SEATTLE — A pair of early fourth downs didn’t go Eastern Washington University’s way, and Washington used a fast start to beat the Eagles 47-14 in the college football season opener for both teams Saturday at Alaska Airlines Field.

The Huskies turned a fourth-and-two into a 23-yard touchdown run on its first possession and went on to lead 21-0 in the first quarter. Eastern was out-gained 162-54 in the opening 15 minutes and had its own fourth-and-two play in the period end with a sack.

Junior Andrew Boston’s 64-yard touchdown catch and run from junior Eric Barriere was the lone score in the first half for EWU, which trailed 28-7 at halftime. The Huskies scored the next 14 points in the second half and finished the game with a 570-274 advantage in total offense.

Eastern entered the game ranked fourth in the STATS preseason top 25 poll for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, and were ranked third in the American Football Coaches Association poll. The Huskies were ranked 13th in the Associated Press media poll and 12th by the coaches in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision.

“We didn’t give them as much of a test as we anticipated,” Eastern coach Aaron Best said. “I feel at times we were playing our brand and our niche of football, but we just weren’t consistent enough. The two bright spots were that we came away unscathed injury-wise and that there were no turnovers. First games you always worry about penalties, turnovers and sloppiness. We weren’t very tidy on both sides of the ball. That wasn’t the best version of Eastern football you’ll see this year in the next 11 games.”

Besides the TD connection from Barriere to Boston, the Eagles also had an impressive 15-play, 79-yard drive in the first half, but it ended with a missed 35-yard field goal. Late in the third quarter Eastern put together a 14-play, 75-yard drive which was capped by a 4-yard TD run by Antoine Custer Jr.

Barriere completed 21 of 55 passes for 211 yards, and Boston had six catches for a career-high 112 yards. Junior linebacker Chris Ojoh had a career-high 11 tackles with a pass broken up. Junior rover Kedrick Johnson had nine tackles, and senior safety Dehonta Hayes added eight.

Taking his first snaps since the 2017 season when he lost the starting job at Georgia to Jake Fromm, Jacob Eason showed no rust for Washington, carving up one of the top FCS programs in the country in his Huskies debut, throwing for 349 yards and four touchdowns.

Eason completed 27 of 36 passes and led Washington on touchdown drives on four of its first five possessions.

“It was fun to do and fun to be a part of and super exciting for me,” Eason said.

Eason’s fourth pass in purple was a 50-yard touchdown strike to Andre Baccellia.

Richard Newton rushed for a 23-yard touchdown on Washington’s first possession and Salvon Ahmed added a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter to give the Huskies a 42-7 lead.

EWU plays host to NCAA Division II Lindenwood next Saturday.

No. 13 Washington 47,

E. Washington 14

E. Washington 0 7 0 7 — 14

Washington 21 7 14 5 — 47

First Quarter

WAS—Newton 23 run (Henry kick), 10:22

WAS—Baccellia 50 pass from Eason (Henry kick), 8:07

WAS—Fuller 7 pass from Eason (Henry kick), 4:17

Second Quarter

WAS—McClatcher 10 pass from Eason (Henry kick), 1:51

EW—Boston 64 pass from Barriere (Slyter kick), :57

Third Quarter

WAS—Fuller 18 pass from Eason (Henry kick), 11:35

WAS—Ahmed 1 run (Henry kick), 4:13

Fourth Quarter

EW—Custer 4 run (Slyter kick), 14:12

WAS—FG Henry 22, 6:33

WAS—safety, 2:28

EW WAS

First downs 16 27

Rushes-yards 30-63 43-200

Passing 211 370

Comp-Att-Int 21-35-0 28-38-0

Return Yards 28 45

Punts-Avg. 6-33.16 3-46.33

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 5-28 5-38

Time of Possession 25:43 34:17

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—E. Washington, Merritt 5-37, Custer 14-24, Barriere 10-3, Lewis 1-(minus 1). Washington, Newton 12-91, Ahmed 15-44, Braxton 2-43, McGrew 4-24, Pleasant 5-7, Jaco.Sirmon 1-1, (Team) 3-(minus 4), McClatcher 1-(minus 6).

PASSING—E. Washington, Barriere 21-35-0-211. Washington, Eason 27-36-0-349, Jaco.Sirmon 1-2-0-21.

RECEIVING—E. Washington, Boston 6-112, Merritt 4-25, Gilder 4-22, J.Edwards 2-36, Custer 2-(minus 1), Dy.Ingram 1-8, Dorton 1-6, J.Williams 1-3. Washington, H.Bryant 6-81, Baccellia 5-84, Fuller 5-73, McClatcher 5-57, T.Bynum 2-32, Ahmed 2-23, McGrew 2-5, Otton 1-15.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—E. Washington, Slyter 35.