), Cable One 466 (Lewiston), Northland Cable 317 (Moses Lake) and Northland Cable 115 (Sandpoint).